November 27, 2003
A Happy Thanksgiving to all of you from Captain's Quarters! As we continue our vacation, I can't help but to think how blessed I am for my life and my family, even with all of our problems and challenges. Sometimes I think my life truly started when I got married ten years ago, even though I joke that it seems like 20, which usually earns me a slap on the arm. Yesterday we spent a great day at Disneyland. Now, I grew up in Orange County; I went to Disneyland (and Knott's Berry Farm) about a thousand times when I was growing up, so except for the newly added attractions, it's been old hat for me whenever I go back. But my sister works for Disney -- we get in free, and so we've usually gone there on every trip back to California. At the end of the day, we've...
December 21, 2003
In case you couldn't guess, blogging was light today while I did some Christmas shopping and decorating. We went to see our families for Thanksgiving this year, and so the holiday season hasn't had much impact on us; the First Mate and I have both been feeling a lack of Christmas spirit, and so we haven't decorated or shopped at all before now. Due to the expense of traveling to California with our son, daughter-in-law, and the Little Admiral, we had warned our family not to expect too much this year. (And then we promptly spent more than we planned, of course.) Anyway, we're still working on our house and the gifts, mostly for the Little Admiral, but due to an unexpected Christmas bonus, I was able to purchase a long-desired digital camera. I bought the Canon A70, mostly due to the higher quality and the fact that it uses...
December 24, 2003
I've had trouble getting in the Christmas spirit. It's been a busy month at work, and since we flew out to visit family in California over Thanksgiving, the First Mate and I kind of feel like we've already had our Christmas. We finally got our shopping done, mostly for the Little Admiral, this past weekend. (Nothing like last-minute shopping to kill any Christmas spirit that might be struggling to grow anyway.) I worked today in order to make sure that the office will be okay over the four-day weekend -- my department is a 7x24x365 group -- and when I left, I hoped to get a bit more spirited. Since my son and daughter-in-law celebrate Christmas Eve with her family (we've always been a Christmas Day family anyway), the First Mate and I always try to go to Mass on Christmas Eve. She's been baking all day long, so I...
December 25, 2003
If you can't get Christmas spirit when your granddaughter is playing on a toy you just put together for her, then you are either dead or your last name is Scrooge: We had our son, daughter-in-law, and the Little Admiral over here from about 3 pm to 9 pm, and the First Mate cooked up a great prime rib dinner for all of us. After we opened gifts and ate, we watched the DVD of our Thanksgiving trip that I made as one of the Christmas gifts I gave to family members. We talked to all of our (immediate) family out West, and we did a video conference with my Dad and his wife. Was Santa good to you all? Santa was definitely good to me. I got two tickets to a Notre Dame football game next October, when Stanford comes to town. I've always been a huge Fighting Irish...
February 19, 2004
I don’t usually comment too much about my family life on this blog, mostly because my family deserves their privacy and sharing my personal stories differs ethically from sharing theirs. However, this is a special occasion, as today is our tenth wedding anniversary, and I thought I’d take some space to tell you about the First Mate. Marcia and I met about fifteen years ago in a young-adult group at our church (when we both met the age requirement) because I gave her a regular ride to the meetings. Marcia went blind 24 years ago due to her diabetes and one of her few limitations is that she can’t drive. She and I quickly became good friends, and after a year or so we began dating on and off. In fact, as Marcia loves to tell people, we had our first date in July and our second date in December...
Continue reading "Happy Anniversary To Us" »
March 2, 2004
For those of you who have been kind enough to ask about the First Mate, I just wanted to give you an update on her status. The collection of doctors we've gathered have decided that her kidney function has dropped off too much for her to wait for the transplant for treatment, and so she will be starting dialysis tomorrow. She'll go in to have a shunt installed in the morning, have a dialysis treatment, stay overnight for observation, have another treatment in the morning, and hopefully will be ready for release in the afternoon. While it sounds like a setback, this actually will help relieve the symptoms of kidney failure that trouble her the most, and should be a marked improvement in her quality of life. We're both optimistic. One of our friends from Twin Cities Marriage Encounter (where we volunteer as board officers) has volunteered to donate her...
