Just sneaked a bread and jam sandwich.  Feel a bit guilty - we are supposed to be sharing Joey's diet but Anne has some bread for Izzies school lunches.

Haven't had a drink since last Monday, but the in-laws are here (they still have no power) so went to the Hopewell Historic House Liquor Store this afternoon to find them open, busy and with a wee generator giving enough power for the cash registers, fridges etc.  And it was busy - everybody stocking up in case there was another cold night without TV.  Good to see priorities right.  Bistro was also very busy at lunchtime.  Very dark also!

Halloween has been cancelled!  Or at least the Mayor has banned trick or treating.  Fair enough - there are still lots of problems with cables, trees down, lack of power etc.  Our power went off Monday evening and came back on yesterday morning - only to go again this morning for some 6 hrs.  back on now, hopefully.

Walked around town a few times.  No serious damage or flooding but lots of trees down - hence the power cuts.  Power is carried via overhead cables in the US, not underground.  Cheaper, no doubt, and easier to fix than digging up a road, but very ugly and vulnerable to this sort of problem.

Sounds like Anne's parents are coming to stay - their house in Ridgewood still has no power.  There are quite a few in this area without power still as well.  Indeed, some friends of our neighbours who live at the end of town have been told it will be 5 November before power is restored to them.  That would be miserable.

Got the evil eye from Pia this afternoon.  She is the owner of the neighbouring house we agreed to buy - but then backed out after 3 different issues arose which they had not disclosed to us.  Cost us $3k and she is giving me the evil eye?  Bit bloody cheeky!

I am down to 204.6 lbs!  Wasting away.

Anne makes a great chocolate chip cookie which would not be interesting except for the fact that she does it without any dairy, gluten or egg-yolk.   Beats me, too.

Breakfast cereal of choice for Joey now is organic buckwheat and hemp with soy milk.  Yep, you read that right.  I quite like it as well. With organic bananas and honey.

Now you know why I am down to 204.6 lbs.

So, how much has Joey's reading improved over the last year?  At the beginning of the year, he would struggle, even after having it read to him first, with the following;

'The goat ate the tin can.
I like this tin can, said the goat'.

Today, he read, without having it read to him first (a relatively new phenomena) the following;

'What is a black hole?

Black holes are the remains of collapsed stars. A tug of war is going on inside every star.  On one side is its gravity, or pulling force, which is trying to make it collapse and become smaller.  On the other side is the energy pouring out from its core, which is trying to make it explode.  For most of a star's life, its gravity and energy balance exactly.  But when the stars core runs out of fuel, its gravity wins and the star collapses.  The gravity around the star is now so strong that even its own light is sucked in, making it invisible - a black hole in Space'.

Quite a difference!  And he is gaining so much in confidence - just the fact that he will try and read something like this without having it read first is a strong indication of that.  He now takes pleasure in achieving this and will give it a try, whereas in the past his fear of failure meant that he would not even try.  Long may the progress continue!

Should also have added that it was lovely to get lots of messages from people asking how we were.  Nice to know we are not entirely forgotten!

Sandy came and toyed with us.  One of the biggest storms to the hit the east coast rolled over us last night.  Lots of rain, high winds and no power for most of the night.  Kids were great - played battleship by candle-light and then they both slept with Anne whilst I was banished to the guest bedroom.  Quite a lot of damage done to trees in the neighbourhood but no flooding so we got away lightly.

Princeton University campus.  I quite like the way that I took the white out of the leaves.

Kids have been up and playing all morning, with neighbours Chris and Grace.  Great to see them playing so well - but Joey still has to learn how to control his reactions better.  And not to get angry with me when it is not my fault eg giving the wrong breakfast when I had asked him 3 times what he wanted and he had replied.  He is getting better but still a way to go.

I am down to 206lbs.  Not bad.  I think that 195 would be my best weight, if I am honest, but I would be happy with 200.  Hard to believe that I was 220lbs at one point.

Anne had to tell Joey off last night because he was making a mess of the wall near where he sleeps.  he picks his nose and then, for want of anything better to do with the byproduct, wipes it off on the wall.  Delightful.  Nine year old boys are savages.

Anne out stocking up before we get hit by the 'Frankenstorm' that is due here Monday and Tuesday.  Should be fun.

