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Friday, April 30, 2010

Beer Friday!

Last weekend I got to hang out at Archiver's for a mini retreat - it was GREAT, lots of time making cards and chatting with some new friends. Made me happy. :-) I sell cards locally at Old Koenig Engraving & Gifts - they carry a lot of beer steins and pub glasses, so my friend (the owner) has been asking me to make beer-themed cards for the store. Sooooo, that was my focus last weekend! Here's the first one:

The beer mugs are made with an old Stampin' Up set, "Treat Yourself" - they are supposed to be coffee mugs, but I figure color them yellow and add a little Liquid Applique foam, and you've got beer! I'll probably be posting beer cards for the next several Fridays, so if you don't like looking at them, you might want to avoid me on Fridays. But otherwise - cheers!

Have a great weekend!

  • Stamps: Treat Yourself from Stampin' Up, Menswear from Flourishes (sentiment)
  • Paper: white, red, blue, DP from Fancy Pants Designs
  • Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
  • Accessories: Liquid Applique, button, linen thread, rickrack (CTMH), machine stitching

  1. Love your card Libby, so fun!

  2. How cute! This is such a fun card! :)

  3. LOVE this, Libby! So, so FUN!!! :)

  4. How fun! What a great idea to make them beer mugs. Cheers is right!

  5. Cute, fun card Libby!Great use of the coffee mugs and the froth looks so real! I might join you for another beer (card) on Friday!

  6. Love the cheerfulness on this card, the froth on the beer is delightful! So cute!

  7. BEEEEER!!LOL!! This is super cute!!

I always enjoy your comments - thanks so much for taking the time to leave one!

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Archive for Gratitude

The Blacksmith’s Tree building Demonstration

Eltham town Square – Saturday 13th June

St Andrews market – Saturday 4th July

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Thank you to the Numburindi Dancers

Thursday night the 26th of March saw the Numburindi Dancers from Numbular, East Arnhem Land hold an “OPEN HEART, OPEN HAND” Healing for land and its people.

Numburindi Dancers - Kinglake & St Andrews

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McMaster says Trump will back Palestinian ‘self-determination’ during his trip to Israel

11:55 a.m. ET

President Trump will indicate his support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict during his forthcoming Mideast trip, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster announced Friday. Trump will meet separately with Israeli and Palestinian leadership, said McMaster, so he can “reaffirm America’s unshakeable bond to the Jewish state” while expressing “his desire for dignity and self-determination for the Palestinians.”

This is an apparent reversal from Trump’s refusal to commit to a two-state solution earlier this year after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I’m looking at two-state and one-state and I like the one that both parties like,” he said then. In March, Trump called peace between Israelis and Palestinians the “toughest deal to make.”

Trump’s trip, which begins this coming week, includes stops in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Rome. The president will visit holy sites of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, McMaster said, because he wants “to unite people of all faiths around a common vision of peace, security, and prosperity.” Bonnie Kristian

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Posts Tagged ‘David Cameron’

Brown and Cameron should check their history books

Monday, May 25th, 2009

Oliver Cromwell had it right back in 1653:

“You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing.  Depart, I say, and let us have done with you!”

“In the name of God, go!”

[Oliver Cromwell to Parliament]

“Take away that fool’s bauble.”

[Oliver Cromwell of the Parliamentary mace]


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“LinkedLearning 2011” co-located with ESWC’2011

I am co-organising Linked Learning 2011: 1st International Workshop on eLearning Approaches for the Linked Data Age which will go ahead in May 2011 and will be co-located with the 8th Extended Semantic Web Conference, ESWC2011 in Heraklion, Greece. Further info and submission details via the workshop website.

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What’s In My Bag? Collaboration with Petite Olive Blog!

Today is a good day because I’m collaborating with Samantha from Petite Olive Blog  who has recently started her blog up again.  You can go and check out her “What’s In My Bag” over on her blog and you can find her on Twitter and Instagram here so you should go give her some love because she’s lovely!

The bag I currently use is the Jet Set Tote from Micheal Kors.  It’s the perfect size for me and I loooove it.  The only thing that bugs me is the fact it doesn’t have a longer strap but I’m getting used to not having one now.

I’ve got a PocketBac in Beach Life strapped onto the outside of my bag because germs everywhere.

An honest what’s in my bag..

Peppermint capsules, all the IBS sufferers out there- you get me.

Because I don’t like water I have to carry one of these around with me everywhere.

Dry Shampoo #1

I don’t carry a lot of make up around surprisingly- just a lip gloss and a concealer.

For smelly moments.

Dry shampoo #2

This could come in useful one day..

My sparkly pen and little notebook.

Oversized Primark sunglasses.

My Juicy Couture Purse mainly full of loyalty cards.

Hope you enjoyed this post- don’t forget to check out Samantha’s blog!

Steph Louise x


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Swazi regime’s end is near, says democratic movement

“Technically, the demonstrations are over, but from a political viewpoint they are not,” the Foundation for Socio-Economic Justice’s Thamsanca Tsabedze says. He is talking about the April 12 “uprising” in Swaziland, for which his organisation, that aims to build a mass-based democratic force through civic education on democracy and rights, has played an important part in making possible by its relentless consciousness-building.

The April 12 uprising was crushed by Swazi police and security forces that fired teargas and rubber bullets at demonstrators, as well as detained and beat peaceful demonstrators and ordinary citizens going about their business, but this has not deterred those who call for change.

“People are still seething and calling for regime change. They have been driven back to their places by fear, but are still continuing with activities and programmes aimed at rendering government ungovernable,” Tsabedze insists.

The democratic movement has learnt a valuable lesson in the last couple of days, he says, especially about having to expect the worst from an increasingly desperate regime. “I think in the future the democratic movement will have to ensure that the information machinery is well oiled and that people are well mobilized and ready for any challenge.”

The safety of the demonstrators was the reason the unions called of the mass protests, as the police and security forces were becoming increasingly brutal. Tsabedze agrees with this decision, on the whole. “It is very important to ensure the safety of people. They were subjected to violence, assaults, arrests, detentions and other forms of abuse, and I think it is nigh time that the democratic movement sees how it defends democracy activists from the brute ire and force unleashed by the armed forces,” he says.

Overall, though, Thamsanca Tsabedze sees the mass protests as a success. “Yes, the event was indeed a resounding success and has sent a clear message to the regime that their end is nigh”.

Read more:

Swaziland: uprising in the slip-stream of North Africa

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Earthquake rocks Japan

Earthquake rocks Japan

A fresh 6.5 magnitude earthquake has struck southern Japan – causing fires to spread and dozens of houses to collapse, trapping people underneath.

The powerful tremor was reported 6.6 miles southwest of Kumamoto at 4.03pm UK time (12.03am local time) – two-and-a-half hours after a 6.2 magnitude quake hit the same area, according to the US Geological Survey.

Although no tsunami risk has been reported, about 100 people have been admitted to hospital, including 10 with serious injuries.

At least nine people are confirmed to have died.

A large blaze has broken out in Mashiki, a town of about 34,000 people not far from the quake’s epicentre, and aerial footage has shown firefighters attempting to bring the flames under control.

Local media reports suggest 16,000 households in the area are without electricity, while 38,000 homes have lost their gas supply.

One of the earthquakes registered at the highest possible level of Japan’s seven-scale system for measuring seismic intensity – and a quake of that size usually means it is “impossible to move at will” as people are “thrown by the shaking”.

Scientists from Japan’s Meteorological Agency have warned “relatively strong” aftershocks are expected in the coming days which could cause landslides and more buildings to collapse, NHK has reported.

Meanwhile, the US Geological Survey has upgraded its damage assessment to red, which indicates extensive damage is probable and that the disaster is likely widespread.

The tremors derailed an out-of-service, high-speed bullet train as it was making its way back to a depot but no one was injured.

Nuclear regulators in Japan have said there are no reported problems at the only online power plant in the region.

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga has said at least 19 homes have collapsed – and emergency services have received hundreds of phone calls to report damage to buildings.

He confirmed that 350 military personnel have been sent to help with the rescue effort, and added: “Because of the night darkness, the extent of damage is still unclear … I ask people in the disaster zone to act calmly and help each other.”

Many people had already left their homes when the latest earthquake struck, and photographs from the scene showed worried evacuees clinging on to their loved ones.

In March 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of northern Tokyo caused tsunami waves which killed nearly 20,000 people and caused a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

(Sky News)

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Cineplex Store | The Love Guru (VF)

The Love Guru (VF)

PG 13
87 Minutes

Comedy, Sports

Guru Pitka was once an ordinary American child, until his family left him at the gates of an Indian ashram to be raised by the exhaulted Guru Tugginmypuddha. Growing up in the small fishing village of Harenmahkeester, Pitka was schooled in the inner secrets of spiritual attainment along with his friend and sole rival, Deepak Chopra. But now, Chopra is a massive celebrity in America, and Pitka is still playing second-fiddle without even an "Oprah" episode on his resume. Determined to share his unending insights into the nature of life and get famous to boot, Pitka responds to a fateful call for help from Jane Bullard, owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team. It seems her star player, Darren Roanoke has gone overnight from being a big hero to a big zero-scorer because his wife, Prudence, left him and is now dating the L.A. Kings' legendary goalie, Jacques "Le Coq" Grande. Pitka's new quest--to restore loving bliss between Darren and Prudence and attain the celestial heights of the Stanley Cup--will challenge everything he thought he knew about the inner workings of truth, love, happiness and hockey.

