The view from the happy place

Very much liking this front porch business. Sitting out with the dog, emailing folks, enjoying a beer and watching the rain fall. Life is good.

I can haz beer now?

The Email Charter:

Heard about this one this morning from @jianghomeshi on Q. An interesting concept with some good ideas, though I disagree with some of the arguments presented by the author, such as the dispensing with niceties (nice begets nice, I say), and it doesn’t take into account some people’s abilities to write (or lack thereof), which presents its own level of frustration when you can’t decode the meaning behind the message to begin with.

Regardless, it’s worth a read, and there are parts that I think should be adopted widely (see #3, 8 and 10).

“This is the best day ever!”

– Elijah, on the subject of his first waterside experience

I gotta stop watching stuff like this otherwise I’m’a cut off all my digits.

I think I’m getting the reading bug again and trying to pass it along to my kids. Elijah is a voracious reader, often with three or four books alight, and when I told Talia about the summer reading club at the library, there were squeals of joy.

After reading an article about a recent publisher’s edit to Tom Sawyer, I’d realized that I hadn’t read said book in 20 years. I didn’t realize just how much I loved this book.

My copy was a gift from my maternal grandparents for my 7th birthday (along with copies of Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe and Swiss Family Robinson). Once Elijah’s through one of his books, I think it’s time for him to read Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn. If not for the sheer classic aspect, but for the how-to nature of boydom and transitioning into maturity (while having excessive amounts of fun along the way).

“I just love corn on the cob. It’s the best meal I’ve ever had.”

– Levi (my 4-year-old)

Very thankful that my parents came out and visited us! It was the first time since I was in Grade 10 that my Dad has seen me play bass!

“Real men play all the 8th notes on the ride cymbal in a fast samba.”

– Scotty “Sugarfoot” Latham