It’s always so refreshing and enjoyable for me to witness how a nine year old views the world through his imagination. Karen, the kids and I were walking along the towpath when all of a sudden Dylan who I had assumed was killing phantom demons with a branch he was waving around, shouted "for Narnia" as he leapt into the air. Cooper one of our labradoodles joined him and made it his objective to get that branch out of Dylan’s hand and run with it. Even though the branch measured about 4 feet across this did not discourage his quest to conquer it. In fairness Dylan caught on to him and threw the stick for Cooper to fetch. Only to be taunted by Cooper running from him each time he tried to grab it back. It became a game of cat and mouse but not for long. A war was to be fought, being the ever so resourceful nine year old, other sticks became swords and "for Narnia" would echo numerous times along the way. Cooper would follow in tow in hopes one of those sticks would be dropped and he could help fight the war. Near the end of our walk Dylan managed to hoist a sizable log over his head and scream one more time for Narnia, before the log dropped from his hands and bounced of the ground with a resounding thug.
Being that branches are in abundance on our property, Dylan discovered a new use for them.
While staying with us, each morning soon after he woke up he would go to our chicken coop to check for eggs. A few days into this he decided that the chickens weren't laying fast enough, and David caught him inside the coop with a branch poking the chickens trying to coach them into there egg laying box to do their job! Dolly the rooster was not impressed, one does not mess with his girls, and he was pretty vocal about it.
A few days later while we left David, Tom and Dylan to hang Christmas Lights on our house, we returned to find Dylan with branch in hand resuming the duties of his imagination. Hitting bushes, and running around holding the branch high up in the air. At dinner that night his mom asked him who he imagined himself to be. He explained with great determination that first he was a ninja going into great detail as to what he was wearing, this was followed by switching to interrogator and then police officer.
I had forgotten until writing this that I too role-played at that age, except mine where more of the fair maiden kind during the Middle Ages. I wanted to be rescued by a handsome prince and ride off into the sunset with him on a horse. I remember making necklaces out of flowers and wearing them to enhance the role I was playing. Is it any wonder I am what I am ;)
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Daddy and his Android!
"Navigate to Philadelphia" The command escaped from Ted’s mouth into his new Verizon Droid phone with Google application. We had all piled into the rental car at our house in Erwinna, me with the kids in the back, Billy 9years old and his older sister Sarah, 13. Their mom Kate sat in the front next to the "navigator". The car turned right on headquarters road and then the ever so pleasant female voice instructed us to turn left in 1 quarter mile. I thought it strange but then maybe I misheard the command. "Turn left now" the phone instructed. Ted took a sharp left almost missing the turn, but avoiding the car from ending up in the ditch. We were now on Tinicum Creek Road headed towards River Road. “We are going the wrong way” I exclaimed, only to be interrupted by Ted, stating the droid is NEVER wrong and to TRUST the droid. It became instantly clear to me not to get between a man and his new toy! I also realized that we were heading southeast when we should have been heading southwest. I only knew that, because I was frantically texting David giving him updates, and asking him where the hell we were heading. I am completely void of any sense of direction, perhaps Droid would not be a bad thing for me. We eventually traversed our way onto I 95 and headed South towards the city. I felt a sense of relief knowing we were on a major freeway and droid or no droid we would end up in Philadelphia. I must admit, that we did get to the city in about the same time it would have taken had we driven the way I would have. And the drive seemed more pleasant. So I gave kudos to the droid.
