Twins Game #3

Some random shots from last night. Tilly saw her third Twins game of her life. It took me til sometime in August 1982 at "Photo Day" at the Metrodome before I saw my third game.

Grandpa Paul, Ange, and friend Cal were there after a day on the river. The Twins beat the Chicago Suck Sox 4-3. I think Tilly's somewhat of a good luck charm for them.

There were a group of guys behind us who'd driven 500 miles from somewhere in southern Illinois to see the game. They were leaving last night for Milwaukee, where they were going to a game tonight, then on to Comiskey and Wrigley in successive days.

The pic of her getting her diaper changed in the men's bathroom is basically for a slide show someday at her wedding reception. She didn't like it when I stood up and had her cheering when Cuddyer hit a homerun and when the game ended. She shows her displeasure in a couple shots here.

Finally, after the game, she was hungry, so I set her on the back of the car, fed her a bottle, and watched the parking lots empty out beneath the sparkling Minneapolis skyline. Life is good.

I love Tilly.

Grandpa Paul from Australia

At long last, Tilly got to meet her Grandpa Paul. He and Ange are in town for a couple weeks from Australia. They're hanging out on the river with friends (Cal in the picture with the Vikings cap proved himself to be an able babysitting candidate, and I think he'd love to show her her first Vikings game on TV...so far, she's only seen the Twins).

We all had lunch together at the Freighthouse in Stillwater yesterday. A thunderstorm was crashing all around us as we sat outside under the awning, and Tilly didn't even blink.

It's good for her to meet her family. Someday sooner than later I hope she can visit Ange and Grandpa Paul in Australia.

Welcome to the Community Tilly. God Loves You

Tilly was baptised on Sunday July 19. We had lots of friends and family there to share it with us. My sister Colleen is her godmother, and my good friend Alan is her godfather.

Her Grandma Madeleine took most of the pics, I just LOVE the one of her dunked in the water as Fr. Mike poured water over her head.

She took it all in stride. She was getting a little tired of people touching her head, but I think she was just hungry. She's a super kid, and now she and God have been officially introduced to each other.

They asked us what we want to teach her, and we said that we want her to know that God loves her just the way she is, and she doesn't have to do anything to earn God's love...but because of that love, she's got a responsibility to go out into the world and make it a better place by helping other people.

Farmer's Market

We went to the Farmer's Market in Lowertown St Paul Saturday to get some flowers for Tilly's Baptism. She, of course, loved all the people, activity, color, noise, etc. She's a serene kid. A social, great sleeping, serene kid. Beyond the obvious, we are blessed.

Editor in Training

Tilly was helping me edit some wedding photos from her Uncle Jay's wedding. He and Kristin got married Saturday July 11 and will tomorrow be on their way to Italy for a honeymoon!

Rose Garden

Just a few more shots of the most beautiful girls on Earth.

Independence Day

Sorry it's been a while. We had some friends in town for July 4, Joe and Sarah from Chicago. They were delighted to meet Tilly, and it was so great to see them, it's been too long!

The normal festivities occurred in our neighborhood: the parade, party in the park, horseshoes, etc. Joe and I had not picked up a horse shoe in several years, but we won the first two matches before falling to Perr and Tryg ,the Hanson brothers.

I didn't have any particular feelings about the holiday this year--nothing different than previous. But I do know that I am lucky enough to live in one of the two greatest nations on Earth. Standing in the back yard at Nick and Katie's house, talking with Marty Neus, we agreed that we there in that throng--even if some of us are laid off, underemployed, hurting compared with 'normal' in this Great Recession--we Americans there at that party are luckier than probably 98% of people on Earth.

As soon as I can get organized and get to the Australian Consulate in Chicago with the right paperwork, Tilly will be a dual citizen of both of the greatest countries on Earth. We are going to have to ramp up our Australia Day and ANZAC Day celebrations.

Anyway, Tilly was--as always--a huge hit in the neighborhood. Here are just a few highlights.

Father's Days

Tilly made it to her second Twins game Sunday, for Father's Day. Emma treated me to a day with my girls at the Dome, so that couldn't have been a nicer first Father's Day. We were one row and one seat from catching Michael Cuddyer's home run in the second inning, but that turned out to be the only highlight of the game.

Tilly was again a big hit with the pink earphones--I took her up to change her diaper and literally heard a non-stop chorus of giggles and cooing all the way up the stairs--but she didn't make it up on the scoreboard this time. I think, however, we've figured out the secret of where to sit to get circled by Bert on the TV telecast.

(Emma's got some great pics on her Facebook page too, including one where Tilly looks like a fat-cheeked pink Martian.)

I didn't make it to my second Twins game until April 7-ish, 1981, when I was 10 years old. The Twins lost that game in thoroughly boring fashion to the Oakland A's, something like 4-2. I think John Castino hit a triple, and that was the only highlight of that game.

That was the last year at the old Twins ballpark, and as I recall, that was also the only game my sisters Grace and Colleen and brother Jim saw in that stadium. So, Tilly continues the next generation of fan-dom, and like her dad--come next year--will at least be able to say that she was at two ballgames in the old stadium.

This evening, friends John and Laura brought Luke over for dinner. He hadn't seen his sweetheart Tilly for several weeks. They got to catch up and so did we. We installed a few window air conditioners in our main floor, and the whole house felt like it has central air. We're pretty lucky. There's still real potential for Luke and Tilly, but we're not going to pressure them into anything.

That's what I've got for today. I have seven weddings to photograph in June all totaled--5 down, 2 to go. So I apologize for being a bit lax on the blog, but that's why.

Puppet Show

Some friends of ours--Beth and Marty--hosted a backyard neighborhood puppet show last week. Tilly made the rounds. It was great to see a huge chunk of our circle of friends and acquaintances turn out. Living in this neighborhood (again...) is like living in a small town. I have a bunch more pics from this event posted at my www.pcp.smugmug.com/Matilda gallery.

The puppeteers were masters at double entendre, in the same way that the major studios can craft a movie like Shrek to amuse adults as much as kids. Or as Emma said when interviewed by Minnesota Public Radio: "I like anything that's a little bit dirty."

(For real...go to this link, her moment of fame is near the end of the piece.)

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/06/19/drivewaytour/

These pics of Tilly--now that she's started to smile, at this time of year when the sun's blessing us fully in the northern hemisphere--just sum up how purely beautiful she is. And the whole community can see her growing.

I Am a Bad Parent

I haven't updated this blog for forever, and I apologize. Tilly is growing. Her 2 month pediatrician appointment is this afternoon. I think she's quite steadily grown about 1 ounce per day since she got home from the hospital, and I think she's grown about 4 inches in length, so we'll see.


She's smiling at me intentionally, which will be very dangerous for me once she really figures out what power she has. For now, I am stealing images that her grandma Madeleine took.


She is just pure love. She's just such a purely wonderful sweet awesome little sweetheart. She's always seemingly quite content out and about and on the go. She likes the Twins games, the coffee shop, being out with her mom, neighborhood friends and visitors. She seems to take everything in stride. We just can't imagine loving anyone more than this. It literally feels like my heart gets bigger inside my chest when I think about her.