DingoPress Tales

June 7, 2009

This weekend’s full moon is known as the Flower moon. We connected with it here in L.A. where the weather has been stormy and the summer heat not more than a promise.

Lots continues to happen in life. Parenting proves to be everything people said it was and then some. I am often very tired and often very happy. It also turns out that “Facebook” has become very popular, from what I hear, since last I wrote. I was going to sign up, but I think I will wait until it comes out in paperback.

The big news around here these days is that Olive has learned how to crawl as she demonstrates in the following video:

This crawling thing has just happened in the past week or two. We are scrambling to get a handle on the whole baby proofing thing. Fortunately, all that Olive wants to do is climb on Dingo. I’m not too sure if Dingo finds this the ideal situations, but he puts up with it.

For Easter we got all dressed up and went to see Cousin Anne sing amazing choral music at the local Anglican church. It was lovely and Olive wore a very cute dress.

Her Grammy was in town for some cuddling and we all had a festival to celebrate the coming of Spring.

Olive has become progressively cuter and more of a little baby with a sweet personality since our visit home over Yule. She’s started eating real food and now she has two bottom and two top teeth. She really is a champion eater and Kate is great at preparing her excellent healthy foods like fresh avocados from the local California groves.

Das Avocado!

Mid-May we were so very happy to have two visitors from the East Cost: Olive’s Nana Mary and her cousin Abby! They came out for Mother’s Day and wound up staying with us for a fantastic week.

Olive loved having her Nana around and we were indulged with many a classic baby song that I remember from my youth, or possibly from other people’s youth. Who knows? Anyway, it was cute and here’s a sampling:

We knew cousin Abby is a big Red Sox fan, so we took the opportunity to finally check out Dodger’s Stadium.

The stadium is about a mile from our house, but we have never been for a game. We thought it would be fun for Abby because Manny Ramirez had recently transferred to the Dodgers from the Red Sox. Unfortunately the bum got suspended for many games starting that week because he was taking female hormones.

Nana was very upset about this fact and demanded to see Manny to all the ticket takers and security guards. In the shot below I have successfully negotiated her release from possible jail time using the ‘crazy lady’ defense (that’s her in the crazy lady hat. Note the guards laughing in the background):

It was hot in the stadium, so we took off after a few innings. Who won? Who knows?!

Olive L-O-V-E-D! her cousin Abby. Largely due to the fact that Abby must be studying baby language the that University in Canada. She was able to babble right along in the Little’s language. The rest of us were left in the dark.

We went to the Getty Art Museum to check out the gardens, architecture and exhibits. I must say, the garden was my favorite part.

Kate and Olive like the whole thing, including the tram ride and lunch in the courtyard with Nana and Abby. But their favorite was a room made entirely of a Victorian era bed. Cozy!

We ended up the week with a tour of Rodeo Drive. (Apparently, this is not pronounced like the place where cowboys punch doggies and ride bucking broncos, but rather like this “Row-Day-O”. That is funny.) Anyway, we were lucky enough to see some actual fashion models in front of Versace on Rodeo and snap some photos of the shoot. Check it out:

Now that truly is the glamorous side of L.A.

Well, I’ve got to run. I am teaching Olive how to drive so I can check my email and not have to worry about getting pulled over for a ticket.

Catch you all the next time Kate and I are able to do all the dishes and get Olive to bed at a reasonable hour.

“Dad, you are hilarious and brilliant.”

I became a grand uncle this past weekend. My niece, Morgan, had her first baby. Little Bryce Scott Turner was born February 27th at 6:49 PM and he looks like a cute one:

Things are going along just fine here in Los Angeles. Spring is coming and we are going to be glad to put the rains behind us. Things are going to be very green. That’s nice. Olive, Kate and I are coming out of several weeks with bronchitis, no worse for the wear. We hear there is a nasty stomach virus on the east coast and are very glad not to have that!

I am approaching 1 year without any tobacco. I celebrate on April 1st and will not be celebrating by having a cigarette, you can bet on that.

Congratulations to Ben and Trina. They got themselves a new family member named “Snicket”…yup, Sincket. I am not sure about the name, but a cute dog for sure:

Olive is getting older and cuter. She had her 5 month birthday just recently and she is very happy and interactive these days. Ara, a good friend of Olive’s Grammy Melodie wrote her a beautiful guitar song which you can download right here:

“Olive” by Ara Duzian

It looks like her eyes are going to be beautiful blue eyes like her mom and both grandmothers and her hair is still looking pretty darn red. She’s a real sweet girl so far and we are all in love. Here are a couple of recent videos of her:

I’ve also been playing with Google’s Picasa web albums. You can check out some photos up there if you like by clicking this:

Jack’s Picasa Web Albums

And here is an embedded slide show:

That’s about all. Happy birthday all my fellow Pisces friends. Keep on believing!

