It is not a coincidence ...

that this definition appears on Patrick's birthday. What do you think?

Happy Birthday Patrick!

It is 7:19 pm here but it is 12:19 am in London so it is officially Monday and Patrick's birthday. Happy Birthday my wonderful brother.

Our Hike Today

Spire Falls Road Hike

This one is for Mike -- the deer were all over the trail. Sure beats traveling through 8" of snow off the trail.

John is much better these days - as you can see.

They Think I Am Mad In Liking (So Many) Fish In Our Home

This was the largest (29g) aquarium last year.

Thankfully my husband loves my passion for our four (blushing) aquariums.

The power compact light (130 watts) gave out a number of weeks ago and we cannot determine why. We know there is one bad ballast and the second (independent) ballast is good. So in the meantime we have had to resort to the default light which is only 20 watts. The poor plants need more light. But the silver lining is that the fish seem to appreciate the lower lighting -- we hardly ever got to see any catfish. Now they are out and about all the time.

The environment is not so busy and the inhabitants love the space.

Photo taken today

There are four of these catfish. They sift through the substrate and tumble around each other as if they are at play. On the left of the tank there is a beach of sand specifically for them. The catfish in the foreground was added one month ago and his barbels (whiskers) are still good. The catfish behind him is about 18 months older and his barbels were blunted from sifting not though his sand but the red/organge stones. He does not appear to be in any discomfort and I have read that their barbels will grow back.



Our Blue Paradise Gourami loves attention.

Our cat keeps away from the aquarium. But one day she was sitting unusually near it. I stopped what I was doing and went over to her. She was right beside one of the fish on the floor. It was no longer breathing. I picked it up, it burped so I dropped it back into the aquarium where it slowly sank to the bottom. It remained there motionless for a few seconds and then it's gills started moving again. I kept an eye on it for a while until it weakly moved out of sight. Fish are easily stressed and fragile. I was sure this fish would not survive the trauma. But it did and the Blue Paradise Gourami is fearless of humans as a result.

We Went For A Hike

We went for a hike in the snow. It was 8" deep. John took the lead and Dick and I walked in his footsteps. And this is the trail way before his martini time!

Christmas Day

It turns out Campbell got the exact same book from his brother and sister. Quite Freudian that it was "Penis Pokey", eh?


Our hats are from crackers we pulled.

And this is a close up of what Jamie had - this is for Lizzie in Australia because she will appreciate seeing Jamie's plate. We were lucky enough to spend quite some time with iChat open and video-conferencing with Michael and Lizzie in Australia.


They were able to have chats with us in between doing their chores around the house. The video was running in the kitchen so they were able to keep an eye on various pots cooking on our stove as we opened presents in the other room. At one stage we looked at the computer to see Michael with a knife and fork in hand and a wonderful facial expression. I wish I had taken a photograph of that.

Snow storm tomorrow

This is what Brockport, NY looked like last weekend and we got the same here, in Saratoga. Tomorrow they forecast a lot of snow. I will be sure to venture out with my camera tomorrow.

Pretty Interesting

Random Family

Erin (Kelly's sister) loaned John Random Family and it is an amazing read. Luckily John was in the middle to two other books so I got to borrow this last week.

Sick But Moved

I got up this morning feeling as if I had a headcold. I showered, changed into my gym gear, ate something and took an antihistamine to clear my blocked nose. I felt feverish, full of aches and pains and cold. I went back to bed.

I slept a little. On waking I picked up a book on the bedside table.

I have to share this moving story:

THERE IS NO JOB MORE IMPORTANT THAN PARENTING

Benjamin Carson

THE SIMPLEST WAY TO SAY IT IS THIS: I believe in my mother.

My belief began when I was just a kid. I dreamed of becoming a doctor.

My mother was a domestic. Through her work, she observed that successful people spent a lot more time reading than they did watching television. She announced that my brother and I could only watch two to three preselected TV programs during the week. With our free time, we had to read two books each from the Detroit Public Library and submit to her written book reports. She would mark them up with check marks and highlights. Years later we realized her marks were a ruse. My mother was illiterate; she had only received a third-grade education.

Although we had no money, between the covers of those books I could go anywhere, do anything, and be anybody.

When I entered high school I was an A-student, but not for long. I wanted the fancy clothes. I wanted to hang out with the guys. I went from being an A-student to a B-student to a C-student, but I didn't care. I was getting the high fives and the low fives and the pats on the back. I was cool.

One night my mother came home from working her multiple jobs, and I complained about not having enough Italian knit shits. She said "Okay, I'll give you all the money I make this week scrubbing floors and cleaning bathrooms, and you can buy the family food and pay the bills. With everything left over, you can have all the Italian knit shirts you want.

I was very pleased with that arrangement, but once I got through allocating money, there was nothing left. I realized my mother was a financial genius to be able to keep a roof over our heads and any kind of food on the table, much less buy clothes.

I also realized that immediate gratification wasn't going to get me anywhere. Success required intellectual preparation.

I went back to my studies and became an A-student again, and eventually fulfilled my dream to become a doctor.

Over the years my mother's steadfast faith in God has inspired me, particularly when I had to perform extremely difficult surgical procedures or when I found myself with my own medical scare.

A few years ago I discovered I had a very aggressive form of prostate cancer; I was told it might have spread to my spine. My mother was steadfast in hear faith in God. She never worried. She said that God was not through with me yet; there was no way that this was going to be a major problem. The abnormality in my spine turned out to be benign; I was able to have surgery and am cured.

My story is really my mother's story--a woman with little formal education or worldly goods who used her position as a parent to change the lives of many people around the globe. There is no job more important than parenting. This I believe.

DR. BENJAMIN CARSON is director of pediatric neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. His expertise includes separating conjoined twins and doing brain surgery to control seizures. A scholarship fund Carson founded has helped some 1,700 students through college. His mother is retired and lives with Carson and his family.

Patches

We spent the weekend in Brockport with Dick's mother Florence. As you can see, Patches, her cat, likes to hang out on the floor (she does not look easy).


And then there is our cat, Tootie Fruity AKA Freak Show (thanks Campbell!)

They Went To Block Island

for their honeymoon and hired a scooter. I love this photograph they took on one of their cell phones.

Kelly looks like a super hero and Campbell....what does he look like?