Proof!

At first I thought my Mom, Irene, and their friend Joyce were very brave for going over to Iraq, voting in the election, and getting their thumbs ink-dipped to prove it. Then I realized it was just a berry-picking expedition to Pescadero. Still brave though.

Bigger Flying Amado

Flying Amado

Atta Kim

If I were in New York, and say my daughter was away at summer camp or something, I would go see this show of the photography of Atta Kim at the International Center of Photography.

An article in the New York Times says, "although Mr. Kim is careful to assert that he is not a practicing Buddhist, core Buddhist concepts shape the new work. One is the notion that change, or transience, is the only concrete reality, and that time as a quantifiable, linear entity is a mirage. All time and no time are the same. A couple making love for an hour is a cloud of luminosity."

(That's the picture at the top. I don't think the lower picture is included in this show, but it's cool anyway.)

(P.S. In case anyone wondered and can't tell from the picture, those are little plastic Buddhas surrounding the little boy on the shore. Just in case you wondered.)

Seurat's Sunday Afternoon

Wow. These folks took the time to restage George Seurat's “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of LaGrande Jatte.” It looks really great. See more about it here:

http://flickr.com/photos/oldonliner/179768787/

I'm impressed by the amount of organization this must have taken, right down to the sailboat and the black dog. But what, couldn't they find a monkey? (See the monkey in the original at the feet of the woman with the umbrella?) People just don't pay attention to detail like they once did.

Once again, I found this via the blog of blogs, Heading East (http://www.mexicanpictures.com/headingeast/). I have to give Mr. Gutierrez his due props (or is that his "props due" ?)

He's a man of few words...

...in fact, zero. But that doesn't mean Amado doesn't make his thoughts known. He laughs, cries, coos, and screams. And he is also very expressive non-verbally as well: holding his arms spread wide when he wants to be picked up, and kicking and stomping his left leg to show his dissatisfaction with something, like when daddy leaves him alone in his play chair and blogs on the Internet. (Actually, I am holding the little guy in my arms right now!)

Above: Amado whispers sweet nothings into a stuffed elephant's ear.

Viva Italia!

Amado celebrates the World Cup victory of the Italians in his own little way. This one is for Grandma Coop who wondered what the baby was up to today.

Also, what in the world could Zidane have been thinking??? I've never seen a bigger snap in a bigger player in a bigger game in my life!

Torre Latinoamericana

Mexico City, 2003.

The Torre Latinoamericana is in the heart of Mexico City. I'm not sure when it was built, but it looks to be at least 40 years old, meaning it's withstood several big earthquakes. Still, I don't think I'll ever be taking a trip up to the observation deck. Note that unlike contemporary skyscrapers, it has windows which can be opened all the way up.

Thanks for indulging me as I take some of my snapshots from our trip to Mexico in 2003 and see what I can do to them using PhotoShop. I think I made some of them more interesting...but is it art?

Yes, she really is Superwoman!

me playing guitar


Attention Carlos Santana! You better watch your back man, this young woman has got the chops! She's tearing it up on Santana's "Song of the Wind." WOW!

Juiced

Mexico City, 2003

In the Time of SARS

Back in spring 2003 the SARS epidemic hit Toronto and the other places around the world. For a couple of weeks you could see some people wearing surgical masks on the subway and it was obvious that folks got antsy if they were crowded together in a confined space. And with good reason--44 people here in Toronto died from the mysterious disease. It was a little scary around here until it was determined that SARS was pretty much only being spread in hospitals.

I've forgotten why Wendy had to get the masks. It may have been during the time she worked in the addiction centre at St. Joseph's Hospital (which I guess would have been cause for concern). We took this picture to send out to family and friends just to show that we were doing ok and taking all the necessary precautions: Wendy wore the surgical mask when needed. I--obviously--was too cool to catch the disease.

Gloria

Taxco, Mexico, 2003

Sleepy, Smiley

When I get home after Amado has fallen asleep--which is too often--it brings me to tears when he slightly wakes up, sees my face, and attempts a very sleep-blurred smile to greet me.