-Jack

We all made it back to Los Angeles safe and sound. The family had a blast in Boston. We saw a whole lot of lovely people. I got some new plants for the house when I got back to town to make it feel like more people were around.

There’s not much more to say. Bernard’s birthday is tomorrow. My sister Judi turns 50 on ground hog day and January is a raining month in LA.

Here’s the latest mash up of videos and pictures from our cute friend Olive (Littles) Paradis.  Mostly, we take care of that girl. Can’t think of anything finer.

Love you all.

xo,

Jack, Kate, Olive and Dingo

This year we are thankful for so much. We miss our Pa, but we are so thankful that he was an amazing father. We are thankful for all the other great fathers we know and Kate and I are so thankful to be blessed with little Olive this year.

I know things are tuff, but there is also a lot of hope. I am thankful for all the hope. So, here’s a little video to remind us all of just why we need to be hopeful.

Best wishes to you and happy holiday season.

Video of 2 month old Olive

John Ronald Paradis

Born January 18, 1934

Died November 5, 2008

I lost my dad this month. He died at home with his wife and children by his bedside. He has struggled for a long time against the ravages of advanced diabetes and heart disease. We were relieved to see him at peace, but saddened greatly by his passing. We know he is watching over us now.

Below is the remembrance I was honored to read at his funeral mass on November 8, 2008. My father was a hard working person with true integrity. He was very honest. He loved his wife and children and we loved him. He was truly compassionate and he will be missed by many.

November 8, 2008

It is impossible to summarize the life of my father. He was not a complicated man, so to speak, but he had broad interests born from a natural curiosity about everything. His broad interests fostered a broad appeal. From truck drivers to architects, from scientists to Haitian immigrants at the food pantry where he volunteered, he was truly fascinated by the people he met. He was eager to find out what they knew and to share what he knew.

I am his only son in a sea of remarkable, strong, loving, daughters who held him up, cherished him, and nursed him. My sisters sat with him through difficult hours, weeks, months and years up to the last peaceful minutes when they held his hand, sang his songs, prayed with him, and prepared him for his return home. As his son I cannot speak for my sisters but only for myself.

He would tell you that my mother is a saint, and he is right. From the first troubles with his heart, over 10 years ago, through a stroke, and many other challenges up to the last precious moments of his endurance, he was so glad that he chose someone like her to watch over him. She was his constant angel, advocate, protector and dearest love. I cannot speak for my mother or for all those doctors, nurses, nurse assistants, technicians and other wonderful, dedicated professionals who lent their support and compassion to my father and mother both over the years.

I cannot speak for his grandchildren who showed him love and respect, and energized him with the hope of new generations. At last count he had eleven grandchildren with more to come (I know it is eleven because I was very close up when I counted the eleventh). He left with the promise of great grandchildren on the way. Today, however, I cannot speak for his grandchildren, or his son-in-laws, daughter-in-law, or for the cherished friends who were a constant support and source of joy to mom and dad through good times and bad times. I cannot speak for respected business associates of my father, or for so many acquaintances who saw in him the spark of a good and decent man, or for any other except if it is to say thank you for coming to honor our father, grandfather, husband, farther-in-law, friend and great love of our lives.

And so for my part, I would like to share with you some of a letter I wrote to my father about 5 years ago. It was sometime after a stroke had left him changed slightly in his manner and method of communicating. As I say, this letter reflects my personal experience with my father. I was happy to share it with him at that time 5 years ago and to re-read it to him just recently. I hope it will show you what he meant to me as a father.

6-12-03

Dear Dad,

You have changed. But you retain the essence of who you always have been. You have struggled. I cannot imagine the struggles you see your way through. You have grace. Your heroic passion is quiet, and now you show us grace. Perhaps your passion has grown temporarily depleted after raising 7 children and inspiring scores of grand children, but always your passion is what I remember most.

While I grew up your temper was famous, fueled by a deep passion in your convictions. You defended justice ferociously when those convictions were challenged. Woe to that thoughtless person on the mass pike who thought he could hit your bumper and speed away without you giving chase at high speeds like Starsky and Hutch, jumping highway dividers and yelling out your window. Woe to that little boy who thought he could play with matches and not get a full day’s lesson on fire safety, complete with a trip to the Shiners burn unit where, thankfully, the nurses turned down your request to view the burn victims.

You are passionate about your children, that they live righteously; that they deal with situations honestly; and that they treat people with respect. You defend your children passionately with words and deeds against all forces of disease or evil intention. You are passionate about God and your church, your family in Heaven, and your hoped for reward – which I know must be there waiting for you. Perhaps your reward is your brother Bob who died in the war, waiting to hug and kiss you after all these years and walk with you through the gardens of Heaven. Or perhaps it is a party thrown in your honor by all those souls who have found their way out of purgatory and into heaven on the wings of your meticulous and constant prayers for their salvation (or even from the prayers others have said at your consistent urging). Or perhaps you will fly at your own will across the blue sky and white cotton clouds, or heal sickness with a magic wand, or walk through walls, or see the future. Whatever you decide should be yours there.