After parking the car, bathroom break and a quick snack for the kids at Burger King it was off to the Liberty Bell with the help of Droid, even though it was only 3 blocks away! Our next destination involved finding one of the Gastro Pubs I had read about in Bon Appétit. After checking distances from our location on all three listings with Droid we decided on the closest one. "Navigate to South Philadelphia Tap room”, I heard Ted say. It’s only 2 miles from here, a 30 minute walk. Off we went, I figured since this gadget got us to the city, this should be a breeze. As we strolled through the streets, the droid was passed onto Hannah who after a few blocks, got frustrated with it, since it seemed to tell us to go a certain direction we somehow did not want to go. She handed it to me, to which I had a similar reaction, since it kept telling me to make a u turn every few blocks. Captain Ted reassumed the position at the helm of the ship, and every now and then I would hear him repeat the command “navigate to South Philadelphia Tap Room”. “Only a few more blocks” he would declare. I began to fear for our lives as the neighborhood became less desirable to be in. One block would be dotted with cute old homes with colorful shutters and the next block was peppered with adult clothing stores, then nothing, just cheap housing and suspect characters roaming the streets. At this point we had walked well over an hour, but Ted stuck to his guns and according to his calculations we were only 2 blocks away. It wasn’t until 15 minutes later we discovered he had turned the Droid off, which sent me into a silent nervous breakdown. Beads of sweat were forming and rolling down my back, we were all going to die, I believed! I was convinced of this, since we were nearing the neighborhood of row houses that I had driven through months ago, and realized after noticing burnt out houses, drug dealers and prostitutes I did not belong there! The city skyline, was a mere mirage as I looked back for an escape route, in case knives and guns were drawn. The food better be worth it, I thought to myself as I clung to Billy's hand, who I could always pawn if needed to in an emergency. Another 30 minutes had passed, when we finally crossed 611 and I noticed that the city skyline was once again within reach. What had just happened? How did we walk so far out of the way, when we could have gone in a straight line and cut the journey in half? Turns out Droid needed some human intervention, when navigating with Droid one must specify driving or walking! We were walking the driving directions, with all the one way streets one would have navigated in a car, we just walked a giant circle to get to our destination. Ah well no harm done, we got to see many aspects of the city, and burned calories we were soon to digest at the Gastro Pub!
Oh yeah, I changed Tom, Karen, Dylan and Hannah’s names to protect their identity!
http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2009/07/philadelphia
After parking the car, bathroom break and a quick snack for the kids at Burger King it was off to the Liberty Bell with the help of Droid, even though it was only 3 blocks away! Our next destination involved finding one of the Gastro Pubs I had read about in Bon Appétit. After checking distances from our location on all three listings with Droid we decided on the closest one. "Navigate to South Philadelphia Tap room”, I heard Ted say. It’s only 2 miles from here, a 30 minute walk. Off we went, I figured since this gadget got us to the city, this should be a breeze. As we strolled through the streets, the droid was passed onto Hannah who after a few blocks, got frustrated with it, since it seemed to tell us to go a certain direction we somehow did not want to go. She handed it to me, to which I had a similar reaction, since it kept telling me to make a u turn every few blocks. Captain Ted reassumed the position at the helm of the ship, and every now and then I would hear him repeat the command “navigate to South Philadelphia Tap Room”. “Only a few more blocks” he would declare. I began to fear for our lives as the neighborhood became less desirable to be in. One block would be dotted with cute old homes with colorful shutters and the next block was peppered with adult clothing stores, then nothing, just cheap housing and suspect characters roaming the streets. At this point we had walked well over an hour, but Ted stuck to his guns and according to his calculations we were only 2 blocks away. It wasn’t until 15 minutes later we discovered he had turned the Droid off, which sent me into a silent nervous breakdown. Beads of sweat were forming and rolling down my back, we were all going to die, I believed! I was convinced of this, since we were nearing the neighborhood of row houses that I had driven through months ago, and realized after noticing burnt out houses, drug dealers and prostitutes I did not belong there! The city skyline, was a mere mirage as I looked back for an escape route, in case knives and guns were drawn. The food better be worth it, I thought to myself as I clung to Billy's hand, who I could always pawn if needed to in an emergency. Another 30 minutes had passed, when we finally crossed 611 and I noticed that the city skyline was once again within reach. What had just happened? How did we walk so far out of the way, when we could have gone in a straight line and cut the journey in half? Turns out Droid needed some human intervention, when navigating with Droid one must specify driving or walking! We were walking the driving directions, with all the one way streets one would have navigated in a car, we just walked a giant circle to get to our destination. Ah well no harm done, we got to see many aspects of the city, and burned calories we were soon to digest at the Gastro Pub!
Oh yeah, I changed Tom, Karen, Dylan and Hannah’s names to protect their identity!
http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2009/07/philadelphia
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