I went for a 30 min run this morning and am feeling rather smug and virtuous.  No drink since Monday either - and have also stopped my other vice.  So embarrassed by it that I cannot even bear to write it down.  But I have stopped.  For good.

Joey and Izzy out on the tramp, playing very well together.  Joey continues to improve and is doing really well.  We have our old Joey back!  He can, of course, still be a cheeky wee bugger at times but he is a 9yr old boy and there are still some habits that he has to get rid of.

I have said it before but that trampoline was the best investment we ever made!

Trinity reunion; This won't mean much to anybody else but I wanted a record of the correspondence for my own memories!

Clincher - you have my sympathy.  Always wanted to met a Russian nympho but during most of my career it was not allowed and I had to turn them away.  

Good to see some concrete suggestions here.  Agree with all the points to some extent at least.  There will be food available in the Pav - and a rather more extensive list than when we frequented the place.  So I can add something about that.

Agree with women - I propose to include Karen and Tara in next series of emails unless anybody objects.  Agree that Clincher's name comes off invite but hope he will agree to be on advisory Board. 

Agree re food.  Can just mention it now and follow up nearer the time to get orders if people do want to eat there (have had discussions with Jason, the Pav manager - they can do food for large groups but will need idea of what people want in advance). 

Should we start at 1700 rather than 1600?  Probably makes sense.

I will look at creating a Facebook acct once we have agreed the details.

A more crucial point is that about who do we want to meet up with?  I think that it is right to base it on the 1983 class reunion but the reality is that we would, I think, much rather meet up with Clincher or, for me at least, Tiger Ennis, than with somebody from the '83 class that I never knew.  So slightly redrafted core message might be;

2013 will be the 30th anniversary of graduation from Trinity for John Reid, David Fitzgerald, Mick Lynn, Tara Buckley, Karen Richardson and Gery Juleff.  There will be an official reunion at the end of next summer but we not sure that we will all be able to make that and, in any case, thought it might be fun to do something rather more informal.

So, at 1700 on Saturday 15 June 2013, we and many friends will gather in the Pavilion Bar to sup a few pints, retell old stories and renew friendships.  There will be food available;  although not 3 star, the menu is rather more extensive than it was in 1983.

We hope that you can join us.  Please let Juff know (gjuleff@hotmail.com) so that we have an idea of numbers.  And please forward this message to any graduates of '83 that you know who are not on this mailing list.  They should also RSVP to Juff.  

Finally, we would not wish to pass on the opportunity to meet up with any old friends that had the misfortune to graduate in a different year.  So, please do feel free to come along and join us if you want to catch up with any of the '83 crew - and pass this on to anybody who might be in that position.  They should also RSVP to Juff.   

We are giving plenty of notice, so we hope that you will be able to join us for what will, we are sure, be a memorable night.   

We look forward to hearing from you - and please don't forget to pass this on!

Juff, Mick, Tara, Karen, Reider and Fitzer.

PS good to see Ulster doing so well!

From: John.Reid@livenation.co.uk
To: david.fitzgerald55@yahoo.co.uk
CC: paulclinch@yahoo.com; gjuleff@hotmail.com; mlynn1@eircom.net; john.j.coulter@jpmorgan.com
Subject: Re: Reunion.
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2012 12:15:30 +0000

Always good to get a lecture in the use of social media from fitz. The best bit of this note is that you don't ten know the name of the woman you refer to !

Juff why don't you get a page up and use the college and alumni site also and lets get on with it.

From: David Fitzgerald <David.fitzgerald55@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Saturday, 27 October 2012 12:58
To: john reid <john.reid@livenation.co.uk>
Cc: Paul Clinch <paulclinch@yahoo.com>, Gery Juleff <gjuleff@hotmail.com>, Mick Lynn <mlynn1@eircom.net>, John Coulter <john.j.coulter@jpmorgan.com>
Subject: Re: Reunion.

The point of all of this is not to have a massive piss up but rather to name a time and a place for all to turn up and meet old friends. The idea was to get this message onto Facebook and allow it to go viral, which it will, and see who turns up. It is not about organizing an event and then inviting people. The cascading ability of Facebook is extraordinary. 

Having said that, Hugo McNestrys son plays for my Under 13 team at London Irish. His wife, whose name escapes me at the moment, graduated in 83 so I will seek her advice on this. 

