Oink Oink

We go to a local working farm to see the pigs, roosters, horses and baby sheep which has Madeleine going "awwww" (I resist the urge to connect chops and bacon). Eitan is not into the scene and lallygags. "I hate this place" he groans. I think it is also likely that he is jonesing from a sugar high: blueberry pie for breakfast and chocolate cake with chocolate chip cookies after lunch. Ah, the holiday will come to a painful end next week. From the farm we head for the swimming hole then pizza dinner. Everybody is tired so we take the edge off with a Disney movie - the same one from yesterday and the day before. But hey, for Eitann and Madeleine - repetition is insight. For us: two hours bliss.

A quick read on London's weather: 55 degrees and rain. Bunk.

Cards

A quick game of Buggo is played this morning before clean-up, swim and my parent's departure. The object of the game, I think, is to match the insects and get the most pairs. In the background is a human skeleton - one of mom's mind-friendly presents. Madeleine's stripey night-gown once belonged to Sonnet when she was a kiddie growing up in Alaska - go figure. BTW the kids are so sick of my camera that the going rate for a posed photo is $2, up from (an undefined) "treat" or $1 in Colorado.

Me: "Do you know why we put on sun tan lotion?"
Eitan: "So you don't get a tan?"

A very sad Eitan on everybody's departure: "It is going to be sooo boring."

Blueberry

Sonnet and Gracie's pie from last night. The recipe includes blueberries, sugar, lemon, lemon zest, cinnamon and corn starch. The pie crust is Crisco, butter, flour, salt and sugar. Grace notes that the recipe comes from Mother Manning's (my Great Grandmother) "Fanny Farmer's Cook Book." It goes especially well with morning coffee.

Red, White and Madeleine

Katie's friend Cara from the Columbia International Affairs school arrives last night for dinner and a stay-over. Cara lives in Burlington and consults world organisations like UNDP and CARE on their H.I.V. policies to eradicate the horrible disease. Gracie, Moe and Katie return to New York today leaving us by ourselves for the first time in a month. Wow. Tomorrow we drive to Connecticut to visit Mary and Amado's lake house and to see their kids Devon, Simon and Maya - a Paris re-union! Rob and Sloan will join us from San Francisco and everybody is way excited for the weekend.

I ask Eitan if he wants blueberry pie for breakfast. He, bug-eyed: "really?"
Madeleine goes the extra yard: "can I have chocolate cake too?"

"It is the hardest thing in the world to frighten a mongoose, because he is eaten up from his nose to tail with curiosity."
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, by Kipling

Fat Freddy's Cat

Pre-Spider Man and the Hulk, which I collected with madness, I recall the Fabulous Freak Brothers found in the back-bin of Berkely's North Side book store which sadly closed in the early '80s. (Sonnet and I watched American Splendour last night about R Crumb's contemporary Harvey Pekar). Freddy was a creation from the late 1960s during a time of free love, Vietnam War protests, Berkeley marches and underground comix. The spelling of 'comix' instead of 'comics' helped differentiate them from the mainstream comic books available. The 'x' also warned the reader that contents was sometimes adult-oriented. From the off-campus book store I found "The Adventures of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers." Created by Gilbert Shelton, it featured three brothers: Phinneas, Freewheelin' Franklin and Fat Freddie, the '60s equivalent of the Three Stooges. The brothers were usually found in some form of wacky hijinx, chasing girls or running from the 'fuzz.' Fat Freddy Freekowtski had a tom cat, known as 'Fat Freddy's Cat,' who became a regularly featured character in the series. Fat Freddy often forgot to feed the cat, who would then eat his weed, shit in his boots or cat-claw the water bed. I'm pretty sure Grace was unaware that I was sneaking reads and hoping for tits (and utterly clueless about marijuana but curious too). Those were good times to be in Berkeley, a promise eventually fulfilled in the public school system-- but that's for another day.

Banzai!

Eitan takes a leap from a relatively small craig at the marble quarry. About Vermont: the state ranks 45th by total area, and 43rd by land area at 9,250 square miles, and has a population of 608,827, making it the second least populous state second only to Wyoming. VT is the only New England state with no coastline along the Atlantic Ocean and is further notable for the Green Mountains in the west and Lake Champlain the northwest. I have yet to see a black person or a person of any colour while the locals are hearty and just like those in Colorado: beer drink'n and reds smok'n (overheard at the quarry: "her nickname is Peter Pan b/c she is got so drunk she peed 'er pants" ie, Peter Pan- get it?). It's a beautiful place - more so in autumn for sure - and we are happy to be here taking it all in. Willie Nelson sings as I write and the naked kids play nearby with their buddies.

