Off the Ol' Block

I am very chuffed that Banana has commented a few times that she has inherited a few of her favorite traits from me. She credits me with instilling a love of reading, an eclectic taste in music, a quirky sense of humor and a kryptonite-like weakness for baked goods.

After last night's Canada-based reception, I had a few of my high-school classmates confirm this by telling me they had spoken with Banana and she was a carbon copy of me in some ways.

I think she's better in a lot of areas.

Canadian Reception

We knew that not everybody in our Canadian crowd of friends and relations would be able to make the substantial time and money commitment of a trip to Flinders to attend our wedding, so we specifically decided to host a Calgary reception. Kate's friend, Adrienne, offered to host the event at her home (which flabbergasted us - it could be over SEVENTY people!). After an Australian reception where I was warmly received but knew perhaps only 1/3 of all the attendees, I was ready for a gathering of mostly my buddies.

Tonight was the big night. Adrienne, her husband Peter and their daughters did a fantastic job of hosting. My new brother-in-law, Simon, stepped up to the mic and did took care of Master of Ceremonies duties (for what little formal program we had). It was a cocktail-style affair, where Kate and I circulated and visited with the guests and had a wonderful time. We both enjoyed ourselves immensely.

We have Kate's sister and her family staying with us for September, along with The Phelan family for the weekend. Our house is alive with kids aged 4 to 17, animals (a cat, hedgehog and Chinchilla), laughter and general busy-ness. I love how everything is holding together in spite of the stress put on all of us (thirteen people!) crammed into a twenty-foot wide house.

I'm happy to be married again and very proud of the many facets of this lovely woman I'm married to. What an exciting future we have.