March 3, 2004
Today is the First Mate's surgery to install a dialysis shunt, and the didn't start off too well. Her blood sugars were too low and her blood pressure too high, and so the hospital delayed her procedure for a while. Eventually she got settled down and they've taken her in for the surgery, which fortunately only requires sedation and a local anaesthetic. In the meantime, I'm waiting in the hospital lobby with a restaurant pager for them to tell me when the doctor is ready to talk with me. (You can't have a cell phone on, but you'll know when your table is ready, monsieur.) After asking about a dozen people if the hospital had Internet access, someone told me about a few workstations they have just off of the lobby. None of them had an access port, but a table nearby has a computer for job applicants. Above the...
March 5, 2004
Thank you to all who kept the First Mate in your thoughts and prayers -- she's back home, tired but feeling much better, and significantly lighter, too, after three dialysis treatments. We've made the arrangements for her continuing dialysis treatments, so she should do fine right through to the transplant. However, we got the list of what the First Mate can't have as grub any longer -- and I'm scratching my head as to what the heck she'll be living on. She can have as much protein as she wants, but not prepared or preserved meat (too much sodium). She can't eat bran, beans, or nuts and only a half cup of dairy a day (too much phosphorus). You'd think that fruits and vegetables would be a good idea, but there's half a page of veggies that are off-limits (too high in potassium). Geeeeeez. I thought diabetes was difficult....
March 9, 2004
The First Mate is getting her first outpatient dialysis this afternoon at what appears to be an excellent facility here in the Twin Cities (in one of the South Metro suburbs, actually). She seems to be in good hands -- she's relaxing in a comfortable recliner while the dialyzer is running. Thanks to the conveniences provided by the clinic, I have network access to the Internet with my laptop, and I'm listening to Hugh Hewitt while blogging and keeping an eye on my wife. So far, her labs look pretty good and she's tolerating the treatment very well. Her nephrologist just came by to check on her and a couple of his other patients, and he's optimistic that after a couple of weeks her energy levels will be back to normal. One of the side benefits is that they will be able to draw blood regularly to check her labs,...
March 14, 2004
Unfortunately, the First Mate is a bit under the weather again -- her dialysis shunt site has gotten infected and she's back in the hospital again. We're hoping she won't have to be admitted, but mostly we're hoping that she's feeling better soon. I'll have an update later on today when I can get back home. UPDATE: Thanks for the e-mails and the comments on this post. The First Mate's taking a bit of a nap, so I thought I'd sneak downstairs to post an update. The doctors admitted her to the hospital, so she'll be staying at least overnight. (I tried to convince her that this was just like a first-class B&B, but she's tasted the food and knows better.) She definitely has a serious infection around her shunt, but they're giving her antibiotics and the doctors are hopeful she won't have to have it replaced. The pain has...
March 17, 2004
Just got back from visiting the First Mate at the hospital -- a shame she's inside, as today was one of the nicest days we've had in a while -- and she's doing a bit better than before. Her fever is almost completely gone and the infection looks like it's slowly going away. However, the doctors had to remove the dialysis shunt, which means they have to install a new one tomorrow. If that goes well, and her dialysis afterwards works properly, she may go home tomorrow afternoon or evening. She's tired and bored and still not feeling very well, but she's champing at the bit to come home. If you eat the food at the hospital, like I have the past few nights, you'd be anxious to be elsewhere, too. Thanks to everyone who's sent thoughtful and encouraging notes. I've been sharing them with the First Mate and she...
March 19, 2004
Just to keep you all up to date, the First Mate came home from the hospital this afternoon, and is resting comfortably ... in fact, she's asleep right now, which makes me happy. I'm working from home this afternoon (while doing some posting as well, as you can see) so that I can keep an eye on her. Thanks to everyone who sent their kind regards!...
