The Products of First Substitute

Our much-loved little Kodak camera is currently in critical condition awaiting, possibly, the attentions of Dr. Corporate Kodak to effect a repair. Meanwhile we have acquired a little Canon as First Substitute (a designation that will mean something to some avid swimmers in our circle). It is a PowerShot SD1300 IS; we bought it January 13 and it arrived today. Here are its very first pictures:

First (tra-ra!) the very first picture, another snapshot of the Beatrice Flower, in honor of Mother.

These are delicate paper butterflies intended as mobiles—and they’re a Christmas gift from Michelle. Brigitte mounted them above a radiator, and they flutter gently. The little Canon takes movies and once we've figured out how to do it, we'll show the fluttering too.

I include this shot, from the stairway looking out at the back, by way of displaying a bit of the greater world.

And herewith a picture of Brigitte, caught unawares in her kitchen extension where, until she turned, she had been searching for something with great concentration.

Pot Rack

Tra-ra! A new pot rack has been mounted on the shores of Wulverine lake, a Christmas present that will be an almost daily reminder.

Funny thing about these objects. At our house, on the shores of Lake St. Claire, a venerable iron pot rack chose to detach from the wall by night and to rain its load onto the kitchen floor just a few weeks ago. Then came painting of that little kitchen-addition, and the rack is still not back up. But at Monique's house, a new one now provides convenience and delight!

Bonne Année from Belgium

Just received from Bruno Crabbe from Belgium. Happy New Year to you and yours too, Bruno. So nice to hear...

We got to know Bruno through the AFS exchange program in the 1970s—a lifelong friendship.

Shown are Miriam, Bruno's fellow-musician and wife, and Children in descending age: Emilio (19), Timothée (15) Maïlys (11) and Cyprien (7). The ages I'm providing may be a slight bit off.

Christmas in Glens Falls

It was a lovely Christmas in Glens Falls with the Nason Magee Clan for Arsen, Brigitte, Monique and John. We had a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed the warmth of a large family gathering for the holiday.

Here are just a few of the pictures that came out best.



Here we have a group headed out for a last day of shopping on the 23rd. From left to right we have Sheila, Karin, Sam, Katrina, Kate and Jennifer. Oh, and hidden in the background, under cover is Erick, their body guard and chauffer with a bit of Cady the Lab trying to convince everyone that she too should be going along.



Meanwhile, John iced his sore back after the long drive to Glens Falls while Dick inspected the stockings on the bannister and Sheila baked more goodies in anticipation of Christmas Eve.







Arsen, Brigitte, Susan, Rich, Shea, Atlee, Greeley, Emerson and Wilson the Lab arrived on the 23rd late. We all gathered to have dinner that evening.





Around the table were Harry and Katrina Spahn, John, Karin and Erick Nason, and Brigitte and Arsen... but that's just part of those gathered...



Brigitte, Jenny, Sheila, Sam, Josh, Atlee, Rich, Shea and Atlee were there too, as well as ...



Susan, Greeley, Emerson and Elizabeth not in the prior photo. Also there, although not pictured, were Dick and Monique.

On the 24th we headed up to visit John's father Jim, his wife Elena and her mother, Taisia, who has moved from Russia to live with Jim and Elena in Pottersville.



Greeley and Emerson both wanted to be on their Mom, Susan's chair with her!



But when that got a bit crowded, Emerson sat on Taisia's lap for a while.



And Greeley decided to sit on Monique's lap for a while.



Making room for Shea on Susan's lap for a while.



Then, Atlee sat on Arsen's lap for a while.



Jim's lap was without a child, although not exactly empty...



And Rich too seemed to be without a child on his lap, at least briefly.

While we were there, Jim's brothers, Tom and Dan, and their wives Nadine and Mary stopped in unexpectedly for a most welcome surprise.



We got this group shot outside, taken by Arsen. From left to right, Dan, Mary, Tom, Nadine, Elena, Jim, Brigitte, Monique, John, Susan, (next row) Atlee, Rich, Emerson, Shea, and Greeley.

It was a lovely visit after which we headed back down the mountains to Glens Falls to go to Christmas Eve mass with Dick and Sheila.



No picture could possibly capture the feel of those piles of gifts that were under the tree at the Nason's on Christmas morning, or the heft of the filled stockings on the bannister... Here are just a few of the children diving into the presents Christmas morning, after being very patient in waiting for everyone to gather in the living room.







Isn't that sweater lovely? It was made for Sam by her Grandmother Sheila.





It was all just so much that Emerson retreated to do some quiet piano playing for a while.



In the afternoon, John's sister Katrina, Harry and their kids came over, as did John's brother Bobby, his wife Daniel and their little ones, Kate and little Brooke Lorraine, pictured below with her Aunt Katrina.



And, there was a lovely Christmas day meal, at two tables.



Here are Bobby, Danny, Kate and Brooke, and the girl's cousin Lizzy on the left.

And before we can wrap things up, there was one more outstanding, large group meal, a real German feast prepared by Karin, Erick and Sam on the 26th. Too bad Arsen and Brigitte had headed for home on Sunday morning and missed this delightful German spread.





It was wonderful to gather together, although not everyone made it this year. We missed Michael, Cathy and Zoe. With such a big family, having everyone in one place at one time is, well, quite difficult.

Finally, some odds and ends, picturewise...



John doing a TV - DVD - sound system wiring check-up.



Atlee giving Wilson some loving.



Katrina and Jenny trying to teach Monique how to play a Wii game... at their house. Their attempts failed... but, thanks for trying.



Lovely, young girls trying on gorgous gowns... Here, Lizzy in red.



Here, Sammy in bronze (just looks blue becuase of the reflected light).



Dick having a well deserved beverage.



Arsen trying on a hat at Jim's place.



Greeley and Atlee looking through old photo albums, before taking a....



bath in the biggest blue tub ever!
(I can't resist pictures of little ones in bath tubs)



Karin, Monique and Katrina, after dinner one night.



A funny but sweet picture of John, taken by Atlee. Thanks Atlee, I didn't take nearly enough pictures of John on this trip...



And, one final shot, also taken by Atlee, of a reindeer.

A Christmas to remember!

Christmas Dinner 2010 in Glens Falls

Herewith but a sampling of the community that assembled to celebrate Christmas at the Nasons in Glens Falls this year. New family units kept arriving in cohorts. Not even this collage captures everyone present--and my camera had problems on this trip... Therefore we're awaiting Monique's additions to show the visit to Jim and Elena Magees and, possibly, our winter walk...

Beatrice Flower

We call this one the Beatrice Flower, after my mother, Mommer to the clan. It is a Gerber Daisy, originally a gift from Monique, but this splendid exemplar is a descendant of that one arriving, surprisingly, just to announce the arrival of winter this year.

The reason for this bloom is that we, alas, confuse our flowers by raising them under lights indoors, in the basement this year, and the poor things really do forget when it is supposed to be Spring.

Thanksgiving Lasts This Year

Belatedly some additional “portraits” from the wondrous Thanksgiving Celebration at Monique’s and John’s. Pictures of that festival are already below, but I have been extraordinarly tardy in downloading my own photos. From these, herewith three that pleases, each a closeup:

Here is one of the Turkey itself, still safely in its huge pan, a great masterpiece by John this year that, in retrospect, did not get the hurrahs it deserves—because we were all in some blessedly sleepy states.

Herewith the Pie. They were all great, but this one has long been on the throne of all pies made by John.

And finally, here, my favorite of Brigitte and her sweet smile.