You have done a fine job and I know God smiles on you even as you struggle over the decades to this strange moment in time when empires reform, when things are forgotten and when more and more people question long held convictions. Children – good and right thinking souls – pursue ideas you do not believe or pursue. People you know struggle with beliefs that you once shared. Righteousness and majesty waiver in the country your brother died defending. The values of working hard and supporting a family, of giving to the community and dealing honestly in business seem to unwind over so many years. You sense a distance between where you are and where you envisioned you might land.

Yet, still you persist. You hold on. Your passion is present in your consistency. Your will to fight rests beyond the surface; concerned with other things, with deeper things. I want you to know that I believe you are destined to live in a heaven of delight where your dreams reach the potential you know they hold.

But first I want to thank you for your mortality. And by that I mean, thank you for showing me that one can be a man of great strength and a man who suffers through great errors. All of us, all of us have taken missteps, have snapped, tripped, fallen, and broken. The best of us get up and work toward some redemption. That you never turned your back on me when I fell - or even when I made a callous choice - is why I struggle still. I know you have inspired many others with your kindness and your compassionate, encouraging way. We use what you give, and so we learn to live with firm beliefs backed by passion. And we choose to get up and struggle when we must, just as you do.

I may have grown in a way that extends you to such a degree it seems unclear to you, but I feel you in my heart. I am different from you, yet I contain a precious essence of you. My blood, my tenets, my way with the world, and my way with the inner world crafted of delights and sorrows, fears and expectations all pulse strongly with a light of your design. What we did together over the years is a beautiful package of anecdotes and images in my mind. Your passionate responses were set off by your deep impulse to love. Your actions were always instructed by love.

You tell me your stories and prayers. You show me how to use tools. You give me your thoughts on people and negotiations. I have your songs in my head. I carry with me your love to know something, some fact, some process, some relationship, the joy of knowledge for knowledge’s sake. All of it I have locked deep in my heart and mind. I feel it in my gut. You are quiet now, but all this will be passed from me into the hearts and minds and bellies of children. I thank you for these gifts, for my life, for the love you share and all that you have taught. You are the fine strong master of expanding love, extending out through your children and your children’s children. You have been an excellent father throughout the precarious and joyful moments of our life together.

I look forward to feeling your presence over these years to come. I know you are walking a line none of us yet has seen so close. But on this side of the line I am certain there is love, because I see it. And on the other side of the line I know there is love because you have told me so and I believe you.

With great love and respect from your admiring son,

Jack

I guess that’s the way it’s going to be around here from now on. And it’s fine with me because that girl is damn cute!

Olive will be four weeks old this coming Monday and I will be heading back to work full time. I am definitely feeling depressed about having to leave my lovely ladies, but we need to keep food on the table.

It’s really been fantastic to be home with everyone and see Olive make such amazing progress in such a short time. I am really looking forward to the coming hours, days, months and years of her sweet life. We are headed back east in December and I am praying that my dad will hang in there long enough to hold Olive. He is coming home after a very, very long stint in the hospital and our thoughts are with him and my family. They are in for a lot of care giving in the coming months and all of our love is with them. Can’t wait to see everyone when we come home!!!!

Anyway, here are the goods (Olive at just under 1 month old):

Olive and Uncle Bernard Bernard

Someone can’t wait for the day when he can lick someone else from head to toe. (It will be a long, long time)

Bath times are fun times.

The fine art of baby wearing.

Cousin Max. Delicious or gross?

Kate, Olive, Melodie, Max and Alice

   Olive is doing quite well after the first two weeks. She has been out on the town visiting the pediatrician, going to a "La Leche League" meeting and stopping in at The Mustard Seed on Hillhurst for lunch with friends.

She’s up to 7lbs 6onz and we are all doing fabulous.

Here are some more photos to look at. Thanks to everyone for all the support and well wishes.

Sleeping is so great. I miss it.

Here’s another video and some cute stills.

Our baby girl was born on Monday morning at 4:48 A.M. Kate did an amazing job with the labor. It was an unmedicated natural child birth at home. In fact, Kate and I were the only ones around when the baby came. Our awesome midwife, Aviva, showed up just seconds after I put the baby up on Kate’s chest. Yes, it was incredible.

Everyone is doing great and we are all getting used to the new situation. Dingo came home last night and he is very mellow and respectful of the baby. So far so excellent.

Here is a video for all those who are craving more than what we sent in the announcement.

You can also download the video yourself if you want to. Right click or "apple-click" here and choose "save target as."

Take Good Care!

Jack, Kate, Olive & Dingo

Well, well, well it seems a few months have passed since my last blog entry. I am sure lots has happened with you over the past few months, because a heck of a lot sure has happened with me! Let’s not beat around the bush…

I got married…

Married to the best partner either side of the Pecos and darned cute too!

But that’s not all…

We are having a baby.

Yippee!

Heck, everyone is doing it so we figured we better get started right away. Well, that’s not exactly how it happened. Let me start from where we left off and get to where we are now. Sorry indeed to be absent for so long. Sit back and let me tell you what’s been going on these past few months. Get comfortable, because this should take a while.

When we last left off, Christmas was just around the corner…

A Special Christmas Gift

Mickey Mouse has been good to me. True the three fingered glove of full time mouse employment has not been offered, but things at Disney are just right to keep a hard working fellah like myself employed as a contractor for much much longer than expected. It’s been a weird ride, but almost a year and a half later, things are still going strong.

Seeing as I had a little extra cash in my pockets and that I was in love with Kate -who clearly was the life partner and love of my dreams- I thought it best to do what any red blooded American boy does in such situations and buy myself a diamond ring.

Around Thanksgiving, I started asking questions about just what kind of ring she would like. Kate is pretty particular as far as fashion and rings and things in the realms of aesthetics and beauty are concerned. Me, not so much. I got some pretty good information. Gold (shinny yellow gold), unconventional stone and just plain not too usual. This I can do, thought I.

My old pal, Romi, helped me out and connected me with a jewel smith named Sarah Nehama. Sara was moving from Santa Monica back to Boston and we started communicating over email. Sarah makes some cool jewelry and in particular is a fantastic gold smith with a flair for classical style. Which I like. Check out her stuff at this web site.

Sarah and I talked a lot about what Kate was looking for and just in time for Christmas, I got an amazing ring in the mail. I thought I would show you a picture, because I think it is so cool. It’s an uncut polished diamond. The diamond crystal shape is called a macle twin and the setting is 22 karat gold. I think it looks magical. It’s not your typical engagement ring I guess.

The ring was consecrated in a little magical circle ceremony that my kundalini loving neighbor friend, Joe, helped me with. We named the ring “the Musical Shield of Vines.” Frankly, I am not sure why we named it that, but it has a name and a good start in life I think.

Kate’s Mom, Melodie, rented a cool beach house in San Diego for Christmas. Before we left, I went to Kate’s apartment with the ring in hand, got down on a knee and very nervously said some goofy things culminating in “will you marry me?” She said, “Oh, I thought we already were getting married.”

I took that as a yes.

We had a great, relaxing time in San Diego. Everyone on Kate’s side of the family was happy to hear the news. Above is Kate’s Grammy, Mafalda, and her Cousin, Mary. That’s Kate’s Mom back in the kitchen.

There’s my new mother-in-law looking rather festive for the holiday.

Grammy shows off her sweet motorcycle chair to her great grandson Max.

Everyone had a fun time for Christmas. We slept late, drank wine, walked by the beach and went out for delicious crepes. We were glad to be with family and glad that everyone was so welcoming and excited about our news.

The New Year Begins

We celebrated the New Year at the house of my new relatives Alice, Mike and their son Max. Max was only on the scene for a short while before Kate’s Mom took him off for a nice evening. Then the fun began.

Cynthia, Julie and Kate looking pretty cute in new year’s gear.

Alice and Mike have a nice house over in a part of LA called Studio City. They have a big fireplace and a swimming pool, and they are sweet hearts so it’s always a fun time at their house. They were so kind to invite all of our friends and everyone wound up coming over and ringing in the new year.

Bernard and I are definitely ready for a new year. Oh and what a year we got! I have a wife and baby on the way and Bernard, I think, is having one of the most amazing personal renaissances I have witnessed. We really needed some major shake ups and we got em.

Yes, that is a party ice luge…so?

Ah, the booze luge. What an invention. I’ve seen these before and I know the key thing here is to just try it once. If you go back for seconds, you’re in trouble.

Sisters helping each other. Isn’t it sweet.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking “Hmm..this booze luge business is most likely the thing that lead to the baby.”

Wrong!

Like I said, we knew what we were doing. Hell, Kate and I both went to UMass Amherst. We are booze luge professionals.

As you can see, we remained in complete control of our senses for the rest of the evening…

That’s Kate and her cousin Anne, getting down. I mean really getting down.

Where do babies come from?

Well, I thought I had this one all figured out. Having a baby is a very complex, scientifickie process involving such things as the Gregorian calendar, quadratic equations, pickles and standing on one leg for lengthy periods of time. At least that’s what I thought. But you could have knocked me over with a cloth diaper after I found out that a seemingly innocuous party game could lead to such a thing. Let me show you what happened so you can be on guard in case it happens to you, or maybe you want to give it a shot. It seems to work quick.

It all started when John (the former drummer from the band Anus) and Anne (Kate’s cousin) decided to live together. As a cute side effect to this event, they decided to host a party (plus it was John’s birthday). This all happened sometime around the new year. At the party, which was a lovely time with crab legs and 3-dimensional art, Kate got the idea that we should perform an ancient fertility ritual. Actually, the night before she had a dream about doing exactly what we did. She told everyone about it at the party and they were like “um, you did what now?” So she asked me to help her demonstrate.

