Family News Update

by Pa Rock
Proud Grampa

(Reported live from a bar and burger joint at the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport.)

Nick and Boone telephoned yesterday. They were getting ready to have a birthday barbecue for Riley, my granddog - a Boston Terrier. Riley was celebrating his first! Boone is in fifth grade this year. He said that his teacher is very into science and has lots of neat things in the classroom - like a tarantula! Nick and Boone are coming to Arizona in early October - with Uncle Tim - for a long weekend. We may go to the Grand Canyon and Sedona to escape the Valley of Hell!

Molly has been plagued with a diagnosis of placenta previa, but she went to the doctor today and learned that the placenta appears to be migrating. That is great news. She should now be able to have a normal delivery instead of a c-section, and Pa Rock doesn't have to worry quite so much about her health and safety.

Molly sent a nice video of Sebastian bouncing on the big white tiger that I got him for his first Christman. I'm glad that he is getting so much enjoyment out of it!

Scott (Molly's husband) turned thirty-two yesterday, and Tim will be thirty on Wednesday. Ouch! My baby is leaving his twenties behind!

Tim has been feuding with his evil insurance company for over a year. Today he learned that they have capitulated somewhat and will pay almost half of the amount that was in dispute. I told him that if there ever was a time that insurance companies should act with some humanity, this was it!

Remind me later, and I will publish my plan for paying for comprehensive national health care. Warning - some of you won't appreciate it!

Also, remind me later and I will tell the tale of a college party where a pet tarantula got loose and was roaming among the drunks! Ah, youth!

Off to Lubbock!

Family News Bulletin

by Pa Rock
Proud Grampa

My daughter, Molly Files, informed me by email and a telephone call today that her second child, due this Thanksgiving, will be a boy! I am so happy for her and Scott, and I know that Baby Files will lead his older brother, Sebastian, on a merry chase! Oh, the fun times they will have! I can't wait to take them to Disney World!

Baby Files will be my third grandson - with no granddaughters, and my sis, Gail, (my only sibling) will have her third granddaughter in July with no grandsons! Who dealt those cards? (Actually, Gail and I are both thrilled with our growing string of descendants!)

I think Molly and Scott are still struggling to come up with a boy's name. Serious suggestions may be submitted in the comments section of this post.

Another Day at the House of Mouse

by Pa Rock
Fun Grampa

Three parks today - two new ones and a rerun.

We began the day with breakfast at our hotel. Boone enjoyed a Mickey Mouse waffle. (If I could find one of those waffle irons, my Christmas shopping for Scott and Molly would be over! I'm still looking!) Nick went down to breakfast ahead of us and said that an alligator had crawled out of the river and was sunning on the sidewalk - but it was gone by the time Boone and I went down later. Maybe we'll get lucky in the morning and get out there before the hotel staff chases him back into the river!

Our first stop of the day was Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park. We watched some very talented street performers dressed like Hollywood starlets of the 1940's. We were also treated to a High School Musical 3 parade and outdoor music review at Hollywood Studios.

I found something else that I felt that Sebastian needed. As I paid for my purchase, the old codger working the cash register told me that I had been at Animal Kingdom yesterday. Amazed, I asked him how he knew that. His reply: "Your money is still wet!"

We spent some time in a Hollywood memorabilia shop. One of the signature items was a striped jacket worn by Dick Van Dyke in the movie Mary Poppins. It was sale priced at just $65,000! Unfortunately, it was a tad too small for me!

The second stop was Epcot Center which is well worth the trip to Florida by itself. We began by riding through the highlights of world history inside of the signature Epcot sphere. It is something that all school kids should experience, as well as their teachers and parents. After that we had lunch in the British section, we listened to a Beatles Tribute Band playing in a gazebo, and then walked around the lake and visited many of the national exhibits. I was drawn to the Moroccan exhibit and it seemed to grab Boone's attention as well. We saw the Islamic designs of the tile work, displays of Moroccan clothing, oriental rugs, and other items of Muslim culture. Boone said Morocco was "awesome!"

