I need a cube to put this in :D
Countering the nattering nabobs of negativism and the hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history.
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Merry Christmas Cooper
You know that chair you like to climb into when you're visting and think I'm not here?
The one last April you decided, without warning, to jump into my lap and fatally injured in doing so?
After many months and several surgeries this morning it finally succumbed and ceased to be a reasonable facsimile of a chair.

I managed to find you a new one on Craigslist for $30 up in Woodstock...score! Checking the straps at the Pomfret Center post office.

New chair at home.

The funeral pyre of the old one.

The one last April you decided, without warning, to jump into my lap and fatally injured in doing so?
After many months and several surgeries this morning it finally succumbed and ceased to be a reasonable facsimile of a chair.
I managed to find you a new one on Craigslist for $30 up in Woodstock...score! Checking the straps at the Pomfret Center post office.
New chair at home.
The funeral pyre of the old one.
Saturday, December 6, 2014
Gingerbread Dreams...
Greater Hartford Habitat for Humanity's Gingerbread House show (was a good excuse to turn my brain off for three hours and go for a drive on a rainy day -- hadn't taken a pleasure drive in a month or more!). First time I went to that early beachhead of New Urbanism, Blue Black Square:








Across the street was upscale Ikea -- a/k/a Crate & Barrel. But I like that and I bet I could make one!

Dear.God.Candy.Crack...

Across the street was upscale Ikea -- a/k/a Crate & Barrel. But I like that and I bet I could make one!
Dear.God.Candy.Crack...
QOD
It often feels like you have a broken heart, but it turns out to be a bruised ego. Luckily, that’s something you can deal with!
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Family Pics
From going through a bunch of old photos after Heidi's graveside service:
Arvid and a pony on Bermuda during the early years of WWII. Wish I knew the story of the pony. Uncle Ed seemed a bit bitter they weren't allowed horses or ponies on the family farm!

Dad

Uncle Bill

Dad, John, Ed, and Dick at Heidi's Wedding. Congratulations to Aunt Joy for being the only one able to make a Kivela boy wear a decent pair of socks...

A very young Uncle Bill.

The two on left are Impi (second) and Lempi (sp?), Impi's sister on the very left.

I **LOVE** Granny's expression and body posture in this, and the sunglasses probably help. She's a woman who had earned a high school degree when Finland was still part of Tsarist Russia (and hated that Russian officers took her paperwork away when inspectors boarded the ship she was emigrating on, though she just lost papers -- one of her friends was taken off the boat). Makes you understand why a popular reply from my grandfather to the kids' questions was, "Maybe yes, maybe no, maybe we go ask your mother."

Uncle Ed thinks the dog's name was Feller -- this is the dog that would "rescue" anyone swimming in the farm pond. My dad told of neighborhood kids coming up and asking, "Mister, would you put your dog in the bard so we can go swimming?" If he saw someone in the water, he'd swim out, take them by the arm, and wouldn't let go until they were both back on dry ground.

Arvid, Impi, and Lydia Wesa

Big & Little Ed having an extended (like 10 minute long) discussion over the pic in Ed's hand.

Uncle Bill again. This puzzled me for a moment until Ed explained he operated landing craft in the Navy. I remember late in his life Bill at some family party, and somehow the topic got on the military (or maybe it was the fire company after Franky had passed away?), and he got a bit of the thousand yard stare -- as he recalled how you never forget picking up the broken bodies of the dead when on burial detail. One of the few times I ever saw a WWII vet get emotional over their experiences in person.
He's sitting on the bumper of his rare '42 Ford, since not long into the model year all production was switched to the war.

And after the war in his Oldsmobile. I loved his blue and white pickup when I was little, guess he always had good taste in vehicles :) And where did all these great cars and trucks ever end up?!?! Why don't couldn't we have a family barn full of these treasurers...

The farm's GMC

The two youngest grandchildren of Impi & Arvid:

Impi, Niomi, Impi's sister Amelia from Finland, and probably Carol standing.

