(Dawn, Jason, Haley, Elijah)

A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life.
~Isadora James

Today is my wonderful sister-in-law Dawn’s birthday! I won’t tell you which birthday it is but she’s still a youngin’! Dawn’s been in the family for awhile now (and has managed to stay sane in spite of the fact!) and as the wife of my younger brother it has been great to watch both of them grow in their relationship and become the unique individuals they are today. Dawn is a very warm, funny lady with an infectious laugh, a great sense of humor, and a passion for frogs (not necessarily real ones, however). She is also extremely creative resulting in some awesome gifts over the years. A year or so ago Jason, Dawn and the kids moved to Missouri and are now much closer than they used to be and we actually get to see them more than twice a year which is great. We still don’t see them enough but at least they are closer now.

Dawn, I hope you have a terrific birthday. You really are a fun, fantastic person and I am very proud to have you as my sister-in-law. I love your creative spirit and all the ways it has manifested itself throughout the years, from your cards to your crafts to the way that you decorate your home. I am also very proud of and thankful for the sweet niece and nephew you’ve given us! They are both terrific kids!

Please join me in wishing Dawn a Happy Birthday!!!

And by the way, you probably won’t get your present until the week of Elijah’s birthday as we’ll probably drop off both when we are on our trip. Don’t want it to get damaged or anything! 😉 Love you and hope to see you soon!

“Many a man wishes he were strong enough to tear a telephone book in half-especially if he has a teenage daughter.”
~Guy Lombardo

Today…tonight at 8:10 p.m. to be exact…my daughter turns 14 years old. If anything makes me wonder where the time has gone it is that simple fact. 14!!! I’m flabbergasted!

I’m so proud of the beautiful, sweet, intelligent young woman my daughter is turning into. It is such a pleasure to watch her grow and mature. Mary and I have so much fun spending time with her. It is a real thrill to be able to attend certain movies, like Pirates of the Carribean, etc. with our daughter now that she is old enough to appreciate them and get all the humor. We also have a good time sharing our love of period films and older films with her. She is developing great taste!

This past year my daughter played football (secretly every father’s dream), wrote her first term paper (and got an ‘A’), started babysitting…a lot of growing has been done in this past year.

Mary and I love Tori so very, very much and are so happy with the girl who came into our lives a brief 14 years ago.

Please join me in wishing my daughter a Happy Birthday! And as I sit here typing this, comforted by my Han Solo replica blaster and Hellboy action figure, the answer to the obvious question is “Yes, I do feel old”!

“Watching your daughter being collected by her date feels like handing over a million dollar Stradivarius to a gorilla.” (not applicable yet…but it will be!)
~Jim Bishop

Please join me in wishing my comic book guru and dear friend Jeff and his sweet wife Keri a hearty “Happy Birthday!!!” Keri celebrated her birthday this past Tuesday and Jeff’s birthday is today. I won’t reveal their ages except to say that Jeff is a cradle robber and Keri can continue to boast about being young!

They are both wonderful friends (with two very funny children ) as those of you around the area here know. It has been a little over a year since we stumbled into being friends and I know Mary, Tori and I consider it a tremendous blessing to have the gift of the Smith families’ friendship.

We enjoyed celebrating with you last night and look forward to the group X-Men III outing this weekend!

Happy Birthday Smiths!!!!

Tomorrow’s Friday Favorites is a gift to Jeff…see you all tomorrow!

“Meet me in St Louie, family…”

This past weekend marked the actual receiving of the Christmas gift that we gave my parents this year. We paid for a really nice hotel for them and all took off to do a family mini vacation to St. Louis together.

Mary and I drove over to St. Louis Friday morning as did my sister Abby and her hubby Mike and we met our parents there. After chowing down the first event of the day was a visit to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. It was a beautiful day and the gardens were fantastic…so much so that it at once inspired me to do more in my yard and intimidated me at the same time. Perhaps I need gardeners! In addition to the beautiful flora all around the garden was sponsering Glass in the Garden featuring the work of renowned glass sculpture Chihuly.

(Chihuly work hanging in entryway to MBG)

(Close up of above work)

(Another close up)

(photo by Mike M.)