At Japan we watched three amazing drummers entertaining the crowd on in front of the five-story pagoda. There was also a "Tori Gate" next to the lake that let me share some of Nick's Okinawan heritage with him. We were in Africa heading to Mexico when the draw bridge connecting the two began to raise. Boone seemed to find that process interesting. Well, we all did! One of our final stops at Epcot was a Viking exhibit from Sweden. (I had visited a Viking archaeological sight on an island called Birka while in Sweden several years ago, and was interested to see what was in this exhibit. I wasn't disappointed!)

After exiting the Epcot Center, we boarded a large boat and cruised across the lake to the Magic Kingdom. While there we rode a Jungle River Ride in Adventure Land, and did the Buzz Lightyear Laser Ride in Tomorrow Land. Both were a lot of fun.

I visited with an older lady who was an official Disney photographer. She said that she and her husband moved to Orlando from Michigan after they retired to work at Disney World. She liked being a photographer because it paid better than some of the other park positions that she had held. She said that her husband, who is eighty, drives a bus for Disney! (I started checking out the drivers before boarding!) The photographer told me that there are some nice benefits that come with working at Disney - like free park passes for friends! That may be my next great adventure as a foot soldier in the American labor force.

Disney Humor:
Speaking of Africa, what is the capital of Africa?
Answer: A

Why is Tigger always jumping?
So he doesn't step on Pooh.

Disney Ripoffs:
The hotels sell refillable mugs for $14.95 that can be filled free in perpetuity at any of the parks. But, you take the mugs to the parks and they tell you that they don't know what you're talking about.

Many of the poorer tourists (like us) buy meal tickets in advance. They cover each person in the group with one snack, one quick service meal, and one sit-down meal per day. It is a very smart way to handle food expenses. The sit-down meal can be lunch or dinner. Yesterday we had lunch at a nice Chinese restaurant - Nick has shrimp and steak, and I had salmon - total bill was eighty some dollars. It was covered by the meal plan. The ripoff: Today we stopped at the Brown Derby at Hollywood Studios. Their meals were in the same price range as what we had yesterday. The staff there said that a meal would cost us each two meals on the meal plan! Scum! Later we stopped the Canadian restaurant at Epcot. They operated only on reservations made 90 days in advance. That ought to keep out the riffraff! Fortunately, the food at the British restaurant was superb, and served without any gimmicks.

Miracle at the House of Mouse: Remember my new digital camera that reacted badly to being washed yesterday? Last night Nick suggested that I take out the battery and photo card, leave the camera open over night, and see if it would dry out. Well, it did - and it works! Nick is so smart! He definitely takes after his dad!

One of our minor adventures today had Boone feeding popcorn to a mama duck and her three ducklings. He was quite popular!

We are still having a great time. We have one more day of touring the parks, and Thursday we will board the cruise ship and head toward the Bahamas. We are due return to the real world on Sunday - unless we get lucky and pirates hijack our ship!

More to follow...

Leaving Las Vegas

by Pa Rock
Movie Buff

It is way too early for any civilized individual to be at the airport, but here I sit. I said good-bye to my kids last night. Nick, Tim, and Erin are in the air heading toward Kansas City, and Molly and Scott are probably still sleeping because their flight isn't until noon. By the time they are in the air, I will be peacefully sleeping in my apartment!

Las Vegas tends to lose its luster after a few days, and it will be good to get back to the relative calm of Phoenix.

Note to the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce: Was it really necessary to shut down all of the outdoor escalators on Easter Sunday? How many tourists suffered coronaries as they has to climb up and over the major intersections? You suck!

Poor Wilbur:

As our plane was preparing for take-off this morning an airport terminal employee rushed on board to get an emergency message to a departing passenger. "If we have a Wilbur (last name withheld) on board, your girlfriend, Priscilla, from Ahwahtukee just called. She can't pick you up at the airport because her car is broken down. You are to take a cab with the eleven dollars that you have on you and in the direction of her place. Call her on her cell phone when the eleven dollars runs out." Long pause. "Good luck, Wilbur."

Eleven dollars would have gotten him just about out of the airport!