This is something I can't take a picture of.

Please Note

1) Hamid Sardar
I'm on the run again today, but I thought the least I could do is share some utterly amazing photographs of Hamid Sardar (Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Tibet), again via one of my favourite blogs, Heading East.

2) Miss American Pie
There's a nice review in The New York Times of Margaret Sartor's diary, Miss American Pie, which records her teenage years in Louisiana through the early 1970s. It may just be a book geared for the blog-era when otherwise sane people believe that the daily noting of life's minutiae is somehow important or meaningful (um, see below), but nevertheless the review includes samples like this which caught my eye:

"At dinner, Daddy said, 'I'm confident life will never be dull for you.' Then he gave me a calculator."

3) Goooooool!!!!!!
I just caught the overtime periods of the World Cup game of Italy vs. Germany yesterday. The Italian goals to win it in the final minutes were totally exhilarating and a perfect example of why millions of people around the world love the intense tension-and-release of the game of soccer. St. Clair Street in Toronto has been shut down most of the night with celebrations. Viva Italia!

Mexico City, 2003

Headed to the Robert Q.

Wendy and Cousin Geoffrey at Pearson Airport in Toronto.

Seoul Survivor

Tonight we had the chance to welcome Cousin Geoffrey back to Canada from his extended stay in South Korea, where he is teaching English. We haven't seen him in two years! We only had a little more than an hour together at the airport in Toronto before he had to catch the "Robert Q. Airbus" to London, Ontario where his family lives. Nevertheless, it was great to see him and get to know his entourage a little better. Oh, that entourage...it's us.

Street Racer

That's me in June 1963, getting ready to take my uncle's MG for a spin around the neighbourhood, which I believe was El Monte. I must have been drooling over the opportunity, as you can see I was wearing not one, but two bibs for this big adventure.

Coop & Irene's Patio Make-Over

My Mom and Irene have just added a new mural to their most amazing patio at their house in Santa Cruz. Above, the artist, who I believe goes by the handle Kleya Forte-Escamilla, shows off her newly finished work of art. This is truly stunning! We can't wait to see it in person. Once this project is completely wrapped up I hope to post some pictures that show off the whole patio...it's a really beautiful space that shows the creativity of the two artists who live there (who are of course my Mom and Irene).

Us

Shogo Kubo

Glen E. Friedman took some amazing skate photos in the 1970s. Our skate crew in P*Land idolized the skaters he shot, but these days I just idolize his photography.

Above: Shogo Kubo, one of the most underrated of Dogtown's Z-Boyz. (Click on the photo to enlarge it.) One of my favourite skates back in the day was a red air-beam Shogo model put out by Dogtown Skates. I snapped it in half somewhere, I think at Derby Park in Santa Cruz doing aerials off the hump.

Those were the days.

O Canada

Today is Canada Day. I'm not usually the type who pays much attention to the artificial boundaries of nation states (unless it has to do with the World Cup or the World Baseball Classic), but I have to say that I am proud to live in Canada, even though I'm not a citizen yet.

Canada is certainly not a perfect country (those born here tend to see this more clearly than I do), but in many ways it is trying to take steps in the right direction---such as offering health care for all, legalizing gay marriage, being open to immigration, being cautious about participating in the "war on terror," and many other things.

Perhaps these positions can be taken because Canada only has a population of about 30 million people and it is so rich compared to many other parts of the world. I think sometimes people here don't recognize the pressures and real dangers that people in other countries (including the United States) face which causes them to take the positions they do. But there is also something deep within Canada culture and heritage that compels us to err toward compassion in every area except the hockey rink. This tendency is eroding as Canada becomes ever more Americanized and complex, but at least from my perspective it is still pretty strong. This year, I hope to take the step to full citizenship and make a commitment to "stand on guard" for Canada and help build a culture of even greater kindness.

Did you know I will have to take an oath to Queen Elizabeth? Yes, it's true.