April 1, 2004
I have another First Mate update, and unfortunately this time the news is not so good. The friend who had generously volunteered to donate a kidney has received notice that her medical tests show she will be unable to do so. Her own kidney function falls below the thresholds needed to qualify as a donor. She had no idea that there was any problem, and it's not a serious issue for her; in fact, she probably won't require any treatment. I didn't realize how much I was counting on this transplant emotionally until I got this call on Tuesday. The First Mate had spent all day Monday at the hospital getting an angiogram done -- which came back okay -- and we knew our friend had been at the transplant center at the same time, working on her own evaluation. Up until that time, whenever my wife had felt poorly...
April 11, 2004
Today, instead of concentrating on the minutiae of the world, we focus on the promise of life and the potential for good that resides in each of us. Easter and Passover are seasons of renewal, when we can shed the sins of our past and be renewed into our full power as the good and holy creations of a loving God. Exodus 19:3-6 says: Moses went up to the mountain to God. Then the LORD called to him and said, "Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob; tell the Israelites: You have seen how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagle wings and brought you here to myself. Therefore, if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people, though all the earth is mine. You shall be to me...
As I noted earlier today, blogging would be light due to the Easter holiday, and I hope you all had a wonderful Sunday with your friends or families. The First Mate and I spent the day with my son's in-laws. I'm a bit too tired to do much blogging now; I spent the evening doing some work on the NARN site, which we will be shortly updating and upgrading. I'll get back to work tomorrow, I promise. Until then, here's a few pictures from today's Easter festivities ... Here's me and the Little Admiral ... Here's the Little Admiral finding an Easter egg ... The Little Admiral's mom and dad, having fun on Easter ... The First Mate and the Little Admiral's other grandmother (and gracious hostess)... Of course, no holiday is complete without a blogger conference -- here's Sean from Everything I Know Is Wrong, my daughter-in-law's uncle! See...
May 20, 2004
I planned on doing a lot of blogging tonight from the dialysis center, where we go three days a week for the First Mate, but it looks like I won't be able to do much. The good news for the First Mate is that we have a transplant date scheduled for her -- June 8. Our friend retested after failing an initial test as she was convinced nothing was wrong with her. Well, she was right; the first test results turned out to be mistaken. She's now completed her testing and everyone's approved for the transplant. We're incredibly grateful for all of the thoughts and prayers directed our way from all of you. Now, the bad news: her catheter got infected again and won't work now. We're waiting on some lab results to check out her blood chemistry to see if she's way off on her potassium levels, which we...
May 21, 2004
Just a short note to update everyone on the First Mate. She's back home and very tired but doing well. What happens from time to time on a dialysis shunt is that the natural tendency of blood to clot will narrow the line where it enters the body. To combat this, the dialysis center fills the line with a medication that suppresses the clotting reaction at the end of each session. (The medicine sits in the line and doesn't flow into the body; it has something to do with the pressure differential, but I'm a bit unclear on that concept.) If this doesn't work, though, what happens is that the shunt becomes to narrow to pump the blood at a sufficient rate to properly dialyze, and a failure to dialyze is a big deal for the patient. Normally they would have sent her home to try again the next day,...
May 31, 2004
I intended to do a bit more blogging today, as we planned to attend a party for the Little Admiral, our granddaughter, who turns 2 today. I had my digital camera at the ready for a bit of instantaneous photosharing. Unfortunately, while we were shopping for her presents this morning, the First Mate started feeling oddly and slurring her words. Fortunately, we were right around the corner from a hospital, and I got her in through the Emergency room. It turned out that she had a transient ischemic attack (TIA), which is related to a stroke but causes no permanent damage; it's sort of a blockage that clears itself rather quickly. We knew that the First Mate ran the risk of a stroke because of the high blood pressure that comes from diabetes and kidney failure. Since we're only nine days away from the scheduled kidney transplant, we had hoped...