Worst comes to the worst, we meet in the Pav and have a feed of pints.

Sent from my iPhone

On 27 Oct 2012, at 11:48, John Reid <John.Reid@livenation.co.uk> wrote:

100% agree. I think you have nailed it and aren't at all unfair. Hence my point about women.

 In any case we don't need to take ownership of the thing. 

Can we ask the pav to do some basic food ? 

JC welcome aboard (whether you like it or not). You will find mick unresponsive or difficult, fitzer showing up as long as we don't bring up how badly munster are doing and the recently retired (on the public purse) juff as "organiser". In other words, nothing has changed.

Whats your view ?

As I say I don't know any of these women any more and we need to get writing to them quickly 

Cheers

Reid  

From: Paul Clinch <paulclinch@yahoo.com>
Date: Saturday, 27 October 2012 11:23
To: john reid <john.reid@livenation.co.uk>
Cc: David Fitzgerald <David.fitzgerald55@yahoo.co.uk>, Gery Juleff <gjuleff@hotmail.com>, Mick Lynn <mlynn1@eircom.net>, John Coulter <john.j.coulter@jpmorgan.com>
Subject: Re: Reunion.

I was at work yesterday hence my silence. I also went into trinity players (for the first tine ever!) to watch my daughter playing Vodka van Dyke the mutant Russian nymphomaniac in the play 'Horrifical'. I never imagined that the first Russian nympho I'd meet would be my daughter!

I must point out here that due to my academic excellence I didn't graduate till 86!!  So I'm not sure my name should be on the signature at all. Unless you want only guys at it though, I think you need to get a couple if girls to sign it. With the greatest of respect, you 4 inviting a gang to the Pav won't have women rushing to join you, and prob wouldn't have even in your heyday (if that ever existed). You'll prob get spud metchy Stan and people like that but v few with 2 X chromosomes!

I think the current format is fine but to most women I think they'll have pictures in their heads of Rogers naked drinking a pint in one go, Juff doing bunch of grapes, fitzy & reider doing their thing with any woman unfortunate enough to be in their vicinity & Mick in a coma in the corner. Perhaps I'm being a little unfair?

So my suggestions: I think you need Tara or Debbie or Margo or a couple of their ilk on board. I think you need to see if you could organise some light food & include that on the invitation so it looks less like a monumental p*ss up (particularly starting at 4!!). Or we could just have the same group that we had for Juff's stag & have a great night anyway! (if you put Juff's suggested signature on it that's surely all you'd get anyway!)

I'm not sure whose emails I have apart from rugby related guys & my medical class. I don't use facebook but I guess that's a decent way to get hold of people. Perhaps the best way to do it is to get others to pass it on & hope that some of them are still on speaking terms with some of the women in the year! Maybe Dec Stapleton knows a few?

I've copied JC on this as well. Hope some of what I've said makes some sense. 

Great to hear from you all. 

Clincher

-- 

Paul Clinch

+353-87-2487444

On 26 Oct 2012, at 21:12, John Reid <John.Reid@livenation.co.uk> wrote:

I think i could manage those 3 (or was that 30 years ago ?).
I have no idea how to find them.
Clincher why are you so quiet ?

From: David Fitzgerald [mailto:david.fitzgerald55@yahoo.co.uk] 
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2012 07:05 PM
To: John Reid 
Cc: Gery Juleff <gjuleff@hotmail.com>; Mick Lynn <mlynn1@eircom.net>; Paul Clinch <paulclinch@yahoo.com> 
Subject: Re: Reunion.  

Reid surely we can manage Jackie Morton, Debbie Martin and Margo Quinn!!!

Sent from my iPhone

On 26 Oct 2012, at 17:19, John Reid <John.Reid@livenation.co.uk> wrote:

Add Barrymcilheney@btinternet.com

Do we really only know 3 birds ?

Clincher you have a lot of work to do 

From: Gery Juleff <gjuleff@hotmail.com>
Date: Friday, 26 October 2012 02:34
To: john reid <john.reid@livenation.co.uk>, David Fitzgerald <David.fitzgerald55@yahoo.co.uk>, Mick Lynn <mlynn1@eircom.net>, Paul Clinch <paulclinch@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: Reunion.

