Thursday evening – blah

Hmmmm…  not much to report on today… I had a reasonably productive day working at home. Chai and I managed to get out for a brisk snowshoe at 4 degrees below.. It’s now 10 degrees below zero . heading to fifteen below tonight. I actually love this weather.

The rest of the day was productive.. but pretty uninteresting. For some reason, everything I touched seemed to mess up… my lap top charger, my cell phone, the car (again) . Towards the afternoon even my software started to go crazy… This evening a friend called from a small town in northern NY .. and all the power on his street went out.   I decided to call it a day…     Diane was up at Bolton teaching yoga.. so I took Gabe. Max, Mason and Emma to Bridge Street for dinner..

When we got home, we started to un-decorate the tree.

I’m going to miss it’s goofy stare I felt like ‘Dave’ in 2001 taking apart that tree… I felt like I was taking apart a friend. (‘I’m frightened, Dave’)

As Diane worked on the tree, I did a little cleaning in the old lab… It’s a room that I used to use as a workroom. One of the reasons we built the barn was to get the dangerous chemicals I used to keep in that room out of the house. As I moved stuff I kept coming across things of Sam’s.. Here’s soem of his guitar music in one of his guitar cases..



Here’s a ‘sword’ that he and I made many years ago.. he was always making swords.

And here’s a knife set he got when he and Max took a cooking summer camp many years back.. (‘remember this and don’t forget, never trust a skinny chef’)

He’s still everywhere, that boy…

OK.. time for bed.. gnite all , gnite sam.. I like finding your stuff.

-jc

Wednesday night – stuff

Yesterday I spent a few hours visiting with  my friends Beth and Tom .. I’m working on a memorial web site for their daughter Kate… It was really good spending time with them and their daughter Kelly. They’re just beginning a journey that we’re a year into with Sam… It is hard to relive those early times with them. yet it feels so kharmicly good to be spending time with them. There are certain things we can say to each other that folks who haven’t gone through a loss like ours can’t really understand.  I know that I’ve already said that a few times.. but it’s so important to me right now…

Tom’s license plate struck me as really special now.. nothing makes you more of a mom or dad than surviving the passing of a child.. It defines you

Even as I touch my friends tragedy, I continue to feel strong and centered. I think it’s a combination of things.. spending time with my family over the break… my new job assignment.. the reiki/massage sessions ? Whatever it is..  I started back to work today and I’m amazed at how energized and recharged  I feel.. Hopefully I can keep the feeling into the year… ..

I spent the day organizing all the things I need to get done this month. My new assignment has all of it’s deliverables falling within the next six weeks. My main project right now is a multimedia package that will show kids some of the cool science behind the video games they love.. I’m hoping that this will increase their interest in careers in science, technology, engineering and math. (what do you all think about that ? )   I’m working with my friends at Champlain college on the multimedia part.. and I’m loving it. I’m learning so many cool things.from them.. And I’m enjoying experimenting on my own.. Like these poor attempts at creating a talking avatar of myself  (see http://www.gizmoz.com)

Ahh.. I figured out how to get my own voice in there..

Beyond the video game theme, I’m also interested in creating some more YouTube-able short videos to promote wild science..  and maybe start to change kids view of science and scientists as being boring.    More and more I see that as my dharmic path..

Coincidentally, my friend Seth, a high school kid in South Hero .. contacted me about collaborating on some sort of science projects… Turns out he’s a whiz on Blender, one of the graphics programs I’m trying (unsuccessfully) to master.   He quickly put together the following animation to explain the quarter crushing experiment I blogged about on Dec 27

I’m really looking forward to working with Seth on doing some of these animations. , Max is going to hep me create a cool opening sequence..   then I  can start putting out some of these movies.It’s amazing when you put an idea ‘out there’ .. what shows up on your doorstep to help you out.

Tonight was fun.. Eric is back from Switzerland and came over for dinner. It’s always good to have him here.

There was also another small going away party for our good friend Rusty. He’s moving out to Fort Lewis College in Colorado to be a studious ski bum.. He’ll be majoring in skiing and Spanish.. Sounds like a blast. We’re going to miss him very much.

