Trying on New Looks

During his punk rock phase
Embracing his U.K. roots

Grandfather and child wondering if blonds really do have more fun (discovered it was just an urban legend).....redheads rock!!

What Do You Think?

The Printer's Apprentice

Dylan attended a birthday party this weekend at the historical house of William Lyon Mackenzie, Toronto's first mayor and owner of the first newspaper printing machine (he who controls communication, controls the world).

The children were able to print their names in the painstakingly slow process of old. Then, we went for a tour of the house and reviewed the culture and daily life activities of Toronto in the early 18th century.

After the party Dylan and I had a 2-hour drive to the chalet which we spent making up a story about the "Printer's Apprentice". We envisioned a young man arriving in Toronto from England to learn the trade of printing and in the end marrying one of Mackenzie's 14 children.

The FRANKENTRIKE, 9th Generation

As you know, Andrew has been building a series of recumbent trikes over the years. It all started in 2000 when his father purchased a used recumbent bike for $1000. Andrew admired the engineering of this new bike and wanted to have one for himself...but we could not afford it as I had quit my job to run my own medical writing business from home after Dylan was born. So, he decided he would build a recumbent trike for himself. The first trike was, in my opinion, his masterpiece because it was built from parts found exclusively from GOODWILL. We were fortunate to have a flagship store in walking distance and everyday either he or I would go in to look for salvagable parts. He used parts from a rowing machine, abdomenal exerciser, children's bikes, commode chair, wheelchairs, etc....The final product was affectionately named, THE FRANKENTRIKE as its creation was due to the scavenging of various body parts.

When the trike was done this proud wife (Mary Shelley?) took pictures and wrote a story about him. I sent it to three newpapers and the Ottawa Citizen decided to pick it up and interview him. Since his father has been the inspiration for this trike, he was interviewed as well.


However, as with all creations, this master was not satisfied and decided to strip down the original Frankentrike to build a better and faster trike. And thus, a new hobby was born.
Over the years, Andrew has taken over our condo's bedroom, our vacation home, my mother's basement, our garage with his carbon fibre fumes, drill presses, saws, welding, multitude of tools, massive blueprint plans.

He has gone from using GOODWILL parts to state-of-the-art parts imported from around the world...a backrest from Holland, wheel from China, racks from Australia etc...

In the process he has connected with recumbent enthusiasts from around the world via the www. They exchange plans and ideas freely. It is like this instant brotherhood when he introduces himself to like-minded people on the street such as these two neighbours.

There are trike fests to attend each year in Port Hope and there is the occasional recumbent race to see.

And now, he is almost finished building Dylan his own recumbent trike. I don't expect that I will ever give up my "wedgie" (2-wheeled bicycle) but if I do, I know where to go for my own "bent".

Book Club - one year anniversary

When we moved to the beach one of the first things I did was form a book club with the ladies on my street. As we are approaching our one-year anniversary I thought I'd review which books we took on and what I personally thought of them.

A book club allows one to meet with friends and wake up the brain by enjoying a lively and sometimes aggressive discussion. The meetings nearly always disintegrate deliciously into gossip about one's neighbours. I enjoy having my small circle of literary favourites broadened with the requests to read something I would not have thought of on my own.

I truly look forward to these evenings and will treaten Andrew with pain of death if he dares to be late for babysitting duties. As I have explained to Dylan, this is my time to banter with a group of smart ladies (catching up on neighbourhood gossip doesn't hurt either).

The following is a list of the books read by our club since conception, and my personal 5-star rating system.

NIGHT, Elie Wiesel ***
THIS MUCH I KNOW IS TRUE, Wally Lamb *****
SWEETNESS IN THE BELLY, Camilla Gibb ***
THE BRICK LANE, Monica Ali ***
THE BIRTH HOUSE, Ami McKay **
THE GLASS CASTLE, Jeannette Walls ***
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME, Mark Haddon ****
THE TIME TRAVELLERS WIFE, Audrey Niffenegger ***
THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER, Kim Edwards (next book to be read)

Bizarre Emergency Cases 2006

Not what you were expecting.....

