Houseguests
Thursday, 25 August 2005 02:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daLast weekend through Wednesday, we entertained Sharon (Dan's friend from school days) and Mark (her 8-year-old; Dan's nephew/godson).
Sharon is in her early/mid thirties, but has had the maturity of a 40-something since she was in her early 20s (her university friends called her "Mom"). Her attitudes about money remind me a lot of my father; she's not willing to spend much of anything at all on herself, purely by choice. Unlike my father, she doesn't see this as the only possible sensible way to live; which is good, otherwise it would be tough to be friends. I do get where she's coming from on a lot of things, at least.
Mark is distressingly smart, and somewhat distressingly bratty; I see a bit of a picture of what I was like at that age with my nose buried in a book 24/7, though I wasn't nearly so distressingly bright. Soon after they arrived, he took stock of our bookshelves to find something new to read. He turned down a pair of David Macaulay books (author of "The Way Things Work") in favour of Maus and both books by Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics). He read through them all two or three times each, and he wasn't just looking at the pictures- he read a page of Maus to me, which he thought was funny; his questions were like, "what does juxtapose mean?" If he'd wanted to engage in conversation about the books, that would've been more fun, but he basically wanted to read. The entire visit.
Monday, I took them both on a tour of the CS Department of the University, which they enjoyed; I got to show off the biggest computer Mark had seen, an old underused SGI as big as a closet; and a two-terabyte disk shelf (an Apple, with cool blue flashing lights).
By far, the best part of their visit for me was Monday evening at our neighbours David and Lesley's house, where the conversation was wonderful- they've had a good summer, except for David smashing two fingers with a kayak last week. Plus, their children were a treat- it's always great to see kids who behave better than many adults; and when they're charming, it's an additional bonus.
Dinner was pizza from around the corner. Dan baked two crisps for desert, while we were there. He'd put one together in the afternoon, and was waiting till dinnertime to bake it; when we decided to stay there for dinner, he popped home, and put together a second one. Peach and blueberry crisps, yum!
Visiting with David and Lesley and family always feels like family somehow- minus drama. I'm glad to be their neighbours!
Tuesday, we drove to Toronto and mostly went to the ROM. The "Dinosaurs with Feathers" exhibit was interesting, though the dinos got stale for us adults somewhat early, and Mark really wanted to go back through it all a second time. There were amazing fossils, where you could see the vein imprints in the cores of feathers, and rocks in a proto-bird's stomach. We also took the time to look at the exhibit on the major renovations, which is turning the ROM into a partly crystalline structure, designed by Daniel Liebeskind. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
It's annoying to me to overhear other parents telling their children factually incorrect things about the displays. If they don't know, they should say so, and maybe even (in my science-education dreams) investigating answers together, but definitely they shouldn't answer by lying. Grr.
One amusing moment came when Mark was talking with a docent about a few display bones they had. He was doing quite well, she only had to prompt him with one hint generally to figure out what things were and the concept they were trying to teach (comparing features of herbivores and carnivores, mostly). Until she gave him a hint, "it's the kind of bird you might see on our money." We laughed and explained our guests were from Massachusetts, and Dan produced a loonie and filled him in on Canadian money.
All in all, a long day, even though we didn't do any tourist stuff.
In the evening, Sharon and I cooked pesto and pasta for dinner, and we went off to the food-store for camping provisions for them.
Wednesday, Sharon and Mark headed downtown to the big playground and park, while Dan and I caught up on work; we met up for lunch at our house and we said our goodbyes.
It was a good, but tiring visit.
In case it wasn't clear, dan and I aren't having kids.
Feeling a bit run down and feverish; taking the afternoon slowly. I'm ready to be done with this cold. I've been holding steady at 85% well, for most of this week.
Sharon is in her early/mid thirties, but has had the maturity of a 40-something since she was in her early 20s (her university friends called her "Mom"). Her attitudes about money remind me a lot of my father; she's not willing to spend much of anything at all on herself, purely by choice. Unlike my father, she doesn't see this as the only possible sensible way to live; which is good, otherwise it would be tough to be friends. I do get where she's coming from on a lot of things, at least.