I thought “sure, what the hell could happen.” The next thing I know, we are on the storks short list for a delivery.

So, for your education, please take a look at this video which was taken at what I am sure is the exact time of conception.

A few short weeks after this party, after the activity shown in the video and bam! We are having a baby.

“*Gulp!* A Baby?!” said us.

“Then maybe you’ll have toys at your house,” thought Max.

The Last Days at “Dump in the Rough”

I knew it couldn’t last for ever, but that crappy, run down bungalow in the sketchy part of town, that Bernard found me, turned out to be a great final bachelor’s pad. It was the first time I had ever lived alone and it had equal parts “do it yourself charm”, “local flavor drama,” and “slum lord wrangling.”

After news of the baby it was time to get the hell out. Paradis family unity was top on the list. I parted ways with the new landlords exactly at the end of my lease on April 1st. For some reason April fools day seems a significant date in my life. Go figure, but on April Fool’s Day I always seem to start new jobs, move out of apartments and engage in particular feats of strength.

On April 1st 2008, I said goodbye to my bachelor ways for good and Dingo and I moved into Kate’s studio apartment while we searched for a new place to live as a family and have the baby. I should say that between the time we found out and April 1st, I did also manage to turn 40. I got a lot of love and nice gifts from everyone, and we had one last “bar-b-queued rib” festival at my place. For some reason, I forgot to take photos, but you get the idea.

Early comparisons.  Um…

Spring Visitations and Spring Journeys

Just before moving out of my old place, Kate and I had visits from some pals. Kate’s friends Jen and Paul came for a visit from Brooklyn with the kids and stayed at Kate’s Mom’s apartment. My buddy and former Bergamot contributing artist Jason Landry also came down from San Francisco.

Jason rocks out the day of the last party ever at my old pad.

Paul and Edie on the Venice Boardwalk…

Jen and Ava crossing the sands.

Jen and Paul are fantastic and Jason is the easiest house guest you could hope for. I think he slept on the seat cushions from my couch in the empty office of my house. Dingo’s bed is just slightly more comfortable. But we all went down to Venice beach on a Monday and had a lovely day strolling around on the boardwalk.

Kate and Dingo at Venice beach with the Harrington’s looking native in the background.

Jason talks to his agent out side the trendy gelato place in Sunset Junction.

It was nice to get a visit from everyone. As soon as they departed, I moved in with Kate. Kate’s apartment was really cute for sure. She named it Shungalow, which stands for part shack part bungalow. It is basically a room the size of a reasonably sized living room with a bathroom off of it. Dingo, Kate and I all lived there for a couple of weeks. It was pleasant, but cramped. We all did surprisingly great, and I think this speaks of our ability to do well in tight situation.

We found a great new apartment in our same neighborhood. I’ll tell you more about it in a second. But just after we moved in, we left for a trip back east to check in with everyone. Kate went to spend some time with all her pals in New York City and then met me in Boston to attend my parents 50th wedding anniversary party.

So hears a bunch of shots from my trip to Boston back in May:

My Mom and my nephew Chris in the family living room

My dad has had a rough go of it lately, spending some time in the hospital having a difficult procedure performed. Recovery will be challenging and we are really thinking about him a lot. He’s a real sweet guy and it was great to see him up and about on this trip to Boston in May. The latest word is that he is on the mends and will be coming home soon for rehab and recovery. We love you Pa!

That is my niece Melanie and that is one scared gerbil in a ball.

Melanie’s older sister Meredith, being fresh.

David Johnson and his busking equipment for rocking it out in Harvard Square.

Church steeples in Harvard Yard.

I ran into David while waiting to meet up with my friend Ben in Harvard Square. It was a beautiful spring day. David was playing later that night with my old pal and guitar hero Steve Mayone. He was talking to him on the cell phone and when I butted in. Steve invited me over, so I took a lovely walk through Cambridge over to his new house in Somerville.

This is the Sanders theater. I like the brick work.

I love the yellow forsythia. It reminds me of spring in New England.

Daffodils.

Steve Moyone in the wicked awesome unfinished basement rock studio of his new house (where his wife let’s him keep all his crap). Reminds me that Steve and Suzie are probably getting married as a write this.

After visiting with Steve, I decided to walk back home through Davis Square.

The ol’ Rosebud dinner in Davis Square. I guess my father’s father used to own a dining car just like this one with his brother. It was in Arlington center. My dad worked there pealing potatoes when he was in high school.

This house on Broadway in Arlington is the house where my father was actually born. I thought it was important to get a shot of it since Kate and I plan to have our baby at home also. Yup. We do. We have a midwife and we are doing the whole “all in” natural child birth thing like hippies and Ricki Lake. It’s actually pretty exciting. Check out this web site if you are interested: http://www.bradleybirth.com/

Day two of vacation began the slave labor. I have been off the chores list at my parents house for some time, but the wrangled me back in upon my return. Here I am patching the front walls.