Arvid and a pony on Bermuda during the early years of WWII. Wish I knew the story of the pony. Uncle Ed seemed a bit bitter they weren't allowed horses or ponies on the family farm!
Dad
Uncle Bill
Dad, John, Ed, and Dick at Heidi's Wedding. Congratulations to Aunt Joy for being the only one able to make a Kivela boy wear a decent pair of socks...
A very young Uncle Bill.
The two on left are Impi (second) and Lempi (sp?), Impi's sister on the very left.
I **LOVE** Granny's expression and body posture in this, and the sunglasses probably help. She's a woman who had earned a high school degree when Finland was still part of Tsarist Russia (and hated that Russian officers took her paperwork away when inspectors boarded the ship she was emigrating on, though she just lost papers -- one of her friends was taken off the boat). Makes you understand why a popular reply from my grandfather to the kids' questions was, "Maybe yes, maybe no, maybe we go ask your mother."
Uncle Ed thinks the dog's name was Feller -- this is the dog that would "rescue" anyone swimming in the farm pond. My dad told of neighborhood kids coming up and asking, "Mister, would you put your dog in the bard so we can go swimming?" If he saw someone in the water, he'd swim out, take them by the arm, and wouldn't let go until they were both back on dry ground.
Arvid, Impi, and Lydia Wesa
Big & Little Ed having an extended (like 10 minute long) discussion over the pic in Ed's hand.
Uncle Bill again. This puzzled me for a moment until Ed explained he operated landing craft in the Navy. I remember late in his life Bill at some family party, and somehow the topic got on the military (or maybe it was the fire company after Franky had passed away?), and he got a bit of the thousand yard stare -- as he recalled how you never forget picking up the broken bodies of the dead when on burial detail. One of the few times I ever saw a WWII vet get emotional over their experiences in person.
He's sitting on the bumper of his rare '42 Ford, since not long into the model year all production was switched to the war.
And after the war in his Oldsmobile. I loved his blue and white pickup when I was little, guess he always had good taste in vehicles :) And where did all these great cars and trucks ever end up?!?! Why don't couldn't we have a family barn full of these treasurers...
The farm's GMC
The two youngest grandchildren of Impi & Arvid:
Impi, Niomi, Impi's sister Amelia from Finland, and probably Carol standing.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Picture Dump!
The prettiest time of the year for the swim pond -- when we have the first snow, but no ice yet:

(Technically, the ice melted -- had 1" already formed before it warmed up again!)
Some nice woodstove shots:


Selfie...

I just liked this, despite any potential implications of narcissism posting it after a selfie :D

(Technically, the ice melted -- had 1" already formed before it warmed up again!)
Some nice woodstove shots:
Selfie...
I just liked this, despite any potential implications of narcissism posting it after a selfie :D
Sweet & Sour Kielbasa
Disturbing Images...
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Cooper's Overnight
His people were on their annual excursion to Stamford Thanksgiving Parade, so I had Cooper:
Looking dapper in his bowtie:

A visit with Mom & Ed. Ed gave him a Stella Dorro breakfast treat, so Ed has a friend for life!

Enjoying the woodstove. He outright refuses to use the dog beds, I guess he still smells Oscar on them nearly two years and a washing later.

I dropped his food container coming into the house. He volunteered to clean it up -- and got every last kibble.

It's 6:55am on Sunday. He wasn't impressed I get up that early on the weekends. At. All.

He did supervise me hanging up some garland -- one of the few things I got done Sunday nursing this stupid cold I have:

Looking dapper in his bowtie:
A visit with Mom & Ed. Ed gave him a Stella Dorro breakfast treat, so Ed has a friend for life!
Enjoying the woodstove. He outright refuses to use the dog beds, I guess he still smells Oscar on them nearly two years and a washing later.
I dropped his food container coming into the house. He volunteered to clean it up -- and got every last kibble.
It's 6:55am on Sunday. He wasn't impressed I get up that early on the weekends. At. All.
He did supervise me hanging up some garland -- one of the few things I got done Sunday nursing this stupid cold I have:
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