Sam had show-and-tell at the Arc yesterday and chose to bring his old friend, Brownie (or as Sam referred to him in his Instagram post, his "little night time pal").
Brownie has been at Sam's side in times of joy and in times of fear and trauma. Through it all, Brownie has always listened, provided comfort and, most of all, loved Sam for who he is.
We should all be so lucky.
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At the Arc...
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| Photo from my Instagram |
I have vague memories from when I was a little kid, of a particular Easter morning. It was after one of the few times we had gone to church and I was walking down the narrow brick path that ran along the south side of our house.
The crocuses were just starting to bloom and I remember thinking how pretty they looked and how, before they fully opened, it looked as if we were growing a garden of Easter eggs.
I somehow feel connected to that very brief moment every spring when the crocuses reappear.
Sam has an incredible eye when it comes to spotting stray pennies along our walks. I don't have a lot to say about it, it just gives me an excuse to post these photos...
Back to our canal walks and, even better, the creamie is now open.
Sam wrapped up in his gift from Rachael - a burrito blanket. (In the second photo, Rachael demonstrates, for emphasis.)
Rachael made it home to celebrate both her and Sam's birthday this weekend. Their birthdays are separated by three days and several years.
In an odd way, it reminds me of me and Dad and our birthdays. More often than not, we, too, celebrated our birthdays together, ours having been separated by exactly a week and many, many years.
When I was small, I kind of wanted my own celebration. But as I got a little older, I realized how special it was.
Rachael and Sam are both smarter than me. I think they've appreciated how special it is all along.
Happy Birthday to my near-constant companion and one of my four favorite people...
I love you, Sam.
And here's a bonus photo. This one was taken just days after his fourth birthday. It's a small photo - and you can't really see any faces - but it's one of my favorites...
Since, with all the bad weather, there is even less going on than usual (which is really saying something), I'm re-posting one of my all time favorite comic panels.
This was me every night throughout elementary school (and beyond. WAY beyond)...
I found a new bundt cake recipe online a while back and Sam and I finally got around to trying it out. I let Sam do the glazing.
Neither Sam nor I are sports fans but that didn't stop us from having our own Super Bowl party.
Here, for your enjoyment (and envy), are a few exciting shots of the festivities...
Today was a day of bowling for Sam, which was fortunate because with all the bad weather lately, getting any exercise at all has been almost non-existent.
Today though, he had two different bowling groups, each at a different location.
The first event was with one of his social groups. It started at 11:00 and ended at 1:00 (sort of). The second group was a birthday party. This one started at 2:00 and was about 40 miles away.
It took every minute of that one hour window to get from Point A to Point B. - but we made it.
Barely.
(*ouch)
Ok, so back here, I mentioned that, when it comes to the Winter Carnival, Sam and I only involve ourselves in two of the activities. Technically, that may not be quite true (surprise!). We also watch the fireworks, which takes place after the Parade of Lights.
The thing is, we don't watch them from the field - which is the same field from where we would watch them on the Fourth of July (here and elsewhere). There's something about standing in a snow covered/iced covered field with a bunch of people breathing on me while fireworks explode over us that doesn't appeal to me.
(I don't know if this is the same reason Sam doesn't want to go there. All I know is he has no interest in going - and that's good enough for me.)
No, instead we watch the fireworks from our living room window.
Granted, this is nowhere near as dramatic as being in the field. And some of these fireworks can be hard to see. But every so often, one of them gives the illusion of our neighbor's house spewing out what could be interpreted as a colorful and festive chimney fire. So that's pretty cool.
Plus, it's fun watching them with Sam (and not having anyone else breathing on me).
Same night/different photos. Here are a few photos (and a very brief video clip) of the Parade of Lights...
And here's the VERY short, four second video clip which, I think, gives a good feel for why I would go out on a Saturday night and walk on ice covered sidewalks in the freezing cold...
The town's annual Winter Carnival began last night and runs, I believe, through the weekend. There are a bunch of activities that go on throughout those days but the only ones Sam and involve ourselves with are: 1) looking at the ice sculptures and 2) watching the Parade of Lights.
Both of these take place on the first night of the carnival and had been postponed from Friday night due to the onslaught of a major snow and ice storm.
Normally, Sam and I would would walk the mile or so into town to participate ( I use that term very loosely) but with the said recent ice storm(s) we found walking to be way too dangerous.
Instead, Sam and I drove into town, parked, then somehow managed to navigate the ice-covered sidewalks while inching our way down Main Street, snapping photos of the ice sculptures (or in my case, snapping photos of Sam snapping photos of the ice sculptures)- all without breaking any bones!