June 1, 2004
Busy morning today, but I wanted to show you a couple of pictures from the Little Admiral's 2nd birthday party, which unfortunately the First Mate and I had to miss. Thankfully, Sean from Everything I Know Is Wrong took a few snaps for me to enjoy. (Sean and I are related through my son's marriage, and he's a terrific guy with a terrific blog -- check it out.) I heard that she had been showing everyone a microscopic "owie" on her knee and demanding that everyone kiss it. In the first picture, you'll see the only one who refused, Sean's son Connor, who apparently won't indulge such nonsense! The pictures are in the extended entry. I'll be back to regular blogging a little later on....
Continue reading "The Little Admiral Turns 2" »
Just an update for everyone -- the First Mate has returned home, with her blood pressure stabilized for the moment and all symptoms cleared up. Even better, I spoke with the transplant center this afternoon, and while they still need to review all of the records and doctors' notes from this incident, they believe she can stay on schedule for the transplant. They'll make a final determination later this week. Thank you, thank you, thank you all for your thoughts and prayers this week. They have been more of a blessing than you know. We're both blessed to have the support of such a wonderful group of people on all points of the political spectrum....
June 4, 2004
Captain's Quarters will probably see light blogging this evening, as we are babysitting the Little Admiral tonight. She's getting pretty good at make-believe stuff; she pulls me down to the floor and makes me pretend I'm going night-night, covering me with a blanket and giving me a doll for company. Then she slaps me on the head and laaaaaughs. In the meantime, I'll move the Caption Contest to the top and see how many great entries we can get. We had 107 in the last contest overall, and I think we're over 50 already today, including our first-ever Photoshopped entry. Whiskey may return from vacation tonight, but in the meantime check through today's other posts. I'll be reading The Connection by Stephen Hayes in anticipation of our Northern Alliance radio show tomorrow, when we'll interview Mr. Hayes on the connections between Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. Think that they don't exist?...
June 7, 2004
Today is the day prior to the First Mate's transplant, and we are spending most of the day at the Fairview University Medical Center's Transplant Unit, talking with the surgeons and nurses who will be involved in the surgery tomorrow. Once again your intrepid Captain has found a way to hijack a network connection in order to maintain a little bit of sanity during the waiting periods between conferences. The First Mate's tests all check out good, as did the donor's; she's on her way home now, but we still have a few tests to go. We've met with the primary surgeon, nephrologists, nurses, and we're waiting on the anaesthesiologists now. The FM and I will head home about mid-afternoon, it appears, and show up at 5:30 AM tomorrow morning to prep for the surgery itself. I'll be posting more as the day goes on, but right now it all...
June 8, 2004
Okay, I know some of you have been waiting for this, and I'm ecstatic to deliver -- the First Mate has her new kidney and it's functioning already! I spoke to the surgeon in charge about a half-hour ago, and he was very pleased. No complications, she was stable throughout surgery, and while she was still getting closed up, he thought the whole thing went very well. She'll stay in recovery for a couple of hours, and assuming she has no reaction to the anaesthesia (she usually gets sick), she won't even need to go to ICU. Our friend who donated the kidney, Mary, is already in her room and looking great. She says she doesn't feel much pain, but she's still got the surgical medication in her, so that may change. She's perky, thrilled for the success, and she and her husband Roger are making the phone calls. Let...
June 9, 2004
I just got home from the hospital and wanted to let you know that the First Mate continues to improve. I spent the entire day at the hospital today; I had originally planned on stopping there in the morning and going to work for a few hours midday, but instead I just hung around. Her doctors discussed her progress and went over her labs with us. For those of you who know about kidney function, her creatinine level is down to 1.9, which is closer to normal than she's seen in years (normal is ~1.0). She got up and walked a few steps twice today, although it made her nauseous both times. Right now, she's still feeling very sore and very tired. The massive steroids that she's taking for the next few days have swollen some of the soft tissue in her face, giving her a look sometimes called "moon-face",...