All Laughs

Amado had his first craniotherapy treatment today, part of the continuing work on some of the issues caused by the long labour, the position he took against Wendy's pelvis during the birth, and the suction it took to get him out (even though the birth was by c-section). That probably all sounds worse than it is. In short, he has a flat spot on the left side of the back of his head, which has effected the range of movement of his neck. It's really gotten a lot better in the last two months with the stretches we've been doing with him and now that he can roll over on his own.

Alix the craniotherapist worked on his head for about an hour today and Amado slept through the whole thing. That's how gentle it was. It was all very meditative and felt very healing for all of us I think. (The craniotherapy centre was like a Santa Cruz- and Guelph-type oasis hidden away in the heart of Toronto's club district, which is very quiet until about 12:00 a.m.) Amado emerged from the experience almost giddy (Wendy called him "drunk"). We had a blast when we got home, with all three of us rolling around on the bed laughing.

Alix said she got a lot of work done on Amado, though of course he looks the same to me. I don't think the results are the kind you can see right away, but are more long-term effects. Holding Amado while Alix worked on him made me want to get some craniotherapy done myself...though I'm not sure why. Amado was just so relaxed and it looked very comforting to have somebody touch your head with so much tenderness for so long. Mmmmm.

Local Emergency

Five Months Old Today

Amadisto has changed so fast it's amazing. Now we know why all the other parents told us to enjoy the first months, even though they are hard. Soon he will be all grown up! (Well, not that soon. ;-)

Downtown Toronto Tonight

Viva Ukraine

Platinum-haired people are going ballistic all over our neighbourhood tonight, celebrating Ukraine's win by penalty kicks over Switzerland in the World Cup. Our neighbourhood is heavily Ukrainian, so the streets are shut down with carousers and there are horns and firecrackers going off all over the place. Two neighbourhoods to the east, the Italians are also going nuts, celebrating their last-minute win over Australia. In between those two neighbourhoods, the Portuguese are recovering after celebrating their crazy win over the Netherlands yesterday. It’s C-R-A-Z-Y around here!

If the Swiss had won, I imagine we ~may~ have heard an alarm clock going off. If Australia had beat Italy, the only thing I could imagine hearing is a kangaroo dancing madly on the other side of the world. There are no Swiss or Australia neighbourhoods in Toronto that I know. But we got a ton of Maltese just to the north. Who knows what might happen if they had a World Cup victory!

A Walk on the Sunnyside

We had a fun outing to Sunnyside Beach yesterday afternoon. Sunnyside is the beach on Lake Ontario closest to our house. Walking along this thin strip of beach in the summer always reminds me of the beaches I grew up visiting in California. People are sunning, playing volleyball, drumming, and eating pizza, ice cream and other junk foods.

Most of all, people are people watching. For the first time I noticed that lots of other new parents like us strolling the boardwalk, showing off their new baby (in many cases, much younger babies than Amado) and looking at other people's babies and their baby equipment.

There are two big differences between Sunnyside and the beaches of California: There are no waves crashing on the shore and no one touches the water, much less goes swimming in it. I've heard there are some places around Toronto where the water is clean enough to swim, but I've never seen anybody swimming at Sunnyside. That's too bad.

When I miss California it can help a lot to take long walk along Sunnyside Beach. Wendy told me that when her great-grandfather Larsen came to Toronto, he used to walk down to the shore of Lake Ontario with his red-metal lunchbox and spend the day looking longingly at the water, remembering the days when he was a steamship captain in Norway.

It's just a wounded lake and not the ocean, but it can still heal.

Cousins

Amadisto and his Canadian cousins, Ben and Caleb.

Amado's First BBQ

We went to Hamilton for an afternoon barbecue yesterday. As you can see, there was plenty of red meat...which was delicious (thanks Pam & Harris!). For those of you worried about mad cow disease, please be assured that we waited to eat the meat until it was cooked! Above, Amado looks very relaxed, chilling with Cousin Ben on the deck. Nice hat, kid!

