Dog Days of Summer

August has been a gruelling month in Southwestern Ohio. We might have seen a lot of rain in the Pacific Northwest when we visited, but from when we got home to this past Monday, we had not seen one drop of rain at our house! Grass is turning brown. Record high temperatures have been seen. Today’s high, for instance, is […]

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Pacific Northwest: Part V (Lavender Farm and Back to Seattle)

So many things to blog about, so little time to actually do it! Picking up the travel from the Dungeness Spit, we drove east to Kingston to catch the ferry back to Seattle. On the way there though, we kept seeing signs for lavender farms so we took a quick detour: [[image:pacnw61.jpg:Lavender Farm:center:0]] So we stopped for some pictures: [[image:pacnw64.jpg:Vincent […]

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The predator pounces

Sneak Attack Irfan

Here we have in the living room a pile of pillows of various shapes and sizes. You might think it’s harmless and drop your guard as you unwittingly walk by this scene in the house. But from its natural hiding space, a predator launches itself out from under the pile, illustrating how dangerous the wilds of the living room can […]

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Pacific Northwest: Part IV (Dungeness Spit)

After our disappointing Hurricane Ridge outing, we had to recover so we opted for an early lunch. We were planning to have a big sushi-buffet feast for dinner, so if I recall correctly, my lunch consisted of clam chowder, a few of Vin’s fries, and a slice of chocolate cake. A highly nutritional meal, no? 😉 But, lo and behold, […]

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Pacific Northwest: Part III (Hurricane Ridge)

The next day dawned rainy (as evil Mr Weatherman had forecasted). We drove back east towards Seattle, and decided to try Hurricane Ridge to see if the rain would hold off. On the way up the Ridge, this is what we saw: [[image:pacnw47.jpg:Bambi? Is that you?:center:0]] Bambi! And his family, too: [[image:pacnw45.jpg:Bambi’s Aunty?:center:0]] [[image:pacnw46.jpg:Bambi’s Mommy?:center:0]] I couldn’t see any big […]

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Pacific Northwest: Part II (Rialto Beach)

After the wet Rainforest adventure, we relaxed and napped in our room before going out to dinner. Vincent recommended the Smokehouse, a little outside of downtown Forks. This guy welcomed us: [[image:pacnw30.jpg:Is this what Eric Cartman looks like grown up? Pie!!!:center:0]] It served excellent local seafood and we had a lovely meal. We were too full to try the pie […]

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Pacific Northwest: Part I (Hoh Rainforest)

Last month, we packed our bags and took a flight to Seattle, WA for an almost week-long Pacific Northwest extravaganza. We met up with our friend Vincent (a citizen of Gloomville), who went to good old ACS way back when, and who is an Admin at the Unofficial ACS Alumni Forum, and he had thoughtfully planned an itinerary for us. […]

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Family Reunion in Belle River

July has been a pretty eventful month for Vin and me, I have all kinds of things to blog about. But it has also been a pretty busy work month, so it hasn’t been too conducive to blogging. But before we finish out the month of July, I wanted to reflect back on our trip up to Belle River, Ontario […]

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The other side!

Irfan’s First First Cousin

Today begins a new era in Irfan’s life. He is now officially a first cousin to another human, in this case the less-than-a-day-old, yet nameless newborn son of Kak Nor & Abg Kie. He’s a pretty handsome, but quiet and sleepy dude. Which is better than the poor girl in the cot beside him, who seemed to be having a […]

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Hawaii Day 10 – Last Day and Home to Lily

I know, it’s been two months since the trip and I’m finally getting around to putting up the final installment of the Hawaii pictures. But, in my defense, I am slow. Just a few days ago I finally emptied my suitcase of stuff from the trip. Yes, just my stuff since Vin unpacked his suitcase almost immediately while I stalled […]

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Hawaii Day 9 – Finishing our trip around the Big Island

Another beautiful morning in Hawaii. We woke up to this gorgeous view: [[image:hi126.jpg:View from the Marriott lanai:center:0]] But it was our final morning on the sunny side of the Big Island. We were driving back to Hilo via the Volcano this afternoon. Before we left, we decided to enjoy the pool: [[image:hi127.jpg:Swim in the Infinity Pool:center:0]] [[image:hi133.jpg:Pool with slide and […]

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A reader of books

Irfan’s One Utama Walkabout

One fine day, Irfan Shafiq went a-walking about the hallways of the mall known as One Utama. Movie Carnival 2007 weekend was just around the corner. So there were plenty of well-known characters loitering about the concourse of the new wing of the mall. One of the most remarkable things there would be this here thing in the following photo. […]

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Hawaii Day 8 – Hotel Hopping and Sunset

We requested late checkout so we could enjoy ourselves on our final morning at the Hilton Waikoloa Village. It was a beautiful sunny morning, and we wanted to go snorkeling in the lagoon. Look at the difference in the pictures between yesterday and today, due to the sun: [[image:hi104.jpg:Fantastic hammock location:center:0]] So until 2 PM Hawaiian time, we enjoyed ourselves […]

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