Marco Schnabel

Closed Captions:

The Love Guru (VF)


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ITS Nylon Zip Bag (Medical Edition)

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Built in the USA, our ITS Zip Bags represent our take on the classic zippered pouch. Featuring sewn webbing handles on each side, these not only facilitate easy retrieval from a bag, but also enable a fixed grip-point to aid in opening and closing the zipper. Additionally, we’ve sewn a 5“ wide x 1.5“ tall strip of color-matched loop Velcro to the front of each bag to enable custom nametapes to be affixed for identification of contents.

Available in Medical Red, each ITS Zip Bag measures 8.5” wide x 6” tall and includes an ITS Med PVC Patch and two red Velcro One-Wrap strips for wrapping onto the handles to identify Zip Bag contents as containing medical items. These can also be removed to keep the bag sterile and in use for storing accessories or organizing your cables inside a backpack.

While purpose designed to hold our ITS Boo Boo Kit Plus, the ITS Zip Bags can be used for anything you can think of. The sterile version of our ITS Nylon Zip Bags are also available in Black, Coyote and MultiCam. These sterile versions do not include the ITS Med PVC Patch and the Red One-Wrap Strips on the handles.

  • Weight: 1.8 oz.
  • Mil-Spec 550 Type III Paracord Zipper Pull
  • Solid Cordura Construction
  • Reverse Zipper to Keep the Dirt and Grunge Out
  • Measurements: 8.5” wide x 6” tall
  • Includes (1) ITS Med PVC Patch
  • Includes (2) Red Velcro One-Wrap Strips for handles
  • Available in Medical Red
  • Made in the USA


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What Caused World War I – a flowchart

Essentially, World War I was not caused by a particular person, idea, or event. Although it developed through a chain of events starting with Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, it can mainly be cause of militarism, alliance systems of the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance, imperialism, and strong feelings of nationalism throughout many of these nations.

13 thoughts on “What Caused World War I – a flowchart

  1. This is a good way of analysis of World War I. I liked how the flowchart kind of laid everything out whereas we usually just talk about it. You can see all the connections. It was kind of difficult to follow at first, but I think that is because of and adds to the complicated entanglement it was trying to portray.

  2. This is a good flowchart. It nicely lays out everything and it’s good to see how everything is connected in the war. It also depicts the complex alliance system that pulled everybody into the war.

  3. I love your flowchart! It’s so easy to follow that I would’ve used it for the last unit test to study. It’s faster than reading a textbook because you laid out the causes and effects perfectly. Also, I like how its very easy to read because the arrows aren’t confusing like most flowcharts. Nice job!

  4. This flowchart is a great and simple representation of international entry into World War I. Each explanation by each arrow was concise and quick, and I really liked how at the bottom, all roads pointed to the same causes. Good job!

  5. Excellent flow chart! It’s interesting to see how different nation’s interests were different as tensions rose and before war actually started, but in the end they all had the same justification and rationale for entering WWI. Everything was very organized and concise yet informative. NIce job!

  6. This flowchart is great! The complex events and alliances leading up to and during the First World War are certainly hard to describe easily. It’s interesting to see how fast European powers were willing to turn on each other and join another complex set of alliances. You did a great job on explaining the rationale of the countries during and before the war.

  7. This flowchart was really simple and easy to understand. I like how you showed that all the countries joined the war because of almost the reasons. You also showed how the Alliance system was pushing each country closer and closer to the war.

  8. Wow, very nice in giving the main reasons of the start of WWI in a brief but factual and fully teaching way. Also I like how you showed all of the major powers and why some went to war with others for which reasons. My only criticism is your lack of the most important reason, in my opinion, this being that a sandwich caused World War One.

  9. This is really interesting in showing how all of the contributing factors of world war I and how they affected every country similarly. This also shows how countries influenced each other to enter the war really well.

  10. I really like this flowchart. It shows all the causes and you kind of go in depth in explaining why certain countries joined the war in terms of alliances. This really shows how entangling the alliances were. Not only that, but you showed how they all basically entered the war for four main reasons. Really nice job!

  11. I really liked this. It is pretty easy to follow and pretty informative. I like how it is simple in its presentation, but it still shows the complexity of the war and the complex alliances. It really depicts how every ultimately got into the war due to the four MAIN causes, despite all the small events that impacted them individually.

  12. I really like your flowchart. I shows the events that occurred very clearly, and portrays the main causes of the War without any small details. It is very big picture and I like that.

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Case study in trying to analyze earmark data

Each year, Congress allocates billions in earmarks that come in the form of annual appropriation committee requests or are attached to various bills that become law. The Sunlight Foundation thought it would be interesting to examine which earmarks, after all the Congressional debate and bluster has dispensed, actually get spent.

We thought a good example would be the $23 billion in transportation earmarks from SAFETEA-LU, The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users. The act authorized spending on highways, transit systems, port facilities, bus routes and other projects from its passage in August 2005 to what was supposed to be its expiration in September 2009. Earlier this year, Congress renewed SAFETEA-LU temporarily, and then the Act was extended to the end of 2010 in the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act on March 19. Nevertheless, most of the projects funded by the 6,306 earmarks in the original act should be completed or nearing completion.

Additionally, since the earmarks fell to the Department of Transportation, specifically the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration, it would seem easier to request such agency-specific information than other for other acts that include earmarks for multiple departments and agencies—for example, one appropriations bill funds the Labor, Education and Health and Human Services departments, plus a large number of related agencies.

So we approached Transportation and started asking about earmarks. After a bit of negotiation, the Federal Highway Administration disclosed data on unspent FHWA earmarks—we will publish that in a future post. The Federal Transit Administration also kept such records, but we had to file a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain a copy of their earmark and earmark grant report from the last five years. Specifically we asked for data under the government’s internal Transportation Electronic Award and Management (TEAM) system that showed “earmark identification numbers that are tied to an obligated project identification number.”

In government lingo, an “obligated project” means that there is a binding agreement in place for the federal agency to promise to pay for an approved project in a community. While there is a separate designation for when the money is actually spent, known as disbursements or outlays, for all intents and purposes, finding the obligated amount is a good indication that a project will be funded.

A few weeks later, we were delighted to receive a positive response from the FTA. But were not so delighted that it came in the form of a 121-page paper printout of what obviously is a database that could have been transmitted electronically. Our FOIA request, of course, asked for the information to come in an electronic format. So we asked again for an electronic copy, and were told that there was no way we would get it.

Realizing we would have to scan each page and use optical character recognition software (OCR) to turn paper into data, we put the project on hold for some months. When earmark season rolled around this year, we asked yet again for an electronic copy, and were told that it couldn’t happen. So we set to scanning each page and cleaning up the data. Anyone that’s tried to OCR a document might understand what a frustrating experience this can be. Not only do you have to match up columns and rows, you have to make sure every little detail was scanned accurately – so that a zero didn’t appear as the letter “O” or that a slight smudge didn’t suddenly become a decimal point.

And there was another issue: the data we have is six months old, and it is always possible that those earmarks without obligations might have been funded in the last six months. When we asked the FTA’s media relations staff if we could get an updated copy of the database, we were told that we had to submit another FOIA.

Several hair-tearing weeks later, armed with an OCR’d spreadsheet (albeit six months old), we began working with the data to see what could be analyzed. We realized quickly that we needed to talk to someone at FTA who works directly with this data to fully understand what we had. When we finally got hold of someone, we learned that the original response to the FOIA we submitted was sent to the FTA FOIA office as an Excel spreadsheet.

The FOIA office, following protocol, made hard copies of that spreadsheet, and sent it on to us. The reason for the use of paper, explained FTA spokesman Paul Griffo, is to ensure that if there is any information in the spreadsheet that was deemed not to be viewed by the public, a hard copy would allow the FOIA and press offices to black out or redact the data.

But nothing in my data was deemed redact-worthy, yet still I could not get an electronic copy. The program office graciously gave me an up-to-date electronic copy of the earmarks data and I marveled how one click of a send button in a government office could bring me such joy.

But upon analyzing what was, and was not, obligated, I ran into several stumbling blocks. I was given two spreadsheets: one that had 7,300 rows that were just earmarks, and another that was about 6,200 rows that was just grants. I was told that any earmark that showed up in the grants table and had a listed obligation date indicated that the grant was either partially spent, or all spent. Those without obligation dates were never spent. It’s still unclear what happened with those 1,000-plus earmarks that don’t appear in the grants database at all.

After calling several grant recipients with no listed obligation date, I learned that many of the grants had in fact been obligated. The data was telling me one thing, but the recipients from large metropolitan transit agencies from across the country were telling me something entirely different.

I did find some very interesting earmarks that never got spent – which will be detailed in accompanying posts, but without fully clean and accurate data, it would be irresponsible to write about this database in aggregate. The program office admitted that the data wasn’t perfect. Sometimes different people enter in different things. Sometimes you have to work with multiple internal databases that only FTA employees would have access to.

And after weeks of communication with the program office, I was told the magic words: That the FTA did keep a separate list of just those earmarks under SAFETEA-LU that never got spent. However, I would have to file another FOIA.

So this part of this story ends where it begins: The Freedom of Information Act. In the coming weeks we hope to get that FOIA response, and we’ll be sharing every agonizing moment with you – so that you too can learn the joys of obtaining and analyzing government data.


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Updating your 360fly HD Firmware via USB for use on Android 6.0 and 7.0

The following instructions will correctly guide you through the firmware update procedure for your 360fly HD over USB from your computer.

Updating the firmware to version 1.3.3 is required for use with Android 6.0 Marshmallow and Android 7.0 Nougat devices.

