Thomas is 19!

Thomas pleasantly surprised that anyone bothered to give him presents. (That cake is an ice cream cake, Mocha Mud:As he opened each package he said, "What's that for?"We got Thomas a waffle maker. He asks for waffles every other day. Now he can make them anytime he wants them. (I'm betting that won't be often.)Birthday card for Thomas from Frederick.Here is a set of cupcakes all for Thomas from the Kitchen of Frederick.

Frederick Crafts

Frederick has been very crafty lately. Some lucky bird gets to move into this bright purple house.And Friday he came home from Emily's with a giant two-layer purple cake--and it wasn't even anyone's birthday!

Bass update

Ok, so the pick ups (the things that sense the noise made by the strings) are installed. Next step is connecting the wires from the pick ups to the controls for volume, "tone" (switching from treble to bass and back) and a switch from the pair of pick ups to the back pick up), and of course the connection to the jack on the side of the bass that I plug the power cord into. Here is a schematic that tells me how to hook everything up. THe directions are close to useless ("Take out the old parts. Remember how they were connected. Connect the new parts.") I ordered the pick ups and the controls at the same time, but the controls haven't showed up yet. According to Amazon, they will show up between August 28 and Septemer 25th. This is annoying as I really wanted to get this done before the Fall semester started, because once that starts, I won't have time for farting around with solder--which I dread. Here is the space that will hold the controls: This has been a very educational experience. And like all educational experiences, it has been frustrating, confusing, stressful and rewarding.

Thomas visits Bristol

Sam, Sophy (aunt), Martha, Grandpa and the man himself, all posing in front of the most famous architectural feature of Bristol, which is the suspension bridge (the world's first?) designed by Isembard Kingdom Brunel (fun fact: I went to school with a kid called Jason Kingdom who was his distant relative).  Grandpa exhausted by all the driving, as Bristol is a good trek from Exeter, and he was to drive to Heathrow scant hours later...

Bass update

Here it is so far. I stripped all the plastic coatings and black paint off--there were several alternating layers of kinds of plastic coating so that was a helluva job. After working that hard to get down to the wood, I couldn't bring myself to just paint over it. So I decided to dye the wood. Good luck to anyone who tries to get the blue off--it's soaked in good and deep. Now I have to install brand new electrics (so many choices, it's all a bit overwhelming) and the hardware (that was in good shape, I am reusing the old stuff there--except for the three knobs as it came from the pawn shop without knobs so I bought three new ones).

This hasn't exactly been a fun project, but it has been educational.

Thomas's heroic self-image

I've been badgering Thomas to send photos from his phone that Grandpa has been telling me exist and he had finally relented.  They reveal a disturbing Napoleon complex...

Thomas's heroic Cornish trek

Thomas was dropped off about ten miles away from St. Ives in Cornwall while the wrinklies drove on and sat and waited for him in the comforts of the hotel.  Here he is, recovering from the unfamiliar experience of "being outside".  Apparently shortly thereafter he was off looking for more!  "I could get used to this, what do they call it?  "Sunlight"?"
[Update: he escaped the sunlight inside the Tate (St. Ives is very arty and has tons of museums, which Thomas, young fogey that he is, gravitates towards).  Margaret can be seen in the bottom right of the frame, keeping a respectful distance.  Grandpa grumbled that his job was to circle St. Ives in the car and be on call when either of Margaret or Thomas had their fill of culture.  What, uninterrupted Radio 4 listening at whatever volume level he wanted?  You know he loved it really.]

Thomas's culinary exploits continue

After dragging his Grandpa round various museums, Thomas rewards him with a nice pizza and this salad.  Sadly I fear Thomas will leave his culinary ambitions behind him in Blighty, as we have never seen him do more than add milk to his cereal.  (Granny also reports he made cookies while they were out.  I think he's played a video game about making cookies while WE were out...)