First, I'd like to say Happy Birthday! to Dave! Hope you have a great one!

(This picture is another one from our visit to Eureka! The exclamation point is part of the museum's name.)

I am sitting here on a bench in my back patio, on a truly gorgeous day. The down side is that since I am wireless on my laptop, I can barely see my display! *sigh* Oh well. I really oughtn't complain, since I have a nice day to be outside in, AND I have a nice wireless laptop to complain on. :)

Actually, I was almost going to make some iced tea to drink while out here, but changed my mind to hot tea at the last minute. The last couple of days have been great, weather wise. It's been clear and sunny, warm in the sun, with a cool breeze. Perfect! I'm enjoying this while it lasts, because I'm sure before long it's going to be rainy and cold and dark, and I'll be trying to stop myself from making a daily ritual of complaining about it! :P

This morning was very autumnal. It was almost crisp out. It warmed up, which is nice. The breeze is cool, but soft. I was going to take Ryan out for a walk, but he wound up needed a nap first. Maybe when he wakes up...

I have to share something: I bought some vegetables the other day, and set them on the corner of the kitchen counter. For some reason, the sight of two vine ripened tomatos, an avocado, a red onion, a yellow onion, and a cluster of garlic all together just affected me somehow. It was as if a still life had come to life right before me. I'm sure it sounds mental, but that combo of veggies has tripped off something in my head I can't put my finger on. Is there some famous still life involving that particular grouping of vegetables? If anyone knows, please share! I wish I could describe it better, but there's something very cool about my veggies! (Today though, I used one of the tomatos, diminishing the effect a bit.)

(Ok, now that the men in pretty white suits are coming...)

I am going to babysit for a short stretch this evening. Not much else is doin' so far. I'm still astounded that there's only about a week of August left. Time is playing tricks on me!

Happy birthday Manuel and Susan! Hope you both have a wonderful day!

Love,

~Holly, Larry, and Ryan

I posted a blog entry in my MySpace blog, and didn't think it was fair to those who don't have MySpace accounts, so I posted it here as well: (I wrote this as an alternative to filling out the "books" section of "my interests" on my MySpace profile.)

I don't know what was read to other kids as bedtime stories, but for me it was The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings by JRR Tolkien. I don't remember how old I was when my dad first started reading to me at bedtime, but I do know I wouldn't have wanted him to read anything else. It was a special time my dad and I shared, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the wonderful adventures Bilbo, then later Frodo, would have. It didn't hurt that my dad is blessed with an amazing voice, and talent for oral interpretation.

My dad read and reread those books to me every night at bedtime, until finally I began reading them for myself.

I loved any books having to do with scifi, and sword and sorcery (especially the sorcery!). I devoured Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series, as well as Zenna Henderson's books (where I got my second middle name, if anyone's curious), and the Lensmen series, by EE Doc Smith.

The funny thing was, I was only in seventh or eighth grade at the time, and here I was reading fiction written for adults. It was kind of odd for me to go back and read things aimed more at my age group. I loved The Chronicles of Narnia (which incidentally, I read all out of order because of when the school library had the various books in), and Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time and A Swiftly Tilting Planet. There were two books that made a big impression on me, Veronica Ganz by Marilyn Sachs, and Fifth Grade Magic by Beatrice Gormley. (It's been so long since I've read them though, I'm not entirely sure why they've stuck with me.) Of course, I read all the Choose Your Own Adventure books, loving the ability to choose the outcome and alter the story.

In high school I had to read horrible things like Ethan Frome. I still had plenty of time for leisure reading though. I read a lot of sword and sorcery series, mostly.

Fast forward to the whole Harry Potter phenomenon. (You knew it was coming! :) ) I remember the first book, then movie coming out. Seemed a nerdy kid in round glasses was everywhere I looked (he kind of creeped me out, actually). I wondered what all the hubbub was about. At the time I was the kind of person who avoided popular things like the plague, so I steadfastly refused to read the books or watch the movies.

I don't know why, but sometime around the beginning of this year I caved. Like a fresh convert to a religion, I saw the light! :P Seriously, I began to see what the big deal was.

I'm not sure if I've explained this at some point in my Tripod blog or not. However, since things HP have popped up in my blog and conversation, I'd like to explain my current fascination with the Harry Potter books.

At the most fundamental level, it's just plain well-written. It's a classic story of good vs. evil, executed creatively and brilliantly. Of course, I love magic, so there's that as well. Beyond those things, is something very deep and primal I've only come to understand over the last two years: mother's love. In the story, Harry's mother's love for him saves his life. Love conquers evil. To me, that is so amazing and beautiful. It's a scary world we live in, and reading stories of love prevailing over evil is very uplifting.

Another theme of the books that is close to my heart is friendship. The friends in these books form an incredible bond, and would (but hopefully don't!) die for one another. To me, true friendship is something to be treasured, and unfortunately seems to be rare. (I count myself very fortunate to be able to say I have true friends.)

The icing on the cake is that there's a good, very well thought out plot, and it's a very entertaining read. It's so easy to fall into that world, because of all the work that went into creating it.

I'm not sure what I'm going to read next. I like all sorts of books. JoAnna and I read Not That Kind Of Girl by Catherine Alliot, and had a great time doing so! I've read The DaVinci Code and enjoyed it. I've discovered that books tend to find me, rather than vice versa. I'm looking forward to seeing what finds me next.

(This photo was taken yesterday at Eureka!) 

Yesterday Ryan and I went to Eureka! with my friend Michelle and her son, Nathan. (Michelle very kindly gave us a ride.) Eureka! is an interactive childrens' museum in Halifax (which is about an hour away). It was fun. There were some specific areas for the under 5 crowd, which Ryan enjoyed. However, for the most part I think it's a place best enjoyed by school age kids. I did have a good time hanging out with Michelle, and it was nice to let Ryan run around somewhere new and exciting.

When we first got to England, Larry looked around online and found a website for the local running club, the Harrogate Harriers. I decided the time was right to go check it out. Last night was my first time running with the group. It would be fair to say I got my butt handed to me, but very nicely!

Unfortunately for me, all the slower people were on vacation, so I was left to try to hold my own with the faster group. Let me just say that I ran longer and harder last night than I had in a very long time! Luckily the people I ran with were so nice. They have a "no one gets left behind" policy, so people took turns staying back with me, and once in a while (probably when my breathing started getting extremely loud and labored), the group would decide to take a walking break.

The people in the group are very nice and encouraged me to come back. I plan on it, but I'm hoping I won't be the slowest person next time!

I have to say it's getting close to the 24 hour mark since I ran, and boy is my body starting to feel it!

Today was Ryan's WIC appointment (for those of you unfamiliar with WIC, it's a kind of checkup/nutritional counseling service). It went really well. Ryan is right at the 50th percentiles for height and weight (34.5 inches tall, 27lbs. 2.5oz). Apparently I'm doing really well with his diet, other than being a bit short on veggies (which I knew that would be the case).

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Happy belated birthday Norm! Hope it was great!

Love,

~Larry, Holly, and Ryan

Dear Zach,

Love,

Uncle Larry, Aunt Holly, and Ryan

I took this picture trying to capture Ryan in his England "football" (soccer) team jersey. He wasn't really in the mood to be photographed. Unfortunately, it's the only full-body one I have of him in this outfit, and now it's getting too cool weather wise for him to wear it. (There are some pictures of him wearing it during our trip to London.)

We had some thunder this morning. We've had a bit now and then over the last couple of days. Luckily, the weather cleared up and was truly gorgeous during the day. The sun came out and was warm, however there was a pleasantly cool breeze. That's my favorite.

Although I'm sure there's some sun and (relatively) warm weather left here, summer has definitely left the building.

Not much is up today. In the morning I ran, and let Ryan out of the stroller to run around a bit. Later on we went to the shopping center.

Around 4pm the rain came back with a vengeance.

Tomorrow ought to be fun and interesting. We've got plans to visit a childrens' museum with a friend, then in the evening I am going to see about joining the local running club.

Happy birthday Miguel!

Love,

~Holly, Ryan, and Larry

Friday and Saturday I did two things running-wise that I hadn't done in a while: run in the rain, and run by myself (also in the rain). Friday the weather had been rainy and I felt cooped up, so I put Ryan in the jogging stroller and the rain cover over the stroller and took off. It wasn't cold (though it wasn't warm, either) so it wasn't too bad. It was kind of fun, actually. I'm sure Ryan appreciated getting out of the house as much as I did.

Yesterday, Larry watched Ryan while I ran. It's amazing how much easier it is to run when you're not pushing thirty-odd pounds of stroller and child!

Yesterday we watched Hannah for Susan for just a bit, then later on they came back for dinner. It was great having them over!

Today has been a truly lazy Sunday. Larry slept in a bit, then later I took a big nap. We had a huge french toast breakfast. Yum! It was rainy and windy a lot during most of the day, but it cleared up nicely in the evening so Ryan could play in the back yard.

I wasn't going to post any of the goofy pictures JoAnna and I took from our night of a wee bit of wine drinking, however, I saw she had one posted on her MySpace for a while, so I figured if she posted one, then I could!

Happy birthday Grandma Layman!

Love,

~Larry, Holly, and Ryan