Step 1: Download the .fly firmware file, please make sure you are connected to the internet, then click here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/u9nevk0kb9d07xv/firmware_1.3.3.fly?dl=0

Step 2: Make sure your 360fly is powered on and has at least a 50% charge. The LED on your 360fly will be a solid BLUE when powered on.

  • If you are not sure of the battery level, attach your Power Cradle to your USB cable and plug into a wall outlet based USB power adapter and allow 360fly to charge for at least 30 minutes prior to continuing.

Step 3: Plug your USB cable into a USB port on your computer and place your 360fly onto the USB connected Power Cradle. With your 360fly connected to your computer via USB, the LED on your 360fly will change from solid BLUE to solid YELLOW.

Step 4: Now you will want to pay attention to the Desktop on your computer. Your 360fly will appear as an external drive. Double-click on the “360FLY” icon to open a new window.

Step 5: In a separate window, open your “Downloads” folder, or where you saved the .fly firmware file that you just downloaded.

Step 6: With both windows now open and visible on your screen, select the .fly file and perform a “drag and drop” of that file to the “360FLY” window like shown in the image below.

*** Please note that the next 2 steps must be done in quick succession ***

Step 7: Once the .fly file has been successfully copied over to your 360fly, you may now eject the “360FLY” drive. This can be done a few different ways, we suggest either right-clicking on the icon on your desktop and choosing ‘Eject “360FLY”’ or by clicking on the eject button in the window.

Step 8: When ejected the LED will change from solid YELLOW to solid BLUE, when the LED is solid BLUE, that is your cue to lift your 360fly off of the Power Cradle and place on your desk or table. The 360fly is NOT to be on a charger while the firmware is being updated.

The 360fly is NOT to be on a charger while the firmware is being updated.

Step 9: The LED will begin flashing YELLOW , this means the firmware installation has started. The firmware installation will take approximately 3m45s to complete from the time the unit is lifted off of the cradle and begins flashing to when the LED returns to a solid BLUE ready state. The LED sequence during installation will be: flashing to flashing BLUE to solid BLUE.

That's it! Your 360fly is updated and ready to be used on your Android 6.0 Marshmallow or 7.0 Nougat device.

Click Here for step-by-step instructions.

Have more questions? Submit a request


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Adding Value to SharePoint and Office 365 with Box: Key Use Cases

Get Training

Support BYOD with a consistent experience across all mobile platforms. Box enables true mobile productivity, with native apps on all mobile platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows, and Blackberry. That means you get the rich capabilities of Box no matter what device you’re using, and have access to your content no matter where you are. The Box Platform also gives access to the more than 500+ mobile productivity apps in our OneCloud ecosystem, allowing you to extend the power of Box.

Enable simple, secure external collaboration. Most organizations need to share content with customers, partners, and contractors. Sending a file or folder via email isn’t collaborative or secure, and doesn’t allow you to apply detailed rules and permissions when content passes the firewall. Box allows admins and end users to apply granular controls to external collaboration, including 7 different permission levels, password protection on files and folders, and content expiration. Folders and files become shared, secure workspaces where everyone has access to the right content, without having to set up extranet sites or provision users.

Provide deep reporting and analytics around
content. Box’s intuitive interface extends to the admin
console, where administrators get a complete audit trail on content activity across the organization. Box tracks more than 50 user activities, including uploads, downloads, and sharing, as well as what files and with whom your employees are sharing with. Connect the Box reporting API to your existing BI solution and see everything that’s happening with your content, instantly.

Integrate and enhance legacy enterprise and mobile applications. Box understands the best of breed approach to enterprise applications, and offers a number of packaged integrations, including SharePoint,, Netsuite, Jive, Google Docs, MDM providers and numerous others. Our open, secure platform and APIs mean that developers and partners can extend the power of Box with innovative integrations and apps, and content never becomes a silo.

Work with more than just Office files. Most organizations don’t only work with Office files – they may use Google Drive, Keynote, video files, AutoCAD, or any other number of file types. With Box, you can preview over 100 different file types right in the browser, without having to download them locally. Box Edit lets users create and edit content directly on Box using the native applications already installed on their computer, like Word and PowerPoint. Box also allows file sizes up to 5GB, going beyond the size limitations of Office 365.

Previous: Upload Files to Box from SharePoint Using the Embed Upload Widget

Next: Empowering Your Team and Common Adoption Challenges

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In-between moments can be just as memorable as grand finales. This week, share a photo you took on the way to something else.

My husband and I were on our way to Ramstein in Germany, and we got off at the wrong train station. It was beautiful though, one of the most gorgeous small towns we had come across. We had to wait an hour and a half until the next train arrived that was going to our destination, and we had a wonderful time…we wouldn’t have minded if it took longer! I have kind of an obsession with flowing water, and while it was hard to pick only one photo from our brief stop, I really love this one.

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Saturday, July 22, 2017

DJI Mavic Pro: The Missing Handbook: Waypoints

Continuing my series on Mavic Pro operations, this week involves a deep dive into the Waypoints feature of the DJI Go 4 app.  It's quite powerful, but it also has some significant things it can't do.  Once you understand the capabilities and limitations, though, the built in Waypoints feature is a wonderful tool for capturing some very interesting shots in the sky, because it allows you to focus on capturing the scene and not flying the drone.

So, join me for a pre-plotted trip through Waypoints!

Mavic Pro Missing Handbook

What is this series of posts?  This is my attempt to provide a comprehensive look at all the various features of the Mavic Pro - in text form.  I find video tutorials to be generally lacking in actual content, as well as truly frustrating to skim (you have to suffer through 10 minutes to find out that, no, it doesn't actually talk about what you were wanting to learn).

I'll be updating this list with more posts as I write them.  My blog updates every Saturday.

DJI Mavic Pro: The Missing Handbook: Basic Operations  Preflight checks, gimbal locks, takeoff, landing, basic flight operations.
DJI Mavic Pro: The Missing Handbook: Intelligent Flight Modes Tripod, Cinematic, and Sport Modes.  Terrain Follow.  Home Lock.  Course Lock.   Pretty much everything that requires you to still move the sticks to move it.
DJI Mavic Pro: The Missing Handbook: Active Track, Follow Me Mode, and Gesture Mode Using Active Track, Follow Me, and Gesture Modes properly - much detail on how the various Active Track modes work and how the controls work, and a few ways to avoid waving like a fool at your drone in Gesture Mode.
DJI Mavic Pro: The Missing Handbook: Wifi/Remote Only, Tap to Fly, Fixed Wing, Point of Interest, Attitude Indicator  Finishing out the series on flying modes with the remaining modes, as well as discussion about the attitude/orientation/power indicator, flying with only the remote or only a phone, and some of the degraded flight modes.
DJI Mavic Pro: The Missing Handbook: Comprehensive List of Menu Options  A list of all the menu options and camera menu options with notes on what they do, when you should change them, and how to use them for effective flying.

Waypoints Mode

One of the nice capabilities of the Mavic Pro (and the other DJI products) is that they are capable of fully autonomous flight between points in the sky.  I'm totally fine calling them a drone instead of a quadcopter because of this capability (and things like Active Track).  You can upload a list of "places in the sky to be," and it will go to those places, even if the controller loses connection (something to be aware of).

What this means, practically, is that you can specify a route in the sky to fly and then go fly that route repeatedly and consistently.  Further, because the Mavic Pro is handling the actual flying, you can focus on composing your shot.

Warnings & Limitations

If you are, as suggested above, focusing on composing your shot while flying in Waypoints mode, you need a second crew member as a visual observer to keep an eye on the drone and alert you if there's something coming close to it (airplane, bird, UFO, etc).  The FAA is pretty clear on what "visual contact" means - occasionally looking away for battery status and the like is fine, staring at your screen for a minute while filming is not.  So, don't be silly here.  Use a spotter.

Also, the DJI Go 4 Waypoints mode has some serious limitations compared to some other software packages for handling waypoints - I'll cover the main limitations here, and if they're an issue, address them towards the end of the post.

No Gimbal or Camera Control

One of the main limitations is that the DJI Go app cannot program in gimbal or camera control commands ("Fly here, take a photo in this direction, fly here, set the gimbal like this, start recording video, etc.").  It will let you fly a route repeatedly, but you must handle the camera and gimbal operations manually.  This isn't a big problem for a lot of flying, but it does mean that you won't be using this app for field surveys or long time lapse videos of construction sites or anything like that.

This is more designed for short range/short term flying automation to allow you to focus on a shot.

No Preplanned Routes

To fly a Waypoints route with the DJI Go app, you have to physically put the drone at the points in the sky you wish to use as waypoints - and then there's no way to edit those after the fact.  You can't change the altitude, heading, etc.  So, make sure it's what you intend when you record the points.

Location and altitude are the important ones - while the heading may be useful, it's easy enough to fly the route with one of several manual heading control modes.

No Automatic Routes

Since you can't plan a route ahead of time, there's also no way to say, "I want to get photo coverage of this property, you figure out the details."  Since the app can't take photos or manage the gimbal anyway, there's no real loss here - but it's something other apps offer.

Range and Distance Limits

The DJI Go app won't let you create waypoints outside a 500m (0.3 mile) radius of the home point, or a mission longer than 3 miles (5 km).  Since the Mavic Pro is capable of (in ideal conditions) flying 8 miles (13 km) on a battery, this is an abnormally short restriction.  However, again, this app isn't intended to be used for field mapping.

Creating a New Waypoints Mission

To create a new Waypoints mission, enter the Intelligent Flight Modes menu by tapping the alien icon along the left of your phone screen, or by pressing the 5D button (the button to the lower right of the controller screen).  Agree to the restrictions notice if you haven't on this flight.