June 10, 2004
The First Mate's doing a lot better today -- sitting up and doing a little walking, feeling much less pain, and the kidney continues to improve its function. Her creatinine (for you kidney wonks out there) has dropped to 1.5, and the kidney's output has continued increasing. Tomorrow the donor will go home, but the FM will probably stay until at least Sunday and most likely Monday....
June 11, 2004
Today the First Mate and I went to Transplant School -- two hours of instruction on medications, aftercare, and follow-up. Since this is our second transplant, most of the information we already knew, but it was very helpful to have it presented to us in a coherent manner. The UM transplant program insists on a much more organized approach for transplant patients; we're expected to keep log books of lab results, and so on. The First Mate, long acquainted with both my organizational skills as well as my legendary capacity for procrastination, kept shooting cynical looks at me during the classes. If I had feelings, they'd be hurt. The U does have another great feature, though. One of the big headaches of a transplant is keeping up with the myriad prescriptions necessary to stay healthy. Transplant patients have to take anti-rejection medication for life in order to keep the organs...
June 13, 2004
I just got back from bringing the First Mate home from the hospital. Her kidney function is excellent -- so far, the creatinine level is still 1.5, and her BUN has dropped to 32. Neither are in the normal range but they're closer than anything she's seen in years. Her bladder is still pokey, so they sent her home with a Foley catheter, which irritates her but still is better than staying in the hospital another night. She'll have to wait until Thursday to have it removed, by which time we're hoping that her bladder will have "woken up". Fortunately, my father and his wife will be coming out to lend a hand for the next week, allowing me to go back to work, and my sister will come out for a week after that. (Posting may be a bit light during that time.) By that point in time, the...
June 20, 2004
Now that the kidney transplant is over, we decided to celebrate the Little Admiral's birthday this weekend. We had my father (Admiral Emeritus? First Lord of the Admiralty? Queeg?) and his wife out here this past week to help the First Mate out with her recovery, and my sister also flew out on Friday to help out this coming week. This meant that we could all celebrate Father's Day together for the first time since 2001, when we celebrated it in a pub in central Dublin. After the Northern Alliance Radio Show on Saturday afternoon, we all got together for my granddaughter's second birthday, which we delayed because of my wife's sudden hospitalization. As you can see, the Little Admiral did pretty well! She got a new Minnie Mouse dress with matching purse and suitcase, which you can see in this picture, and two new bubble machines, videos, and lots...
June 24, 2004
My sister just bought my son a physics textbook off of his Amazon wish list, and we've all had a pretty good laugh reading one of the reviews. First, you have to understand that my son considers this his pleasure reading for the summer ... and you'll understand why we're all laughing. Proudly laughing, my sister adds ... but laughing just the same. The first few chapters (homotopy, homology) are rather dry, but the text picks up after that. The manifold chapter is really good, particularly the Lie groups section which gives a geometric viewpoint of the objects which get very little attention in a typical particle physics course. Unfortunately, nothing is said on representation theory, but that can be found in Georgi's book. The cohomology chapter is wonderfully quick and to the point. I found myself having to tell myself to slow down because of the excitement I had...
June 27, 2004
I'll be taking some time off this afternoon and early evening; the family has all returned to California and the First Mate and I will take a drive in the country. She's doing pretty well right now, although she has had some complications with her bladder and a hematoma at her dialysis shunt site since its removal. I want to get her out of the house and give her some relaxation time. I'll return to blogging later tonight. In the meantime, I'll direct you to two very different but excellent blogs. Check out Highly Moody, a terrific, fun, and well-designed blog by my friend Mel, who is currently trying to unknot some of the Comments problems I'm having with the new MT 3.0 installation. After that, check out INDC Journal, another great blog whose proprietor, Bill, is currently raising funds for the family of a soldier killed in action in...
