I have been interviewing my father in bits and pieces lately, trying to create a relatively complete history of his life. This effort is part of a larger project of mine, to have basic biographies (plus random interesting memories and stories) of all of my kids' close relatives ( Read more... )

It's my birthday today, and this is a milestone year for me, so I thought I'd do a brief retrospective.

1967 -- newbornMy mother was in the process of getting her PhD when she was pregnant with me. One day, while running goldfish through mazes, she felt herself go into labor. She called my dad, who said, "I'll be right there. Finish your tests." ( Read more... )

Memorable moments with my father ( Read more... )

I baked cookies with Gillian this morning. I did a lot of baking with my mother and especially my grandmother when I was little, so I love the feeling of multigenerational food creation. For years when we went to my grandparents' house in rural Palatine, Illinois, my sister and I would insist on baking a birthday cake, because what other kind of ( Read more... )

This being a Friday, and the day before rt_hon_rackman's birthday, we did our standard cheap date; meet at Epcot and eat fish and chips in the quiet area behind the England pavilion. Today we got a treat because the Beatles tribute band was playing. Gillian loves them; even before she was two, she danced along and enjoyed their music ( Read more... )

I've been inspired by moontoad to write down some memories about my grandparents. This is the first one that came to mind ( Read more... )