Dolor a la mexicana

Mexico is out of the World Cup...losing 2-1 in double overtime to Argentina. Either team could have won this match....unfortunately this time the ball bounced the wrong way. Aye, aye, aye.

Indian TV

One of the best things about Toronto is the wide-range of ethnic-based television. I suppose it's the same in most big cities, but it seems Toronto has a wider variety of programming than other places I've lived. I love to watch the news in Mandarin. Somehow it seems more honest than English language news, which is probably because I don't speak Mandarin. There are also interesting shows in Spanish, Korean, Polish, Italian, Ukrainian, and many other languages. (Well, at least they appear interesting!) Then there's Serbia TV, Punjabi Hour, and Visions of Pakistan, the Aboriginal network, and of course several channels of French-Canadian TV. And there is lots and lots (and lots) of American TV.

My favourite is the Indian programming. When I first moved to Canada, and before we had a baby, I spent a lot of weekend afternoons in the winter watching old Bollywood movies. These films are filled with extremely beautiful actors (both the women and the men are stunning), huge dance scenes, and striking scenery from all over the subcontinent. Everything about the old Bollywood films seems warm, friendly, and they always have a good ending: the good-hearted young man marries his true love, restores his honour, receives his rightful inheritance, and leaves the bad guys in the dust.

This morning Amadisto and I watched a hour of Bollywood before Wendy woke up. It reminded me of how lonely I felt on those cold afternoons before I was a dad, and how amazingly happy I am now to be able to watch the same movies with my son sitting on my lap.

I am pretty sure Amadisto wasn't reminded of anything.

So I guess it was a new experience for each of us.

Little Whirling Dervish

Amado has made the move from sleeping in the pram next to our bed into his own crib in his own room. He seems to enjoy the freedom. He spends the whole night rolling and spinning around, covering the expanse of the crib with his little body. In the morning when we go into his room you never know which way he will be facing in the crib. It is like consulting some kind of oracle---what portents are foretold by the direction his body is pointing in the morning? Hard to tell, but today it looks likely that something very interesting will happen in the south.

Musical Interludes

My iPod shuffle may be the only thing in the universe that brings both advant guarde bassist William Parker and gonzo rocker Ted Nugent together on the same stage....

....and then there's the Ba-Benzele Pygmies and Devo. How are you going to explain that?

6.21.06
1) Ensalada de Melon, Patato, y Anga – Patato Valdes
2) Speed Racer – Devo
3) Cheap Day Return – Jethro Tull
4) Think About the One – Pharoah Sanders
5) Peachfuzz Dub – Michelle Shocked
6) No Hacen Falta Alas – Silvio Rodriguez
7) Straight to the Top – Stanley Clarke
8) Going Downtown – Gregory Isaacs
9) Como Siento Yo – Ruben Gonzalez
10) Cowgirl in the Sand – Neil Young & Crazy Horse
11) S'Wonderful – Jimmy Smith
12) Gonzo – Ted Nugent
13) Sea of Stories – Benny Rietveld
14) Great Day – The Staple Sisters
15) I'd Rather Be Blind – Etta James

6.19.06
1) I Think I See the Light – Cat Stevens
2) It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) – Bob Dylan
3) Open the Gate Dub – King Tubby
4) One Tree Hill – U2
5) Jim Jeannie – Santana
6) Listen to My Rhythm (Oye Como Va) – Andy Vargas
7) Criss-Cross – Thelonious Monk
8) Theodora (Act 2) – Lorraine Hunt
9) Chant Down Babylon – Junior Byles & Rupert …
10) Top Rankin’ – Bob Marley & the Wailers
11) That’s What Love Will Make You Do – Junior Wells
12) Drut Gat in Tintal – Ustad Vilayat Khan
13) Goye Kur – Ali Farka Toure
14) All I Want – Joni Mitchell
15) Europa – Santana (Live at Akita 1977 version)
16) Track 10 – Santana Lounge Divine
17) Crazy – Outside
18) Sham Time – Willie Bobo

