Amelia visited us in Santa Rosa for a week from 30 June, 1999. She wanted to meet her sister Merinda. I am the only child of two only children, so I have no idea what it is like to have siblings. Amelia is enjoying it, however, as will be obvious.

Merinda getting the feel for water in a play pool, Amelia getting the feel of a real live baby sister. The weather was California-solar for the whole time. Once we learned to cover the pool at night, it could reach 40C. The shade is provided by tree or umbrella or hat or nothing. (Perhaps the perfect symbol of this weather is given by Steve Martin playing the comic weatherman who tapes his meterological reports days ahead, and who, wearing a pith helmet, tosses small magnetic sun symbols at the map of California like a ninja spraying shuriken: Who bothers with a weather report at times like this?)

Of course, a week allowed Amelia and I to get to know each other as well. We had some good water fights in the pool, using Meri's bath toys as weapons.

I wrote Meri's "Diary Page" for the week:

Dear Diary,

twenty-seven weeks, kiddo.
This is my big sister, so don't you mess with us. She can make my bath toys squirt water. She and dad have been practicing. Looks fierce, but they stop and smile at me occasionally, and they laugh a lot, so I know it is really OK.

This big bath in the back garden is really a good thing. Whenever I feel like a swim, I just have to pee on someone, and in no time we are out here, splashing about. Warm liquid speaks louder than wails.

Meri thought this new beastie was interesting. Perhaps the weather and the setting (under the Faraway Tree) and the nudity did it for her, but she missed Amelia the next week, and has not even yet, a month later, returned to sleeping the whole night.

I was surrounded by women all week. Meri seems to be the queen of the roost, here overseeing her queendom. It won't be so when the cuteness fades, but for now....

The tree figured a lot in the plot. Amelia and I adorned it with ladders and swings, and so on. Kay and I want Meri to be brave, and we have visions of her having a tree house. This is a garden for Summer fun. In the mean time, Amelia played the Sherwood Forest role.

This brings us to the end of the first day... it is going to be a long week!

We visited Calistoga and the hot springs. Meri was quite getting the hang of the splashing and general aquatic fooling around stuff. Sisters can be handy!

Amelia proved to have an absolute gift for the "Surgical Strike" with a spoonful of soup into the mouth. Meri had just started to eat "real" food, but was willing only to entertain the idea of curried fish soup. We got a lot of the stuff on sleeves and shirts, but a lot went in too. Why does this sort of thing happen when I wear white?

Meri had grown old enough to appreciate her train set, and we had a great time laying it about the house. I reminded Amelia how Jan and I tried to talk her into such toys as train sets, but she wanted only "newborn" dolls and such like---puke!
At the instant of this photograph, each sister was a bit more interested in the other than the train (which is trundling off around some distant loop of track). Amelia tried to recant her stance on rail, but she has a long way to catch up.

The 4th of July means a long weekend, and fireworks. We went to Geoffrey's place for a party and fireworks, and it proved to be a superb evening. Even Amelia was caught up in the excitement. Later in the evening we moved out into the street to share the rush with the neighbours... they had some utterly wonderful (and very illegal) pyrotechnics! Ah, the boyhood memories. It was too dark to take a photo, but the sight of Kay with her hands cupped over Meri's ears, Meri meanwhile dozing off despite the continuous sound of small-arms fire, and of Amelia agog at the close proximity of the projectile fireworks, represented something of an attitude reversal.

Meri loves the camera, so we played around with it a lot - hey, e-film is free. Most photos dd not come out, this one has some charm. It is only a hint of what is to come; At Jan's suggestion, Kay set up a portrait session, terribly American a habit.

Amelia and I visited Healdsburg, listened to some busking in the square. Meri needed a change... when it's only pee, there's a fight for the job. Amelia got it this time.

Back in SR, we spotted a machine, like a photo-booth, but that puts your image on one of a selected set of humourous backgrounds. That machine made a lot of money out of us (considering how simple it must have been on the inside).

As I said, Kay organised a portrait in the shop in the mall. One of the (many) places that does this sort of thing, real hang-in-your-office, finger-down-throat, typical-American, gooey family affairs. It may be awfully-awfully, but it was fun and I do actually get a kick from the pictures... thanks Jan, thanks Kay.

Meri plays the cute card again, of course, with her little mohawk hairdo, and rosy cheeks, and Amelia looks so grown up and beautiful. (Tara could not believe how old Amelia wasn't, after she asked.)

Well this is supposed to be about these sisters, so enough of me.
Here we try to show off the two kids. Amelia is actually wearing a Pooh jumper, but it looks for all the world like a footy-shirt that could be swiped from a brother, so she does not wind up looking younger at all. Tigger knew to keep stum on this one.

Another sister shot, and Meri's got the damn cute act on again. You would think she was a show girl!

Amelia coped very well with being only the second-cutest thing around. It's hard when the little sucker cannot even talk and she reduces everyone to silliness and steals the limelight. Life is like that.