It's a wonder

What a day we live in.

When I was a child I would hear from time to time that we would someday have "phonavision," where you could actually see the person you were talking to. I thought it doubtful--I was a child, remember--but if true, it might require having a tv screen by the phone or attached to the phone, or something awkward and cumbersome like that.

No. It's on your phone, and you can hold it in your hand, and talk, and see that person who is far away from you at the very instant you're talking to him. Actually, it's on my phone.

Yep. I had Face Time with Saxby this morning. Clear and immediate and a lot of a good time.

Good, good news.

Yes, he's growing. Today 8 lbs 5 oz. Yippee.

Go Saxby!

Keep going Alyce!

Good news about a little boy

Saxby is six weeks old today.

O how grateful I am for him. And proud of his mother. Very pleased with his dad, too. But these are not the important parts of the story.

It's a continuing story and one I hardly have words to tell. But for now it is enough to say, "He is growing."

Hallelujah!

I have a family photo wall in my house, just beyond the entry. One photo has been a long time--well, a month--arriving in its place on the wall. Benjamin Saxby Larsen.

It's because my new computer printer is still quite mysterious to me. And, I must say, confusing in my attempts to get a photo of Saxby printed.

But yesterday I did it. No help, although I had asked a couple of family members for help. Maybe they don't listen to their telephone messages. What do I mean, maybe?

Anyway, Saxby--with his beautiful face--is up there where he belongs, with all the rest of his cousins and aunts and uncles on the Schiess side of his family.

Welcome, you sweet boy.

Andrew

A good day today and a great day in the history of the Schiess family. Andrew, born 43 years ago today, was and is the vital mid-point of the family. He might call it the middle child, and that has certain connotations most of us are aware of. But to me, he is Andrew, my very much loved boy. He walked early, talked early, and no doubt began early to build the wonderful mind he has.

Some people told me three children was plenty, but what would we ever do without that fourth child?

We named him Andrew because we both liked the name and Harold for Harold B Lee. We thought it was a good down-to-earth name, a good combination, and we were sure he would prove to be a boy and man we could be proud of. He has shown us to be right.

I know Andrew to be a good man, a good dad, a good husband, an honest person, and highly intelligent. He has a quick mind and sharp sense of humor. I love the way he finds humor in things, and I like it when he shares that with the rest of us.

Forty-three seems not very old to me. Don't know for sure how Andrew sees that number.

DST

It's only one hour. Should be no big deal, and, goodness knows, I've cheated myself out of an hour before. So why does this one hour seem like such a loss? And for how many days will it feel this way? I mean, I'm really tired. Need a nap or something.

Daylight Saving Time (not savings). Maybe it's my age. One hour is, after all, one hour. I want all that are coming to me. The deal is that I must wait until late Autumn to get it back.

We, our family, used to struggle with DST because the sun stayed up until nearly 10 p.m., and our children thought they should do the same. Hard to convince them that because the clock said it was their bedtime--and not the sun--they should go to bed.

I have learned that Germany first established DST in 1916, during WWI, to conserve energy. The US followed in 1918.

And all this time I thought it was our deal, something the US did with thought of the benefits to farmers. Or something.

Tidbits

People are out today. With their dogs or without but most without their coats. It's shirt sleeve weather, mid 50s, and welcome hardly says how we feel about it. 

Still cold back in Pennsylvania and colder in Austin, Texas, than it is here. Go figure.

Spring comes in March, and so, this year, does daylight saving time (March 9. Isn't that earlier?) Spring's first day this year is March 20. Can't come too soon. 

*     *     *

If you spend $5.00 at See's--which is certainly not hard to do--they give you one of their new sugarless milk chocolate bars. I did it and told the young woman it was an oxymoron, sugarless candy. She gave me a little lecture, "Well, some people can't have sugar." Duh.

Anyway, I have taken a bite of the sugarless milk chocolate bar. I'm no fan. It is, as I said, not only sugarless but candyless. And goodless.

Today Is . . .

My mother's birthday, Lola Samantha Nelson Brimley, 2 March 1899.

My daughter's birthday, Lola Janeen Schiess Scaggs, 2 March 1968.

My grandson's three-week birthday, Benjamin Saxby Larsen, 9 February 2014.

Hallelujah!