… and a roundup of the weekend events. It’s been no secret around our house that those official daddy-days have been in quiet jeopardy for some time now. Between that little stint of unemployment last summer, and the uncertainty of a job change, through the peppered consumption of my flexible days off for use during our more formal vacations over the winter, it has been a wonder that we’ve had any at all in the last months. But we have. This past Friday both the latest, and possibly the last. Of course, it is not exactly confirmed right now, but my suspicions — what with upcoming weekend plans, little trips here and there, and the Fringe Festival in August — the next likely candidate day [...]
Posted on Saturday, May 28, 02011 under
adventure.
Saturday. Sitting on the front porch in my plastic Adirondack chair. Sparkle curled up in her bed (too much of a wimp to lay in the grass, of course.) The sun beats through the light smoky haze drifting in from some Northerly forest fire. The cars grind past, one every couple of minutes, beating their way to somewhere, who can say. Saturday morning have become my free time. Claire has been taking a dance class. Karin takes her to the studio where she’s been a regular for a number of years now. Its been Claire’s first year. It’s a mommy-daughter thing. It suits me just fine to have a solid ninety minutes to myself every Saturday morning. Sometimes I do something productive. This morning I [...]
Posted on Thursday, March 4, 02010 under
fatherhood.
I took Claire downtown today to share lunch with Karin. It was the weekly daddy-day, though I’m finding it tougher and tougher to fill the days with meaningful activities. (Perhaps it will pick up when the weather warms, or perhaps it is a result of my sour grapes at work. Who knows.) We took the bus, an activity both fun and time consuming. Round trip it was four hours, including lunch and a short stint in the downtown library. It would have been fairly mundane — at least as far as bus rides with a two-and-a-half year old can be called mundane — save for a funny little incident involving roughly fifteen elementary students and my hyper-active daughter. Picture this: we’re riding quietly on a [...]
I’ve been sick. Actually, I’ve been successively sick for a couple weeks now, Claire and I trading colds and stomach bugs for most of that time, my running sadly falling off the wagon (and likely resulting in me not running the half marathon this weekend and thus putting my body into a recovery shock that would probably end with me in a Calgary hospital) and unfairly overlapping more often with weekends and statutory holidays and thus minimal sick days. I’ve been sick for a couple weeks. But I’ve been particularly sick this week when a few days back some kind of critter colony decided to take up residence in my digestive system and wreak havoc there. I’ll spare you the details. Yesterday was a scheduled [...]
Posted on Tuesday, September 22, 02009 under
fatherhood.
To Claire, On the occasion of your second birthday. I’ve always thought that the old adage that “they grow up so fast” wouldn’t apply to me, but now I can’t quite believe how often I say that exact thing. You are two years old… already. And an independent, quick-learning, fire-branded two to boot.
Posted on Friday, July 17, 02009 under
critters.
Thursday being my daddy day with Claire — and considering that the weather was awesome — we took a quick trip to the store and (finally) bought a carrier seat for my (aging) mountain bike. I recall my folks having one when we were kids, and though I don’t recall riding in it myself I have memories of my sister (and maybe even my brother) in it. I probably did ride in it, I just have no memory. I picked up a more modern variation on the theme, a very cool little seat that puts Claire in front of me, between the seat and the handlebars and gives her an awesome little view of the scenery as we bike by. I figured she’d either hate [...]