Mavericks

I stay up late - 1030PM - to watch Riding Giants, a tale of surfing the Big Waves of Hawaii and Northern California from riders Greg Noll, Jeff Clark (who surfed Mavericks in Norcal 15 years before they were "discovered" in 1991) to icon Laird Hamilton who caught the perfect wave in Teahupoo, French Polynesia - a once-in-a-100 years wave that was thought un-surfable and on film for posterity. The sport has evolved from the early, heady days of beach-bumming in the '50s and '60s to sophisticated tow-and-drop operations allowing surfers to ride smaller boards and 60 foot drops. Legendary spots include Jaws' at Peahi, Maui; The Banzai Pipeline, Sunset Beach, Waimea Bay - all North Shore; and of course Teahupoo. For me, I fondly recall expeditions up the Highway 1 where Dan, Adam and others would walk through cabbage and broccoli fields to skinny down cliffs for the breaks at Four Mile and Three Mile points (Danny wrote a book, "Caught Inside," about this). Sitting in black-ink, 60 degree salt water in a kelp bed often surrounded by fog at the dawn allows for some contemplation of nature or one's loneliness. But then the rollers come in obliterating life's worries replaced by movement and joy. Amen.

Photo of Twiggy Baker at Mavericks by Tom Cozad, Newport Beach.

That Kid!

Susan's Joey Jr will turn one September 14 and is a baby otherwise in motion. He loves crawling around and grabbing anything that moves and small enough for his mouth. He's also into stairs and coffee tables, where he will spend the morning walking round. I'm not the first to suggest that not all babies are cute - but man Joey is cute. It is also nice to see the love affair between baby and mum.

Sonnet makes blueberry pancakes using the blueberries picked yesterday at a berry farm. Blueberries grow on shrubs and are native to North America, Asia, and Northern Europe. I learn that Beginning in 2005, blueberries have been discussed among a category of funcitional foods called superfruits having the favorable combination o nutrient richness, antioxidant strength, emerging research evidence for health benefits and versatility for manufacturing popular consumer products. Anyway, we have enough for another month if not year. The kids want to take them back to London.

Gracie

Grace brings a large duffel full of toys to celebrate the kids February and September birthdays. She also makes a Big Cake complete with new year wishes. Before presents, the kids are asked to seek out clues leading to the treasure - which they tear open with abandon. On offer are Tonka Toys, the Solar System model kit, construction magnets, erector sets and more. Madeleine says she loves her "boy toys" (we say: for boys AND girls) and the afternoon is made.

After my two hour nap, Sonnet and I go to the Vermont outlets (J Crew, Barberry, Banana Republic etc etc) for some retail therapy. She has spent the afternoon making her turkey chili, whose recipe has travelled with us from London. Perfect for ten people and yum! Eitan feels cheated because we don't make it to the swimming quarry but is compensated with a Disney movie . They skinny dip as I write this.

Red House

The Lee's house was built in the 1940s on Marble Mill Pond whose water powered the turbine to cut the rock. Larry's vision has turned the mill into a jewel with a living room surrounded by trees, water, river and light. There is not a dull moment as the overhead sun changes the vistas and white stone while the grassy greens offer a lovely contrast for croquette or kids. Bravo.

We spend the afternoon at the first commercial quarry in America - Dorset Quarry - opened by Issac Underhill in 1785. The Dig was the town's attraction and main interest for 130 years. Eventually, the Dorset Quarry struck H2O filling the 150 foot deep with cold spring water. Today, the quarry's walls present sharp cliffs for thrill seekers who dive 30 or 40 feet. Not I nor Eitan, who steadfastly refuses to go anywhere near those local teenagers.

"Goodbye, good riddance."
John Edwards on Karl Rove's departure

Moe

Dad at the crack of dawn. We lounge around talking about Trailhead Capital, clients and Europe. Moe is handling his parkinson's with class and his mind is straight and clear. From breakfast, he and most of the family head out for a walk (Sonnet goes for a run) while Katie and Grace read their magazines and I doodle away on this blog. Ho hum. Today, should it arrive, may include shopping, tennis, swimming or none of the above.

Eitan occupies himself this morning doing his sums on a plane white piece of paper. He tells Gracie that he is very sad "because I cannot watch television but Madeleine can." When asked why, he say: "Madeleine hit me so I hit her back but daddy only saw me."

I ask Madeleine if she has a lady bird in her hand.
She: "No, it is a dead centipede."
Me: "Oh. What are you going to do with it?"
She: "Bury it of course."

Sun Up

I'm up at 0500 during the false dawn when I take this photo from the pier outside the living room. The house is asleep and I try to find Diane on Fox News but am not able to work the satellite dish. Instead I do some stretching and have a swim. Moe putters around making coffee and then Joey and Susan rise for his early feed. Madeleine snores away next to her brother.

Dorset

After a four hour drive we arrive at Marcia and Larry's Vermont house in Dorset and Eitan strips clean to take a dive. The red house has been in the Lee family since 1987 and is located on a secluded pond which cascades over a water-fall into a pool for dipping. There are ducks and beavers. In its commercial day, the property was a mill whose blades turned with the water. From the living room where I write (wi-fi!) I see the ridgeway, pond, distant blue mountains and dam covered by an arching cedar bridge. The rushing water is soothing and ideal for looking and sleeping

Chrysler Building

My photo taken on 43rd next to Grand Central Station. Standing 1,046 feet (319 meters) high, it was briefly the world's tallest building before it was overtaken by the Empire State Building in 1931. It still remains the worlds tallest brick building to this day. After the destruction of the World Trade Center, it is again the second tallest building in New York City.

