I did not mean to wait so long to write, but I’ve had something in mind for the 200th issue and my schedule has prevented my plans from coming together as quickly as I wanted. And I must confess that when I’ve had an evening at home I’ve been watching Ken Burns’ The War. At any rate, here we are with a huge milestone for me and our family newsletter.
THE CYGNUS CHRONICLES. It is hard to believe it was over four years ago when I released The Call of the Whistle. I really enjoyed working on that project and as time has gone by I have been so glad that I did it. What has been so frustrating over the years is that I’ve had several other projects like that I’d like to do, but unfortunately, the reality of making a living gets in the way of all that. All these ideas have just had to sit there and stagnate.
This summer I got the idea of shifting from the medium of film to the Internet and the Cygnus Chronicles was born. You will find the site at www.cygnuschronicles.com. At present I have taken the book form of The Call of the Whistle and made it part of this web site for all to enjoy. This content is fairly complete, but I do not consider the site to be at a mature stage yet and it will continue to evolve. I also plan to add two more sections to this site. The next one will be the Missions of the Star Duster and behind that will be stories about raising tobacco here in Robertson County (Kenny, beware -- something about seven pieces of chicken keeps coming to mind).
There will also be a semi-private part of the site devoted to our family. I have taken all the past issues of the Swann Family News and posted them here in blog form (it has an RSS feed but no means of leaving a comment as other blogs do). I also plan to keep some current pictures on the site for you to enjoy. You can find this site at www.cygnuschronicles.com/family/. Be sure to bookmark this page (or subscribe to the RSS feed) as I do not plan to link to it from the main part of the site (i.e. you’ll have to know its there to get to it).
For those of you who like email delivery don’t panic, it is not going away just yet. Sending this out in email form has held me accountable to the project for 200 newsletters now. So for now I will keep the email coming and the blog updated. Actually, as long as dial-up is our only choice for connecting to the Internet here at home updates to the blog will probably lag the email version, especially when pictures are involved. (If you are up late reading this tonight don’t check on the site until morning.)
PAULINE’S BIRTHDAY. Pauline celebrated her 75th birthday Sunday. Celebrating was extra special this year because Will, Darice and the kids came in for a quick visit. They arrived Friday and left Sunday. We partied all weekend long since Will’s and Emily’s birthdays were on Friday. We all ate way too much.
Cameron, who celebrates his 12th birthday today, is now taller than me and Vicki. I think he got a big thrill as I let him get behind the wheel of my truck and drive it around the farm. He’s off to a great start.
All the kids spent the night at our house which allowed those adults who are night owls to stay up late at Pauline’s and play Scrabble. The kids enjoyed playing together. At one point I saw them running around the corn field trying to hit each other with dirt clods. They also took in a couple of movies together.
READING. One of the neat things about first grade is learning to read. Ben is struggling with this some but he is getting there. What was neat was the other day when Ben asked Vicki to read the trivia question printed on a tube of yogurt to him. Vicki looked at it and handed it back to him say, “You read it.” It had not occurred to Ben that he could read anything outside his textbooks and his face flashed from protest to surprise as he took the package and read the question for himself.
DEALING WITH IT. Nate came to me today and showed off a picture he had drawn of our family. He informed me that he had drawn me a silly face. In mock protest I asked, “What if I don’t want a silly face?” He told me, “You’ll just have to deal with it Dad!”
On the subject of Nate I’ll have to say he is one happy kid. He is happy from the time he wakes up to the time he goes to bed. He is happy playing alone or with others. He has the gift of making you feel good. When Jenna, Ben and I leave for school/work in the mornings he stands on the porch and gives us a very enthusiastic send off. He likes to give hugs and when we hug it becomes a contest to see who can squeeze the hardest. He’s pretty strong too!
HOW’S THAT? Vicki warmed up chicken quesadillias for supper tonight. Jenna decided to have a bottle of Lipton’s Green Tea to drink. She ran up on a green pepper in her quesadillia and after test tasting it she said, “That’s hot! If I eat that I’ll have to drink all my green p.... I mean green tea.” At the point she started blushing and cracked up with her parents. He brothers, who didn’t catch this comment, looked at each other and joined in with the laughter.
Joe