Gents,

See below email addresses for contacts that I have.  Not sure if all of them left TCD in 1983.  If you can add any names to the list, please do and send back to me.  Also any that you know did not graduate in '83 and who we would perhaps not wish to make an exception for re inviting along.  Suggest message along following lines;

'2013 will be the 30th anniversary of graduation from Trinity for John Reid, David Fitzgerald, Mick Lynn, Paul Clinch and Gery Juleff - and for you.  There will be an official reunion at the end of next summer but we not sure that we will be able to make that - and, in any case, thought it might be fun to do something rather more informal.

So, at 1600 on Saturday 15 June 2013, we four, and as many of the Class of 1983 as will be able to join us, will gather in the Pavilion Bar to sup a few pints, retell old stories and renew friendships.  

We hope that you can join us.  Please let Juff know (gjuleff@hotmail.com) so that we have an idea of numbers.  And please forward this message to graduates of '83 that you know who are not on this mailing list.  They should also RSVP to Juff.  If we got it wrong and you did not graduate in 1983, well, it would be good to see you anyway. 

We are giving plenty of notice, so we hope that you will be able to join us for what will, we are sure, be a memorable night.   

We look forward to hearing from you - and please don't forget to pass this on!

Juff, Clincher, Mick, Reider and Fitzer.

Autumn in Mohonk. 

Could kill for a good cheddar sandwich.  But, in solidarity with Joey, I am off dairy and gluten.  Without bread and cheese, a cheddar sandwhich isn't quite the same.  Bugger.

Joey has gained 3lbs in the last month or so.  Impressive!  And today we went out for a run with his mate from next door.  Did about 3 miles.  Joey not even out of breath and no sweat to talk of.

Izzy celebrated her 5th birthday last Saturday.  A good time was had by all.  

Izzy

Mrs H took some of the kids in her car to nature class.  One of the kids said he was thirsty and would love a doughnut and soda.  Mrs H ignored him.  He repeated it and Joey piped up; 'Don't you know that soda is bad for you?'  Kids said that his parents allowed him.  'Well, your parents can't care for you very much if they let you drink that stuff'.  Mmmm.  Well intentioned but not really what we want him telling other kids.

Went to get some magic water from Mrs H's house and had a chat with her.  She said that a number of the other teachers had noted the positive change in Joey's behaviour, and Mrs H had explained what we were doing - identifying the problem, getting help, changing diet etc.  They went on to talk about other kids with issues and about the need for...............medication!

Feeling a but tired, and old, today.  I have what seems to be some sort of pulled muscle under my shoulder-blade which is giving me some gip.  Not doing enough exercise, and drinking a bit too much. Not a good combination.  need to change.  As a first step, we have agreed that all of us will follow Joey's diet, at least whilst at home.  We pretty much do, anyway, so it is not that much of a stretch to go 100%.  Apart from the yeast bit of course. Can't cut out booze altogether.

Izzy had her birthday party yesterday.  Sun sone and all had a lovely time.  About a dozen kids or so.  Izzy had been looking forward to this for, oh, months and it was all she wanted.  Then Chris and Joe from next door invited us over for dinner, with kids.  A very pleasant evening.  Today started well with a walk in the woods nearby by me and the kids.  Bit of a disagreement between Anne and I this morning over how to deal with a minor Joey upset (he insisted on playing with one of Izzies toys.  I told him that he could only do so once Izzy had decided to play with it.  Anne came down and asked Izzy if she minded if Joey played with it.  She said OK so everything calmed down.  But Joey did not learn anything about patience and respect for somebody else's property, and it put Izzy in the position where she had to make the decision.  What if she had said no?  Anyway, whilst Anne and I are broadly on the same page, there will always be differences.  But I was a bit miffed..

The second half of October and the temperature is in the uppers 60s and 70s.  Unbelievable.  Foliage is starting to turn to gold and red and yellow.  Spectacular in places.

Wee bugger just beat me at backgammon.  Now, I did give him some help and he was rather lucky with the dice, but, fair play to him.  Good for his maths, which he badly needs.  In fact, it is his biggest problem now.  See exchange with Mrs H below;

Stephanie,

Thanks - that sounds great.  We have had some discussions with Joey and are working on strategies to make maths at home more interesting for him via games etc.  Hopefully, together we will help him make the breakthrough needed.

