Months Pass Like Minutes

.... oh, Hello there! Didn't see you. Been pretty quiet around here lately. Cruising down Spongeknuckle Street has rarely offered up any new scenery so far this decade. They should at least change the billboards once in a while.

It's still all about the boy at the Ireland house, and day-to-day life has settled into somewhat of a structure. We've got Quinn sleeping in his crib at regular intervals now, and he's taken to it just fine. We're back to getting full sleeps, and it's rare that I'd be getting up to change his diaper anytime before 6am. He takes naps at more or less the same times each day, and we try to take at least one walk per day. He just loves riding in the stroller through all the fresh air, along the beach and amongst the trees. It's very satisfying as parents to know his early days are being spent in such natural, unpolluted surroundings.

I won't get into every detail since the last post, there's just too much to tell. The big adventure this week was Quinn's first swim! We took him to the pool in Courtenay for the much-anticipated first dip on Tuesday. The place was pretty quiet around 12:30pm, only a handful of folks were swimming, but one of them happened to be Amy, the midwife who caught Quinn back in the wee hours of December 30th. How happy we were to see her! She had her boy Seamus stapled to her side, he's just over one year old. I've mentioned before how important it was that we wound up with Amy, so to have a chance meeting like that at Quinn's first time in the water was very cool. We played in the wave pool for about 20 minutes, passing Quinn back and forth, bobbing in the waves, spinning circles and taking him down on deep dives for quarters. Just kidding about that last one.

Quinn and Bethany went down to Victoria recently, WITHOUT Daddy, who stayed behind to work (pooh). It was a good chance to visit the G-rents, but the thing that initiated this tour was the Reynolds Alumni Band. Those world famous band geeks from Reynolds are so dedicated, they're still showing up for band practice years after graduation. These marching musicians from the past have been rehearsing one a week, preparing for a concert on Mother's Day. Bethy jumped on the idea, and thought it would be good form to appear at just one of the practices. She did so, baby in tow, dropped off by her dad just like the old days. The just-retired band director Dale Wilson is leading this group ranging in age from recent grads to 80's grads -- should be an interesting day!

Denman News -- word is the cable ferry proposal that threatens to unhitch my plans for a good-paying Denman-based long term job is on thin ice. That is most encouraging to hear -- we should know either way sometime this summer. I haven't worked on the ferry since November, but that's how it goes for a newly-hired deckhand. I wasn't expecting to get any work in the winter, and I don't know when the calls may start coming. The khakis are pressed and ready to go! In the meantime, I've been keeping busy on a house build, and doing odd jobs around the island.

We got a downpour Tuesday night, but otherwise it's been sunny and warm this week. Got to use the mower for the first time this year, and soon enough it'll be time to plant the garden. It's been a great few weeks for the flowers in our yard -- not our hard work, the previous residents were great to these garden beds and we enjoyed a nice run of daffodils giving way to some brilliant tulips now. If any Knuckleheads are reading this, please don't mention in the locker room that this is what I concern myself with now.

Not much happening for the Fire Department in recent weeks -- after a busy January, it's been slow for callouts. The weekly practices are delving into some new territory, mainly to do with driving the trucks. We did a low-speed rodeo in the parking lot last week, and I lost it for me and my partner by flagging him over top of a pylon.

Bethany has gotten back into teaching music with a bunch of kids, and a few adults too. She's at a comfortable workload for now, and is concentrating on piano students only for now. We've also been playing music with a couple of island fellows -- missed doing the April open mic, that's when Bethy was away, but we'll probably bang something out for May. We play our usual piano and bass guitar, blended with a guitar/singer and a percussionist who's armed with some impressive hand drums -- a jiembe and a kodo (sp?), plus bongos and a bunch of other tricks. Bethany is also active in a funky rock band (Full Circle) and plays with them most every week -- they are outstanding, and were becoming nicely polished but one of the guys hurt his hand so he's out for a while. There's been talk of recording eventually, and I hope they put on some more shows because the one they did last year was truly amazing. I used to go along to the jams, but now I stay home with the boy while she gets some time to herself. Every time she walks back through the door, she's glowing about how awesome it was. Since music is like breathing to Bethany, I'm really happy she's in full swing again.

That's probably enough for now. Bye bye for you!