July 5, 2004
I hope all of you had a great, long weekend this Fourth. I've had Monday off, and while I spent part of my day doing some follow-up on the First Mate's medical stuff, I've spent most of the weekend relaxing and taking it easy. (The FM is doing well and thanks all of you for your prayers and thoughts.) After the NARN broadcast Saturday we spent some time with our son, daughter-in-law, and the Little Admiral, which is always good for the soul. She's learning what "tired" means, and she doesn't much like it. Neither the First Mate nor I are much into fireworks these days -- of course, for her, all she gets to experience is one very loud explosion followed by the next. On the Fourth, we have fallen into the habit of going to the movies. Last night, however, her energy level was a bit off, so...
July 26, 2004
I had to take the First Mate in for outpatient surgery this morning as she has developed some complications with her kidney transplant. The details are pretty technical, but essentially what happened is that fluid began to build up around the kidney and at the same time, the doctors suspect that an obstruction may have formed inside the kidney. It isn't a rejection episode, as we originally feared, but she has to go back to having the kidney shunted to the outside, probably for the next six weeks. We're hoping that the shunt will take some of the pressure off the kidney and reverse some of the suppressed function we've been seeing in the lab results. She's also fighting a CMV infection, which is not uncommon for transplant patients, especially in the first couple of months. That causes flu-like symptoms, exhaustion, and a lack of energy, and it takes a...
August 11, 2004
A short while ago, my friend Haddayr Copley-Woods lost her beloved father Joe Woods at the far-too-young age of 59 to a sudden heart attack. Haddayr writes a regular column for the Minnesota Women's Press, and I knew eventually her grief would find its way into her writing. Today she writes an exceptional and moving tribute to her father: When I was a little girl, I sometimes stood next to my father at the basement sink, imitating the movement of his strong, calloused hands as he dipped them in Goop cleaner, carefully scrubbing to the elbows. He would rinse blackened oil and axle grease from his enormous forearms in precise movements and lather again with soap. Like him, I would carefully dry each finger, and we would head to dinner. I worshipped him then. Later, I merely loved and respected him. ... Although he was a hard worker (over his...
August 22, 2004
And (for part of) the seventh day, I rested .... Today we had the Little Admiral with us, so I took the afternoon off from the computer and spent the day playing with the granddaughter and the First Mate. After ten days of Swiftvets, polls, and the like, it was refreshing to play with Weebles buses and go for a drive with the family. I'll close out the current Caption Contest, judge the previous one, and hit the sack -- and start fresh tomorrow....
August 24, 2004
I should have been warned when I called the First Mate from the office this afternoon. The Little Admiral spent the day at our house as the FM has been feeling better this past week and wanted to start watching her again, and when I called she had just gone down for a nap. She filled me in on the day's events, and finished with a sinister chuckle, "The Little Admiral has something for you to do together when you get home." Now, having been married to the woman for several years, I have gotten to know this evil chuckle. I assumed that one of two possibilities existed: 1. She had fed the baby chili con carne for lunch and wanted me to change the diaper. 2. The LA wanted to play trampoline on my chest and finish up with a friendly game of Boot To The Head, pastimes she...
September 17, 2004
The First Mate has another procedure to endure today, a rather routine event in the CQ household these days. I've pirated a wireless connection and working on a few blog details while keeping an eye on the e-mail. I have a great story to tell you about the First Mate. One of our running arguments, as is the case with so many other couples, is about the climate of the house. My wife has a very narrow degree of comfort, as it turns out, which can be a problem in Minnesota. She gets cold when the indoor temperature falls below 72, and warm when it rises above 74 -- about which I tease her unmercifully. For my part, as long as frost isn't forming on the bannister and the plumbing doesn't sweat with condensation, I'm happy. This morning, she told me it was too cold in the house, so I...
October 10, 2004
While her loyal sons are marching, Onward to victory! As I wrote earlier, we just returned from our first trip to the University of Notre Dame, home of the Fighting Irish, the greatest and most stories college football program. I have been a fan of the Fighting Irish since I was a young lad, but I have never had the opportunity to even visit the campus, let alone see the football team play in person, anywhere. Thanks to a generous Christmas gift from Vayapaso, that changed this weekend ... but not until we had to drive eleven hours to get out there. We originally planned to fly, but that plan didn't work out. Since it was only 500 miles (499.7, according to Mapquest), I thought we could drive it in about eight hours. That plan held up really nicely -- up to the outskirts of Chicago, on Friday about...