• A trauma case involving a very macho, jean clad male with workboots. He had been drinking at a rough bar and had been pushed down a flight of stairs. He suffered a head injury and presented with decreased level of consciousness. As his clothes were cut off a pair of woman's pantyhose was revealed followed by frilly underwear and bright pink toenails.

• An MVC trauma case involving a stunningly beautiful woman. Bloodwork had been drawn. She was still alert and oriented and requested that her underwear not be removed as we cut off her clothing. However, a nurse noticed safety pins on her underwear so they were cut off in preparation for a CT scan. The pins had been securing the underwear in place to hold and conceal her penis and testicles posteriorly. She had almost fooled the entire trauma team into believing she was a woman, and we had almost requested a stat pregnancy test on a man.

• A trauma case involving a male sex-trade worker gone horribly wrong. A very large and buff man presented as a severe assault case. He was naked accept for a red silk and chain thong and large handcuffs. In this case a pair of bolt cutters from the engineering department turned out to be the most useful trauma tool.

Some patients will try the darndest things......

• A known cocaine user presented complaining of chest pain and requesting narcotics. After a normal ECG and bloodwork he was not satisfied with having received only ASA for chest pain. Instead, in order to receive ATIVAN IV, he appeared to have a full body seizure. He was putting on a good show...eyes rolled back, drooling, full body convulsing. However, the nurse was not convinced and grabbed his hand and yelled, "If you are having a seizure squeeze my hand to let me know." The patient squeezed her hand extra hard to let her know how extra legitimate he was. All the staff laughed and he was told "no Ativan, no narcotics for you". He got up and left. (Note: In a true tonic-clonic seizure the patient loses all control over his conscious actions.)

• EMS crew had notified us that they were on route with a status epilepticus. Staff were waiting at the door. However, upon arrival, the patient was well known to St. Michael's ER. and the physician called out to him to "stop fooling around or I will take away your driver's license". The EMS crew were amazed to see their "convulsing" patient yell, "No one is going to fucking take away my license" and get off the stretcher and walk out the door.

• A man presented to ER in police custody. The police explained that he had been arrested on a minor charge and was being held in jail when he confessed to a much larger crime of smuggling 2 Gm cocaine. At first I was confused, and asked why would a man be confessing to such a serious crime. The police explained that the man had been trying to smuggle drugs into the prison system by swallowing cocaine-filled condoms. He would then enter the prison system on a minor charge and excrete the condoms and sell it to his inside co-horts. In theory, the man would then be released 2 Gm lighter and much richer. Unfortunately, the patient had realized that one of the condoms had broke and he was now being treated for cocaine ovedose and a much larger criminal offense.

• A long term inmate of the Toronto prison will occasionally counteract the boredom of jail time by swallowing objects such as eyeglasses, cutlery etc... This allows him time out for a gastroscopy under sedation, a good post-op meal and best of all, he can sneek a peek at females. I have seen him two times so far this year.

Hope for our youth....

I find it discouraging that on a weekly basis we receive teenagers completely wasted on drugs and alcohol. It is even more discouraging to see parents either indifferent or over-coddling about the state of their child. But one mom stands out in my mind. Her daughter had been brought in by friends after a night of clubbing and alcohol use. She was unresponsive to painful stimulus, incontinent of urine and had vomit all over her. Her mother was very concerned about the girl's state of health and was even more concerned about helping her to avoid future occurrences. So, she whipped out her camera and took pictures of her daughter lying on the stretcher with an intravenous, an naso-tracheal tube in nose (to protect her airway), diapers (for incontinency), vomit in her hair and drool running down her chin. She said that she would blow up the picture and use it as an educational tool to teach her daughter, and her other children, about the dangers of excessive alcohol use. Very cool...