Regards

Gery

 

---

From: shoffmann@thecambridgeschool.org
To: gjuleff@hotmail.com
Subject: math
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2012 09:50:46 -0400

Joey will get one on one help with math twice a week and continue with Ms. Gold for his math.  Since he is doing so well overall, we thought that a move backwards would not be a positive for his self-esteem.  Hope this works for you.  Have a nice day. Stephanie

18:50; Anne cooked a lovely jumbalia gumbo with shrimp (a new favourite with the kids) and chorizo (an old favourite) along with broccoli ('I love broccoli!' cries Izzy) and cabbage (Joey a signed up member of the 'cabbage gang').  Joey now drawing the Titanic going down and Izzy playing cards with Anne.  A lovely family scene after a good day.

Dad left yesterday.  It was a good visit and I think that he really enjoyed it.  His relationship with the kids grew stronger and hopefully that will continue.  His legs, though, are getting worse and he is no longer able to walk as much as before.  He does struggle manfully and managed some days to walk a couple of hours a day, albeit very slowly.

On our last walk, through the fields of Hopewell park, we met a very nice German lady who organises Brazilian au pairs as part of a cultural exchange and a New Zealander in a horse and buggy who trains horses for the Johnson and Johnson (pharmaceuticals) family.  One of them has a spread on the edge of Hopewell. Quite a cosmopolitan community we have here!

Izzy last night, when Anne was putting her to bed, was a bit tearful about work she could not do at school.  By chance, I went to the 'Back to school' night at the Pennington Presbyterian School, which Izzy attends.  They said all the right things about developing social and emotional skills and not pressurising the kids.  But also that they talked to local schools about what they expected of kids going into them next year, as Izzy will.  And this includes some basic reading and numerical skills.  Not the time for a long discussion here but it is wrong that a 4yr old should be upset because she feels that ashe cannot do the 'work'.  As it happens, a) the teachers were surprised as Izzy is doing just fine and b) we suspect that part of this is what she has picked up from Joey, which is v unfortunate.

Joey has been doing pretty well.  No complaints at school.  Making real progress with reading etc.  But he still has his moments and can be anxious, like this morning, when he really did not want to go to school.  On these occasions, Anne is very good with him and she then takes him.  Also took Izzy, in her pyjamas.  And I just got a phone call from Anne saying that she had met up with Lorna and was going to Boro Bean for coffee - with Izzy in pyjamas!

Still alive but very busy with Dad and doing not very much!  Where does bloody time go?  But all is well, more or less!

We are out of the contract to buy the house.  Not 100% sure that it was the right thing to do but we did not exactly love the house and were fed up with the messing around.  Bottom line is that it did not 'feel' right for Anne anymore and we always said that we both had to want to buy somewhere.

We did look at a house in Pennington Tuesday morning, which was lovely in many ways. albeit a wee bit small.  I thought, on leaving to go to the Amish country, that we might actually put a bid in.  But, in my absence, Anne took against it.  Bit too small.  But, above all,  she thinks that it would be beneficial for Joey, in particular, to stay here for longer.  Why?  because most of the kids in the Cambridge school have 'issues' (it is a specialist school!) and Joey, whilst friendly with quite a few, has yet to make any real friends.  On the other hand, we have Chris and Jack living here.  Neither have any learning difficulty or social behaviour issues but both are lovely kids.  We think that Joey has learned a good deal just from playing with them and it would do him good to keep doing so for a while.

So here we stay.  Anne called up the landlady last night and, in principle, she is happy for us to extend the lease.

Back from a couple of days in Amish country, Lancaster County Pa, with my Dad.  V interesting.  Visited the Strasburg Railroad museum (surprisingly interesting  and v well done), an Amish 'village, watched an Amish farmer harvest corn using a team of 8 beautiful, Belgian draught horses, had a nice meal, visited several covered bridges and generally drove around enjoying the beautiful countryside.

Trying for once to write after a few glasses of wine.  Find it v hard to type.  How did the likes of Dylan Thomas manage!

Anyway, Izzy gave us a lunch request this evening.  Jam sandwiches, broccoli and chorizzo.  Nice mixture,

Dad read to Joey this evening.  Joey pretended to sleep and my Dad blew gently in his ears, which resulted in lots of giggles.  Dad is  good with joey - much better than you might expect, given his generation and army, strict discipline background.  But as somebody who has suffered from depression, I do think that he understands better than most how the mind can sometimes screw you up and make you behave in a certain way.  Fair play to him.