Tales of the Strip

by Pa Rock
Weary Walker

We have been up the Strip and down the Strip today, putting several miles on my old tennies. The group included myself, my son Nick, my other son, Tim, and his fiance Erin Pater, and my daughter, Molly Files, and her husband Scott. My nephew, Reed Smith, joined us in the mall at Planet Hollywood and spent the rest of his Saturday showing us through the glittering maze that is the Las Vegas Strip.

One of the first attractions that we encountered was the dancing fountains at the Belagio. I have never seen the new version of the movie, Ocean's Eleven, but I understand that those choreographed waters were featured in it. Today the waters were dancing to Frank Sinatra's vocal rendition of Luck Be A Lady Tonight. We also strolled through the Belagio and toured a beautiful indoor spring flower garden with tulips and poppies galore. And then there was the candy shop with its massive chocolate fountain. The Belagio is a "must see" for anyone coming to Vegas.

Our next stop was an outdoor bar at Caesar's Palace where we rested and refreshed. The only alcohol that has slipped past my lips on this trip was a Bailey's Shake yesterday which was delicious - as it should have been for $7.50! But people were walking up and down the street drinking well before noon - it's that kind of place! Big mixed drinks in unique plastic containers are everywhere. A person can buy a yard of daiquiri in what looks to be a three-foot flower vase. There ware also large plastic guitars and replicas of the Eiffel Tower with straws coming out of their tops for classy booze consumption while navigating the Strip.

The Forum Shops in Caesar's are amazing. They are enlcosed in an enormous in-door mall with Roman statuary and fountains around every corner. The ceilings are two stories high domed affairs painted and backlit to resemble the sky. It does give the feeling of walking through ancient Rome on a partly cloudy day with a very international, camera-toting, population.

Caesar's was where we had our only celebrity sighting of the day. Former baseball bad boy, Pete Rose, was holed up in a storefront signing autographs for pay. We stopped and took his picture, in much the same way that one would take a picture of a simian pulling lice off of itself at the zoo. Old Pete looked old, really old, Pa Rock old! Reed commented on the irony of the Hall-of-Famer-Wannabe signing autographs for pay at Caesar's in Las Vegas! (He probably used his breaks to run upstairs and check his bets!)

Our next stop was the Venetian where we watched the gondola's make their way slowly up and down the Grand Canal which flows through the center of the hotel-casino complex. The Venetian, like the Belagio and Caesar's Palace, is elegant to a fault. One of the unique features at the Venetian is a spiral escalator, not something that one is likely to see in stodgy old New York or Chicago.

On the way back toward our hotel, The Tropicana, we passed two long lines of what Tim and I decided to call "clickers." These were men and women who were handing out business cards for the prostitutes. They would slap the cards on their wrists or click them together making a very distincitve rattling sound. Any tourist who made eye contact with a clicker got a couple of cards - and once a person accepted one guy's cards, everybody else gave them theirs as well. Needless to say, the sidewalks and streets are littered with glossy photos of other people's daughters.

The working girls also place advertisements in small throw-away newspapers that some of the clickers hand out. These are commonly referred to as "the sporting pages!" If all of that doesn't free a person of their virtue, there are billboard trucks cruising the Strip with huge photos of "Hot Babes" along with phone numbers. And then there are the more ambitious vixen who walk right up and proposition the rubes. One member of our party was approached in the casino last night by a woman who offered to follow him to his room for three hundred dollars!

I also noted some fine literary efforts during our outing today. There was a vagrant sitting on the overpass outside of our hotel with a box for donations. His sign read simply, "Why lie? I need a beer." A young man passed us wearing a t-shirt that proudly proclaimed "Fuck Milk! Got Pot?" And then there was the old fellow - at least ten years my senior - who made his statement by carrying a ghetto blaster that was pounding out music from the sixties!

It was an exciting day. Tonight I plan to lay around and watch my feet swell!

The Benjamin Button Effect

by Pa Rock
Birthday Boy

A year ago today was Easter Sunday, a very early Easter Sunday. I have no idea when it will be this year, but I remember last year's because it happened to fall on my 60th birthday. Today instead of turning 61, I have decided to start counting backward. So, if anybody asks (or cares), I now consider myself to be fifty-nine. I'm calling this new math The Benjamin Button Effect in honor of Brad Pitt's character in that movie that I never got around to watching. My gut on this is that if I can convince myself that I am getting younger, better health has to follow.