It came out pretty nicely I think.

Nana and Molly at a big birthday bash the following day.

Nephew Rob.

Sister Renee. She and Ben just bought their first house. Well, it’s closing soon anyway. Congratulations!! Me too one day.

That’s niece Renee in the middle.

All the kids were enjoying these edible worms. Apparently this is what we will all be living off of when I am old.

I guess it’s better than soilent green.

Bergamot Reunion

Some of the gang from the old Bergamot rock band got together to see David Johnson and Steve Mayone play out at a nice pub in east Cambridge.

From the left, that’s Ben, Jeremy, Steve, Myself and Bob. I was drinking Kaliber that night. Mmmm….alcohol free beer. You see, I am off the smoking, so I was careful of my alcohol intake. It helps!

Peter Wolf from that 80’s band J. Giles was on hand that night and got up to sing a few with the band.

That’s Peter in the middle. Bob asked me to take the following hilarious picture of him with Peter Wolf:

It’s like he was in the band. (Bob, I mean. Peter Wolf is the one with the leather pants. He’s not in the band either.)

I went into Boston the next day to see an El Greco exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts with Ben. We had a lovely time and the exhibit was fantastic.

Illegal photo graph of a cool El Greco painting.

That’s Romi at her office in Mass General. I stopped to have lunch on my way to the museum.  She’s a mom now. How cute.

Romi’s sister-in-law Kirsten is a mom too. That’s Kirsten and Katia Kai. I would have liked to hang with them more, but it was a sweet visit. She’s a real sweetheart and Ron and Kirsten are doing a great job as parents!

Kate Arrives in Boston

Kate showed up from New York later in the week. She drove up from New York with Jen and Edie.

You can see she’s got a little belly, and that is not from the french bread and chocolate.

The Paradis Family Home in Arlington. My mom was raised here. It belonged to my grandfather, Leo Colgan. He and my grandmother passed it on to our family and built an addition in the back where they lived. It was a true in-law apartment.

Mom gets her first daughter-in-law. Well, almost anyway. The actual marrying part came later, but her grandchild is in there, so close enough.

Kate and I took a walk down to Arlington High. We were able to catch a few rounds of my nephews Chris and Rob play on the volleyball team in the Red Gym. It was fun. Kate lead me in a few cheers.

May Day (ish) in Swapscott

Romi and Timo, as sweet as they are, hosted a lovely celebration for Kate and I at their place up in Swampscott. They live real close to the beach and we decided to go brave the early spring weather and have ourselves a little bon fire and May pole dance.

Timo and Sophia at there house by the sea.

I think Kate is a natural. Man, that Sophia is a cute little chubby cheeked angel!

Kate, Bob and Jeremy setup the May Pole while Romi, Sophia and I prepared the bon fire and food. Kate’s friends came: Alison & Vaughn, Heather & Tom, and Jen Tassone (AKA Swanny). Heather and Alison were both round with baby. Since then, Heather gave birth to Brendan and Alison to Euan. Could it be a season for boys?

Kate and I danced around it. On May day, in the Wiccan tradition, couples can do what is called handfasting. This is like a trial marriage that lasts for 1 year and 1 day. Kate and I did it once long ago. It was lovely. I think this time around it will be for a bit longer.

Lots of folks showed up that night, including Scott and Judy Sheriff, whom I was delighted to see. We also saw Laura Fey and Neisha the dog later in the evening.

Laura with her dog play entrapments (Note, leash and tennis ball thrower.)

The 50th Wedding Anniversary

My parents, John Paradis and Mary Colgan were married on April 16, 1958.

My Mom and Dad on their 50th.

The great family I have back east really is a delight. My sisters are so with it and they went all out putting together a nice lunch at the Colonial Inn in Concord and some family photographs back at the house.

There was much toasting and merry making. It was so wonderful to see my mom and dad having such a lovely time and to be there with my amazing bride-to-be and the mother of my baby.

My sister Lee.

Ben and Renee.

My sister Jill. Who has a birthday in the next few days. Happy Birthday Jill!

  It’s my sister Michelle’s birthday too. I think she is one day before Jill. Happy Birthday!

That’s Megan, the eldest niece. I hear she is considering a move to San Francisco.

  Chris Hamblin and Michael his dad. That boy is getting tall!

Renee Hamblin, angel or devil? You decide.

Almost to the end

Ugh.. is this like the longest blog entry in the world or what?!!?

I feel a bit like I am making you watch my family slide show after I have fed you a very dry turkey dinner with unimpressive stuffing and mashed potatoes from a box. Sorry about that.

We are close to the end though. Maybe you want to get up and stretch a little?