Continue reading St. Louis Weekend →

(Tom and little Katie)

First off, what is the deal with the return of the big-ass, Big Bird sunglasses? Have the UV raves become so powerful that in addition to SPF 105 we have to shield our entire faces behind the space age technology of giant tinted saucers? Is there any doubt that big spectacles will be close behind? If you are actually a hip, happening person and not a pudgy, short man in his late 30’s you are probably into this new/retro fashion and I apologize for any offense. Please forgive me, I think my parachute pants are on too tight.
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It was brought to my attention by an astute reader last week that when I posted about movie trailers I forgot to mention A Scanner Darkly despite my obvious sci fi leanings. Allow to rectify that that by mentioning A Scanner Darkly now…..er, go check out A Scanner Darkly. It is the latest adaptation of a Philip K. Dick novel which almost always is a good thing. This looks very interesting and I love the animation style. While I am at it I should mention that another reader mentioned a movie coming out by Hellboy director Guillermo Del Toro entitled Pan’s Labyrinth. Check out the site for a cool, creepy teaser trailer. I’m really looking forward to this one in October.
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Been watching American Idol? (Warning: lame, pathetic justification approaching) I have watched nearly every episode this season (for the first time) because I work on Tuesday nights and the residents love the show. My prediction for tonight’s voting results is that these two pictured above, Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee, will remain on the show for next week’s final and then it is anybody’s guess as to who will win. Taylor is so entertaining and fun as is Katherine. For Katherine it is all a matter of whether she picks the right songs. When singing in her element she has the most outstanding voice and she is so stunning (the picture above does not even hint at how gorgeous this girl is) that she could win on her popularity alone. Should be interesting. Sad isn’t it…how low I’ve sunk in my entertainment choices.

On another note, wasn’t House great last night? And the season finale looks phenomenal!
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My daughter played her final game of co-ed flag football last night. I am so very proud of her. She has had more fun at this than any sport she’s played and she has been very dedicated. It makes the chest swell with pride to see my little girl rushing the quarterback and getting sacks or disrupting their timing. Unfortunately I was unable to attend last night’s game but as soon as it ended I received a phone call….on the other end was my very excited daughter who called to report that they won their final game. The score was 96-6! Don’t adjust your tv set folks, you read it right, 96-6!!! She said that the opponent repeatedly ran a play that resulted in an interception and touchdown for us. She was also excited because due to the lopsided score she was able to play offense. Part of me feels sorry for the other team, but as a parent who believes in healthy competition I absolutely love the fact that they put such a whoopin’ on another team!
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And last but certainly not least, today is the one year anniversary of the end of a cultural phenomenon that is difficult to describe or comprehend if you weren’t swept up in it…at midnight tonight one year ago the last theatrical episode of Star Wars began. I was watching the excellent documentary Empire of Dreams last week and sat amazed as I was reminded of all the things George Lucas did to change and revive Hollywood. If you have not seen this documentary I highly encourage you to do so. It is excellent. It is included as a fourth disc in the Star Wars Trilogy boxed DVD set. That disc also has 3 short featurettes with big name directors, etc. discussing Star Wars. All are worth seeing.

Watching that last week got me thinking about Star Wars and how different a pop culture experience that is to anything in my lifetime. Despite the fact that episodes I and II were disappointing I remember the anticipation being palpable for last years’ conclusion. I was reading my before and after movie posts this morning and cracking up at my level of geek enthusiasm. What is it that makes Star Wars different from anything else? Is it simply because we (meaning those of my generation) were introduced to it as children or is there more to it than that? Though I think most of the Star Wars films are great there are better movies out there. But no single movie or movie franchise, no matter how much more I may like it in a one on one comparison to Star Wars, makes me feel the way I do when I get swept up in Star Wars nostalgia. There is a spirit about the whole endeavor that is undeniable. Although there are things about George Lucas that bother me…the constant changing and tweaking of episodes, etc…there is no denying his genius. He put together a fascinating story made almost completely out of ideas and archetypes that had been around forever and yet the result has touched millions if not billions of lives over the last 29 years. May 14th was George Lucas’ birthday. Happy belated birthday George and thanks for the memories!