I like birthdays because all of my kids call and check in. Molly called first, while I was still at work. It is apparently cold in Oregon today, and she and Sebastian were hanging around the house. He got on the phone and chattered a bit to me. Boone called after I got home. We talked about school and things like that. He will be representing his fourth grade class in the county spelling bee again this year. He has represented his class every year since kindergarten. Boone is a spelling machine! Nick also got on the phone and talked awhile. Boone told me that his Dad has lots of customers at his business - and I am very glad about that! Tim called in last. He and I talk on-line fairly regularly. We will all be together in Las Vegas in less that three weeks (minus Boone and Sebastian) to support Tim as one of his works that was made into a movie is shown at the Las Vegas Film Festival.

I also made my daily call to my Dad tonight, and he surprised me by remembering my birthday. I wonder if I will be around when my kids hit 60 and then start back into their fifties? Anything is possible, but in case I am not here, I am secure in the knowledge that they all know how proud I am of them - and how much I love them!

I also had birthday calls yesterday from Missouri friends Carla Turnbough Brown and Imogene Knaust - both a couple of December girls! And my niece, Tiffany Smith (a proud new mom), put a birthday message on my Facebook wall. I feel really special!

1-2-3-4-5-6!

by Pa Rock
Proud Grampa

Molly sent this update on my 19-month-old grandson, Sebastian, a couple of days ago:

Just wanted to let everyone know ..

Sebastian was playing with my markers and counting to himself, as he often does. He counted one through six! Of course when I asked him to do it again for daddy he wouldn't. He often does things on his terms.. like when he first started walking he wouldn't do it if everyone was watching. But you look away and he had walked across the room! Makes me wonder what else he knows that he isn't ready to share yet! :)

.m0LLy.

Hey Sebastian,

I received your beautiful homemade valentine in the mail today. I loved it, especially your hand print! It will be in a place of honor on my refrigerator!

I love you!

Pa Rock

Molly's Birthday!

by Pa Rock

The word “interregnum” is a Latin term that means “between kings.” It is also the term generally used to describe the time lapse between the time a new President of the United States is elected and the time that person is actually sworn into office. For about a ten-week period every four or eight years this country goes through an interregnum. They are generally times of excitement and change.

My daughter, Molly, was born in the interregnum between President Ford and President Carter. During her lifetime she has celebrated birthdays during the interregnums between Carter and Reagan, Reagan and Bush I, Bush I and Clinton, and Clinton and Little Bush (Shrub). Today she is celebrating another birthday during yet another interregnum.

The current interregnum of Little Bush and Obama will hold special significance for Molly, because she was also married during that unique historical period. Each succeeding Presidential transition period will now encompass her birthday and her wedding anniversary!

Happy birthday, Molly. You are a wonderful wife to Scott and a terrific mother to Sebastian – and my favorite daughter! I grow prouder of you with each passing year!

Finally Friday!

by Pa Rock
Weary Traveler

The wedding is history now, and Nick boarded the plane home this morning - so my life is becoming my own again. I didn't want to let this week end without memorializing a couple of other things that happened during the week of Molly and Scott's wedding.

The only descendant of mine who wasn't in San Diego was my grandson, Boone. He stayed in West Plains, MO, and had a big Thanksgiving dinner at his Grandmother Margaret's house. I did talk to Boone a couple of times on the phone during the week. He is into heavy-duty reading - things like the novels of Stephen King. That is fairly amazing for a nine-year-old fourth grader! I will see Boone next weekend when we all meet in Noel to watch my Dad serve as Grand Marshall of the Christmas Parade.

Molly and Scott's wedding was on a very public beach, and, not surprisingly, life on the beach kept right on happening even with the solemn event occurring at the center of the maelstrom. One notable competing event was a game of beach paddle ball that worked its way right up to the edge of our little group. I guess that we didn't bother them because they never quit playing! Then a company-sized unit of young military men ran by in formation heading north along the beach. They were wearing shorts, t-shirts, and military footwear. Ten minutes after that a similar group ran by headed south. It was hard to tell if they were the same unit or not, but if it was, they had lost their shirts. My guess is that they were marines, and running on the sand was preparation for Iraq. But whoever and whatever, they are now a part of the history of Molly and Scott's wedding!

