The stuff that didn't fit.

29 December 1999

I have a couple of interesting photos which didn't make it online earlier this year, even though they should have. The first one is from last July, when we spent a long weekend in Muskoka with my parents, and Craig and Cindy. Andrew and Colin were both very excited about the chance to go fishing, and here is Colin just before he caught his first fish. Of course he couldn't contain himself, and he started shouting "I caught my first fish" so loudly that everyone on the docks knew exactly what was going on.

Later in the year, we made the annual trek to Haliburton for Thanksgiving. Once again we were fortunate to have absolutely terrific weather for our hike up the "mountain". Here are Andrew and Colin watching our lunchtime tea boiling away.

1999 Reading Round-up

28 December 1999

I know many of you are thinking to yourselves: "What is Stuart Brannan reading these days?"

Well here is your chance to find out. Here is a list of the books that I managed to finish this year (I already mentioned some others near the bottom of this page).

Live Free or Die

28 November 1999

In the summertime, when the weather was high, we packed ourselves into the car and headed for the hills.

The Best Album of the Year

26 November 1999

There are no two ways about it, the best album so far this year is Bill Frisell's "Good Dog, Happy Man".

Heidi and the boys

June 1999

Here's one of the few pictures of Heidi and the little monsters where nobody has their eyes closed or is grimacing or hamming it up for the camera.

The Return of Alvaro

June 1999

A few weeks ago I got a phone call from Brazil. .It was Alvaro Villahrino...

Birthdays

June 1999

In January, Colin marked the passage of half a decade and Andrew reached 8 big 'uns.

Born to be Wild

June 1999

For the past couple of years, Andrew and I have enjoyed riding out bikes together to Bronte Harbour during the summer. It's a pleasant ride along the waterfront trail, and we usually spend a short time in Bronte talking or passing the time watching boaters, or geese, or whatever happens to catch our fancy.

I think Colin was always a bit jealous of Andrew and my ride, but he was still using training wheels so really couldn't come along. All that is past. This spring he cast off the trainers and is now riding solo with greater and greater confidence every week. Here he is just a day or two after his very first two wheeled ride.

It's a Miracle!! I'm Cured

June 1999

Here's a handy tip for living. Get yourself a nice soft feather pillow.

I have been bothered by a nagging lower back paid for about a year. It nagged me a lot of the time, but was particularly bad first thing in the morning. I went to see a couple of doctors who told me the usual stuff about strengthening the back muscles because they need to be able to support the spine in a variety of stressful postions, like rolling out of bed in the morning. I tried, really I did. I even went to physiotherapy for a couple of months. But it didn't get any better.

Then one night a few weeks ago I stayed at a hotel in New York that had nice soft feather pillows. What do you know, the next day my back felt a bit better, despite spending the entire next day sitting in a meeting room.

As soon as I got back to Toronto, I straight-lined it to the bedding department to pick up a new pillow. And I think I am on the mend. I really should spend more time strengthening my back muscles for really strenuous activities, like turning on the air conditioning, but for now I just like being able to twist and bend just about any way I want without worrying if a shriek of pain is coming.

Media Frenzy

June 1999

When all is said and done, I live with two boys under the age of 10. For the past few months, these little guys have been the target of the most comprehensive marketing barrages in history. They are, of course, prime targets for the Star Wars: The Phantom Menace books, toys, costumes, lunch boxes, pyjamas, T-shirts, etc etc etc etc etc etc.

I'm not complaining, exactly: I enoy Star Wars. Have done ever since Episode 4 (the first one). I remember going to see the Empire Strikes Back at a weekend matinee in Edmonton because Saturday afternoon in the dark with a bunch of overexited kids is the best way to enjoy cowboy movies....and Star Wars is just a really great series of cowboy movies. In fact I even helped to stoke the pre-release fever by downloading each of the trailers from the Star Wars site as they were released.

It's been just over a month since we all saw it for the first time, and things are starting to die down a bit. Everyone but me has seen it twice, and they are unanimous that it is better the second time through. I believe it, but I'm not really in any hurry to see it again. Attention has shifted to the newer spectacles, such as Tarzan, which I also enjoyed, and the upcoming Iron Giant.

I've also managed to get through a few books which you might be interested in. Beryl Bainbridge's Master Georgie, is a finely crafted portrait of a small coterie of people as they find themselves enveloped by the events of the Crimean War. Graham Swift's Last Orders is a Booker Prize winner, and provides a terrific portrait of 4 Englishmen as they journey to the seaside to scatter the ashes of one of their chums. I thourougly enjoyed it, but found it left me hanging onto some unresolved threads at the end, for no apparent reason. And finally, I chewed through Ian Rankin's Black and Blue in just a few GO train rides despite its nearly 500 pages. This crime novel is a very easy read with, I thought, 3 interestingly complex murder plots running concurrently. But, I was disappointed with the manner in which 2 of them were resolved. This once again reinforces my theory that the best novelists don't need much more than 200 or 250 pages to tell their story .

Christmas 1998

February 1999

As usual Christmas was a very special time in 1998. This year it was even more special than most because of a dunderheaded move by yours truly. I accidentally damaged all of my pictures from last Christmas...so you will just have to take my word about how special it was.

Santa came sometime late in the evening or very early in the morning, and Andrew and Colin crawled out of bed at about 6 a.m. to begin their investigations. It is a wonderful feeling to lie in bed and listen as they discover their stockings, empty them out and joyously describe the contents to each other.

I don't know how many more years this can last, but I hope it goes on for a long, long time.

The Storm of 1999

February 1999

There wasn't much snow on Christmas Day, but that changed dramatically in early January. A massive winter storm blasted most of Southern Ontario in a 3 foot thick blanket of the fluffy white stuff.

Tobogganing

February 1999

The great storm of 1999 had a few great side-effects. Tobogganing was one of them.

Andrew, Colin and a Nathan (one of Dan's friends sons) seem to be right in the spirit of things here. Now Dan, well that is another story....

HOO!! HAH!!

February 1999

I can send email from the basement to the study

Can you? Did you ever realize you might want to? Me neither: but after Christmas I had 2 Macs, one printer and a mission.

On the Rocks

February 1999

One of the great things about living in Oakville is that the lake is just at the end of our street. On weekends when there isn't anything to do, we sometimes just bundle up the kids, even in the thick of winter, and head down to the lake. No matter how bored they are at home, the kids seem to find ways to keep themselves entertained down there.

That's it for this time.

Enjoy

Stuart