Mark is distressingly smart, and somewhat distressingly bratty; I see a bit of a picture of what I was like at that age with my nose buried in a book 24/7, though I wasn't nearly so distressingly bright. Soon after they arrived, he took stock of our bookshelves to find something new to read. He turned down a pair of David Macaulay books (author of "The Way Things Work") in favour of Maus and both books by Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics). He read through them all two or three times each, and he wasn't just looking at the pictures- he read a page of Maus to me, which he thought was funny; his questions were like, "what does juxtapose mean?" If he'd wanted to engage in conversation about the books, that would've been more fun, but he basically wanted to read. The entire visit.
Monday, I took them both on a tour of the CS Department of the University, which they enjoyed; I got to show off the biggest computer Mark had seen, an old underused SGI as big as a closet; and a two-terabyte disk shelf (an Apple, with cool blue flashing lights).
By far, the best part of their visit for me was Monday evening at our neighbours David and Lesley's house, where the conversation was wonderful- they've had a good summer, except for David smashing two fingers with a kayak last week. Plus, their children were a treat- it's always great to see kids who behave better than many adults; and when they're charming, it's an additional bonus.
Dinner was pizza from around the corner. Dan baked two crisps for desert, while we were there. He'd put one together in the afternoon, and was waiting till dinnertime to bake it; when we decided to stay there for dinner, he popped home, and put together a second one. Peach and blueberry crisps, yum!
Visiting with David and Lesley and family always feels like family somehow- minus drama. I'm glad to be their neighbours!
Tuesday, we drove to Toronto and mostly went to the ROM. The "Dinosaurs with Feathers" exhibit was interesting, though the dinos got stale for us adults somewhat early, and Mark really wanted to go back through it all a second time. There were amazing fossils, where you could see the vein imprints in the cores of feathers, and rocks in a proto-bird's stomach. We also took the time to look at the exhibit on the major renovations, which is turning the ROM into a partly crystalline structure, designed by Daniel Liebeskind. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
It's annoying to me to overhear other parents telling their children factually incorrect things about the displays. If they don't know, they should say so, and maybe even (in my science-education dreams) investigating answers together, but definitely they shouldn't answer by lying. Grr.
One amusing moment came when Mark was talking with a docent about a few display bones they had. He was doing quite well, she only had to prompt him with one hint generally to figure out what things were and the concept they were trying to teach (comparing features of herbivores and carnivores, mostly). Until she gave him a hint, "it's the kind of bird you might see on our money." We laughed and explained our guests were from Massachusetts, and Dan produced a loonie and filled him in on Canadian money.
All in all, a long day, even though we didn't do any tourist stuff.
In the evening, Sharon and I cooked pesto and pasta for dinner, and we went off to the food-store for camping provisions for them.
Wednesday, Sharon and Mark headed downtown to the big playground and park, while Dan and I caught up on work; we met up for lunch at our house and we said our goodbyes.
It was a good, but tiring visit.
In case it wasn't clear, dan and I aren't having kids.
Feeling a bit run down and feverish; taking the afternoon slowly. I'm ready to be done with this cold. I've been holding steady at 85% well, for most of this week.
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no subject
Date: Thursday, 25 August 2005 08:15 pm (UTC)Hope you feel better soon!
no subject
Date: Thursday, 25 August 2005 08:22 pm (UTC)[I think I'm just still happy enough to go to an exhibit that included cladograms in it.]
no subject
Date: Thursday, 25 August 2005 08:59 pm (UTC)Yeah, and even reasonably accurate cladograms.
no subject
Date: Friday, 26 August 2005 07:40 am (UTC)(As observed on a recent transatlantic flight... no escaping the folks seated next seat, and it went on for quite some time... DH bore the brunt of it, poor him.)
no subject
Date: Friday, 26 August 2005 02:24 pm (UTC)Or: "I'd like to request a seat-change, please?" :)
no subject
Date: Thursday, 25 August 2005 08:57 pm (UTC)