My Dad's older brother, Wayne Macy, died of leukemia in San Diego in 1956 at the age of thirty-five. He is buried in a military cemetery on a beautiful piece of land that juts out into the Pacific just north of Coronado, a place that we could see clearly from the beach. His widow and daughter were at the wedding. So Wayne Macy was a part of the wedding also.

My Dad is too old to travel - or at least he thinks he is, so he stayed in Missouri and did not attend. I called him from the reception and he was able to visit with the happy bride, her brothers, and my Aunt Mary and Cousin Janet. So he, too, was a minor character in the wedding.

After the reception I wanted to make sure that my kids had the opportunity to visit among themselves and to talk with other people there who are important in their lives. To get out of the way, I drove to Imperial Beach, ostensibly to see the new sixteen-foot statue of a surfer that was unveiled on the beach this week.

I got to the beach community shortly before the sun set. I drove down the same streets that I had walked last May, taking note of the yard full of roses that had resulted in my making a new friend during my last visit. I stopped at several different beach access points, but never did find the statue. I did sit on the rocks until well after dark watching some surfers riding the waves. A storm was blowing in off the ocean, probably making their waves better, and definitely bringing a welcoming calm to my life. I guess that I had forgotten just how wonderful the solitude of the ocean could be.

Peace is the ocean soothing a beach in the moonlight - and if lightening is dancing across the dark horizon, that's all the better!

Thanskgiving Thursday

by Pa Rock
Parade Float

The Macy's had two Thanksgiving Parades today - the traditional one in New York City, and a west coast affair that stretched from San Diego to the center of Arizona. I paraded out to the airport this morning in a heavy rain to get Tim and Erin to their plane, then Nick and I paraded over to Coronado to return Scott's jacket that he had left in my car, and to say good-bye to Mr. and Mrs. Files and little Sebastian. Nick and I completed the day by parading back to Goodyear, with the rain following us most of the way. It was so nice to see rain falling across the Sonoran Desert! There was a rainbow over San Diego as we left, and a rainbow over Phoenix as we got back. With omens that good, I had to buy some lottery tickets!

A fellow at a gas station in San Diego told me that he has lived there since 1973, and last night's rain was the heaviest that he has seen in all of that time. There were even tornado warnings for Coronado Island last night. Who knew they had tornado's on the seacoast?

Tonight Nick and I paraded around Goodyear looking for pizza, but to no avail. Even the local grocery store was closed. We finally stumbled across an Arby's that was open and were able to procure sandwiches for our Thanksgiving meal!

Nick will fly out of Sky Harbor early tomorrow, and my life will start to get back to some degree of normality. Tomorrow night I am going to a Phoenix Suns basketball game. They are playing the Miami Heat. I may also go by work for a couple of hours and clear off whatever has piled up on my desk this week - if the shredder is working!

Wedding Wednesday

by Pa Rock
Father of the Bride

Molly and Scott were married on the beach at Coronado this afternoon. It was a beautiful day; last night's rain took a break and let the sun shine through! A very nice reception followed at the El Cordova Hotel where the happy couple were headquartered.

It was a very small group. Scott's mom and dad were there along with his brother, all very nice people. Molly's brothers and Tim's fiancee were with us, and so were my Aunt Mary and Cousin Janet who live in San Diego. I called my Dad during the reception so that he could visit with all of our people, and he said that he really liked getting to do that.

We saw Scott briefly at dinner tonight, but Molly was worn out and stayed in their room. She has spent so much time working and worrying over the wedding, wanting to make sure that everything went right - and it did! I hope that she gets rested and is able to enjoy their honeymoon cruise to Mexico.

The best part of the wedding experience was seeing my kids work so well together. They are getting to the age where their lives will start to be complicated with their own family demands, so I know to appreciate the times when they can all enjoy each other's company.

Molly and Scott, I love you both, and wish you every joy and happiness. May you be together always!