A couple of kid shots...

Never too late to raise a good capitalist. Although at this point a spoon and pan would be as good as anything in the catalog to him.

Babbling away about something important.

Crazy Creative with Flash

Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART

If you have used Flash you are going to love this effort by alan becker.

The Boy

Christine recently had some portraits made of Seamus. It was nice they caught him smiling.

Fall Scenes

One of my favorite Dahlia cultivars. Only a matter of weeks, possibly days until a good frost ends this year's show.

A brief (all to brief) rain event caused quite a bit of petal fall.

I never get tired of the show the Sugar Maples put on every fall.

Some great yellows on campus.

Weekend Getaway

I finally used some of those Hilton Honors points for something pleasant. Nana and Poppa agreed to take care of Seamus for a couple of days so that Christine and I could get away. They live in Richmond and there was a relatively new Hilton at Virginia Beach, so the destination was chosen. I couldn't use the points on Oceanfront, but they did upgrade us to a room with a side view and even a faux balcony. It had a sliding door and everything, but no place to stand. We were actually quite pleased with the accommodations. There was even a large flat panel TV.

The restaurant on the first floor had good food and marvelous lighting. Every night they lit candles and got the fire pits going. The little arrangement above was right next to our table.

We could also hear the band playing bar side if we left the 'balcony' door open. The weather in the 60's at night actually made it quite nice to do just that. We actually didn't make it to the bar, but it stayed busy and folks seemed to enjoy the band. I really liked the layout.

Seamus and Nana got along famously.

More weekend goofing off...

Despite being a very dry summer we have had a lot of foggy mornings that give way to hot sunny days.
...makes for some interesting light.

What a day for a bike ride!

I don't have any pictures from the ride, but it was just gorgeous here. Warm, sunny, and dry. The leaves are just coming into color. Perfect...perfect. Even more perfect my Mountain Bike, affectionately named the pumpkin for its color. I bought this bike back in 2000 when I first moved to Vermont. It was only about $700...mail order from Performance. It has been a good bike and survived many of my foolhardy mistakes and resulting crashes.

I recently have been unable to get the shifting indexed properly. Admittedly, I am not the best wrench in the world, but I can do the basic adjustments. I found a local place called RollsRite. The owner was in the middle of moving to a new location, but said he could squeeze me in. I dropped off the bike to an empty shop and returned to pick it up to one stocked with bikes.

I honestly believe my bike works better than the first day I rode it almost 7 years ago to the day. John Mudge (proprietor and mechanic) explained the maintenance he performed on my bike...too exhaustive to mention here, but let me give you a quote "your rear dérailleur was bent about 1 degree and there were a couple of brake cables that were frayed a little and kinked so I replaced them". It brought a little tear to my eye (OK, I exaggerate), but this guy was freakin' awesome and obviously understands the art and science of working on a bicycle!

It was seriously like being on a new bike if not for the dings and scratches I have given the Pumpkin over the years. :-)

Is it safe to let a 9-year-old babysit an 8-month-old?

Christine took this cute shot.