Visits to the greater
New Jersey area
and to Texas

June 2000

April 25, 2000    Felix joined the jet set in April. He flew with his parents to the fatherland and rode from there in a rented car to the motherland. Not only did the visit involve meeting three of his four great-grandparents, but Felix also encountered his first dandelion gone to seed and he made several major water crossings.

May 5, 2000 Felix made his second visit to the U.S. eastern seaboard. He limited his excursion to New England, where he stayed in a hotel, visited a hospice, laughed at a wedding, and went to a brewpub.

June 16, 2000 For father's day, Felix took his dad and his food supply to east Texas. While there, he got kissed by a dog, met the fourth member of the great-grandparent quartet, and learned to swim under the supervision of his cousin.

Figure 1

Felix's trips to visit family have amounted to several thousand miles in the air and several hundred miles on the ground. We learned quickly that driving with a Felix takes more time than driving without a Felix. Paradoxically, flying with Felix is no slower than flying without Felix, but it does involve more trips to the lavatory.

Figure 3: Eastern Seaboard drives

Table 1: Aircraft types used by Felix Sloo

Routings:
BWI-SFO
IAH-SFO

* * *

Changing tables in all lavatories.
Interesting, buzzy control noises, especially for flaps and slats.

Figure 4: Alaina and Felix are in row 15 of this UAL A320

Routing:
SFO-BOS

*

Long cabin means more congestion.
No changing tables found.

Routings:
SFO-BDL
SFO-IAH

* * *

A short cabin is a pleasant cabin.
Changing tables in all lavatories.

Routing:
BOS-SFO

* *

Good seating layout for travelling with either two parents or one.
Tight interrow spacing for car seat.
Changing table in one lavatory.
Spacious rear galley for dancing.

Figure 5: Felix and Glenn discuss matters

During the first stop, Felix and his paternal grandfather discussed important matters. Presumably Felix got lessons in humor and tips on making pickle sandwiches. His grandfather surely heard a disquisition on the subject of milk as well as some pointers on diaper brands.

Figure 6

How is Felix related to whom?   It is possible that you, the reader, have managed to avoid one of the successive waves of interest in geneology. It's unlikely, as these waves strike approximately once a generation. But for clarity and completeness, and because the waves miss occasional individuals, here is the low-down on the English terms for cousins and their descendents.

Stacy and David are first cousins, because they are children of siblings. Felix and Madeleine are second cousins, because they are children of first cousins. Felix is Stacy's first cousin, once removed. The once removed part stands for 'one generation removed'. Similarly, Felix is Stacy's first cousin, once removed. That's how it works in U.S. courts and among geneologists nowadays. It turns out that Madeleine is Connie's grand-neice among geneologists but her great-neice in most courts.

Figure 7: Herb gets an earful

Felix is good at listening deadpan, even when the joke is actually funny. His great-grandfather Herb readily admits that not all jokes are actually funny. Both Felix's parents grew up in the post-joke era, which we like to think of as the Age of Quips. We can't really tell a story, at least aloud, and we're both bad at remembering slightly racy jokes. It's a good thing that grandparents and great-grandparents can introduce Felix to the value of spoken stories and the real need to keep people laughing with a deep supply of jokes.

New people are acceptable Felix remains healthily phlegmatic on meeting new people. He is rarely too skeptical, and he is never skeptical if new acquaintances lunge at him with a bottle full of milk.

Felix likes to dance, and he no doubt could sense that his great-grandfather Harry is a keen and lifelong dancer—someone who knows how to lead with an deft touch, and also someone who knows the subtle local differences between cha-cha steps up and down the Americas.

Figure 8: Harry will help Felix with the fine points of leading an Argentine tango

Figure 9

We realized in the course of introducing Felix to his family that he has more hair on his head than most of his male relatives

Felix is interested in certain flowers, and has been all of his life. When he was a couple of weeks old, he displayed a preference for certain flowers in our garden, all of them fragrant. We based our estimates of his preference by the amount of time he would stay calm next to the flower, breathing intently. In this original olfactory test, Smell Assay Alpha, he established the following pecking order:

1. Apple blossom
2. Jasmine
3. Lilac

The particular violet that Pearle is holding in figure 5 was slightly fragrant. Felix displayed slight interest, but we determined that the growth habit of violets puts them at a disadvantage for entry into a Smell Assay. Violets have a spreading, ground-covery sort of habit, whereas apple, lilac, and jasmine all concentrate their blossoms at grownup-arm level, making it easy for the tester to be positioned correctly.

In the upcoming Smell Assay Beta, we will make an effort to control for factors like growth habit.

Figure 11: Pearle helps Felix develop his sense of smell and of a well-kept house

Figure 12: Deirdre and Felix talk backstroke

Deirdre, who is making great strides in her discovery of pronouns, gave Felix wide samplings. Deirdre would, every few hours, excitedly point out, 'She's my cousin Felix'. When feeling particularly interactive, Deirdre said such things as 'I want to hold her; she's my cousin Felix. She's crying. You don't have to cry, my cousin Felix.'

Mark Twain once published an English phrase book for foreign travellers in the United States in which it is clearly explained that the articles a and an are for the masculine and feminine genders, respectively: a shoes but an quater grandmother. We didn't notice any of this article sensitivity in Deirdre's speech.

Table 3: Major water crossings undertaken by Felix Sloo

Figure 13

At about fourteen weeks, Felix's central utility administration turned on the saliva pipes. Cuddling generally ends up a moist affair. Other parents have suggested that we can dip all of our clothing in a water-resistant, flexible material such as creosote or driveway sealant.

Figure 14

Figure 15: Second swim

It was nearly body temperature in the pool near Houston and nearly body temperature in the air above the pool, so Felix and I went for a swim. He was a bit hesitant at first, but he quickly decided that this Bathtub of the Titans offered the same splooshing opportunities as the more modest indoor bathtubs at home. This all bodes well for a visit to the tropical Pacific or even just a big lake closer to home.