A Bestest Friend

Once again, we are blessed to have talented photographer Rachel Garrison on the short list of "Our Very Favoritest People in the World." Why, you ask? Because she keeps taking these fabulous pictures of Jackson, and we just can't thank her enough for it.

There is no way a man like me deserves a wife and kid this awesome. Much less a photog-friend that can actually capture that awesomeness, again and again and again. Thanks, Rae.

Can you believe this pic was 6 months ago!

He's getting so big!

Football Practice

Goooaaaaaaallllll!!!!!!

I think there was a handball in there somewhere..

Glorious Days

I am not quite sure I can express what the words "Seventy-five" and "sunny" do for my soul in March. It has been a long winter by a variety of standards, but being able to run around in my back yard with my wife and kid and dog makes the wait worthwhile.

Little did Jack know, Tickle Monster lives outside too. He especially likes to hang out near the hammock..

That's right: he's Mr. Cool. And as always, another shot of the dog:

Down the British!

Last weekend we had the good fortune to attend the annual re-enactment of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, ca. 1781. There, 4000 Continentals and Militia under the leadership of Gen'l Nathanael Greene laid a whooping on the damn redcoats, relinquishing the field but at the cost of such extreme casualties that the British Southern Army was eventually required to withdraw to Yorktown.

Jack had a pretty good time too. He didn't even flinch much when the cannons went off - he may have a little warrior in him yet. At right, you can see the neatly covered and aligned tents of the 2d No. Carolina Regt. (the 6th was also in attendance).

Springtime comes..

" ... But sometimes when the springtime comes,

And the sifting moonlight falls --

They'll think again of this night here
And of these old brown walls,

Of while old well, and of old South
With bell's deep booming tone,

They'll think again of Chapel Hill and --
Thinking -- come back home."

T. Wolfe.

Tradition!

Who, day and night, must scramble for a living,
Feed a wife and children, say his daily prayers?
And who has the right, as master of the house,
To have the final word at home?

The Papa, the Papa! Tradition.
The Papa, the Papa! Tradition.

Who must know the way to make a proper home,
A quiet home, a kosher home?
Who must raise the family and run the home,
So Papa's free to read the holy books?

The Mama, the Mama! Tradition!
The Mama, the Mama! Tradition!

I had to laugh a bit tonight when Doc raised her eyebrows at my invocation tonight of "The Papa, the Papa! - Tradition!" Of course I didn't realize she hadn't seen the movie. L'll be the first to admit that my comments were a little (ok, a lot) tongue-in-cheek, since there is only one person in this house with a job and it ain't Good Ol' Matilda. But it is the very fact that we have our own very wonderful traditions - partnership, equality, appreciation - that makes this sort of exchange something we can really laugh at. Kaynahorah!