Six!!!

Show?

Continuing the Dore Family Blog tradition of Funny Friday, here is a very funny video! It was written by a 20 year veteran of Disney World, and is based on actual conversations. Hope you enjoy it!!

Permit!!!

I'm sooooo excited!!! We got out permit for the Eagle Rock Daydream Festival today!!! More information about this coming soon : )

SOTU!!!

I don't want to write too much about the State of the Union speech last night - I'm more interested in what Obama does than in what he says. But, having said that, I have to admit that it was a pretty great speech!

I especially liked that he renewed his call to raise taxes on the very wealthy, defended Social Security, and spoke movingly about the importance of education - he even had a great line for this, pointing out that trying to help the country prosper while cutting education is like "lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine." Very good simile : )

I have to admit that even his bipartisan call got to me, when he bet that no one in that room would trade this country for anywhere else. A little hokey maybe, but the guy can bring it on the podium. Now we just have to see what he does tomorrow!

For a better play by play, go here.

Last thought: Obama is a total lock for 2012.

Class Size etc.

Not to sound like a broken record, but I thought that this video summed up the situation pretty well!!

Amazing Grace

Teresa's garden

This is Em here. I've taken a little bit of a breather from writing on the blog and on facebook because I lost one of my favorite people in the whole world on Christmas morning. My aunt Teresa was married to my Dad's youngest brother Tom. I have always adored Tom. He is open and gentle and loving, which is very important to mention here because, as much as I have always loved Tom, I still couldn't help but think that he was lucky as hell to have Teresa. We all were. Anyone who encountered her in even the smallest sense of the word was lucky - even her post man and the guy who read her meter.

Teresa was remarkable. She was fiercely intelligent and intimidatingly well read. She had a great Kathleen Turner dusky voice and a bawdy sense of humor. She was unflappable and she just seemed to do everything well and with such amazing grace. As she said on her facebook page, she was an avid reader, a serious cook and a passionate gardener. My most memorable meals were almost all made in her kitchen. She had a knack for effortlessly throwing together these amazing feasts and she would do it on a moment's notice, while carrying on the most fascinating in depth discussions with you that you'd ever had in your entire life. Suddenly, you would look up and there would be a deceptively simple looking roast chicken on the table in front of you that somehow had the power to bring all the best moments of your childhood rushing back to you.

This might have something to do with the fact that a lot of the best moments of my childhood were spent at Tom and Teresa's house. Like everything else Teresa touched, their house was incredibly warm and lovely and inviting. I remember giggling with my cousins into the wee hours of morning while having a slumber party on their lawn. Nothing but stars above us and the smell of flowers and ripe raspberries all around us. I remember Tom and Teresa patiently teaching me to play Pictionary and Trivial Pursuit at their house and letting me read there all afternoon, but most of all I remember hours upon hours spent sitting in their kitchen, talking to them and being so awed by Teresa's incredible empathy and insight. I always wanted to be like her and I was always so touched that she treated me like an equal and a peer, even when I was just a scruffy kid with scabbed knees.

This is Teresa and her own sweet Em - her daughter Emily. Teresa loved Emily to pieces and was so happy that she and her family ended up living next door.

This is Teresa and my Uncle Tom and their beloved boxers. She got such a kick out of her dogs and she and Tom really and truly loved one another.

And here is my darling Teresa. I miss her so. This past holiday season has been very bittersweet. It has reminded me how quickly life changes and how lucky we are to have the people we love, for however long we have them. I loved Teresa so very much and I probably didn't tell her nearly enough, so if you're reading this, there's a very good chance that you are another person who I love very, very much. And I hope that you know it.

Goodbye dear Teresa. Thank you for being amazing and for helping to bring so much grace into my life.

Em

Trails!!!

We had a great time today at Trails with Mom, Petur, Adrienne, Lorelai, Amy, Jamie, and Felix!! Of course, since it was Trails, we had a delicious and semi-healthy breakfast, but it also gave me a great chance to try out my new camera!!

Here's Mom & Petur - I had to put up both pictures since they're so cute:

Lorelai was a great Girl Scout cookie saleswoman!

Cuties!!

One more cutie!!

Since it was my first time really using my camera, I was trying some action shots, so a lot of jumping!!

They mostly came out pretty sharp!!

But no camera is as fast as Jack!!

Finally, I'm posting this picture of Amy since she made fun of my festival idea!

But here's a better one : )

Hope everyone is having a great three-day weekend!!!

BTW - new camera is a Canon S95 - very happy with it!!!

Great Things!!!

"Patience," said Slartibartfast again. "Great things are afoot.''

"That's what you said last time we met,'' said Arthur.

"They were,'' said Slartibartfast.

"Yes, that's true,'' admitted Arthur.

Great things are afoot!!!

Awesome!

I like this guy's stuff - kind of like a happier Edward Gorey/Lynda Barry!



Check out more here.

Shake the Dust!!!

I might have to post this one a few more times : )

Go Jerry!!!

This bodes well. Hope he keeps it up!!! The picture is for Panna by the way : )

From the L.A. Times (a little more progressive of late thankfully!):

"On his first full day on the job, Gov. Jerry Brown walked right up to the third rail of California politics. As he headed into a meeting with local government officials, he talked about how the state response to Proposition 13's limitations on property-tax rates have contributed to state's financial dysfunction."

Read more here.

Tuesday!!!

Called Poetry

—In honour of Aldo Pellegrini

Called poetry is everything that closes the door on fools, yes.
Everything, on the other hand, that opens
the world’s vision and secret to the innocent,
to those who stake all on nothing,
those who don’t hoard, don’t look after themselves, don’t lie in wait
or calculate, and still are always on the verge of finding
as if by mere chance love, death, life itself even.

Called poetry is everything that pulls our feet
after the impossible. That which reveals the other side of things,
and sings at the end of disaster for no reason.
That which mercilessly blows you outside your being
or silently invades – an alien tide –
the inside until drowning your eyes.

Called poetry is everything that suddenly bursts in the word,
without warning and without logic. That which cannot be explained
properly to the smart, to those who are always right.

Called poetry is everything that comes back after exile,
defeat, the fears. The light that one day returns to the closed rooms
of old memory: the ancient, recovered simplicity of days.
The wind that revives a flame in the night. What survives us,
what always remains to us this side of the wound, the deepest loss,
like an ultimate, silent, hidden strength.

by Pedro Arturo Estrada

New Year!!!

Happy New Year everyone!!! And a happy birthday to both J.R.R. Tolkien (2nd picture above) and Robbie Dore!!!

We had a very busy but nice New Years, beginning with a wild party at Amy & Jamie's house, complete with the traditional New Year's countdown...at 7:20 : )

After that, we had a great trip down to San Diego to see Grandpa Hank, and to celebrate with Erika & Pat's family (happy birthday again Erika!!!) So all in all it was a teriffic New Year's weekend...except that I didn't get a single picture of any of it : ( Oh, well, we still have wonderful memories!!

Finally, here's a partial list of things that I am already thankful for this year:

Erika's wonderful party & letter!!!!
Amy & Jamie's house not being completely flooded!!!
Em getting a $5,000 grant to set up a reading garden at Finn's school!!!
My new camera arriving on Friday (a Cannon S95)!!!
Getting to see so many great friends and family over the holiday (including the nifty Eric)!!!
Petur returning safely from Thailand!!!
Dad's help with education things!!!
A healthy Grandpa (even if he is gluten-free)!!!
My spectacular wife & kids!!!

Like I said, this is just a partial list, but it has been a blessed year so far, and I hope that everyone is having the same!!!

Peace & Love to all,

Patrick