As you can see, my trip back to Boston in April for my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary was great fun. It is always the best time seeing my family and all my old friends. And everyone was really happy for me and Kate. It was important for us to get all the good vibes, blessings and well wishes from our friends and family. We drank it all up and headed back to kick it up on our new new life in Los Angels.

Summerland

We’ve gotten into the habit of naming our apartments over the last couple of years. So when we wound up applying for a funky two bedroom place that was advertised as a “jungle hideaway” it took us some time to come up with a name. Our last two places had been somewhat, um…shall we say, proletariat, but this new place was sweet. After some back and forth we decided to call it Summerland.  It has a kind of mystical “land of faerie” feel to it. And it’s also in a peculiar unexpected location.

Dingo’s new bed at Summerland.

The apartment is still in the Silver Lake neighborhood, but it is in a part of the neighborhood that used to be called Edendale. It has an interesting history and is located were some of the very early Hollywood studios used to be. You can read about the history at this web site: http://www.edendalegrill.com/history.htm

Our new couch and the first washer and dryer I have ever owned. Both courtesy a grant from Mom and Dad Paradis. Thanks Mom & Dad!!!

Summerland is a 2 bedroom stand-alone house built in the 1920s. The owner is a cool landscape architect surfer dude who looks almost exactly like Kurt Russell. His name is Martin and he has converted half the property into a series of tiki huts and studios with a waterfall, hot tub and all kinds of funky tropical plants.

He lives over on his side of the king kong like wooden fence and we live in the house.

The kitchen is nice and big. Bernard bought us that fridge as a wedding/baby gift. He’s been a great friend and supporter of the family.

Max loves the new kitchen and he loves berry pie filling.

Space for a small herb garden. But the next thing you’ll see is what sealed the deal…

  Yup, it’s a fully operational outdoor tub. I found it and the landlord installed it. This is Kate’s favorite part of the house.

I’ve got to say, there is nothing like waking up on a beautiful summer weekend morning in LA and taking a long soak in the outdoor tub.

The lot next to us is empty and we abut 10 acres of undeveloped land on the other side. It’s very private and quite delightful.

A tiny bit bigger every day. You should see her right now!

  Where the magic happens. And maybe where the result is born :-).

Flat Stanley & Tin Horns

We received a visit from Flat Stanley recently. Apparently, through some industrial incident this boy was flattened and now he visits relatives of 5 year olds via the U.S. Post.

We brought him around to famous places before returning him to a kindergarten class in Lexington, MA.

Oh, and we were sure to include this beauty of a shot:

Flat Jackie. That says it all I think.

Also, right when we got back from Boston, Kate had to bust some ass putting together the costumes for the production of “Guys and Dolls” for like 60 twelve year olds. She does the costumes for these shows about once every season and it’s always an adventure.

I got to go see the show and I loved it. Kate did an amazing job finding all these crazy multi-colored suits for all the male leads and cool dresses and everything. It was particularly difficult because the 12 year old bodies were rapidly developing over the course of the rehearsals.

I really dug a lot of the show. I wound up getting fascinated by some of the songs and kept watching clips from the 1955 film with Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando. But my favorite part is the opening number called “a fuge for tin horns.”

John and Anne

Well, John and Anne had not known each other for very long. They met last July 4th at a bar-b-que party at my house. But those two kids really hit it off. Surprising us all, they ran off to Santa Fe in February and eloped.

Handsome couple, don’t you think?

They recently had a wonderful gathering to celebrate the wedding and lots of nice folks turned out to wish them well.

That’s O.P. He’s Kate and Anne’s grandfather.

Cheers! Anne’s parents, John and Deirdre.

Max with his Mom and Dad, Alice and Mike.

Our lovely friends Jessica and Michael

That’s Julie and Casey. They are excellent neighborhood friends too. And they just got engaged. Hooray!

Our Wedding

Morro Bay

Kate and I decided we would sneak off and get married to. Initially we really wanted to have a big fun wedding so that our amazing friends and great families could finally meet each other and party down. However, our first child had other plans for us and we decided that family unity 2008 was the most important thing. We want our baby to be born to two committed people who love each other and have vowed to support each other in front of God, Goddess and the community.

We definitely are going to have a big party one of these days after the little one is born, but until then I hope these pictures and this story will help you with a sense of our fun time getting married.

We decided to get married on or as close to the Summer Solstice as possible. Ideally, we would have been married on Beltane (May 1st), but the Mid Summer holiday seemed equally charming. So we decided to get hitched on June 20th. Here’s what the neo-pagans have to say about that date:

LITHA(circa June 21)
(Midsummer, Summer Solstice, June 20-23, dependent on actual astronomical event) Held on the longest day of the year, the Solstice is the celebration of light’s triumph over darkness and that of the bountiful beauty that light brings into life. Flowers are common in the circle, roses and bright cheerful wildflowers are upon the altar and usually worn by all.   It is the changing point of the year, and the celebration of the spiral dance of the year is common among Wiccans. It is a celebration with much joy, and much feasting. Many wiccans will attire themselves in bright colors and equally bright adornments of flowers. Litha’s usual food fare may include honeycakes or cornbread. Litha is not celebrated by all sects nor in the same way.  In the past, bonfires were leapt to encourage fertility, purification, health and love. Midsummer is a classic time for magick of all kinds.