Daniel, the one that got away, the little boy that we thought would be our adopted son before we learned that he had been stolen,  will be 7 yrs old soon. We haven't seen him for over 3 years because of the problems with Isabela's adoption.  He still calls Anne mum - Mai Anne.

Izzie got a wee bit hurt on the trampoline today.  her response? 'I am hurt!  I want a cookie!'

Anne bought a gluten and dairy free cake today (yes, that is possible).  Joey saw it.

'Is that a cake?"

"Yes."

'Can I eat it?  Even with my diet?'
"Yes."
"So I don't need to get mad?"
"No, son, you don't".

As for Izzie, she was literally jumping for joy at the though tof eating a cake!

Houses; so we decide not to buy the neighbours house and go for 39 Main St, Pennington.  And told the lawyer and realtor.  So realtor comes back saying that 39 Main is under contract.  So that is out.  And then lawyer comes back to say that seller might not allow us out of contract.  So we might be forced to buy neighbours house after all!

Bit of a mess.  But we need to keep it in perspective.  The reasons why we wanted the neighbours house remain valid.  We will have a roof over our head.  Life goes on.  We will learn more tomorrow.

Dad and I took Izzy horse riding.  She rides up at the Mcgarrans' farm on the other side of the Sourlands, on a 26yr old pony called Sugarfoot.  The lovely Chelsie is the instructor.

Autumn is here. Or, should I say, fall.

No news re the BP biofuels website position.  I will chase this week.  Upon reviewing my i/v, I suspect  that I will not get it.  They wanted an 'independent' editor but I suspect that my views on biofuels may be slightly too sceptical for them.  We shall see.

As for the Princeton University job, the application, went in on 22 August and I have heard nothing.  If you phone up, the message makes it clear that they will not comment or give information on the status of the application.  You know about it only if they contact you for an i/v or you see the vacancy has disappeared from their website - which it has yet to do.

I did hear the Director of the Institution seeking to fill the spot at a Rutgers event a couple of weeks ago, and asked a reasonably intelligent question at her lecture.  I have been tempted to follow up directly with her but had hoped to get some resolution on the other applications first.  If I do not get the website position, I will do so.

No milk in my tea; I am a tea drinker and have always drank it with milk.  No more.  We have replaced dairy milk with soy milk so that we have no mistakes with Joey's diet.  Tea and soy milk do not go together so I am forced to drink my tea black.  Yet another sacrifice!

So the lawyer received a 'variance' for the front of the house, allowing it to approach the house by less than 50 ft.  But the house is still on contravention of zoning laws at back, albeit by a small amount.  More importantly, perhaps is the fact that it might be very difficult to get agreement to any extension of the house.  We were not planning to but it would almost certainly reduce the sale value of the house.

Anne also now has a 'bad feeling' about this house.  Too much has gone wrong with this purchase.  So we shall not buy, and will tell our lawyer so on Monday.  Pia and William, the owners who we know, will of course be disappointed. He has already moved to his new job in Iowa and they had planned to have the movers in Monday, with Pia and Stella then following.  We assume that they too were unaware of these problems when they bought 2 years ago, perhaps because their lawyer simply did not do a good job.  They too are victims and have our sympathy but we must look after our own interests.  

So, where too now?  We had hoped to stay in 2nd Street, or at least in Hopewell.  We could buy the house we are currently renting but it would need quite a bit of work and we would have to live in it whilst construction was going on.  One of the reasons why we wanted to stay here was because of the kids on the block but, if we are honest, Joey's best mate here, Chris, will probably leave soon anyway, as they are trying to sell.  Jack, from 1st Street, plays well with both our kids but is not around so much and the bond between him and Joey is not that strong.  Lindon, the boy next door who is Izzy's age, will be moving on once they find a place to buy and Grace, the wee girl behind us in only around at weekends.  Her and Izzy get on great together and it would be sad to not be close to her but Izzy makes friends easily so we are not so worried about that.

So, back to the house at 39 Main Street, Pennington.  Oldish (1860) and lovely, we both liked it but the upstairs configuration didn't quite work.  My brilliant wife thinks that she has come up with a solution, by extending over the back.  The garden is lovely and it would be within walking/cycling distance from school and many other attractions.  So our attention will return to Pennington.

