A happy Immichan and her Da-da out on an early evening date.
Archives For Family
In line with all of the changes that have been going down in our lives (pretty much changing every aspect) my family and I are having Un-Thanksgiving today. We are changing things up and making today our own little anti-holiday holiday.
Families should be thankful for each other and everything they do have everyday. There should not be a need for a specific days of the year where we are forced to purchasing or consume useless and unnecessary “stuff” that is not good for us, our community, our country, animals or the environment as acts or proof of familial love. There is nothing intelligent or good about being gluttonous or wasteful. People should not feel the overwhelming need to go through yearly repetitive acts to prove what a great or perfect family you are or have. It is not love. It just does not mean anything of substance and is all very narcissistic.
As a family we do not believe in supporting superficial consumerist holidays invented by greedy marketers that focus on having or eating specific things. Ever been to a turkey farm? Ever bothered to check and see what is done to the turkeys or all of the hormones and steroids put in them? Ever bother to read the history about how Americans decimated and killed the natives who were here long before us who actually took care of this land rather then systematically destroying it? No, most people don’t want to think about the ramifications of their purchasing decisions. No, most people don’t want to think about the realities of history of what humans do to each other.
We have made it a specific point to NOT eat any turkey today. We have made it a point to celebrate, appreciate and love each other in the small everyday ways, through simple actions, small gestures of love and kindness, like hugs + kisses and doing little things that we can do with one another everyday. Sitting and having coffee chatting about geeky things, playing a game of Tetris 2 or Megaman 2, hanging out and listening to good music. These are the little things that matter, they are the things that make a real family. Not gorging yourself on a 25 lb preservative ridden sick turkey, not wolfing HFC laced cranberries from a can, not sitting and smiling like a fake at family members who you don’t want to be around, not having to house hop from divorced parents house to divorced parents house in order to make everyone else happy…except for you. Stop doing things that make you unhappy & concentrate on living a meaningful existence everyday. And if your family can’t understand that…oh well.
Six Ideas to Avoid Living Superficial Lives on “Holidays”
- Send people cards (recycled or electronic) out of the blue randomly when you are feeling appreciative of them, NOT on holidays.
- Commit consistent non-random acts of kindness everyday, hold the door for someone, call a friend and tell them you love em, help someone out when you see the opportunity because you CAN because it is who you ARE.
- Eat something that is healthy for a change, turn the product over and read the label, buy something in a smaller quantity that is higher quality.
- Use your imagination to make up your own holidays, don’t wait for some uncreative marketing DB to make one up for you.
- Don’t buy something useless or disposable, instead take the time to create something beautiful for someone else whom you care about.
- Don’t bend to the will of others or buy into pressures from family to participate in consumerist culture, instead create your own culture one that nurtures you and those who you love.
It has been a really long physically, emotionally and mentally demanding two months for both me and my family. It’s moments like this that you are bone tired, mired and just want to sleep forever. It is times like this in life that are the reason why people sing and artists make music. So this song is exactly how I feel today…
“Eet” by Regina Spektor
It’s like forgetting the words to your favorite song.
You can’t believe it; you were always singing along.
It was so easy and the words so sweet.
You can’t remember; you try to feel the beat.
Bee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-
Eet eet eet.
Ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-
Eet eet eet.
You spend half of your life trying to fall behind.
You’re using your headphones to drown out your mind.
It was so easy and the words so sweet.
You can’t remember; you try to move your feet.
Ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-
Eet eet eet.
Ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-
Eet eet eet.
[musical interlude]
Someone’s deciding whether or not to steal.
He opens a window just to feel the chill.
He hears that outside a small boy just started to cry
‘Cause it’s his turn, but his brother won’t let him try.
[musical interlude]
It’s like forgetting the words to your favorite song.
You can’t believe it; you were always singing along.
It was so easy and the words so sweet.
You can’t remember; you try to move your feet.
It was so easy and the words so sweet.
You can’t remember; you try to feel the beat…
Note: Re-post Immi video to Immicast and insert code here
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Rolled down to D.C. tonight to drop Kyoko off to meet up with her sister Junko at Teasim. I got an Immi for the evening and went over to my best friend Lex’s place in the hood. Alexis is great with kids, and Immi loved hanging out with her. The Immi-chan tried to pull the hoops out of Lex’s ears and was tugging on her red hair a bit.