The Chrysler Building was designed by architect William Van Alen to house the Chrysler Coporation. When the ground breaking occurred on September 19, 1928, there was an intense competition in NYC to build the world's tallest skyscraper. Despite a frantic pace (the building was erected at an average rate of four floors per week), no workers died during the construction of this skyscraper.

Prior to its completion, the building stood about even with a rival project at 40 Wall Street designed by H. Craig Severance. Severance increased the height of his project and then publicly claimed the title of the world's tallest building (this distinction excluded structures that were not fully habitable, such as the Eiffel Tower). In response, Van Alen obtained permission for a 125 foot (58.4 meters) long spire and had it secretly constructed inside the frame of the building. On October 23, 1929, the spire was hoisted onto the top of the building in about 90 minutes. Like the building's cap, it is clad with silvery "Enduro KA-2" metal, an austenitic stainless steel developed inGermany by Krupp and marketed under the trade name "Nirosta".

At the time of completion, the added height of the spire allowed the Chrysler Building to surpass 40 Wall Street as the tallest building in the world and the Eiffel Tower as the tallest structure. It was the first man-made structure to stand taller than 1,000 feet (305 meters). Van Alen's satisfaction in these accomplishments was likely muted by Walter Chrysler's later refusal to pay the balance of his architectural fee. In less than a year after it opened to the public on May 27, 1930, the Chrysler Building was surpassed in height by the Empire State Building.

Say Cheese!

Well here we all are on the lower tip of Manhattan. It's a lot of DNA, which includes from left to right, me, Larry, Susan, Joe, Baby Joey, Eitan, Diane, Diane's new boyfriend Kenny (former Abercrombie & Fitch model and now geologist) and Katie's new boyfriend Jeremy (former world traveller and now Asian Expert, Deloittes), Katie, Madeleine, Sonnet, Grace and Marcia. Our evening ends at the Oyster Bar (again) then Bronxville and bed by 10PM - or the same hour Katie and Jeremy hit the Blue Note in the West Village to see jazz legend Charlie Hayden. Woo Hoo!

Susan Lee on her bowl of ice cream: "I need this like a hole in my head."

Joey

Joey, here pictured with his creator Susan, will turn One in September. How time flies. His father Joe (and grandfather Joe and great-grandfather Joe) spends the weekend with us - otherwise, Joe has taken over the family business in South Carolina, which is now in its fifth generation. Joey is one cute kid and always has a smile or a cheerful goo-ga for us adults who ourselves are goo'ing and ga'ing. Since Thursday I have not heard the kid complain or cry once. This makes me think that Sonnet and I were derelect.

Tonight Madeleine happily tells the dinner table how "when I was two or three I took a black marker from Daddy's office and scribbled on the walls and on the bed and on the furniture and on the lamp. And when daddy found me, he said: 'stop that! that's my pen!' and chased me around the room."

Big Apple

Did you know that the "Big Apple" is a nickname or alternate toponym for NYC used by New Yorkers since the 1970s? The name comes from a promotional campaign by the New York Convention and Visitor's Bureau. Its earlier origins are less clear.

One explanation cited by the New York Historical Society and others is that it was first popularized by John Fitz Gerald, who first used it in his horse racing column in the New York Morning Telegraph in 1921, then further explaining its origins in his February 1924 column. Fitz Gerald credited African American stable-hands working at horseracing tracks in New Orleans: "The Big Apple. The dream of every lad that ever threw a leg over a thoroughbred and the goal of all horsemen. There's only one Big Apple. That's New York.'

Wunder Kid

Here is my cousin Diane - pictured. Diane has always sought the public eye and her talent was obvious from Day One when her lungs filled with air and let out a scream. I recall seeing her in the leading role in Anything Goes performed at Bronxville High circa 1991. In HS she was selected to the NY Girls State and played Varsity field hockey for three years. After Bronxville, Diane attended the Medil School of Journalism of Northwestern University. Today, she is the morning co-anchor for Fox News in Albany covering 0500 to 0830h (yes, that is the AM). The market is (guessing) 500,000 people and her day begins at 1AM.

Sail

From the Empire State Building, Katie then organises a sail-boat ride off the Southern tip of Manhattan around the Stature of Liberty (Eitan's toy well chosen). Our moving circus heads down-town and we meet London friends Tim and Kitty who join us for a sunny afternoon. We are treated with spectacular views of lower New York, which is oddly remiss with out the WTC. The sad debri-holes are clear and the Freedom Towers will eventually go up - contemplated completion by 2011 at 1776 feet. Eitan puts up a fight about his life preserver but Gracie prevails - is there any doubt?