Happy Birthday, Sam!

Sam is three years old today. He tells me he rode a train and saw the conductor. The train, a real steam powered one, is called the North Pole Express and travels only 1 1/2 miles out before reversing to return to the starting point. Cate was unhappy that they had not actually arrived at the North Pole, but Ed told her that the North Pole had come to them: Santa visited all the children on the train.

This morning we looked up at 10 a.m. and realized we were hungry. We had spent the last two hours in bed--playing with our Droids. We used to spend Sunday mornings in bed with the LA Times. I installed Andoku Sudoku on my Droid, a free sudoku program. I may never do another pencil and paper sudoku again--no erasing required!

We had French toast with maple syrup for brunch. The maple syrup came from Vermont, from the Ben and Jerry's Factory, and we are really enjoying it. Afterward I went for a walk, with my Droid to listen to Prairie Home Companion on the radio and my Garmin to keep track of my speed and distance--a real wired walker.

Ken took our squeaky faucets apart and applied vaseline as the service manager at Mays RV had suggested, so now we can turn on the water without waking everyone in the house.

We have our TIVO set to record anything with Helen Mirren in it. Much of what it records is either not interesting to us or video of the TIVO saying it's searching for a satellite, since we don't subscribe to the channel or the Qube isn't set up. Today we watched a recording of Door to Door, a 2002 TNT movie, based on the true story of Bill Porter, who succeeded as a door to door salesman for Watkins despite having cerebral palsy. Helen Mirren played his mother, who encouraged him to believe he could make it. The movie was very engaging and touching. You can check out the story at www.billporter.com.

Later we played four rounds of Master Boggle. Ken won all four, two by just one point but the other two by quite a bit. We'll have to have a rematch soon so I can repair my tattered reputation as wordmeister!