Damn.  Lawyer just called.  Seems like the house we want to buy down the road was built in contradiction of local planning laws ie that the actual house must be 50 feet from the public sidewalk.  It is only 42 feet.  She is looking to see if there was ever a 'variance' issued by the local Boro to allow this but has not come across it yet.  This would be a deal breaker.  Unlikely that the Boro would insist that the house be torn down but it would be a pain to have to go through the system to get a variance and there is no guarantee that one would be given.  Hopefully, somebody will dig up a variance but............

Just back from a 45 min bike ride.  Feels good but I need to do much more to get fit!    Back to the gym?

Joey is enjoying art and his drawing and painting are coming on quite nicely.  No Monet, perhaps, but not bad!

http://www.artsonia.com/museum/art.asp?id=19966254

Created by Joey3268 in Grade 2 at The Cambridge School Part of a school project called The Great Wave Published on October 02 by Melissa Mack (Joey3268's teacher) Joey3268 also has 1 other artwork published online!

God day for Joey yesterday, on the whole, and he was v good for my Dad, who put him to bed whilst Anne and I went to the school parent evening.  Interesting enough for us but we are in contact on such a regular basis with Mrs H that we did not really need to go.  I have, however, been volunteered to go in and give a talk to the class - on the Titanic.  They have been doing something on that and I let slip that my grandparents saw the Titanic being launched in Belfast 100 yrs ago.  And that Joey had been to where the ship was built.  Then it was suggested that I also give a talk on ranching in Brazil and Climate Change!

It will help that there are only 4 kids in his class!

Obama v disappointing last night.  Romney just lies but Obama did not go after his bullshit aggressively enough.  He will have to do better next time.

Dad arrived Monday, great to have him here for over 2 weeks.  Sitting down to watch the first Presidential debate.  Come on Obama!

Not a brilliant start today with Joey reluctant to go to school.  See correspondence below between Anne and Mrs H;

I do understand about the praise and being the center of attention.  Thanks for the reminder though.  He is ok right now, but wasn’t great this morning so I had him lie down for about 25 mins.  Afterwards  he was ready to work.  I think that he should have a lunch break today.  Don’t go to your grave yet.  He is still so much better than he used to be.  See you later. Stephanie

From: Gery Juleff [mailto:gjuleff@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2012 8:21 AM
To: Stephanie Hoffman
Subject: lunch

Joey really wanted me to pick him up for lunch today. I will plan on a quick lunch with him from 11:45 - 12:30. If he changes his mind, I can drop off lis lunch at 11:45. Just so you know, he was a bit upset about school last night and this morning. Even though we're all delighted with his work ethic and better behaviour he seems to view our praise as slightly patronising. He said he didn't want me making a fuss over him just doing his work. That it isn't anything special or different than what the others are doing. He did seem to want to be praised privately but I think he finds it embarrassing to be praised in front of others for something that isn't truly exceptional. This criticism was directed at me not you but I just wanted you to be aware of his feelings.

This kid is going to put me in an early grave! Anyway, let's hope he has another good, productive day.

Anne
 

And another email from Mrs H;

He just finished another assignment!  Amazing.  (There was a threat of missing recess, but he finished with time left for free reading).

She also told us on Friday that some of the other staff had also commented on Joey's change.  A corner turned?  We have been here before but this time it does seem real.

Few moans from Joey before going to school but not too bad.  gave him wee pep talk about enjoying school and just trying, doing his best.  Seemed to work.  received email from Mrs H;
'He completed 2 sentences in 15 mins. which is a first and really terrific!'

Autumn is coming.  Went out for paper at 0630 and it is cool, very fresh.  First time for months.  Due to warm up today to circa 70 degrees. 

Dad is due out this afternoon for 2 1/2 weeks.  Looking forward to that and hee will enjoy the cooler weather - it was too hot for him back in July.  Too hot for all of us.

Came home to find Joey at the computer - watching another documentary on dinosaurs.  He is keen to be a paleantologist.  We don't like TV, as regular readers will know, but it is good that he has access to this sort of stuff via the internet. 

Big day today - my colleagues from Imperial will find out what conditions BP will attach to their funding for thee bioeconomy plaatform.  Fingers crosssed.