One Simpson Family Halloween

Amy-Lynn "Sonny" Bono & Chris "Cher"La Pierre


Ma & Pa

Susan Witchy Poo

Hunter Ghost Ninja Warrior

Thatcher channeling Milli-Vanilli

Hopey, cutest pumpkin in town

My date with Trevor Bumlap

Last night I was fortunate enough to spend the evening with a member of that celebrated 60s band "The Manchester Whankers". Trevor is most famous for his sensitive and lyrical rendition of "The Bottom of a Woman", but he had the moves and could bring the house down with "My Randy Woody", which he often performed while wearing a copper jock strap and little else! Other band members have faded away over the years or met tragic ends, but Trev has real staying power and will soon embark on a tour as the opening act for the comeback tour of Petula Clark.

Maia's Response to Bill's Questions

Hello there everyone-
Cool! I am now on the blog (or wiki)! So everyone can know what I am up to. Today I woke up around 6:00am to shower and have a little breakfast before I had to open the office at 7:00. I have officially really fucked up the telephones, but I´m trying to put that behind me. The director of the orphanage is here today. She frequents the orphanage on the weekends and stresses me out. Only two more days of this job! Whoo hoo!!! Tonight I am going to the bar (a 20 minute boat ride) to have a groovey time with my fellow volunteers. And no, there are only two volunteers from the U.S. including me. The rest are from Sweden, Denmark, Spain, and Canada. There are about 12 of us, but more will be arriving on Monday from their vacations. There are about 150 kids at the moment. Some of them have homes, others are pure orphans. Dad! way to go walking! Too bad about the old blisters. I haven´t worn any shoes but my flip flops. I brought too many clothes, and I haven´t washed any of them. Having enthusiasm to wash your clothes by hand is difficult to come by. There are a couple women who would wash my clothes for me, but I don´t want people touching my underwear. Oh, guess what? They have geckos everywhere here. And they make this cute little barking noise. Plus there is a horse named Pancho who always eats grass by my window in the morning. Okay, more later. Love you all. A shout out to my brother, buddy boy, and Sara. I miss you. Love Maia

A Walk To Portland

In order to enhance my faltering super-macho reputation, I walked up to Dave and Sara’s house in Portland (52 miles) on Thurs & Fri. It wasn’t bad except my crappy “hiking” shoes betrayed me, leaving my feet in shambles. To wit:
Anyone who knows the ins and outs of buying GOOD hiking shoes, please contact me with details.
Other sights along the road:

Traveling Outhouse

Mills on Saco River

You're saved--if you can decipher this sign!

Murder at the school bus stop.

Halloween 2004

I've been requested to qualify this posting. This from Jim. Please pardon the sloppy photo placement. I ain't got the hang of it yet and ain't inclined to mess around. These are from last year. Most are from Hunter's school parade. He's the the green guy who who just cast a spell on the photographer. His school principal is Buzz Lightyear. Carmen Miranda was in the Califon parade. The beautiful lavender crowned witch is Sue's friend Andrea. The last two. Well, what can I say. They speak for themselves. Marg's gettup is by any assessment, a classic. She and Laura won 1st prize in the Califon parade for that one. Although Marg loves all holidays, Halloween demands special attention. Her creativity shines forth. And of course it extends to all youngsters within her sphere. Any of you got kids in need of a costume? Give her a call.

Report from Maia on el Rio Dulce

Okay lets see. What can I tell you about the orphanage? I sleep on the bottom bunk, and no one else sleeps on the top. There is always the threat of spiders or scorpions climbing into bed with you, so I use a mosquito net at all times that I tuck tightly into my mattress. There is another bunk bed in my room, but no one is sleeping in it. The guy who lives with me is on break right now, so I have never met him. Everyone else lives in other rooms in the big volunteer house, and the walls are just mosquito netting, so we practically all live together. When someone goes to the bathroom, everyone knows it. The toilets don´t flush unless you pour some water down there. The showers are really refreshing, as the water is clean. They water is usually running all day and it turns out at night. Sometimes we have electricity, sometimes we don´t. I teach computer class at the moment, because I work in the office. There is usually electricity during these times. I don´t have much to teach most of the kids because they are already creating presentations in excel. I just let them play on the internet. The women who normally works in the office is a computer whiz, so when she get´s back, she´ll resume her classes. All the kids are looking forward to that. I am too, honestly. I hate working in the office. It´s boring most of the time with little blips of insane stress. Next week we have it all planned out that I will be a reading tutor, and an after school activity organizer. I am really looking forward to that. I´ll survive the office work. Last night we all went to the bar at the hotel. We all took the boat, went out to dinner (and had something other than rice and beans to eat) and then went to the bar. I had a CHEDDAR CHEESE sandwich with french fries. Granted, it wasn´t vermont cheddar, but it was GOOD, let me tell you. Later that night I met up with Norman. It is so nice to see him. He is the cutest, most beautiful Guatemalan guy you will ever see. Whoo, maybe I am in love? Whoa, I gotta go, they are turning off the electricity!
LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!
-Maia

the wisdom of the welsh

today, just before her first deep water dive, elizabeth mary shaffer simpson muttered her first full sentence. it was difficult to be sure, but her words were deciphered as such: a spoon does not know the taste of soup, daddy, nor does a learned fool the taste of wisdom.

of a slightly more sublime nature

Sometimes by Sheenagh Pugh

Sometimes things don't go, after all,

from bad to worse. Some years, muscadel

faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don't fail,

sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.

