Sophie Comes Home

Seth kissing his cousin's hand.


#1 holding #11


Micah the gentleman pleased as punch to have Sophie in his arms.

Welcome Sophie!





The latest addition to the clan. Sophie Irina, born 3/19/11 @ 3 PM, 7 lbs 3 oz. 18¼ inches, and though sleeping in these pix she is full of feisty life when awake.


The happy Papa.

Gustavus Tsunami?

I had some emails wondering whether our place in Alaska could be in the path of the Tsunami generated by the Japan quake. Thanks for the concern. The short answer is that scenario is very improbable. A wave would have to hit the inlet at a perfect angle to travel up the ten mile wide channel. There are two decent sized islands in that channel and several lesser islands, which should absorb a lot of wave energy. I suspect what gets around the islands and reaches us shouldn't have much amplitude left.

A day later: Thinking about the cabin seems trivial after seeing the extent of the destruction in Japan. A good source for streaming news in English direct from Japan. I see clips from this station show up on the local 5 O'clock news later in the day.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/r/movie/

Papa Mel Rescues Sophie in Joint Effort

About 11AM I go the phone call. Sophie was stranded on a side street in Santa Monica. Which Sophie? Our grandaughter. Our unborn granddaughter, with a due date two weeks from now.

Her parents have been driving a borrowed high mileage car and just exited the freeway onto surface streets when the brakes went out. Bela managed to avoid a collision and get the car stopped with the help of the emergency brake. Whew! He looked at the puddle of brake fluid and called me. Senator Boxer says a baby is not viable until it leaves the hospital. So perhaps the Senator would have left Sophie stranded. Our view of life is substantially higher so I called Paulette and we went into action. I drove home, hooked up the flatbed trailer, grabbed a spare, and we headed for Santa Monica. Two hours and one wrong turn later we rounded a corner to see the reclusive Sophie's rotund profile. She was waiting with her mama. We trailered the car and had everyone home by 7PM. One shudders to think of what might have happened in a panic stop situation on the freeway. Sophie's angel was on the job.

These explanations are always better with visuals. Unfortunately the angel wouldn't consent to a picture.

Net Worth Statement

Instead of a page listing line items of net worth this is a picture version. Mary and JoAnna gave April a baby shower on Saturday. Five hours later a car with trunk, back seat, and every available nook carefully packed to hold all the gifts, was unloaded at our domicile. The presents were such a blessing for them that we arranged this picture. While Bela and myself were carrying in the gifts he smiled and commented, "I think Sophie (unborn baby's name) has more net worth than April and me... (pause) ...and I'm including the snowboard."

In a very real sense this Statement of Worth is not merely the material gifts seen here. The picture speaks of the friendship and love of many for Bela, April, and Sophie. What a Statement!