I was premature in dreaming about a trip to lake Champlain. The dreaming has changed states to Maine.

Here’s to relaxing on a lake.

Ahhhhhhh.

My meager astronomy skills tell me that these two points of light are Jupiter and Venus.  Am I right or am I wrong?

This is a joke, right? We had temperatures in the 60s this week and then we wake up to snow this morning?

Really?

Bite me, mother nature. Again!

This photograph hangs on the wall at my sister’s house.  It represents the lowest of the low points of a life filled with low points.  This is the moment that my self confidence was permanently destroyed.

This is a photo of a photo taken just after the blizzard of ’78, before the roads were re-opened, but after the plows had built up a gigantic snow bank at the end of our driveway.

My sister did this to me on purpose.  She was so mean to me!

hehe

Just kidding.  If I had been holding the flag I totally would have done it to her too.  hehe

February of 1978, I was six and she was nine.

It sure would be fun to pay another visit to Lake Champlain, wouldn’t it?

Is Lake Champlain in our future as well as our past?

It’s Friday.  Finally.

This has been a long week.  I don’t know why, but it’s just seemed long.  I’m ready for the weekend.  Unfortunately the love of my life isn’t feeling well, so this weekend may be one where the kids and I stay home and take care of their mommy.  Honestly, that is something I love to do.  We’ll make her Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup and give her back rubs for a couple of days.

The Bruins won again last night.  That’s the first time since January 12th that they won two games in a row.  It’s hard to imagine another Cup in their future when winning two in a row is a two month struggle, but they played well last night against a hot Sabers team.  Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.  The next game is Sunday against the Capitals.  Will that mark Marty Turco’s debut?  We shall see.

Many Boston sports folks are up in arms about some comments made by former Red Sox, and current Phillies, closer Jonathan Papelbon.  He compared baseball fans in Boston to baseball fans in Philadelphia.  He said Boston fans were more hysterical about the game where Phillies fans were more knowledgeable about the game.  He’s probably right on both counts, based on a minor technicality.  Are Boston fans hysterical?  Absolutely.  Are we the most hysterical fans in all of sports?  You bet your ass we are.  We hang on every pitch like it’s life and death.  Frankly, I can’t imagine any real fan of any sport behaving in any other way.  We love the game and we love our team and when the team doesn’t do well it is painful to us.  We have the maximum emotional investment possible in our team.  As for Phillies fans being more knowledgeable, what he actually said was they were more knowledgeable because they are in the National League.  When you include that into his statement he is probably correct.  National League baseball is more pure.  More situational.  Less Earl Weaver trying to set up three run home runs.  Less Moneyball, if you will.  That’s true.  However, I would not say that Phillies fans are smarter than Red Sox fans, or Yankees fans, or Cubs fans (do the Cubs have fans?  HA!  Just kidding, Chicago) or any other city where baseball is an institution.  We all know the game inside and out.  National League fans just have more opportunity to see pitchers bat and make an automatic out 3+ times a game.  That’s all.

Go Bruins
Go Red Sox
Hope you feel better, Sweetie

When I picked up my step kids tonight my step daughter asked me to help her figure out something on her saxophone. She is having a tough time hitting the low D without having the pitch pop up an octave. My step son is learning the recorder in school and he wanted in on the practicing too.

So she and I both broke out our saxophones and I gave her a couple of little exercises to do but made sure to both emphasize and demonstrate that EVERYONE has a tough time keeping the low D down.

My step son played some of his lessons and I transposed on the fly and played along. Then my step daughter and I played her lesson together.

It lasted about 30 minutes, and it was SO MUCH FUN!!!!

The kids might be thinking I’m nuts for being so giddy over something so minor, but it was one of those moments when having kids in my life is an unbelievable thrill. It was a little thing, but it was huge for me.

I love being a step dad.

Dig it, you can swipe to open the camera app from the lock screen.

Cool!