This past Sunday the Gruncle Jim and Kathy came to visit us and check up on the boy. The boy opened a few presents early (with a little help...).




The boy also had his first taste of ice cream.



He wasn't sure if he liked it at first...



But he decided that he loved it.

Walter at 8 months. He's at the point now that a photo will be more and more difficult to get of him sitting still. He tries to crawl off the end of the couch now because the floor is so much more interesting than sitting with his boring parents.

Walter has had many new experiences lately. Here he is sitting like a big boy in a high chair in a Wendy's. He got to try a bit of french fry, but didn't like it too much- he had enjoyed his health food "turkey lasagna" too much. He is always setting a good example for us by eating his vegetables.



I caught him holding himself up in his crib yesterday when he should have been napping. He looked surprised like he had just been caught doing something that he shouldn't have been. Prior to getting the picture, he was standing there babbling to maybe one of his grandfathers Walter or Bruce or uncle Byron.

The Texas Plate of the Day (TPOD)

Maine feels isolated sometimes. Its the northernmost of the lower 48 and the only state that shares a border with just one other state (New Hampshire, of course...). If you want to drive in, you have to drive through New Hampster or go through Canada. All of this combined with the legendary winters and Samuel Clemen's thoughts on the coldest winter he ever spent was a summer here in Maine make for a feeling that we are isolated and somehow cut off from the rest of the civilised world. But being "Vacationland" as the license plates suggest we do see a fair share of out of state plates on vehicles around here. One that has mystified me has been Texas. Since we moved here, I have seen a plethora of cars bearing Texas state license plates. I don't know why and I don't know why people from a state that is one of the hottest places in the country find their way here to one of the coldest. And it isn't a summertime escape the heat sort of vacation thing either. I see Texas license plates on the road almost every single day even while we are separated by some 2,000 miles. Its an anomaly that I enjoy and thus, I am going to start detailing the car that I see day by day bearing the old Lone Star and their (apparently...) geographically lost occupants.

Friday, December 8- White Volvo 70 wagon
Saturday, December 9- Green or black (it was dark...) Jeep Cherokee
Sunday, December 10- none spotted
Monday, December 11- none spotted
Tuesday, December 12- Black VW Jetta
Wednesday, December 13- none spotted
Thursday, December 14- Silver Toyota Corolla

Alright, alright.... it figures. As soon as I post this the Texas plate sightings become spotty and dry up. There are still plenty of the ubiquitous New Hampshire, Vermont, NY, Massachusetts and New Jersey plates and then it reaches out to Michigan and Minnesota (here on vacation to escape the winter?), and there are plenty of other geographically diverse and far away plates that I've seen in the last week from Alaska, Florida and Alabama (in Maine in December, huh?), but it took me until yesterday to spot the latest from Texas. Bear with me. I know there are still Texans wandering our shores.

Wednesday, December 20- White Chevy Suburban (with a picture of a longhorn and the words "Texas, Hook 'em horns..." written into the dusty rear window.)
Thursday, December 21- none spotted
Friday, December 22- White Volvo S70 sedan
Saturday, December 23- none spotted
Sunday, December 24 & 25- Holiday break

Even though there were two more recent Texas plate sightings in as many days, I may suspend the plate sightings until they pick up again. Maybe I should concentrate on the other equally geographically unlikely sightings that I see daily, like Louisiana (though is it really unlikely? Is (some...) snow and cold preferable to poverty and post flooding?), Californians, plates from Tennessee, Kentucky and South Carolina and my old favorite, Oregon (right city, wrong coast...).

Wednesday, January 10- Maroon Ford Escort hatchback
Thursday, January 11- Red and Grey Honda Element