You'll need to swipe over to the next screen to find Waypoints - it's in the lower left.

Select that option, and a pane will pop up on the right side of the screen.  This gives you two options: New Mission, or Favorite Missions.  The second option is a bit misnamed - I would call it "Favorite and Recent Missions" instead, because the last three missions flown are automatically saved - in addition to any Favorites.

To create a new mission, tap on "New Mission."  This will bring up a new screen for creating a mission.  Before you've recorded the first waypoint, you'll see a status screen indicating no waypoints and zero total mission distance - which does make some amount of sense!

To record waypoints, you can either tap the "Record" button on the screen, or use the C1 button (left button on the bottom of the controller - not the video record button).  Personally, I find using the C1 button to be easier as I don't have to take my hands off the remote.  If you don't like the waypoint you just recorded, you can tap "Delete" or press C2 to remove the most recent waypoint.  If you've accidentally created a bunch of waypoints at the same spot, you'll have to remove all of them.

It's a good idea to have the map up for waypoints - the layout of the course is much easier to see and you'll get realtime updates about the path you're proposing.

Fly to where you want to start the mission, pick your desired altitude and heading (if needed), and click C1!  Congratulations, you've stored your first waypoint!

Now, just keep doing that.  Fly to a position, set your altitude and heading, record the waypoint, and go on your way.

I've created a box with some sharper and shallower corners here (to demonstrate corner rounding).  Since I've recorded my last waypoint, I click "Done."  This moves to the next screen, where I can actually go fly the recorded mission.

But, before we get there - let's consider the other way to get here.

"Favorite Missions"

The other way to load a mission to fly is by loading up Waypoint Mode, and instead of clicking "New Mission," click "Favorite Missions."  This will bring up a list of the last few missions flown as well as your saved favorites.  You can see that I have the top mission highlighted.  If you're within range of them on the map, they will show up on the map as well - useful to ensure you've selected the proper mission and that your drone won't head off on a cross country trip to find a waypoint in the next state.

Select a previous mission by clicking on the timestamp on the left (tapping on the right side doesn't do anything).  The missions will show you the date & time you created them, the location, distance, and waypoint count.  If you select one and click "Apply," it brings you to the next screen where you can fly the mission - same as if you'd just created it.

Flying a Waypoint Mission

Regardless of how you get here (creating a new mission or loading a saved one), this is how you'll start flying a waypoint mission!

If you'd like to save a mission as a Favorite, tap the star in the upper right corner of the screen - this will turn yellow and the mission will be saved separately from the last three flown.

Phrasing here is also a bit weird - "Control the aircraft fly to Start Point" seems to imply that you need to manually fly to the start point, but this isn't correct.  The Mavic Pro will automatically fly straight to the start point before flying the waypoint mission (so, ideally, you should have it somewhere around that point to start with, and a clear path between the current location and the start point).

There are three things you need to set before letting the Mavic Pro set off on a mission.  The first is the "Head to:" setting - which, again, is misnamed.  This should be the "Heading Mode" setting.  There are three options here: "Adjustable Heading," "Route-Linked Heading," and "Free."  I'll cover these in detail later, because there are some major differences between the three modes worth diving into.

The second option is the "Mission Complete" setting - and the options here are "Hover" and "Return to Home."  These should be pretty self explanatory - the Mavic Pro will either hover at the last waypoint, or will proceed to return to the set home point (which you did properly set before heading out, right?).

Finally, there's a slider for the initial speed.  This is adjustable during the mission flight, and you can modify it with the control sticks as well should you need to, but this sets the initial value.  I generally find that the default speed is too fast for most of the stuff I want to do.  If you set it to 0.0, the drone will head to the first waypoint and await further instructions.

Once you click "Apply," you proceed to a "Return-to-Home Altitude" screen in which you can set the return to home altitude.  This is in meters above your takeoff location - not above the ground, not above the trees.  So make sure it's high enough!

The default 40m is 131 feet, which covers a lot, but you may need to set this higher.

Even if you set the drone to hover at the end of the mission, if the battery gets low enough, the drone will abandon the mission and attempt to return home.  So be sure this is set properly for your environment.  When in doubt, raise it higher.  A setting of 100m (328 feet) gives you pretty good ground clearance and won't bust the 400' limit unless the ground is seriously sloped.

Once you click "Apply," your Mavic Pro will proceed directly to the first waypoint and will fly the specified route - and, as noted, it should do this even without the remote link.  So, maybe, set the last waypoint to somewhere close - or set the end of mission action to "Return to Home," just in case.

The "Speed" slider at the bottom does exactly what you would hope - it sets the travel speed along the route.  At the low end, this is 0.0 - hovering in place.  It's not as useless as it sounds, but I'll cover the later.  At the high end, you can set 22.4mph, which is absurdly fast, and I have no idea why you'd be flying a waypoint route that quickly.  Worse, if you set the speed particularly high, the Mavic Pro is utterly incapable of taking a corner.  It swings wide, can't hold a line particularly well, and just flies sloppily.  This is downright dangerous if your waypoint mission takes you near any sort of obstructions.

Route Flying and Rounding Corners

The Mavic Pro will fly the waypoint route, but not exactly.  It rounds the corners!  This is visible in the map below - the blue lines indicate the straight lines between waypoints, and the inner white lines shows the route as flown.  Notice that it cuts the corners and rounds them out.  This is the designed in behavior, and I haven't found a way to change it - so be aware of it.  If your planned route goes very close to an obstruction on the inside of a corner, there's a good chance that the actual route flown will fly into the obstacle.  If the Mavic Pro is facing forward, it may avoid crashing into it.  If you've got the nose facing away from the actual route of flight, well... crunch.  Don't do this.  It's loud and expensive.  And if you're flying the route fast, it will go wide.  So, basically, don't plan waypoints near obstructions.  If you must, don't fly a tight corner around the outside, and keep the speed down.

Flight Controls While Waypointing

One might assume that on a waypoint mission, the flight controls would be totally useless - and one would be wrong!  Only some of them are - but the others are poorly documented.

Altitude change requests (typically left stick up or down, unless you're not flying in Mode 2, at which point you can translate) are ignored.  The drone flies the path, including altitude, "as instructed," and tries to fly a straight route between waypoints (including altitude).

Yaw requests?  These either work or not, depending on the "Head to:" value chosen.  And I'll cover these later.

Left/right translation requests (normally right stick left or right) are ignored, just like altitude.

But - forwards/backwards translation requests (Mode 2: right stick up or down) are translated into "Move along the waypoint route or move backwards along the route" requests!  This is an interesting mode, and explains why setting the speed to 0.0 isn't useless.

If you're moving forward with a programmed speed, and you push the stick forward, the Mavic Pro will accelerate along the route.  If you pull the stick backwards, it will either slow down or reverse.

But, if you set the speed to 0.0, you have full manual control over the route flown and can move the Mavic Pro forwards and backwards, at will, along the "cable in the sky" defined by the waypoints!  This opens up a lot of options for filming along a complex pre-defined route without having to actually fly the route at filming time.  If you set the route, watch out for the corner cutting behavior, use "Free" heading mode, and then set the speed to 0, you have absolute control over where the Mavic Pro is and where the camera is pointing at every moment!  Filming a scene with variable timing becomes much easier, as long as it takes place on a fixed route.  This is a hugely useful mode, and I expect one could capture some very impressive shots with it!

When in doubt: Pause!  The pause button works as expected during waypoint missions, and will rapidly lead to a Mavic Pro hovering in place.

Heading Modes

Finally, I'm going to explain all three heading modes.  These are the options selected when starting a waypoint mission - "Adjustable Heading," "Route-Linked Heading," and "Free."  They're all quite different, and it took an awful lot of flying waypoint missions to work out all the details.

When you start a waypoint mission, the drone will fly in a straight line to the first waypoint.  While doing this, the heading is freely controllable - it starts out facing the waypoint, but the left stick will spin the drone freely while not changing the actual course.  However, as always, if the Mavic Pro is not facing the direction of flight, obstacle detection won't work.  Once it arrives at the start of the waypoint mission, the selected heading mode takes effect.

"Adjustable Heading"

This mode is badly named.  It should be called "Variable Heading" or "Interpolated Heading" or something along those lines.  Each waypoint along the route includes the location, the altitude, and the heading.  When flying the route, the Mavic Pro will smoothly rotate to the heading of the next waypoint while traveling along each route segment.  So, if the first waypoint has the Mavic Pro facing north, and the second waypoint has the Mavic Pro facing east, the Mavic Pro will slowly rotate from north to east along the line segment.

It does not record the actual rotations made between waypoints - only the headings at each waypoint.  And, it will always rotate the fewest degrees between the headings while traveling.  If you're facing north at the first waypoint, and rotate left 270 degrees before the second waypoint to face east, the Mavic Pro will rotate clockwise (right) when flying the route.

Here's an example of "Adjustable Heading" in flight for a very simple route.  The left waypoint (#1) is facing north, and the right waypoint (#2) is facing south.

With this mode, you have no manual control over the heading - it does what's recorded.  You can still control the gimbal tilt, and forwards/backwards translation requests will still slide you along the path, but the other controls don't do much.

The left stick isn't totally locked out, though.  Moving it left and right will change the framing on the image very, very slightly (this image shows the difference between full left and full right).  When moving the left stick, the gimbal moves very slightly before the Mavic Pro starts to rotate.  You can observe the same behavior by moving the left stick side to side when on the ground - even though the drone can't rotate, the image will shift slightly.  There's not much adjustment, but there is a tiny bit.  It will snap back to center if you release the stick.

