Avoidance Minus 2



I had a high school English teacher who would assign us a list of sentences that had grammatical errors in them. Our job was to correct them. One of the things I was particularly adept at was re-writing the sentence to avoid the error. As we went over them in class and one of these re-writes was brought to the teacher's attention, he'd say, "Avoidance. Minus 2." He was a little dramatic about taking his two fingers and tossing them to one side as though he were throwing them away. I've never forgotten it. It's echoing in my mind as I find myself "re-writing" to avoid problems. Incidentally it actually takes more time than tackling the particular problem would. Today as I looked at the lists of things I need to do I found myself sewing some fun parachute animals for my kids. Now I'm writing to you. Hmmm Avoidance. Minus 2. Although the avoidance factor can be fun

Happy Chinese New Year!

Staying Warm

The Quiet Dragon (which incidentally we liked best)

The Loud Dragon
Moments before Mowg ran for cover

Dad plugged his ears

Tiny lasted the longest

but soon ran for cover as well

Then we headed home

But one of us wanted her candy NOW!

May good fortune and happiness bless your life in the coming year.

I love paint strokes, especially on glass where the light can flow through it. I love the individualness that contributes to the whole even more than I like the whole. There are a lot of paint strokes in life that contribute to the whole picture. Today is a significant one for us. Perhaps it's the change in color, the unexpectedness of it. My little guy gets regular g-tube feedings. Today he will not have any in his waking hours. This opens up our day to unbelievable possibilities. It also marks a first major step away from them. It means that life may be possible without them. I don't think I can express adequately what that feels like or what it means. If it works well it means regular meals. It means increased opportunity for activities. It means if we don't want to watch a show because we're having too much fun doing something else, we don't have to. It also means if we want to watch one at a different time I won't have to calculate how that's going to impact our day because I know we have a designated time for watching later or earlier in the day. It means when we are visiting relatives we can enjoy them all of the time. It means that life will be different. This morning we stand on the brink of a whole new world in a brush stroke.

Happy Valentine's Day!

To all of you for the many ways you touch my life.

May it be a happy day.

"Careful grooming may take twenty years off a woman's age, but you can't fool a flight of stairs." --Marlene Dietrich



I believe that I will laugh every time I read this quote (thanks to Traveling Oma). I have never been a careful groomer. I am a regular tripper down the stairs. I don't fall often, just often enough. Some of those falls have been memorable for their ridiculousness. One particular day comes to mind. I was walking UP the stairs with an armful of books in my high school. I realized I was about to fall. I took my left hand (I was carrying those books in my right) and reached across my body to grab onto the hand rail to steady myself. I managed to flip myself over and end up sprawled on my back books tumbling downstairs as I fell UP. You can not my friends fool stairs. They're tricky devils.

A Book Recommendation:

March by Geraldine Brooks

This is a wonderfully written fascinating story of a marriage coming of age as well as a man. She takes the minor character of the father in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and tells his story. It has made it's way onto my "best books shelf" I don't own it yet, but will. His story is one of a idealism that is shattered by war and takes us to the brink of the steps to move beyond it. Poignant. If you get a chance read it! I'd love to know what you think.

The "It's too long an acronym to remember" Sled Dog Race
(OK it really is : IPSSSDR. See what I mean though?)



Have you ever attended a dog sled race? This was a first time for three of us (me among those three). If you ever get a chance, Go! Talk about friendly folks. It was fun for the kids and for us. Here are a "few" pictures.

Kids bundled up so we could walk down the raceway a bit.

Let's GO!

Getting the dog string ready

Grooming the Trail as the race begins

The order of racers is determined by the previous days times.
Slowest to Fastest. The faster racers will catch the slower ones.

First Racer, Chris Adkins

A new racer starts every 3 minutes
So there's a little time to play in between

Time to wade into the snow until you get stuck.



Yeah! Have a good run.

After a while it was cold so some of us hunkered down.

Or traced letters on the sled.

And then another racer!

We had two favorite racers who made an extra effort to interact with the kids

You are right on the course so it doesn't seem hard for them to do.

In trying to take her picture I cut off the head of Kate St. Onge, who said, "Hi kids," and waved enthusiastically to the kids.

A lot of times in this sport handlers (the ones who move the vehicles around to the end of the race and take care of the dogs when not racing) and racers take turns. Very often they are family members. In this case it was her turn to race and her husband, Rick's turn to handle.

Thanks Kate!




Here is the eventual winner of the race, Buddy Streeper.

Mowg is big on giving folks thumbs up,

so it was very cool to have a racer respond.

Buddy's racing here so that makes it extra nice

that he's taking the time as he goes by.

Then there's time to play with Dad

Another Racer

This race is a "stage stop" race where the racers travel

to different towns and race a "course"in each place.

The "leg" of the race we saw the beginning of is about 43miles.

There they go.

Midwinter can be fun!