Another Christmas "Thank You"

I received an Amazon gift certificate from Jim, Scott's sister Kathy's husband, for Christmas, and thought I'd let him (and everyone else) know what I bought with it. You may not appreciate some of my purchases, but trust me--it's all good stuff.

• Mary Poppins (2005 Original London Cast Recording) [Audio CD]
• Seesaw (1973 Original Broadway Cast Recording) [Audio CD]
• 52nd Street [Audio CD] Billy Joel
• Where Our Love Grows [Audio CD] Swing Out Sister
• and a Brushed Nickel Arrow Base Door Stop for the upstairs bathroom

Thanks, Jim! Let me know if you want to borrow any of the CDs.

Scott Has a Blog Now, Too

So, there's even more pressure for me to start keeping my own blog more up to date. I had planned to do some blogging this holiday weekend, but a head cold hit me hard late last week and had me in bed or on the couch most of the time. I finally started feeling better New Year's Eve night, although my nose is still plugged up and I'm blowing it often.

Visit "A Blog By Scott" at http://ablogbyscott.blogspot.com

Merry Christmas, Family!

Scott and I wish you all our love and much happiness during this holiday season and every day of the year.

And I promise to get you all caught up with our upstairs bathroom remodeling. MPOW (that's a blog abbreviation for My Place Of Work) has kept me especially busy this past month, which left me feeling pretty lazy about blogging. The bathroom is almost done--I expect to be posting photos of the finished product within the next two weeks. (It would be sooner, but the contractor is only working Wednesday and Thursday of this coming week between Christmas and New Year's Day.) We can't wait for you to see it!

Love,
Steven

Poplar Tree Bay, June-July 2006

Poplar Tree Bay Jun-Jul 2006-21
Originally uploaded by steventhemusical.

Here at last...the long-awaited photos to our trip up to Poplar Tree Bay over the Independence Day pre-holiday weekend. Scott and I drove up and arrived Friday. Kathy flew up and joined us Saturday.

It was a great trip. We were able to golf twice...which was good even though my own golf game was awful. No bike rides though. The sporting goods store that we took the bikes to for a tune up and to fix a flat tire, and which told us they'd be done on Sunday, just called us today (yes, a week later!) to tell us the bikes are ready to be picked up.

Scott and Kathy's Uncle Jim and Aunt Bev had us over for their annual Clayton, NY fireworks party, with a fantastic view of the fireworks display over the St. Lawrence River from their own private dock.

Scott and Kathy's sister, Dawn, and her daughters, Erin, Jill and Lisa, arrived the Monday before the holiday to begin an extended vacation all their own. Unfortunately, Scott and I had to hit the road that same afternooon, so we didn't get to spend much time with them. We expect Erin, Jill and Lisa will be very popular with the teenage boys of the multiple families from Rochester that occupy the Poplar Tree Bay community.

Driving from Chicago to Cape Vincent is rough...but even staying overnight in a hotel along the way it's still cheaper than flying most of the time. And there's something especially relaxing about not stressing over airport checkin, security, flight delays and checked baggage. We'll be driving up again in August (when Mom will be joining us), but will probably fly if we squeeze in a long weekend in September.

Click on the photo of me, Scott and Kathy to jump to this new photo set on Flickr.

Happy Father's Day, Dad

Gee, Dad, how many other fathers do you know can say they were blogged for Father's Day? Unfortunately, I don't have a digital photo of you. So, instead I'm posting a homage of sorts -- my recreation of those photos you used to snap of yourself with the old instamatic, holding it at arms length and pointing it back at you. As a matter of fact, I've decided I like this silly photo so much I'm going to use it in my blog profile. Thanks for the inspiration, Dad, now and always.

Have a great Father's Day!

Love,
Steven

Poplar Tree Bay, May 2006

Poplar Tree Bay May 2006 141
Originally uploaded by steventhemusical.

Okay, better late than never. We've been back since Tuesday night, but I just now uploaded a bunch of photos of our vacation "home" (i.e. trailer) -- Poplar Tree Bay -- to a photo sharing site called Flickr. Click on this photo and you'll be taken to my Flickr photostream, where you can view all of the photos I uploaded. (Click a photo to view a larger version of it.)

We're planning on driving up to Poplar Tree Bay the weekend before July 4th and then again early/mid August. Anyone want to join us? Assuming we can replace the existing water heater (which is tiny) with something larger, the trailer should be able to sleep 4-5 of us in relative comfort.