When to Use Adjustable Heading

If you want to fly an absolutely determined route and heading, only having to manually adjust the gimbal, this is your mode!  The Mavic Pro will fly pretty much exactly what you recorded, and you just have to keep an eye on it.  It would be awesome if this mode could operate the gimbal and camera as well, but, unfortunately, it can't.  You'll need third party apps for that.

However, if you want to go film some video along the same route, and are willing to manually set the gimbal (straight down might be a good one to use), this will work just fine!

"Route-Linked Heading"

The next mode listed is "Route-Linked Heading" - and this is a reasonable enough description of the mode.  In this mode, the recorded headings of the waypoints are ignored, and the default direction for the drone is "Facing the direction of travel."  If you fly the mission without touching anything, the Mavic Pro will always face in the direction of flight.  Useful for obstacle avoidance, and because the software rounds the corners out, the heading changes are nice and smooth.

If you fiddle with the heading command (normally the left stick), the Mavic Pro will rotate as it travels along the route - but what you're doing in this mode is setting an offset relative to the direction of travel.  If you adjust the heading 45 degrees to the right, it will always point 45 degrees to the right of the direction of flight.  If you face backwards, it will fly the entire route facing backwards.

For a concrete example, I flew one of my waypoint missions, and turned the drone 90 degrees to the right during the first segment (so, facing due east).  As it rounds the corner at waypoint #2, it maintains that 90 degree offset, even while going around the corner.

As it continues to the next segment, the heading is still offset 90 degrees to the direction of flight.

And, after going around the next corner, it's still 90 degrees to the direction of flight!  It holds this offset, regardless of the squiggling of the waypoint mission, until you tell it to do something different.

When to Use Route-Linked Heading

Route-Linked Heading gives a lot of interesting options for filming.  With the default heading, filming will always be "forward" for the direction of flight.  Throw in a fairly high speed (being aware of the wide turns), a low altitude (enough to avoid crashing, obviously), and you could put together a neat tour of somewhere (though I'll suggest flying it slowly and speeding up the video in post-production, because that's so much safer than actually flying quickly).  The manual control of the offset lets you look left and right during the flight to capture a wider field of view, and if you're looking for a profile video of some fixed route, setting up a route, angling to 90 degrees, and flying with the left stick (to run you forwards on the route at a variable speed) could be a lot of fun.

If you have other nifty uses of Route-Linked Heading, please - share in the comments!  I mostly do photo work as opposed to video work, so I'm sure I'm missing some interesting use cases.

Finally, the last heading mode is "Free" - which is exactly what it sounds like!  You set the heading, and the Mavic Pro holds that heading as you fly the route.

It starts aligned with the initial heading, but then the Mavic Pro will not rotate at all unless you request a heading change.  If you're facing north at the start of the mission, you'll face north the entire mission.

I flew my existing waypoint mission with "Free" heading mode, and the behavior is obvious.  Shortly after starting, I rotated 90 degrees left to face west.

After rounding the first corner, while on the next segment, I'm still facing west.

And, after rounding off the second, while moving south, guess which way I'm facing!  West!  You get the idea by this point, hopefully.  It doesn't rotate unless you tell it to.

When to use Free Heading

This is my favorite mode - by far.  I have full control over which way the camera end of the Mavic Pro is pointing, and it won't rotate on me during flight without my explicit command.  With this mode, you have two controls - yaw and gimbal angle.  Or, if you set the speed to 0.0, you have the position along the route as well.

In my opinion, this is, by far, the most useful mode.  The others are interesting, but the Free heading mode gives you full control over the heading (and the position, if you set things up that way).  This is the full "cable in the sky" mode - you can slide the drone along the cable, point it how you wish, aim the gimbal how you wish, and take whatever photos or videos you want during the process.  It's the most flexible mode, and this is how I fly most of my waypoint missions (at least with the app).

Filming with Waypoints

I've found the best use of the DJI Go app waypoints to be for "cable in the sky" type work.  Define where you want the drone to be at the ends, perhaps in the middle, and then set the speed to 0.0, the heading to Free, and fly the cable manually.  Free heading is the most useful mode, as even if the path snakes around a bit, the heading will not automatically change going around corners like it will in the other modes.  Other than for playing around, that's how I use Waypoints.

"But I Just Want to Fly to Points and Take Pictures!"

Going through this guide, you likely have noticed that while DJI Go waypoints give you a path in the sky the Mavic Pro can rocket along, everything involving actually taking photos is a manual process, and can't be easily repeated if you wanted to do something like take a bunch of shots at the same point in the sky, at the same gimbal angle, for construction time lapse or scenery shots.

Or, perhaps, you want to take a bunch of shots of a field to stitch together into a single large image, and you don't want to fly this manually (dreadfully boring and you can't fly as accurately as is helpful for large field surveys).

If you have an iPad, there's a free solution that will do much of this for you - DJI Ground Station Pro.

This app (for iPad only, which isn't a problem because DJI's Android support is terrible) will let you design missions, upload them to the Mavic Pro, and then fly them.  Of particular use are the area maps (this calculates a route to get the specified photo coverage of an area of land) and the "WayPoint Route."  There's a paid upgrade to do mapping of tall objects, but I haven't had a need to mess with that yet.  This post isn't a full overview of Ground Station Pro, but it should point you in the right direction for creating a waypoint mission, taking photos or video, that you can fly repeatedly.

When you go to create a new waypoint route, there are a few options you can pick from.

"Tap" lets you create a mission on a map with your fingers, configure the details, and then go fly it.  "Aircraft" is pretty much the same as the stock DJI Go app waypoints program, except you can then edit things and specify actions.  And, "Aircraft Record Altitude" will let you specify waypoints that include the altitude - exactly what the DJI Go app does.

Once you've created a set of waypoints, you can then move them around, edit the details of them (heading, gimbal tilt, altitude), and assign actions to them (like taking a photo).

When editing the mission, certain attributes can be assigned to either all the waypoints (things like speed and altitude), or edited on a per-waypoint basis (heading, actions, etc).  Aircraft Heading can be either set up as course aligned (which can be offset with the yaw commands), defined per point (you specify the heading for each waypoint), or manual - just like "Free" in the main app, where the Mavic Pro does not turn unless you command it.

If the rounded corners of the DJI Go waypoints missions bother you, fear not!  You can set the corner radius, or tell the drone to fly exactly to each waypoint before moving on.

Waypoint Actions

The most exciting bit of Ground Station Pro is the Waypoint Actions.  There are lots of them - and they're incredibly useful!

Hover is what it sounds like - this allows you to specify a hover time at a particular waypoint.  The range is 0-30 seconds.  If you need longer, just add more waypoints at that point in space.

Photo Capture should be pretty self explanatory.  Take a picture!  The same goes for Start Recording and Stop Recording.  These, obviously, start and stop the video capture.

Aircraft Rotation and Gimbal Pitch Rotation let you adjust either the aircraft rotation or the gimbal pitch at a waypoint.  You can also manually specify the exact gimbal pitch at a waypoint, though (annoyingly) this is not recorded if you record a mission using the drone.

Flying a GS Pro Mission

There are a few tricks involved with getting Ground Station Pro to work properly and do what you want, and if you don't know them, you'll probably find yourself very frustrated.

The first important point is that you cannot use the lower USB port on the Mavic Pro controller with the side cable plugged in.  It simply won't work.  Use any Lightning cable you have laying around to hook the iPad up to the bottom USB port, but then disconnect the side port (like you do for charging).  That should hook things up.

The second gotcha is that, for longer missions (exceeding the non-logged-in range limits, or the controller only limits, or... some sort of limit), you need to connect with the DJI Go 4 app first - and then switch over to GS Pro.  A warning about mission range means you need to load DJI Go and that then switch back.  You can switch freely between the two apps, though it takes the video a few seconds to catch up.  Unfortunately, camera settings (like setting up Automatic Exposure Bracketing and such) don't seem to stick between the apps.  Once you have GS Pro loaded up, tap the "settings" icon below the right side "take picture/record" button, and verify that you have the photo and video settings where you want them.  It has a subset of the options from the main DJI Go app, but it should cover your needs.

Ground Station Pro has some automatic takeoff features, but I normally fly off the ground manually and then let GS Pro take over once I'm in the air.  Load the mission you want to fly, and click the little "airplane/fly" button in the top right (because labeling buttons is sooo 2010...), and you should get a preflight status screen.  If you're doing filming, and you know the route is clear, I would disable obstacle avoidance - it serves no real purpose on a predefined course that you've checked out, and I do occasionally get clear air detected as obstacles in flight.  I suspect it's either my sun shield or sun glinting off the forward facing obstacle detection cameras.  But turning it off will prevent a sudden stop in the middle of a run.

Once you're in the air and on the mission, a few of the remote sticks still work.  The yaw command will rotate the Mavic Pro (setting an offset to the course if you're in the course locked heading mode), and the forward/backwards translation stick will either speed you along the route, or stop you and make you fly backwards.  If you set the speed for the mission to manual, you'll need to use this control to do anything at all.  Note that the speed set for manual control is the maximum - there's no need to set a 33mph max speed (50% faster than you can set in the DJI Go app) for a slowly moving film capture, and setting it slower will help you be smoother.

Once you start the mission, the Mavic Pro will ascend to the start point altitude, fly to the start point, and then go fly the mission!  What's left to do is up to how you set things up - if it's fully automatic, you can kick back and just visually observe your drone flying.  In the event of some sort of emergency, the pause button in the upper right will abort the mission, as will the pause button on the remote.