Monday, January 22- Grey Ford Escort
Wednesday, January 24- Two in ONE Day!- Black VW Jetta GTI and Silver Chevy Trailblazer
Friday, January 26- Grey/Black Nissan Pathfinder(?), Silver Chevy Cobalt LT and a Silver Pontiac Gran Prix- THREE in one day and what is up with all the neutral greys and silver car colors in Texas?
Sunday, January 27- Dark green/ black Jeep Cherokee- quite possibly the same one spotted last month. It was seen in the same area of South Portland.
Friday, February 2- Brinks armoured truck
Saturday, February 3- Maroon Toyota Corolla
And since then, I've respotted the maroon Escort...
Friday, February 16- Blue Dodge Ram 1500 pickup with "Native Texan" vanity plates. Apparently, it isn't just a plot device used in an episode of 'King of the Hill.'
Since then, I've respotted the recurring dark green Cherokee, so its not a new plate any longer, but a Texan gone local and at some point along the way, I spotted a Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Wednesday, February 28- Maroon two door Ford Escort(?) hatchback. (edit: I just looked farther up the list and saw the same Escort.) And once again, the recurring Black VW Jetta. There are a few regulars like the Jetta that I'm not going to report on, but concentrate on new spottings.
Monday, March 12th- Silver/tan Jeep Grand Cherokee with dealer plates
Tuesday, March 13th- Tan Nissan Maxima
Wednesday, March 14th- Gray/ silver Mitsubishi and Kia. Couldn't see which models in time...

Walter did have turkey, though it was Beechnut Turkey and Rice dinner from a jar.

Instead of turkey this year, we had a small chicken. M wants for us to get a duckling one year. I'm all for the idea of having a little duck quacking around our feet, but am not sure what the cats would think about it.

The obligatory mincemeat pie that IS Thanksgiving to me, thanks to Papa's influence... Before and...



After.

Its very similiar weather as last year, although without the dusting of snow on the ground and the baby in the foreground.



Of course, Poe has to get into the picture again.

One of my new favorite beers is Sam Adams Boston Lager. Yeah, yeah, I know, not a Maine microbrew, but good nonetheless. Nice and hoppy, but not as much as the commercials claim (at least, certainly not as hoppy as my old fave Pale Ale by Saranac...). Onena these days, Alice, I'm going to produce a Portland Pale Ale.

Happy Birthday, Byron. I know, I know, this may or may not be your actual birthday, but you always knew that I could never remember it. I just know that it was around Veteran's Day. This is the last of the homebrew Pale Ales that I brewed this spring that we never got to drink together... at least not on this side of the mortal coil. Happy 37th, brother. I raise my glass to you.

On our way home, we got to see Grammie. We also drove through Bennington, VT and got to see the Revolutionary War monument there. In all the times that we have driven back through Bennington, we had never seen it other than a huge spire of rock rising through the wooded hills that you can see approaching the town. They have Gen. Burgoyne's camp cooking pot on display that was captured in the battle.

Saturday, October 14, 2006. Byron's Memorial service held at the Soujourner Truth park in New Paltz next to the Walkill River. People were invited to talk about Byron and how he had influenced their lives, poetry was read (just remember to breath...) and the pipes were played. At the end of the service, as befitting a Viking, Byron's model viking longboat was set aflame and sailed off down the river. People also lit candles and set them afloat down the river. Farewell, my warrior brother and await me in Valhalla one day.

Walter at the ripe old age of seven months. Thanks for the Cookie Monster hoodie, Gramma!

I first noticed this sign a couple of months ago while sitting at a light. I don't know who created this, but since then, I've found another in Portland based on a different sign. Very clever. I'm not sure if anyone has really noticed it as it blends in so well. But it hasn't been touched for months and so I'm guessing that everyone just overlooks it.

For Halloween, Walter was... the exact opposite of what his normal persona is. The costume also had a little tail sewn onto his butt.

The boy modeling his black-eyed bunny hat that I bought for him last summer (on sale!).


Walter is a ham. He saw me with the camera and had to have his picture taken. His in-house paparazzi obliged.

Walter has also taken up reading as a hobby. Here he is with the last book on his light summer reading list. Next up is "War and Peace."






Even he is surprised by his rapid development!

Walter hasn't been making us update this blog as much as we'd like, leading us to show multiple images from successive months. Here he was at four months...










and at five months...


































and six months. happy half a year birthday, Boy!

R.I.P. Byron Joseph Preston. Born Nov. 12, 1969, Died Sept. 4, 2006. Drinker of beers, teller of stories, reader and student of history, wearer of fezzes and hunter of ghosts and oldest of friends since 1991. You will be missed by your 'brother.'

Though it was for a sad occasion, the boy and M and I took our first trip together to Ulster County, NY to visit his Uncle Byron and Aunt Kathy and cousin Nora.
















We also got to see many other Aunts and Uncles, including Uncle Geoff and Aunt Seana, his surrogate grandfather Wolf and Uncle Peter who looks all too natural with a baby in his arms.

and perhaps his favorite (at least ours...), prunes.