I am a South Jersey Friend and dad with a love out of outreach and a passion for looking afresh at Friends' testimonies, language and practices. I am the publisher of Quaker Quaker, a community site for Friends, and write about online publicity, organizing and design on my business site at MartinKelley.com.
Kids
More pics over on the Flickr account. The afternoon ritual is to run off to an outdoor adventure when Francis wakes up from his nap. Favorite spot: the lake park. Here are the boys on top of the lifeguard stand.
Bike ride to Pleasant Mills - a set on Flickr, originally uploaded by martin_kelley.
Francis and I had a nice 22 mi. bike ride on Saturday. Lots of back roads through blueberry fields, and a good off-road jaunt past carnivorous plants, orchid-filled bogs and mosquitoes galore. Full set of Flickr pictures here. (Julie & Theo were busy hanging out with the bishop instead),
Sorry I've been awol on the blog lately. What a crazy few weeks this has been, as those who know my alter-ego can probably imagine. Not to be a scrooge but when did Christmas become such a monstrosity? I'm looking forward to a few stolen moments with family, hopefully with minimal sniffles all around.Anyone liking music might want to try out Jango.com. It's the best implementation of a social music playing/recommendation service I've seen so far. It's in beta testing and there's still some kinks to work out. My user account looks to be here, though I should give warning that the current band list is overly influenced by a jokey classic rock lineup I put in (next up: a high school highlight station only Pam might love).
To the right: gratuitous cute kid pic. Theo traced all the letters in black ink. There's an accompanying video too. Update: and here it is below.
Since I use this blog as a bit of a personal journal, to remember dates and happenings, I should dutifully note that last night was the time four year old Theo pushed two year old Francis off the footstool while brushing teeth, causing said Francis to fall precipitously against the bathtub and open a nasty gash in his chin. Three hours and a Martin/Francis emergency room visit later there were four stitches in the poor guy's chin. I'll spare you all a description of the initial mess or the difficulty of holding down a screaming child while the doctor tries to put the stitches in. Everything is fine now. And no, no photos or Youtube videos of the proceedings. Maybe I'll snap a picture of the stitches so Francis can see just where that scar came from!

The Batsto Village Halloween party wasn't quite so much fun this year: their website didn't mention that most activities ended part-way through the afternoon so that the organizers could sit in front of the old houses giving out candy. We arrived on the late side so no face painting or pony rides for the
Right: rare video footage of a Genus Franciscus Butterfly in migration.

The town parade was postponed by rain again last night but as the butterfly boys were all dressed up we ducked into our favorite pizza shop for some mozzarella sticks and a slice of bruchetta-topped tomato pie. We got out without inflicting any major structural damage or physical injury, though Theo was only a twist or two away from destroying one of their neon signs. Rumor has it that the parade will happen next Tuesday though if the weather cooperates we should have pictures of the Batsto Village halloween before that (last year's pics).
(Still working on getting comments and Twitter to show up properly.)
Older Entries
- Railroad & farm weekend in Lancaster. This weekend we took off for a family trip to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania--Julie and me, the kids and my... October 17, 2007 7:43 PM. View Comments
- Let's go fly a kite. Theo with his first kite, a dollar-store special from his birthday party. Note matching shirt: is the kid flying... September 5, 2007 2:03 AM. View Comments
- Scenes from a birthdays party: Theo (4) & Francis (2). Photos clockwise: Theo blows out the birthday ice cream cake's 4 candle; kids huddle around when box opens to... September 4, 2007 2:53 PM. View Comments
- Partytime prep. Photo: Sleeping Francis helps Martin in lawn work getting ready for Saturday's birthday party Enlarged photo. Sleeping Theo was... August 31, 2007 9:04 PM. View Comments
- Francis turns two. Martin and Theo celebrated Francis's second birthday with an afternoon outing to fav spot Batsto Lake. Photos: Francis laughs by... August 29, 2007 8:22 PM. View Comments
- Yummy eats en route to Ohio. More back blogging from our Ohio trip, this photo from a vegan eatery a few miles off a rural... August 29, 2007 6:56 AM. View Comments
- The Young Conservative. Francis on the cover of the mock magazine.Photo: A new publication of the Neo Post Convergent Diaper Set. An... August 29, 2007 6:22 AM. View Comments
- Lead-painted toys? Aye-Yeash!. The Times has a fasincating article on the rise of recalls on Chinese-made toys over the last few years. Two... June 19, 2007 6:38 AM. View Comments
- Some gratuitious family pics. In the What a Difference a Year Makes (or Doesn't) Department: Julie took the kids out to South Jersey's fabled... June 14, 2007 7:36 AM. View Comments
- I too can buy kid clothes!. A possible addition to my page of odd search phrases that bring people to my site is this one... June 1, 2007 5:09 PM. View Comments
- TV love songs. As promised the other day, Francis singing the Elmo song: For fairness sake, here's Theo with the Thomas/Gordan song:... May 2, 2007 1:14 PM. View Comments
- Theo & Francis Pictures. Latest Photos More Photos are on our Flickr Kids page. For stories and movies check out the Theo and Francis... March 27, 1967 8:00 PM. View Comments











