theparkerfamily.org

Naebody in Particular podcast cover: a collage of old family photographs, handwritten letters, a magnifying glass and a fountain pen

Naebody in Particular

You won't find them on a shortbread tin, but our ancestors live on so long as we keep telling their stories. Scots, Yanks, Canucks and the Auld Enemy. Newest posts are the ancestors, but scroll for the living.

  • outings

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    it’s day three of the non-sick portion of paternity leave, and sparklet and i are starting to settle into a rhythm … tho, admittedly her front end, back end, and sleep schedule are driving pretty much everything.

    • sleep until 10am, with an occasional interruption from 6am ’til 7am.
    • suck down 7 oz. of breakfast.
    • sleep 11am ’til 12:30pm.
    • suck down 8 oz. of lunch.
    • sleep 2:30pm ’til 5pm.
    • suck down 6 oz. of dinner.
    • sleep 7pm ’til 8pm.
    • suck down 4 oz. of dessert.
    • asleep between 10pm and midnight.

    so her stomach/sleep-cycle doesn’t leave much time for futzing about, but we have about two hours of wakey-wakey time in the noon-ish ’til two-ish period after lunch that we can squeeze something in … but that’s only if we “commute” during her 11am/2pm naps.

    i wish i had some sort of noble intention by helping her “explore the world,” but i’m afraid it’s just my ridiculously short attention span trying to save me from clawing out my eyeballs out from daytime TV (regardless of the awesomeness that is Nash Bridges).

    that said, sparklet is really digging getting out of the house.

    she’s all about paintings in the museums we’ve hit, so long as they are large format (loves those enormous english/american landscapes) or large blocks of color (presumably because most contemporary pieces look like they could have been painted by someone her age).

    sculpture is fine, though white marble holds her interest much better than dark stone/iron. once the pieces dip towards the smaller side, it’s game over … and her attention quickly shifts towards the nearest light source (windows, track lighting, etc).

    speaking of, the big wins so-far have been the stuff that hasn’t been on display … the skylights in the smithsonian american art museum and the national gallery, the tunnel of LEDs in between the gallery’s east and west wings, and pretty much anything with stained glass.

    i’m not sure what’s on-tap next … but for the first time in my life, i am choosing things to do based on whether there are cool things that light up.

    See the Photos on Flickr:
    out: smithsonian american art museum

  • out: national gallery

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    Explore the Photo Set:
    out: national gallery

  • week fifteen

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    photo of the week // week fifteen

  • out: georgetown waterfront

    [Eiffel Tower, Paris, France.]
    Explore the Photo Set:
    out: georgetown waterfront, washington, dc

  • video: the end of silence

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snco44ePEZo

    not only is *somebody* talking, but *somebody* won’t stop…

  • miserable, part 2

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    ECPA20100122_3214, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    in the least surprising plot twist of the year, baby sparklet is now 98% healthy, and i’m sick as a dog. the lady sparkler actually had to leave work early today to come bail me out, after i had gotten sick enough that i was asking the baby to fix me musinex and orange juice cocktails.

    we’re already embarrassed to talk about how well sparklet has been sleeping, but her being sick has added another couple of hours to the nightly tally. yesterday she had slept in so late that i went into the nursery to check that she was still alive.

    i tip-toed in, leaned my head over the crib, listened to her chest … and she simultaneously kicked and punched me in the head.

    i guess she’s decided she’s lloyd dobbler — doesn’t want a career where she sells anything bought or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, and is looking into kickboxing as the sport of the future.

    (I don’t really know, i can’t figure it all out tonight, sir, so I’m just gonna hang with your daughter.)

  • miserable

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    IMG_1351, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    baby sparklet’s gotten her very first illness this weekend, in an obvious salute to the start of my paternity leave. she has mild(ish) case of Respiratory Syncytial Virus, which from all accounts seems to be about as menacing as your average cold even though it sticks around for a bit longer.

    and with that, my idyllic visions of paternity leave — museums in the morning, a pint at the pub in the afternoon — have been put on hold for a bit. turns out that there isn’t any treatment for the mild version of the virus, so it looks like we’re just hanging around for the next five days watching bad TV.

    the silver lining here is that one of the HD channels is running a Nash Bridges marathon (Don Johnson! Cheech Marin! Yasmine Bleeth!). It’s hard to be depressed in the face of such daytime TV excellence (i’m hoping for a “Walker, Texas Ranger” marathon tomorrow).

    for the record, sparklet is taking this all in stride. she seems to be a little annoyed that Don Johnson hasn’t been properly recognized for the dynamic range he displays as the “smart-alecky” police inspector who fights crime on the streets of San Francisco.

    other than that, she’s the happiest sick baby i’ve ever seen.

    UPDATE: Not a full marathon, but i got FOUR whole episodes of “Walker, Texas Ranger” this morning. My life is nearing a state of nirvana-like completion.

  • found: january

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    photo of the week // week fourteen
    See All the Photos on Flickr:
    camera dump: january

  • zoo portraits, part 2

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    ECPA20100118_1374, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    this is the three month edition of baby sparklet’s zoo portraits. we found a little bear near the bottom of the zoo, and each time we’ve visited, we stop and take a picture. considering how close we live to the zoo, we should have 200 of these by the time she turns three.
    Explore the Photo Set:
    updated: zoo portraits

  • video: overture

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSkUAVZCRIM