My dad got his first Covid-19 vaccine this morning. He’s got an appointment for the second shot next month. I booked it for him shortly after they opened for reservations. I think it’s probably pretty common for “kids” to book for their elderly parents. It feels a lot like trying to get concert tickets—you don’t mess around.
Greg would’ve been 41 today. Instead he’s forever 18. Here we are about age 4 or 5.
As an art teacher myself, I often think about the art teachers I’ve had over the years so I felt great disappointment this morning when I learned that Allan Jensen, my former jr. high and high school art teacher, died this week. No further details were given.
Along with being a great art teacher, I remember him most fondly for organizing and chaperoning a school trip to Japan in 1993.
He’s the one pictured on the far right. That trip was a once in a lifetime influence on me. I will always appreciate the art lessons and the inspiration.
This has been a tough year. He’s the forth person I knew personally that has died in 2020.
Update: Here is his obituary.
Allan Jensen
1941 – 2020
It is with great sadness that we, the family, announce the passing of Allan Christian John Jensen in Medicine Hat on Saturday, December 26, 2020, at the age of 79 years. He is survived by his half sister, Evelyn Schafer as well as four nephews and their families. He was predeceased by his mother and father; two half brothers, Alvin and Gordon Pfiefer as well as his close friend and brother-in-law, Richard Schafer. Allan was born on September 18, 1941, in Drumheller, Alberta. He was the youngest of four children to Ella and Peter Jensen. Allan began his teaching career in Munson, Alberta where he was the principal. He furthered his career at Crescent Heights High School in Medicine Hat as an art teacher, where he retired. Allan loved to travel and led tours around the world. He was heavily involved in the art and cultural community in Medicine Hat which was his greatest passion. A Celebration of Allan’s life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Allan’s name may be made directly to the Hat Art Club, 399 College Avenue S.E., Medicine Hat, T1A 3Y6 or to the charity of one’s choice.
“Do your parents like the Beatles?”
“My mom does.”
“But not your dad?”
“Well, now he’d probably say they’re ok, but as a kid he thought they were a bunch of wild long haired hippie teenagers. He’s not a Boomer you know. He’s part of ‘The Silent Generation’.”
“Silent Generation? I’ve never even heard that term before.”
“Yeah, that’s because they’re silent.”
We’re off for a family trip to California next week and a couple of days ago realized that not only are we losing an hour from the change in timezone, but we’ll also lose an hour because next week is the time change.
It occurred to us that this abrupt two hour change might be hard on our daughter, The Little NessMonster, so we’ve started advancing her bedtimes by 15 minutes per day. Her usual bedtime is at 7:00 and by the time we leave she’ll be going to bed at about 9:00pm which seems crazy but at the same time, it will make it easier for Halloween since we won’t have to worry about her being woken up by trick-or-treaters.
We’re very excited for California and despite widespread black-outs due to high winds, fires, and the dangers of fires from downed power lines… Palm Springs area isn’t supposed to be affected.
(via poweroutage.us)
Last week, we welcomed new baby boy, Ian, to our family. His stats: 9lbs (4.1 kg) and 20 1/2 inches (52cm). He likes snuggling, eating, sleeping, and processing food. Both mom and baby are doing great — most importantly… he’s a sweetheart.
A lot of people on social media couldn’t wait for 2016 to be over because, they believed, 2016 encompassed more than the usual number of unfortunate events for one year.
I haven’t checked but I’m pretty sure 2016 wasn’t worse than any other year. Of course, last year there were a couple of pretty impactful events. The UK’s decision to leave the European Union (Brexit) and the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States of America (Endpire1) are, no doubt, going to have lasting consequences.
However, for me, 2016 was one of the best years of my life and it flew by so fast, I can hardly believe it. The biggest highlight of course being that in 2016, Andrea and I got married.
Here’s a quick recap with links to a few of the blog posts I made last year:
Here’s hoping 2017 will bring many more great memories (and more blog posts).
1. As far as I know, I just coined the term “endpire” — meaning the end of an empire. Hopefully it catches on.
Andrea and I got married on Saturday. Sunshine filled the sky while love filled the air. We couldn’t be happier.
Yesterday afternoon in the park, we helped celebrate our friend Thomas’s birthday with a potluck and games. I played some chess, had my hand injured in a slack-line tightening incident (I’m fine), didn’t come in dead last at croquet, and ate some of the best devilled eggs and broccoli salad I’ve ever had. By all accounts, it was already a great afternoon, but then something amazing happened.
Thomas pulled out a volleyball and together with five others of us armed with croquet mallets, we spontaneously created the new lawn game and soon to be sensation, “Malletball”.
It was amazing how simple and yet complex the game was from the start. We cordoned off a small section of the park, using croquet gates to mark goal posts. We felt that it would be too difficult to score if one could just block with his body, but what would be the punishment if you did block? I came up with the idea that it should be a point for the other team if the ball touches you and Thomas added then that it would be five points for a goal. So quick; so perfect.
Probably the most amazing part was that despite swinging mallets at each other nobody got hurt. As long as Matthew’s smashed thumb doesn’t count as somebody. There were a few near misses. One time I raised my mallet up over my head to stop a flying ball, the end of the mallet unscrewed and came tumbling down nearly grazing my head… resulting in the birth of the no high-sticking rule.
Some other interesting developments, Thomas invented a way to juggle the ball in the air, I created a fairly inspiring “behind the back” maneuver, not to mention the ways we learned to flip the ball up to a teammate to try and hit it at an unsuspecting opponent. (Though it is easier said than done).
The teams were very even. We decided to finish at 100 points, and the final tally was 100 – 94. I can’t wait to try it again, perhaps with hockey nets next time.
Today Andrea and I said goodbye to our lovely dog Sascha. She hasn’t been doing well and eventually the time came that the kindest thing we could do for her was to euthanize.
Andrea got Sascha from a women, who got her from a family, who got her from a shelter, who got her from a family. As in, Andrea became her fifth and final family, way back in 2006.
The story goes that the woman couldn’t really keep Sascha but she didn’t want to return her to the shelter because she had already been to the shelter once and, according to the woman, if Sascha went back, there was a strong possibility she would be put down.
When Andrea and I started dating, she explained to me that she and Sascha went for walks in the coulee everyday. They were returning from one of those walks when I happened upon them in April of 2013. So, in a way, I have Sascha to thank for meeting Andrea.
She was so lovely. She will be missed.