A people sometimes will step back from war;

elect an honest man; decide they care

enough, that they can't leave some stranger poor.

Some men become what they were born for.

Sometimes our best efforts do not go

amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to.

The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow

that seemed hard frozen; may it happen for you.

pics for the hunties

as per your request, nup pics:

California Report

Sorry for my absence but Wendy and I have been working on making housing affordable in California and haven’t finished yet. Alex and Liz are ensconced at University of California, Irvine and very much enjoying it. We have heard party stories and occasional class stories. I was were surprised to learn that students drink alcoholic beverages in college. Alex is majoring in the humanities, while Liz is still undecided but is considering International Studies and Anthropology. Midterms are upon them already. Not much time in a ten week quarter. The girls just turned 18 so they don’t have to ask us if they can join the Army.

The house is very quiet without them; however, Yellen Helen is filling the void. She is trying to make the jump from age 11 to age 18 in one swell foop. On the other end of the spectrum my mom will be 91 in December and is going strong. With the girls living at college, there are guestrooms available at here Villa Gorilla (Hint).

We are all sorry we missed the wedding and seeing all of you. How about some more wedding pictures? Did the father of the bride do his stand up routine?

WB & Alitabit

Bill,
Sounds like a great visit. Thanks for your personal sentiment. No need to excuse yourself; it would be a good thing if we could be more expressive of our feelings and emotions. Since you couldn’t put up a photo, I’ll put one up from a few weeks ago when WB was 87.95 years old. Plus a shot of Alitabit doing some heavy reading on the same day.

88

sorry i forgot my camera today cause the old boy & the little kid both had plenty of chocolate on their lips & cheeks after inhaling the dub's 88th birthday cake. wb was in fine form, reminding all present that he was "still a tiger at 88," and that he "could whip all six of my boys, one at a time."

we discussed mr. dimmock, higgins boats, his desire to see buffalo (wasn't sure if he meant the city or the beast), and, of course, the mother.

so happy birthday to the oldest male member of the family. his sister, elizabeth, remains the oldest member of the family at, i believe, correct me if i'm wrong, huntie (wherever you are), 91. little elizabeth mary shaffer, at 13 months this thursday, remains the youngest, though i predict either josh or perhaps chris will alter this reality soon. my bride 2 is pushing for 2.

excuse my moment of sentiment, but watching the dub & the lil bull (alitabit) earlier today makes me love you all despite our differences & many 'tutes.

The Eyes Have It

The eyes of multiple female attendees light up in anticipation of catching the bride's bouquet. Like young ladies everywhere, they can hardly wait to find the "right" guy with whom to continue the human strain.

Wiki It Is

OK, at Bill's request I've changed the blog to "The Simpson Family Wiki." But it probably won't be a wiki for long, cuz I the blogmeister. For your additional edification, here's a shot of Mary and sister Linda mudding up for the nups. Are they hot or what?

truth

it occurs to me that this is actually a wiki, not a blog, so this should be called the simpson family wiki. a small matter, you say, yes, but accuracy is a beautiful thing.

a blog, or web log are the fruits of a single mind whereas a wiki, like the wikipedia, are the fruits of many minds, collectively ours, for better, boring, or worse.

sorry, i had minute whilst pages were spewing from my printer.

Where's Huntie?

the power comes to maine

white house rascal jack the mad man hughes and his CIA sidekick in charge of taming domestic unrest, nigie nooglenocker, sip brown and discuss the fate of the planet after joyfully celebrating the nuptials of syd malmquest and his bride samantha

Maia Goes to Guat

Maia has arrived at the Children's Village, Casa Guatemala, Rio Dulce, Guatemala. Her email address remains chimpzu@gmail.com, but I don't know how much access she has to a computer. She said she'd send email reports, which I'll forward to anyone who's interested. You might want to look at the Casa Guatemala website to get an idea of what she's involved with down there. I also put the link on the Links List.

Let There Be Photos

As the pics start streaming in from various attendees, I'll be posting the good, bad and the ugly. Let me know when you've had enough...I for one could look at them all day long.

who be me?

uncertain of her true identity, elizabeth mary shaffer simpson goes to the farm to see if she's a baby in sheep's clothing or perhaps just a cow. time will tell.

12 Towns in 48 Hours

We spent two days exploring various towns on the mid-coast of Maine. First stop was Wiscasset, home of "Reds" where one can get the "best" lobster roll around and the antiques are great. Grandma would have been impressed. We had lunch in Damariscotta, drove through Rockport and Rockland and then nestled into our B&B in Camden. What a lovely place The Hartstone Inn is. Champagne and chocolate covered strawberries were waiting in our room. Yesterday we went to Belfast for cappuccino and vintage martini glasses and then drove to the top of Mount Battie where the views are unbelievable. Did you know that Camden has a Toboggan Run where you can get up speeds close to 35-40 miles per hour??? We'll be back. Once the flakes start to fall....