It is a good idea to check the camera image and tap the center once to auto-focus (if the icon is round instead of square, that's auto-exposure, and you should change it in the camera status bar).  The camera controls are substantially similar to the DJI Go app controls.

When the mission is done, the Mavic Pro will do what you commanded in the setup.  Hovering is my default, since I don't really trust RTH and auto-land to do the proper things (flying off a small elevated plywood platform may have something to do with this).

The consistency of captured images is decent, but not perfect.  If you wanted to do a time lapse of images captured, it would take some post processing to line everything up.  But it's a good start, and the center 90% of the images should match.  It might help to hover for 10 seconds at a waypoint before capturing an image - that may let the GPS and compass catch up a bit.

Oh, and if you don't have an iPad?  Or even if you do - Lichi should do something similar.  I just haven't used it yet, so I can't say anything about it.

Do Something Awesome!

That pretty much covers waypoints!  They're a great way to frame more complex shots and let you focus on the image capture part of filming, as opposed to the flying to specific points in the sky part.  Be sure you have a spotter if you're heads down in the camera, but this guide should get you pretty well sorted out as far as how to use waypoints and how to make the Mavic Pro do exactly what you want.  If there's anything about waypoints I've missed, please - let me (and everyone else) know below in the comments section.

  1. This is incredibly helpful and thorough compared to the information DJI provides. Thank you so much!

  2. This, and all of the other DJI Mavic Pro Tutoriols you've written are incredible! This is the most in-depth look into using this awesome drone that I've come across, and I've added this to my Internet Fav's. You, and these articles are awesome! Keep up the great work.


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After The Bug

Tomorrow we depart for Peru and my stomach is churning. Thankfully, it’s just nerves… now.  The stomach bug that laid me low, low, low last weekend has mostly passed. This does seem to be a dastardly bug that lingers for days. After eating, my stomach still cramps up and feels uneasy, but overall the worst has clearly passed.  Now I’m feeling a mix of excited, anxious, nervous, revved up, and anticipatory. Strangely India did not cause this level of uncertainty, though it’s hard to remember. I keep realizing that I’ll soon be in a place that does not speak English as a main language (as they do in India); where the altitude remains a big scary question mark, and where I’ll be called upon to put forth a physical effort that is well outside my general comfort zone. In case I haven’t been clear: I’m not an athlete. Serious cardio strain is not my thing. Ask me to come root for you while you run a marathon, and I’m your girl. Ask me to run with you and you’re in for a big let down.

So as our family convened in Vermont at my brother and sister-in-law’s super amazing eco home, tucked away on one of the most beautiful parcels of land possible, butterflies of doubt and anticipation kept mixing in with my on-going gut thingy. As one improves, the other intensifies. It may be an indication of age that I find myself more uncertain about adventure than I once was. In theory, the idea of seeing Machu Picchu and the Amazon thrills me to the core.  It’s the idea of getting to both places that triggers self-doubt and nerves. But ready or not, tomorrow depart.

This week was as successful a family get together as one could hope for with our posse. We’re a complex group of personalities and desires, but we never fail to entertain each other. There is a lot of laughing, which often includes the inhalation of liquids (or clams), snorting, fits of giggles that cause others to stare, and a deterioration of all propriety.  We are a goofy lot, or goofy a lot. This week was no exception. With three young teen boys, there was no shortage of Beavus and Butthead humor, and with too many exceptionally smart people (they would say) there was no shortage of debate about anything from global warming, the Paleo diet, sustainable living, Jenga strategy, the Paleo diet, frogs, Mexican train game strategy, biodiversity, the Paleo diet (mostly trying to talk sense into followers: Come to the dark side and eat these maple donuts with us!), potential future family vacation destinations, the weather forecast for Cuzco Peru (Smart Guy needs to proclaim the weather forecast or he isn’t really alive) and an endless list of other diverse subjects. We can argue debate discuss any subject to death and still end up in ridiculous bursts of laughter.

(<–The view of the perfect pond, from a perfect house)     Vermont is an exceptionally beautiful state and our family has been meeting there, in various locations, forever. Now that there’s a really special house to visit, it’s all the more alluring. It’s a state that forbids billboards and prided itself on earthy-granola-environmentalism long before most other states caught on. Sadly it was cold and rainy while we were there, as my brother-in -law wisely chose a property with a pond. He and I never met a pond or lake that we wouldn’t jump into, and

so he made sure there’s always one to jump in.  With the bad weather however, we got to watch the peaceful scene and listen to the abundance of frogs that their pond is home to, instead.  We walked the 100 acres, went for gelato, checked out Dartmouth (last time I was there was in college. I was young and single; this was a different kind of visit), played endless rounds of Jenga /Bananagram/and Mexican train game, sang Benny and the Jets more times than I can count, and ate an awful lot of BBQ while being lectured educated as to why all that meat was much better than carbs (Paleo nut. Nuts are good). No doubt it was all that anti-carb rhetoric that led us right to Captain Jack’s (in Easthampton, MA) on the way back to CT for fried clams. Ok, maybe we would have gotten the clams anyway, but we felt much more entitled to eat all those fried carbs. If truth be told, we ate a lot of french toast carbs as well. <–Smart Guy’s mom was the queen of french toast. Since her death two years ago, his dad has stepped up and taken the crown. Good stuff.  Basically we have activities that kill time between meals.

If you like lush greenness and pastoral splendor, it’s hard not to be happy in Vermont. Black and white cows dot the endless green hills and amazing barns, many of them 200 years and older, are common. Living in WA state, it’s easy to forget that people live in really old houses back East.  At home we think something’s old if it’s from the 1940s, but here 200 years is not at all unusual… especially in places like Hanover (where Dartmouth is) and the surrounding area. My brother/sister-in-laws house had lots of floor space for all the teens, and the rest of us rented an amazing house on a hill looking out over the area.  It was a dream house with cozy spots to curl up and read or daydream and a killer rope swing that we all took turns on, before leaving.  On the way out of town we also got to make a quick stop at Dan & Whit’s. “If (they) don’t have it, you don’t need it.” The place is packed floor to ceiling with anything you could possibly think you need.  It made me dizzy just walking around. And finally, the icing on the carb-free cake was the fireflies. Most of them seem to live in my brother/sister-in-law’s meadow, and when it got dark it was an amazing show. There were hundreds of twinkling lights!  One little guy got caught inside and we all watched him blink on the ceiling, as we oooh’ed and ahhhed.

There are times like this week when I wonder if we should have settled back here, where we are both from and where we always imagined we’d live one day. It’s great to see my kids laughing and fooling around with their cousins. It’s great to see us laughing and fooling around with our siblings and their families. These visits are rare and special; and in the moment it’s easy to imagine leaving the place we love and being closer to all this goodness.  It’s so wonderful to joke with my nieces and nephews (who I adore) and, feel like I’m surrounded by people who have known me since I was a kid… or a kid as young as my kid is now. I met my sister-in-law when she was in high school; now she’s one of my best friends. Her husband is forever my side-kick as we smirk and parry our way through visits. My brother-in-law and I were dear friends through college and now he and his wife have children close in age to our two younger kids, and we’ve shared many years of familial story boarding. Each year, as we all age mellow it gets better and better. It’s good to be where you are known and accepted for the good and the bad.  The fact that these are places that I spent my childhood and youth only adds to the magic.

Still I know that when I land back in Seattle in two weeks, whether I end up trekking all the way to Machu Picchu, or survive the potential anacondas and biting ants of the Amazon, I will be happy to be home. I only wonder about our decision to move so far away, when we are all laughing and having a good time here. The rest of the time I am certain that I am where I should be. As for tomorrow, the butterflies are bound to cause some difficulty sleeping tonight (that, or the fried clams). It’s all very exciting, despite any trepidation I feel. One of my nephews said to us today: “You guys are always going to such exciting places; we only go to moldy houses on the Cape!” (For the record: that’s not true; though they tend toward more traditional destinations).  In the meantime, before we leave there’s a lot of laundry to do, re-organizing of bags, and getting all the dressy stuff from this past week packed and ready to ship home. When we board the plane to Peru tomorrow, we do so without computers and cell phones. There’s bound to be some withdrawal to work through as we test ourselves on the Inca trail. There will be lots of amazing stuff to post when I get back, of that I’m certain. In the meantime I’m trying to get my mojo back and hope that this week of being laid low doesn’t bite me further on the trail. Testing myself will ease the sting of family withdrawal. I’ll be missing all these good laughs and knowing glances, the rib splitting moments that will hopefully sustain me when we land in the land of high mountains and magical jungle.  It’s been a great week, but tomorrow the real adventure begins.

Family reunion/vacations: wonderful or challenging? Do you live close to your family and where you grew up or did you move away? What brings you home? Does your family take adventurous vacations or stick to the comfortable path? Leave a comment.

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About Dawn Quyle Landau

Mother, Writer, treasure hunter, aging red head, and sushi lover. This is my view on life, "Straight up, with a twist––" because life is too short to be subtle! Featured blogger for Huffington Post, and followed on Twitter by LeBron James– for reasons beyond my comprehension.
This entry was posted in Aging, Awareness, Beautiful places, Blog, Daily Observations, Honest observations on many things, Humor, Life, Musings, My world, Parenting, Summer, Teens, travel, Writing and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to After The Bug

  1. Glad you’re better, have a wonderful time, look forward to hearing about it!

  2. mamaheidi60 says:

    So glad you are over the bug! And glad you had such a grand time with family! That’s the best. We have a family reunion on my Dad’s side of the family every summer. We choose different locations. We are all here in the Northwest and pick places in Washington or Oregon. For the first time, this year, we will meet for only one day because we’re a smaller crowd. My BIL always plans an adventure for Saturday – a hike that anyone can go on. I love our reunions and am proud of how our family has worked through some tensions over the years. We take turns picking the location and planning, communicating. The youngest generation, now 17-28 year olds also plan their own gatherings during the year. This year they will go to our family cabin for 4 days together. Adventure to us is choosing a new site to gather… Pretty comfortable I’d say.