A Comparison of BLOG Lists

Recently I showed Dylan my blog list of favourite things (see sidebar) and I asked him to give me a list of similar likes. Here is Dylan's blog list of favourite everything:

FAVOURITE “THINGS”
Dancing
Collecting beach glass
My parents
Summer
Making paper airplanes
Eating silverleaf cookies
Skating on the canal in Ottawa

FAVOURITE BOOKS
Asterix and Obelix
Pokemon Series
Bionicle Series
Time Warp Trio Series
Jigsaw Jones Series
Robin Hood

FAVOURITE PLACES
Ontario Place
Tower of London
Casa Loma, Toronto
Legoland, U.K.
Atlantis, The Bahamas
Our home

FAVOURITE MOVIES
Sound of Music
Neverending Story
Pokemon Series
Akeelah and the Bee

Where is the Snow???

Okay, I'm becoming a little concerned about this whole possible climate change thing. Sing to the tune of "Its beginning to feel alot like Christmas" but substitute lyrics to: "Its beginning to feel alot like Armageddon." Track 3 was cancelled this weekend because the ski industry in southern Ontario was CLOSED for the weekend. Not just running on half-capacity, or running with icy conditions, or running as if it were spring conditions. We were shut down. No ski racing lessons for Dylan and no chalet trek for us this weekend. Everyone is talking about the balmy weather. The animals have been coming out of hibernation all dazed and confused.

So, instead of skiing, Dylan and I took in lunch and a show this fine Sunday afternoon. Andrew has been working gargantuan hours this week because Sportsnet will be launching a new look (and new software) in two days. As a result, his boss gave him a set of tickets to the Blue Man Group's last performance in Toronto. I had already seen the show but it was fun to see it again, especially with a 7-year old who couldn't stop laughing and yelling throughout the performance.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

What a great New Year Eve celebration which ran over three days for us!

First, on December 30th we had dinner my sister and her family. Dinner consisted of Surf and Turf with lobster and beef kabobs followed by East Indian dessert delicacies. As part of the evening festivities we played a rousing game of Pictionary (boys vs. girls) followed by singing with the karaoke machine. Both Sandra and I belted out three 2 CDs worth of Beatles songs and although we were no von Trapp family, I think we did a grand job. The Cleghorn/Tripone family certainly know how to put on an entertaining evening.

New Year's Eve was spent at a party with friends in the neighbourhood. Dylan slept in their bedroom (in theory) although he was too excited and managed to stay awake until 1:00 am. We danced until 3:00am and then walked home with an almost full moon and a lovely warm night as backdrop to a brand new year. The next day, we were invited to a street party (not our street but one street away). What great spirit! All the neighbours were out to this event and brought homemade goodies, chili, cider, bbq (we brought a box of Starbucks coffee). The children and men played hockey for 3.5 hours straight! Dylan had such a great time and then collapsed into bed for a 12-hour sleep. I was told by several people living on the street that although many have had the opportunity to move out to bigger and better homes (many have shared parking lanes and only 1000sq. ft. living space) they refuse to do so only because they love their neighbourhood so much. We have already been invited to their annual Easter egg hunt, summer party, jazz party etc.....

As I reflect over the past year I think how it started with so much sorrow but ended with joy. The beginning of 2006 saw the loss of my uncle Eddy and my good friend Rose. It felt like the beginning of a giant downward spiral. But then I located my father and sister and brother and life threw us a curveball. I know it is a Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times" but I can't help but feel that this is what keeps us going. You cannot truly appreciate the valleys in life until you have experienced the hills. I will remember 2006 as the year of my hills and valleys and I cannot help but be grateful for every small blessing, every new contact in my life and especially my strong reservoir of family and friends. May each and every one of you have a healthy and joyous new year in 2007.

Dragon Club!