Lex’s boyfriend John plays in a band called Vagus and he has picked up many bad habits from the road and the mobs of rabid groupies. He wasted no time teaching my daughter how to hold a beer bottle and down a brewsky or two…this photo is totally classic!
Behold A Possessed Budweiser Immi
Imogen was also having fun pulling on John’s hair, come to think of it she enjoys pulling on everybody’s hair!
Immisaurus Rex Wrecking Hair-dos Everywhere
John was really good with Immi too. I think she was thoroughly entertained and liked learning a few bad habits from her would-be rockstar Uncle Jonny!
Immi trying to devour her travel crib like an Immisaurus Rex! Raaaaaaarrrrrrgggggh!
We hit the road on Friday night and arrived in Mount Gretna, Pennsylvania late that evening. It was Imogen’s first summer vacation and visit to Mt. Gretna, the first time that my Uncle Charlie, Aunt Marla, and Cousin Alisa got to meet Immi. My family there adored Immi and I was so glad that they had some free time and an open space at the cottage next door to their house for us to come and stay. They got the Immster a really soft fluffy white matching bunny, pillow and blanket. Here is a picture of Calvert Cottage, the house we stayed in:
We had lots of fun strolling Immi all over Gretna, she loved looking at all of the trees and would frequently fall asleep in her stroller even though it can be a bit bumpy on the paths there. Some of the local children had built a little Fairy Garden in the forest off of Penn Ave. It had tiny benches, butterflies, gnomes, fairy statues, wind chimes and a book where the kids write to all of the fairies that live there in the garden. Immi liked hanging out there quite a bit.
When we were strolling Immi through the town we found a house that had the funniest sign on the front porch:
You know in those small towns like Mount Gretna you really have to be super careful of “Pickpockets and Loose Women!” NOT. We strolled Imogen all the way across town and down to the the Gretna Roller Rink:
We went to Le Sorelle Porch & Pantry for breakfast in the mornings, and would go down to The Jiggershop to get delicious milk shakes and ice cream sundaes in the evenings. Kyoko has a real sweet tooth for chocolate and ice cream so I think she liked the J-Shop quite a bit.
We had dinner practically every night with the family and sometimes family friends too. It was so nice to hang out, relax, catch up and talk for hours. The Gretna Theater had a bunch of summer productions going on and we could hear them performing in the background because the Theater is just a block down the street from Charlie’s house on Pennsylvania Ave.
We drove to the neighboring town of Lititz, hung out in Cafe Chocolate and at another cafe called Spill The Beans. Kyoko, Immi and I really loved Cafe Chocolate, the owner is an awesome woman and I hope that she opens more Cafes near where we live sometime soon. Her cafe reminded us of some of our favorite coffee houses down in C-Ville. The food at Cafe Chocolate was perfectly portioned, lean and very tasty. If we lived in or near Lititz we would probably hang out there every day, it is just a great place to go and be…it has a very good atmosphere. Since we were in Lititz, I drove by Linden Hall and showed Kyoko where my cousin Alisa went to boarding school.
Alisa took me on a great ride mountain biking over Governor Dick and we all went over to the beach (the lake at Mt. Gretna). Alisa and her friend Katie hammered my Uncle, Dave and I at some serious volleyball…but it was lots of fun, not to mention a good work out. Here is a picture of Immi hanging out on the front porch of my Uncles house the couch/bed made entirely by hand from vines and branches:
Since we were able to stay an extra day or two in Gretna, we decided to hop over another nearby town Annville. We stopped by the Allen Theatre & MJ’s Coffehouse a historic old vintage movie place that has been restored. MJ’s Coffeehouse is attached to the Allen Theatre and has pretty good food, coffee, ice cream and killer popcorn. We had lunch and poked around the town but it was pretty hot that day and Immi didn’t like the theatre much…she probably thought that it was haunted or something.
This is what the houses in Mt. Gretna look like:
This is what the streets in Mt. Gretna look like:
You can check out the unofficial Mt. Gretna Website if you want to learn and see more about what Gretna is like.
An Immi cooing away being a cute baby in pink fuzzy blankets.