For sure our marriage was a celebration with much joy. We told no one our plans, but left Dingo with Bernard and headed off to San Louis Obispo on the central coast. Our plan was to stay in a cute lovers hotel in a small beach town called Avila Beach. We stayed at a place called “The Inn at Avila Beach”

The Inn was nice. However, I think the web site photos may have been taken in 1983. Oh and it turns out that the temperature that weekend was somewhere around 102 degrees and guess what…no air conditioning. On the plus side, the room had a huge two person Jacuzzi tub right next to the bed and the beach was literally across the street.

That’s our first kiss as husband and wife. We tied the knot in a cute little civil ceremony in the San Louis Obispo court house. Kate found an amateur photographer on Craig’s List and she met us at the court house to act as our witness. A very sweet older lady named Shirley performed the ceremony. They had converted a little side office into a cute chapel and she read us the standard vows. We said “sure we do,” and then we kissed.

The photographer girl has us walk down the street to the old San Louis Obispo mission and snaps photos of us. Turns out her pictures are not the best, but I guess that’s why she’s an amateur. Eh…you get what you pay for.

We got lots of lame photos of us at strange angles and up against ugly backgrounds. For some reason she took lots of shots of body parts, like just our bodies from the neck down at a dramatic angle. One shot was just of our shoes. It was pretty weird. We were a little bummed out. But some of the shots I chose for the blog from her are not that bad. The memory I have of looking into Kate’s eyes and telling her that I will be her man forever and then hearing her say she’ll be mine, well that is unforgettable.

This shot was our idea. We wanted a few that were a bit “rock-n-rollish.” The girl was not that into it. I guess posing for shots did not appeal to her artistic sensibilities. Sensibilities which, based on her work, seem to have been developed by watching re-runs of the 1970’s batman T.V. series.

Mom, Dad and Baby to be. Um..this lame ass picture was not our idea.

That night we had dinner at a place called “Windows on the Water” in Morro Bay. The view was delightful, the dinner was tasty and the company was quite charming.

We were excited to be married and our rings felt magical.

The next day we went to the Los Padres forest and swam around in the red rock river valley.

I like to swim!

We like to be married.

Thanks

So that’s our story from Christmas to now. We are married and we are waiting for our baby to come. We are very excited to have found such a great place to live in Summerland and to have our baby here. Our heart goes out to everyone who has shown us such love and support.

We are both so happy and proud of our friend Bernard. Over this time he has fully committed to self exploration and self improvement. He has lost over 100 lbs. and continues to kick ass. He has been an inspiration to Kate and me both. He watches Dingo for us almost every day and he does all he can to be the best, most helpful friend and support of our family. We love you Bernard!

From the start—> to today —>

He’s the king. Bernard’s latest musical recommendation, by the way, comes by way of Casey Butler and is a new album by a guy calling himself “Bonnie Prince Billy.” Everyone around town is into it. Kate loves some of the songs on the album and wanted me to let you all know that you can listen to them and maybe get the album here.

Kate and I are also always thinking and sending love to my Dad, John and Kate’s Grandmother, Mafalda. They have both been going through some trials, in and out of hospitals and rehab. We love them both so much. They are very tender, sweet, dear people and I think there personalities and interests are alike in a lot of ways. We thank them for all they do for us -inspiring art and wonder- and we send our strongest warmest feelings of joy to them for a speedy recovery.

A last big thanks to all of Kate’s friends and family, to my sisters, my very supportive mom and dad and to all my great friends for the well wishes and congratulations on all our news over these past few months. It’s really great to share it with everyone and to have a sense of excitement about the rest of our lives.

Babies-R-Needy

So we are not very good with asking for stuff or filling out registries and all that. I guess it’s an old story. But people have kept asking us about what we might need for the baby. So Kate has scoured the “Internets” for all kinds of cute little baby necessities and put them on a registry. You are very kind to ask and we wish we were not so far away from so many people so that we could have a big cute shower. But here is a link to our registry for the baby stuff, and thanks for thinking of us and helping us get this baby situation off the ground. We love you too!

Click this button to see our baby registry:

Next Comes Baby Pictures

Well you made it to the end of this epic blog. Thanks for reading along. I guess the next thing you will hear from us is information on the new baby. I’m off to get myself a new digital camera, because mine broke the other day and we are going to need lots and lots of baby photos.

We love you all. Best of luck with the rest of the Summer and found wishes to you and yours for a delightful fall.

xoxo,

Jack, Kate, Dingo and Baby Paradis