November 25, 2004
Last year, I wrote a long blog essay about all of the reasons I'm thankful this season. Instead of writing an essay this year, I thought I'd just hit the reasons themselves ... I'm thankful that this year, as in the past few years, my son's in-laws are gracious and loving enough to invite us to their family celebration. We have been truly blessed by our daughter-in-law Missy, her parents Gene and Linda, brother Michael and sister Deanne, and all of their extended family. (Her uncle is Sean from Everything I Know Is Wrong.) They've been wonderful to our son and to us. Even though our family is all out on the west coast, we have been fortunate to become part of a second family in Minnesota. I'm also thankful for all of my family out in California -- my mom and dad are both still around and in great...
December 17, 2004
My father, the Admiral Emeritus, is visiting this weekend and I'll be joining him shortly for lunch at the Mall of America, the largest US insane asylum for holiday shoppers. Later, we're taking him and his wife out for a holiday sleigh ride and bonfire dinner in Jordan at Minnesota Harvest (pictures certain to be forthcoming!). I'l be back on the blog later, but in the meantime, read this hilarious post about the Vagina Monologues by the Anchoress: My vagina and me, we're just fine as we are. My vagina is exclusive - do you hear me, EXCLUSIVE - given over for the enthusiastic romping and procreating of one good man, and the deliverance of two blessed other good young men. My vagina is no weeping sister of eternal caterwauling! I do not have to keep my legs crossed in order to muffle the sound of its distress! The walls...
December 20, 2004
This weekend, the Admiral Emeritus and his wife came to visit us for an early Christmas celebration. We made a big Christmas dinner and invited our son's in-laws to join the First Mate and I, our son David and his wife Missy, the Little Admiral, and Missy's sister DeeAnn and her boyfriend Andy, who's renting a room at our house now. My dad and his wife wound up buying the Little Admiral a Little People Discovery Village, one of a wonderful set of Little People toys from Fisher Price. It's so wonderful, in fact, that the gift duplicated one that the First Mate and I had already bought for her. (She'll get our gifts on Christmas Day.) Here's the Little Admiral ignoring everyone and everything else to play with her new toys, along with the Admiral Emeritus and her daddy looking on from the background: This toy actually brought quite...
December 25, 2004
From the First Mate, Whiskey, and I to all CQ readers -- we all wish you a blessed and merry Christmas with your friends and family. I'll be posting Little Admiral pictures during the day ... Addendum: I'm posting this at 2 AM as we just got back home from a midnight Mass. Here's the homily from Pope John Paul II's midnight Mass homily at the Vatican: 1. "Adoro te devote, latens Deitas." "Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore." On this night, the opening words of this celebrated Eucharistic hymn echo in my heart. These words accompany me daily in this year dedicated to the Eucharist. In the Son of the Virgin, "wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger" (Lk 2:12), we acknowledge and adore "the Bread which came down from heaven" (Jn 6:41, 51), the Redeemer who came among us in order to bring life...
For those of you who may have wondered why CQ was so quiet yesterday -- two posts? -- I figured you'd like to see what kept me so preoccupied. I hadn't wrapped any Christmas gifts, so while I watched the Green Bay Packers edge out the Minnesota Vikings yesterday for the division title, I got all the gifts wrapped up nicely and put under the tree. When I finished and added in all the gifts that our family sent, it wound up looking ... well, a bit embarassing: I would say that we have quite a task getting through all of these gifts later this afternoon when our son, daughter-in-law, and the Little Admiral join us for dinner. In the meantime, we're relaxing after a long, tiring Christmas Eve topped by a beautiful midnight Mass with our good friend Ronnie (who he