6.16.06
1) Chaung Tzu’s Dream – William Parker & Hamid Drake
2) On Green Dolphin Street – Miles Davis
3) My Man’s Gone Now – Miles Davis
4) Masters of War – Bob Dylan
5) Yo Tengo Ritmo – Ritmo & Candela
6) The Wedding Song – The Ba-Benzele Pygmies
7) Cosmic Strut – Mahavishnu Orchestra
8) Roots, Rock, Reggae – Bob Marley and the Wailers (Live at the Roxy)

Big Gnasher

This little guy enjoys putting anything in his mouth and gnawing viciously on it. He's trying to gnash on his back gums, where we see some white spots, but no real teeth. We thought he was teething a couple of weeks ago in the front, but there's still no sign of anything. He's now at the point where he spends a lot of time trying to gnash on his feet. They are especially attractive to him if he has colourful socks on.

Amadisto had his 2nd round of vaccinations today. He was more upset by the fact that we woke him up than because he had a needle jabbed into each of his thighs.

He's a very comical little fellow, but Wendy said he was a little shy in his first parent/child group earlier today. He is very precious.

Be sure to click on this photo to see it full size. You will see what I mean.

Parasaurolophus

Ever wonder what a Parasaurolophus sounded like? Hear it here:

http://www.sandia.gov/media/dinosaur.htm

(click on the one of the items in the left column to hear the dinosaur.)

----> ---> ----->
The study of dinosaur vocalization began after the discovery in August 1995 of a rare skull fossil measuring about 4.5 feet long. The dinosaur had a bony tubular crest that extended back from the top of its head. Many scientists have believed the crest, containing a labyrinth of air cavities and shaped something like a trombone, might have been used to produce distinctive sounds.

As expected, based on the structure of the crest, the dinosaur apparently emitted a resonating low-frequency rumbling sound that can change in pitch. Each Parasaurolophus probably had a voice that was distinctive enough to not only distinguish it from other dinosaurs, but from other Parasaurolophuses.

Through a Glass, Darkly

Back in Black

Ok, I think everything is back up and running. I figured out the wireless business with the kind help of the support staff at D-Link. It seems to be happening---though I don't think the security is totally set yet. Perhaps my neighbours are enjoying free Internet on my tab. I don't know. I fixed the Acrobat problem too (I think), by just uninstalling it, but that seemed to mess some other things up further. Then Wendy's CD player stopped working. And I think there may be trouble with our car (but I hope NOT!). Then Edmonton lost the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

What the tar-nation is going on around here? Sunspots or something?

Anyway, I'll try getting back to the blogging and see what happens....

Death by Wireless

My computer and I have finally been kicked out of the baby's room and it's a major disaster...for me anyway. For two days I've been trying to set up a wireless network in our apartment, since the new location for the computer doesn't have a working phone outlet anywhere near it. I fussed and huffed all day yesterday and inadvertently hacked into many of my neighbours' wireless connections (they are surprising easy to get into---in fact, I am not sure now whose Internet connection I am using!). This morning I finally got a "100% signal detected" sign, but alas, my computer programs do not seem to recognize this at all. After more messing around, I also seemed to wack other parts of my system out as well. Now, everytime I click a link the computer tries to configure Acrobat 7 for about three minutes. What a headache!

So now if I'm not able to blog as frequently you will know why. Our normal home email is out too, so if you want to reach us, just leave a comment here and I will get it when I log in from somewhere else or sneak in on someone else's wireless.

However, my son now has his very own room! Go crazy kid!

Good Friends

Re-connecting with old friends heals the cracks in my world.

Last night Rachel and Brett visited from Boston and we shared a terrific Indian dinner. Rachel is a brilliant Byzantinarian working on her PhD. at Harvard. Her stories about 4th century Egyptian anchorites will just kill you. She's also a stunning musician. You can check out her sounds here.

When Brett isn't hanging out on College Street watching the World Cup and participating in hooliganism for the English side, he's working full-time on a book looking at the secret joys of fundamentalism. (As you might imagine, he has a lot of research to do for this one.)

We really miss them and hope they return to Toronto soon.