    • I can only imagine that your family would be a fun group mamaheidi! Wish my family lived closer, or more of my family, but I´m glad that we all make such an effort to get together whenever we can. It´s a lot of effort, but well worth it. Thanks for supporting the blog and sharing your thoughts. 🙂

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My Dad just got his own Month!

This is my Dad. Douglas E. Beardsley. Towards the end of 2016 he was on the top of his world. He was serving as Bishop over the local church congregation. He was the head of the County Health Department with increasing roles and influence in Health services State and Nation wide. He had a healthy, united and growing family extending several generations in either direction. When everything is so good, where does one go from there?

For my dad, he came 2 centimeters away from brain dead.

The Symptoms

November 6th, 2016 was the last time I had a conversation with my dad the way I’d always known him. My family tried to Skype with my parents every Sunday. Sometimes we miss a week or two, but I am so grateful we made it work that day. But even then at the time, dad was miserable with a headache, and couldn’t participate all that much. He thought it was just a sinus infection, perhaps.

The next day, the symptoms became much more serious. Dad didn’t feel well, but he still attempted to go to work. He ate a guacamole waffle for breakfast and packed himself a bottle of syrup for lunch. He didn’t get much done at the office, because he couldn’t figure out why none of the application windows would open on his computer; it wasn’t even on. These mix-ups are admittedly a little funny, but they did indicate that something was very wrong. Mom came in and convinced dad to take a car ride with her, and she took him to the Hospital.

The Diagnosis

The scans showed that dad had a potato shaped swelling in his right Temporal Lobe. The Temporal Lobe is used to connect meaning to objects, which explains why he had trouble figuring out which foods go with what. But that specific location and shape of swelling also pointed to Herpes Simplex Encephalitis (HSE). A rare (only 2 cases per million population per year) complication from the otherwise harmless cold sore virus. While cold sores are dormant, the viruses “hibernate” in nerve cells around the mouth area. But every once in a while, the virus might travel up the nerve and sneak its way into the brain.

I began to google HSE right away, and my findings made my heart drop. “Without treatment, HSE results in rapid death in approximately 70% of cases; survivors suffer severe neurological damage.[1] When treated, HSE is still fatal in one-third of cases, and causes serious long-term neurological damage in over half of survivors. Twenty percent of treated patients recover with minor damage. Only a small population of survivors (2.5%) regain completely normal brain function.” – Wikipedia entry.

Statistically, he’d have better odds if he’d been shot through the heart with a gun (24.5% mortality rate) or had brain cancer (30-50% 5 year survival rate). I’ve graduated college with a degree in Biology and watched all 8 seasons of House twice, yet somehow this devastating illness has escaped my attention*. And it’s not like the virus is rare; over 50% of all Americans carry Herpes Simplex Virus I, it’s just that many are asymptomatic. This crisis was as “Out of the Blue” unexpected as possible.

*There was a House Episode featuring HSE, Season 2 Episode 19, but it was from the Herpes Virus type II (Gential Herpes) which is sexually transmitted and thus more avoidable.

The Treatment

Dad was rushed to the Neurology wing for treatment. Brain infections are difficult for both the body and doctors to treat, primarily because the Blood-Brain barrier limits what chemicals and antibodies can come in contact with the grey matter. Plus, viruses are already difficult to kill. The only medicine that really had an effect was Acyclovir, which interferes with the Viral DNA replication and slows it down, giving the body a better chance at catching up. Unfortunately, the only way the body can stop a virus in the brain is to kill off infected brain cells before they can spread the virus further. And every cell lost is permanent damage.

My brothers and I all flew/drove to Iowa as soon as we could. I first got to see dad on the 11th, which also happens to be my Birthday. The couple of days prior to my arrival, my dad’s condition seemed to be on the mend. But when my mom took me in to see dad, he’d had something of a lapse and was breathing through a tube as a precaution against seizures (the monitors had detected seizure activity, even though outward symptoms were not readily apparent).

Dad seemed miserable. He had a fever and a headache and just seemed exhausted. He couldn’t talk, couldn’t eat and couldn’t get out of bed (though he really tried his best and gave the nurses grief as they tried to convince him to stay connected to the machines). He hadn’t shaved since he was admitted, so mom brought his electric razor and gave him a trim. The blades caught and pulled on a few of his whiskers and made dad wince. It might sound odd, but I was so relieved to see such a familiar expression on his face, even if it was pain. It showed that my dad was still in there.

He got the tube out the next day, but he was still steadily feeling worse. His voice was weak, and he had trouble recognizing things, but he did manage to give me a “Happy Birthday Alan,” which felt so good it almost made me cry. Mom was a hero, because she got a doctor friend to take dad’s case and re-evaluate his progress. New scans showed that swelling in my dad’s brain was nearing critical levels. If it got much worse, he would be at risk of a mid-line shift (where the brain moves too far off center) or damaging pressure on the brain stem. They decided to give dad a Craniotomy and removed an iphone sized section of his skull to give emergency relief to the pressure.

Surprisingly, getting a 3″-5″ hole in his head made dad feel a lot better. He still was feeling really ill, but this was the point at which he started making a comeback. He began eating and talking more. He started getting up and walking around with help. At this point, the infection had spread to about half of his brain, but it seemed to be slowing down. And not a moment too soon, because the front line was only about 2 centimeters away from his brain stem. If it got to there, then it could very likely stop his heart and other vital functions.

The Recovery

I should mention that throughout this whole process dad’s sense of humor was spot on. I think he’d have to be dead before he’d be unable to throw out a quick pun. I was no longer scared for his life, barring any relapse of the infection. But the question on everyone’s mind now was how far could he recover?

Most of the friends and family seemed super optimistic. Maybe overly optimistic. A lot of people in the world can eventually make full recoveries from brain injuries, but many of those were cases of swelling from a traumatic injury or an infection of the meniscus layer around the grey matter. Once the pressure goes away, the brain can keep on just like before. But in my dad’s case, his brain would need to reteach itself a lot of skills and rebuild a lot of connections using the remaining healthy cells. Nothing is going to be gifted to him automatically.

Dad had to go 2 months before he could get his skull put back together. They’d kept the removed plate in the freezer until he was ready for it. In that time he’d already begun physical and speech therapy to help him get moving and gain some independence again. He made news headlines for using ballroom dancing as part of his exercise, using a traveling harness for safety.

So a quick list of things that my dad has retained, despite his injury: Dancing, a Quick Wit, his French Language skills, his Cooking skills, and his Religious Testimony. Things like his short term memory, naming objects and things, and getting the right date and location have been the most difficult, but those are hardly the really important things in life. He’ll still do funny things every now and then, like try to put two contact lenses into one eye or use the wrong condiment on his food, but those too are brief and easy to get past.

Moving on

My father is a great man. He was before, and he still is now. The people who know him love him, and those who have worked beside him respect him. Proof of that came on March 7th, 2017 when Johnson County Iowa proclaimed March to be Brain Injury Awareness Month. Dad stood in front of a board of County Directors and gave a short speech about his experience. You can access a recording of the proceedings at this link:

Also, here is a link to some of the news coverage about the declaration:–415660403.html

I’m glad that my dad is still with us, both mortally and mentally. He’s going to be able to enjoy years of great experiences and be able to watch my children grow up. I hope that anyone reading this can have an appreciation for the miracle of modern medicines and medical care, and recognize the power of Faith.

Many of you may know friends or family with Brain Injuries, or perhaps you’ve experienced them yourself. Know that society does care about you and that awareness is spreading. So if your County or State wants to get on board with Brain Injury Awareness Month, share these links and these stories. Thank you.

If I were President…

In this wing of my Blog I will make posts about ideas I have about the problems of micro and macro society. I am primarily interested in finding, forming and fixing good ideas. This is not a place for venting or slandering, and I do not intend to promote particular Parties or Politicians. Hopefully my ideas can stand on their own.

If you have suggestions to improve upon and idea given, or if you have information that gives evidence contrary to my idea, please speak up! I in no way suppose myself to be the end-all expert in these matters. Rather, I hope to be a caretaker and moderator of an intelligent conversation. Thank you!

Those Fleeting Little Things

Youth is ephemeral, and catching every special moment is important. But more so than the moments, I find I am loving, and missing the adorable habits and ticks that continually pop up and then disappear a week later.

It’s exciting when your baby learns a new trick. It might be a new syllable of speech, or it might be clapping their hands for the first time; and I expected to see them and dote over them as my boys developed. What I didn’t expect was that so many of them would only be temporary 😦

Myles discovered one day that he could make a clicking sound by popping his tongue off the roof of his mouth. He LOVED this trick. loved his trick. I’d click at him, and he’d actually respond in kind! It was our first little bit of verbal communication, and it felt so special.

And then one day, less than two weeks later, he just stopped. He’d moved onto the next new thing; babbling “ma, ma, ma, ma…” I think (which itself only lasted about a week). I was so sad to have that special little thing with Milo go away.

Sure, I could teach him how to click again after he’s older and understands instructions, but I feel it won’t be the same. It would feel too forced. It would be my thing and not his anymore.

