Maya Wednesday

Wednesday is take care of Maya day. We are doing our best to make sure she absorbs the right politics - see above. Below, Maya clicks to send her first e-mail! It sure is an amazing world --- I was about 7 years old or so when we got our first black and white TV.... of course we didn't define it as black and white because there was no such thing as color TV. One generation later Maya plays with a computer! How different her world will be! Correction (3/7/2008) Sister-in-law Anne reminds me that it is actually 2 generations. She and her kids love to remind Uncle Don how terribly old he really is!
If you are following this regularly, smiling is now part of Maya's life. The ever present skeptical look seemed to be missing today! She even smiles taking a bath now..... and especially for the Cohocton crowd ---- note the rubber ducky!

Odd Uses For Electricity????

One of my "hobbies" is collecting odd things that we add electricity to..... up to now my favorite was the battery operated lollipop spinner - probably intended to limit wear and tear on the tongue???? Now my favorite is the electric toilet seat cover --- an endless plastic tube moved to a new position each time a new person arrives in the stall! And it comes with a sign reassuring the user that the plastic tube is destroyed as it enters the uptake side so that it cannot be re-used! Now we can waste plastic and electricity while flushing biomass into the water supply! Now use some more electricity by clicking (I think twice) on the video below!

Kennedy Center

Camera is acting up pretty bad, but Louise's Daughter debuted at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC this weekend! We have been selling to The Kennedy Center gift shop for several years, and in conjunction with a wonderful series of performances by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, we sold our work in the lobby right beside the bust of John F. Kennedy! We made many new friends, sold quite a lot of work, and got to see Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre too! There was even a page in the program about us!

Below is a view of the Presidential Box - We watched the performance from the box right next to this one!
I'm not trying to brag ---- only to convey how exciting this past weekend was..... and in addition to all that, we got to visit and see the grandchildren of our best friends of many years!

Maya and Grandpa

Ever the curious one, Maya loves to look out the window...... and Grandpa, always looking for an opportunity for another picture, just rested the camera on the edge of the window, and here we are! We were lucky enough to be home between shows for the weekly babysitting stint today! We're out of town a lot this month, but nothing makes you feel at home like looking out the window with your granddaughter!

Baby it's cold outside

It may be cold and blustry outside, but inside, the mushrooms are growing very nicely in Cohocton,
and in Rochester the tomatoes are almost ripe. Greetings to all those who grow things!

Slight negative note -- Due to a comment left by an unknown person that contained "Spam/virus" stuff, all future comments will go first to me, and then be approved if legit. The "evil" comment has been blocked. I love comments as it lets me know somebody is actually reading this! I do have a counter - heading quickly for my 3000th view, but comments are better than checking the counter. Thank you all for your continued checking of this blog!

Walter

Walter Johnson
Good friend
Philadelphia
Good picture
Thank you

Arial View

Not the best picture..... it was taken through an upstairs window during set-up at our lastest show. Central area is the booth of our friends Nan and Bill Bolstad - wooden box makers to the stars. Bill and Nan are handing out buttons claiming 50 years of "making sawdust". Turns out Bill made his first birdhouse at age 12???

Just another view in the ongoing saga of the traveling adventures of Don and Cheryl! I'll see if I can get an arial view of our booth..... but I need to get permission to get at another window!

Just think, you are not here by chance

My grandparents - William and Pearl Olney My other grandparents - Earle and Florence Drake

On Friday, I went to the funeral of Edna Bontrager Schlabach, mother of one of my two best friends, along with 6 other children, 20 grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren. I think of her, and her husband Levi (still with us), as my third set of grandparents. Turns out that makes me special, but also not so special, because Edna and Levi have always treated most everyone like their own children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren - a lesson that if learned by a lot more folks, would make the world a much better place!

A big thank you to Edna, Florence, Pearl, Levi, Earle, and William!

And definitely not forgetting Violet, Louise, Melburne, and Clyland!

And on back into history - how many thousands of others?

Latest Da Vinci Robot!

The newest version of the Da Vinci robotic surgery system has arrived in town. I missed it, but it was available for public viewing and playing at Rochester General Hospital yesterday. The one that worked on me is 4 years old. In dog years, that is 28 years old. In technology years, who knows. From the video, and pictures, this one looks a lot smaller and less scary than the one that I met. Click here for a short local TV segment on the new machine. Not sure how long the video link will stay on-line -- let me know if it stops working.

Spinning Top Collection

For some reason, I thought I'd put some pictures of my top collection on a new Flicker site. The above piece is a wonderful hand carved and turned old fashioned toy vendor selling tops, 9 pins, diabolos, etc. It was made by my old friend Eric Horne, from Topsham, England.

Maya or Cheryl?

Cheryl seems to lack Maya's skeptical look, but otherwise?????????? From Cheryl's baby book found recently.

Green Beans

I've never been a big fan of baby pictures with food spread all over the place, but hey - I've never been a grandfather before either! Maya's first green beans. Deanna claims she ate half the jar, but looks like a good percentage went elsewhere. She actually seemed to like the beans, and the sweet potatoes a few days ago. In keeping with family tradition, peas did not go over so well!

Clovis

You've heard about Maeve, Wyatt, and Anne ---- here is Clovis! Just seemed like a really nice shot, and he is always glad to see me ----- unless Cheryl is along!