The not-so-wild party.

Two of the guys got stuck in the snow tonight. They chose a pretty novel way of getting one of the cars out of the snow.

We’re not getting much snow in the next day.. but it’s going to be mighty cold.. It was 2 below when I picked Gabe up at Bolton .. and 3 below when I took eric home.. We’re expecting 15 below.. Brrrrr

OK.. All for tonight.. More tomorrow.. Gnite all. Gnite Sam
-me

Tuesday evening – Happy New Year

Folks,
    I’m  too sleepy to write today.. I’ve only had 3 hours sleep since last year. Still, I’d like to take a second to wish you all a good new year..  This has been the toughest year of our lives.. It’s been an amazing one too. We all grown so much and seen our friends grow too.  I am starting this year still deeply sad, yet stronger, more at peace and more purposeful than I’ve ever felt before. I’d like to   thank the many, many people who have cared for our family and help us keep Sam’s spirit alive in the world.

 I know better now  than to wish for anything specific in this year. I’ve seen how the future is rarely like our expectation.  I can, still hope that it’s a year of peace and spiritual growth  for all our friends, family and communities.

Thanks you all so much..  and thank you Sam, for helping us to be strong.

-me

ps. Here’s a version of Auld Lang Syne that I really love.. it’s supposedly the original Robert Burns melody. I probably posted this last year.. but here it is again

Monday Morning – New Years Breakfast Invitation

Folks,
As is our tradition, we’re inviting folks to join us for New Year’s breakfast starting anytime around midnight tonight. Please bring food and/or drink to share if you can,… Bring musical instruments if you’d like… Please pass the invite around. We’d love to see you.. call us at 802-434-3576

-us

Friends…

    It’s now 3:30 AM .. and there are still 20 or so folks in the house. Theres music coming from down below.. but I’m too sleepy to go down and listen.. The day started so long ago… We were all pretty lazy throuh the day.. in a nice  sleepy sort of way.


Diane, Chai and I did manage to get out for a really nice snowshoe in this wonderful powder…

We checekd in on our ‘bird tree’.. Nearly all of the food we’d put on it had already been eaten…

The rest of the day was nice and slow.. The high point was Max coming downstaires after his freind Emma had straightened his hair..

Gabe spent the afternoon up at the mountain.. but was ready to coem down by about 6:30…

Around 8:30 Diane and I picked up Deb and Hannah and went up to Bolton to watch the  the fireworks.. There were lots of our friends up there.

The fireworks started on time at 9. They were pretty spectacular.. it was a small but appreciative crowd.. there were some of the coolest ‘shaped’ burst I’d ever seen.. they even had one that blew up into a happy face.  

I love watching the fireworks up here.. I can think of many times we’ve had the family up here to see them..  They made me think of Sam

When I came home I was feeling pretty sad… I needed to go send a few minutes in Sam’s room. that’s just what I needed.

I spent some time looking at Sam’s artwork.. here’s one I hadn’t really looked at much before.   I like it !

I also spent time look at .. and talking to.. the many pictures in the room.. Here’s one from the mid 2006…   I can connect to myself at the moment this  picture. was taken. . I knew how lucky I was.. I’m glad that I can say that.

Around 10:30 I drove out to pick up Gabe and some friends..  As it got closer to midnight, we all decided to stay here rather than venture out…. I found a place to watch the ball drop in Time Square.   we did the whole 10… 9.. 8… 7… thing.. it was fun..

We toasted the new year with sparkling lemonade…

And lit our candle to invite Sam to be part of the celebration.

The next few hours went as most of our parties.. it was 98% kids.. some in Sam’s room playing video games.. some in other parts of the house talking.. some downstairs playing music.   It wasn’t a big crowd.. but it was a nice crowd..

Just before I came up to bed at 3.. I looked at Chai and saw that she was getting tired too…

It’s about 4 and I just heard Diane serve breakfast.. I better go help out..

I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy new year.. .. I wish we all find the peace we need in our lives.. Happy new year my friends.. Happy new year Sam

-me