Several weeks ago Dylan formed a boys club who meet at our house every Friday after school.
The group is named Dragon Club and each boy has his own nickname such as Dark Dragon, Red Eye, Yellow Fang and Blue Scale. Together, the individuals come together to make the whole dragon (oooooohhhhh the metaphor!)

The club has a theme for each week such as conducting science experiments (like making slime), making sushi, playing board games (their favourite is Twister).

Recently the boys put on a Christmas variety show for their parents.

Christmas in Toronto

Despite having to work night shift throughout the Christmas holiday, I had a very relaxing and enjoyable time. My mother-in-law cooked and served dinner and my father-in-law did the cleaning. Aunt Greta came over for dinner and we had a lovely time. Dylan surprised all of us, but especially Grandma, with an incredibly heartfelt poem which he had written for her. It turns out he is living up to his namesake, Dylan Thomas (he's a poet and he don't even know it).

Thanks to my new-found family from my father's side, we were simply swimming in presents. Dylan has never had it so good!

Christmas in the Emergency Department

Hospitals stay open 24/7 and this year it was my turn to work Christmas in the Emergency Department. Our staff made the best of it as we had a potluck dinner on site and many of us wore our Christmas "gear".

Several weeks prior to Christmas, our docs threw us an elaborate party. The dinner was spectacular and the DJ rocked.

I won chocolates for all the members of my table by being the only one who could sing all the words to "Frosty the Snowman".

Christmas in Antigua

My parents-in-law own a timeshare which they trade for a destination in the Caribbean every Christmas. We are very fortunate to be invited to join them and Andrew's brother's family for a sunny vacation as a precurser to Christmas. Presents are exchanged and a full year of history is recounted.


This year we had a new addition to the family with our 9-month old nephew Kai Thomas. Kai is a very happy and engaging baby. Arleen and Greg make wonderful parents and will ensure many adventures for their child in the upcoming years.















Antigua is a lovely island and is one of the most scenic Caribbean destinations that we have been to thus far. The varying topography is picturesque and the people are very friendly. The is land is peppered with abandoned windmills used previously to grind sugarcare.
















Each morning we would receive a short rain shower or "liquid sunshine" as the resort personnel call it. A rainbow would appear with one end in the ocean and the other in hills. I had Dylan convinced that the rainbow pointed the way to a sunken Spanish ship carrying gold medallions and to buried pirate treasure on the island.














We had the opportunity to spend the day on a
catamaran. Dylan had a great time being tossed around while sailing on the Atlantic ocean. We saw all of Antigua by sea....










.....and on another excursion by jeep we saw all of Antigua by land.











Overall, we thought of Antigua as a romantic spot and would recommend it as a vacation destination (minus snorkling opportunities).

Its Beginning To Feel Alot Like Christmas!

This is Dylan's letter to Santa Clause: "Dear Santa,
This is Dylan from 104 Winners Circle. How are you? For Christmas I would like either a Transformer called Starscream or another Transformer called Mendsor which comes with a mini-con called Heavy Load. I hope you have a merry Christmas. Best Wishes, Dylan."

By the way, for those of you who may have been thinking about buying the transformer, Santa has it covered.

This weekend was spent preparing for the Christmas season. Lights were hung indoors and outdoors. The tree was put up and decorated. A Christmas photo was taken but probably won't be sent because after many retakes we just couldn't get it right (but we had fun trying).

We had a celebration dinner and feasted on steamed Alaskan crab legs (please note: Dylan did not eat the nature but he sure had a good time cracking it apart for us).

Dance!

I love to watch Dylan dance. He has such intuitive rhythm. Unfortunately he does not want to continue pursuing ballet lessons due to peer pressure. This is a shame because, although he is no Baryshnokov, he certainly is an original.

Baby Nathan Arrives!!!

Anita and Brent were pleased to announce the birth of their son yesterday, Nathan Alexander Archibald. He weighs 7lbs 16oz and measures 58 cm. Anita and baby are home and doing great! Here is a picture of the proud parents!