happy birthday baby!

martha and I have two beautiful vibrant young girls.
I mentioned here some of the traits of our youngest leah.
today is the 13th birthday of our oldest daughter ava.

many of our friends remark how similar leah is to me,
kinda quirky, humorous, and naturally musical,
and how similar ava is to martha: very smart, gifted,
ambitious, and seriously beautiful. ava has already
appeared in a couple of independent films as an actress
and has been awarded so many trophies, ribbons,
and certificates for her accomplishments
as dancer and gymnast to need a bigger room.
she has been taking piano lessons for 7 years.
I love hearing her play. she gets better and better.
in fact, it amazes me all the things she does so well.

to me ava is the most impressive young person I know.

the postcard pictured here is from pisa, italy, of course.
when king crimson played a show here on june 26, 1996
martha had just come that day to join me on tour for a week.
we hadn't seen each other for a couple of weeks at that time
so it's no wonder martha is nearly completely certain
that it was on this date and at this place ava was conceived.

ava has given us so much joy and happiness.
no doubt, my best planned accident.