All I can do is enjoy them while they last, and record them for memory in places like my blog. So here’s my list:

  • Remington used to hold his own feet while doing a diaper change.
  • Myles used to log roll to get to his destination, before he learned how to crawl.
  • Remi currently will take an item in his mouth and carry it across the room like a dog.
  • Myles used to stick his finger so far down his mouth after nursing that he’d sometimes gag himself.
  • Remi used to have his tongue out ALL THE TIME. Almost 24/7, when he wasn’t sucking on his pacifier.
  • Both Remi and Milo would do that “Indian call” when you tapped your hand or fingers over their mouths. Now only Milo still does it.
  • Both will smile so big that their eyes go all squinty; however Remington makes this particular face more than Myles.
  • Remington has always liked to rough-house, but Myles was so sweet that he’d cry whenever I pretended that he was “beating dad up.” I think by now he knows it’s not real.
  • They still love to be tickled, they think it’s funny when they bite your finger and you say “ouch!”, they will sit in front of each other for 10 minutes straight stealing one another’s paci and popping it in their own mouth, and they will naturally prefer any phone, remote control or power-cord over whatever toy you may try to offer.
  • Myles likes to do what I call “singing,” where he takes a deep breath and then just holds one long note for, like, 20 seconds. It’s just a step under screaming, but you can tell he’s just enjoying hearing himself drone on like a bagpipe.
  • Remi has begun to practice throwing a ball. He just bounces it on the ground in front of him, but it’s a good start.
  • Remi will raise both hands up in the air. This has become his indicator for more food or just to get our attention.
  • Both of them are learning how to clap. Myles has been going through the motions for about a month now, but Remington is just now catching on. One time, when he was supposed to be taking his nap, Jessica and I caught Remi sitting awake and practicing his hand clapping in his crib.

Some of these thing may fade, other may stick around for the long haul, but I expect I’ll miss most of them when they’re gone. I can’t say I haven’t been warned; “You’re gonna miss these times,” “They grow up so fast!” But I generally dismissed these because the bulk of my excitement was either in the mere fact of having twin boys, or imagining playing with and teaching them when they were older. Somebody should have been more specific 😦

Primary Elections: The Back-up Choice

If I were President…

… I would suggest that when voting for a candidate during the Primaries, voters are allowed to select a 2nd choice.

The common phrase I heard among friends and across social media this election year (2016) that it was a “Choice between two Evils.” Few seemed to be 100% behind their own candidate, but regarded him or her to be vastly preferable to the other.

The post of President of the United States is far too important to be decided by a fear of not winning. We should be giving our support to those we feel are the wisest, most honorable, and most qualified. But in the system’s current state, it’s weighted a little too far in favor of Celebrity and media saturation. With only one vote, no one wants to waste it on someone they fear is too obscure to get votes from others, no matter how qualified.

But what if we could eliminate, or at least mitigate that fear; the fear of a wasted vote? What if when casting our ballots, we were allowed to have a back up choice?

Here’s how it would work: The ballot would allow you to pick two candidates; your first choice and then a back-up one. Should your first choice candidate drop out of the running, your vote would automatically go to your second pick. This would be a logistical nightmare back in the days of pen and paper, but technology is at the point now that the programming should be pretty easy.

Mind you, I believe the 2nd pick ballot should be used in the Primary Elections when parties are picking their candidates, but I don’t think it’s necessary for the final Presidential Elections.

Everytime! Why do I keep falling for this?

Shamefully I must admit, I am a weak man. Every time I go to Dairy Queen or Chik Fil’A or restaurant, I always buy too large a size shake.

I love ice cream. Ice cream cones, ice cream shakes, ice cream snacks… It’s a big weakness of mine. I try to be responsible and smart about my snacking, but it can be hard to resist 2nds. Or 3rds… or… you get the drift.

But even my body, with all of its ice cream eating Spartan training, has its limits. I can eat myself sick if I don’t watch myself. And to make things worse, some of my favorite flavors are the ultra thick and rich, stuff-you-up-to-the-neck ones like Brownie Fudge and Cookie Dough. They’re just SOOO good and I want as much of it as I can, but I can only get halfway through a Large cup before it’s not much fun anymore 😦

I KNOW this about myself. I don’t know why I keep trying the same thing and expecting that things will be different. But they make it REALLY hard to buy just a small. I see the small, and it’s like $3.25. I’m thinking, “Yeesh, that’s expensive. I could almost buy a regular pint at that. Oh look, for just 40¢ more I can get a Medium. And for just 50¢ more than that I can get a Large! It would almost be irresponsible for me NOT to get the most bang for my buck. I should get a Large.”

How does one compete with a tag team of addictively good taste and marketing-ploy inflated perception of value? HOW!?

Endangered Species

My first post to my Story Slush Pile! Reminder, these are story ideas that I have thought of that I really like, but realistically don’t believe I’ll ever get around to writing. So my writer friends who want to poach, Have at it!

Imagine a world where computers and androids have long surpassed the intelligence and capabilities of humans. The great robot war to take over the world happened several hundred years ago, and mankind is reduced to a few pockets in hiding and a growing collection of captive humans kept as companion “pets.”

Instead of this being a story about a human resistance fighting to reclaim the planet, this story is told from the perspective of an android who is considering joining a growing movement trying to protect humans as an endangered species. Basically robot Tree-huggers and Hippies. These robots believe that man deserves to be respected for their role in creating them.

Naturally there are many machines that consider humans to be a lingering threat/a waste of precious resources, and consider such sentimental programming to be a flawed remnant of said human influence.

The fun of writing this book is trying to imagine what issues would be important to a cybernetic community: Should all robots be required to update to the most recent, most advance A.I. systems, or is there still value in the diversity the old and flawed models use? How serious of a crime is hacking, and how would it be punished? What regulations are there in regards to “reproduction,” and do the “offspring” go through an infant stage or do they jump out of the bow factory ready? Does one’s offspring have to match a certain number of its parent’s features, or can they be built as whatever one wants?

Energy consumption and storage space would be big issues. Androids lead something of a duel life; one where they are in a mobile, physical body, and one when they are just data on a drive. With A.I. programs so advanced, even high capacity storage drives can only handle a dozen or so “individuals” at a time, and with limited power supplies there were even fewer fully functioning bodies that could be up and running at any given time. Many less important programs already have had to resign to long term dormancy in storage devices, or settle for only partial uploads and functionality in lower tech machines.

I feel the conflict, climax and conclusion of the story could go many ways, but here’s the one that I through together because my brain would explode if it left the story hanging.

At a critical juncture in the robot world where the path of their future is hanging between strictly enforced efficiency and one of diversity and conservation, our protagonist android finds himself on the front line fighting for the preservation of the human race. He and his human pet are given a chance to prove their worth by a contest. The contest forms teams of three (Android, Computer, Android for example… or in the case of our protagonist it’s Android, Android, Human) and they have a set amount of time to present a solution to the world’s energy crisis. It is assumed that the slow, simple mind of a human would be an anchor holding back a team’s efficiency, but it would turn out that the blending of thought processes leads to greater creativity and scientific breakthroughs.

I got a lot of my inspiration for this idea from an interview I heard on the radio with Kevin Kelly, the author of a book, What Technology Wants. He talked about how technology evolves and disperses much like the living branches of the Animal Kingdom. He specifically touched on his theory of what will happen when tech surpasses the humans who made it, that instead of there being conflict that there would be a realization that the Universe can better be comprehended with a blending of minds; organic, computer, and whatever else there might be.

The Blessing of Balance with Twins

I’m not just talking about how it’s actually more comfortable to carry two car seats over moderate distances than just one, even though it is true, and is a great workout for the arms. But having two children of nearly equal standing I find gives the Universe unforeseen opportunities to teach you the value of the little things.

For starters; a short while ago Myles made us ecstatic by saying his first word. “Ma ma.” Okay, that’s somewhat a stretch. He was basically just playing with sounds in his mouth and happened to pop off in the middle of nursing, looked up into Jessica’s eyes and mumbled, “ma ma, ma ma ma ma ma…” I thought it was too unwieldy to be considered an actual word, but Jessica’s competitive and won the argument with a defiant, “It counts, dang it!”

Well, turnabout is fair play, and just a little over a week after that, Remington was chewing on his pacifier when he started to go, “da da, da da da da da…” While my logical mind knows that this 9 month old had no real idea what he was trying to do, hearing the sounds “Da da” reflexively plucked my heartstrings and made me feel so proud. This was when the idea was first brought up that we were blessed to have the opportunity to keep things balanced between the two twins.

When we go out shopping, we each get to take a baby in a separate cart, allowing us both to witness and enjoy the interactions of our boys and friendly strangers. When taking pictures we each get to hold a bouncing bundle of joy on our lap. But those are obvious benefits. Let me list a few that I feel are more unique to Milo and Remi.

  1. When feeding them baby food, Remington started off as a hearty and eager eater, more willing to try things like cereal, mango or avocado. But he also has a habit of putting his finger in his mouth right after taking a bite, which makes a mess. I hate food messes, btw. Myles can be a bit trickier to keep interested in eating his food, but at least he’s clean.
  2. Milo learned to crawl first, but in turn kinda skipped learning how to sit up on his own; a skill which Remi excels at.
  3. Remington love to rough-house, but Myles prefers silly faces and singing.

There are more, I’m sure, but I’ve gotta wrap things up sometime. If any of you have ever had twins, I’m sure you’ve felt a little of the same thing. Which is all part of God’s plan to reward parents who are willing to put up with double trouble.