Marcie's Page

Pregnancy Diaries: Ultrasound

2012-02-08T16:46:00.000-05:00

I had an ultrasound two months ago and got a picture of the little baby growing inside me. At that time it had a head and two tiny stumps for arms and two more for legs. There was plenty of room for it to float around. Today it still has a head and arms and legs, but they are bigger and more defined. The room is getting cramped, and even though I'm expanding to accommodate the growth, the baby is going to continue to feel squeezed until it's born.

For some reason I got very nervous right before I left for the appointment. I haven't felt any movement yet, and I guess I was afraid the technician would find a problem. I'd asked Kevin to go with me today because I wanted him to feel a part of this pregnancy but also because if there was something wrong, I'd have him for support. My OB will get the pictures in a couple of days and I'll see her next week, so there's still a chance for bad news but I'm feeling much better now, having seen the pictures today.

I had been instructed to drink 30 ounces of water an hour before the appointment so my bladder would be full and would push things into a good position for the ultrasound tech to get pictures. I knew there was no way I could hold 30 ounces of water (I could barely manage 14 ounces when I tried it earlier), so I just had lunch and drank normally, then didn't go to the bathroom for an hour before the appointment. The tech did some measurements, then let me use the ladies' room before coming back for fun pictures. She did more measurements, but she also printed some pictures for me to keep. The whole thing took nearly an hour, partly because the baby must have been sleeping with its head down, and the tech had to hunt for a good view. At one point she had me walk around a little, and the baby did start to move.

When she asked if we wanted to know the sex, we said no. I don't know that she could have found out anyway because of the position the baby was in. She seemed to have a hard time finding good opportunities for pictures, not frustrated--she never made me worry--just amused that the baby was hiding from the camera, so to speak.

It's still a little unreal to me that there will be a tiny new person in our apartment in about five months. Life truly is a miracle, and I feel so humble to be the means by which new life has been created and is forming. There's still a long way to go and sometimes I wonder if everything is still okay, but I often remind myself that women even a few decades ago didn't have the ultrasound confirmations. Women centuries ago didn't even have doctors to keep them on track or to play the heartbeats or to help with childbirth. It's definitely a learning experience in trusting God, even in these days of modern medicine and technology.

Super Bowl Reflections

2012-02-06T13:14:00.000-05:00

So the Giants beat the Patriots again in the Super Bowl. Looks like Tom Brady isn't the golden boy anymore, hasn't been for a while. Actually, I don't think he played that badly. I've seen him down in the fourth quarter and come back from seemingly impossible odds. But last night his receivers just weren't helping out. Two missed catches with seconds to go in the game? Not what a Super Bowl team should be doing.

We stayed home last night instead of watching with friends from church because I wasn't sure how I'd be affected emotionally. Dad grew up a Giants fan in the days before the Patriots were in New England, though he did become a Pats fan once they were in the area. I never know when the tears will come, and I was afraid they'd strike during the game and didn't want to be in a crowd should that happen.

As it turns out the game was less emotional for me than I thought, but Kevin and I had fun being on our own anyway. He cooked hamburgers on the Foreman grill and later made popcorn. The Doritos commercial was cute, with the dog bribing the cat owner into turning a blind eye to the cat's fate. (Although as a cat owner, I wasn't quite as amused as I might have been.) I usually like the Coke polar bears, but they didn't excite me that much this year. I kind of liked the eTrade "speed dating" baby, and the Audi one with the vampires disappearing in the headlights was cute. However, I don't remember being wowed by any of them. Also, I was less than thrilled by the halftime performance, but then I was never a Madonna fan.

The thing about grief, I'm realizing, is that it fades, and I'm not sure I'm ready for it to go away just yet. I am glad I'm generally not a sobbing mess about my dad, though I've certainly had those moments, but being able to think about him without crying means I'm healing and moving on. Moving on means facing a life without my dad, and I don't want that. I want to be able to hear his voice again or see him when we visit Virginia. I want him to meet his grandchild and teach him or her about the game of baseball and tell stories of when he was growing up. I at least want him to know we plan to honor him by using his name in some fashion when we name the baby.

The emotional side of me wants to continue the grieving because that way I can keep the memories fresh. I feel like I have to remember everything all the time because I don't want to forget any detail of life with my dad. But the rational side, the one that has to live day to day and interact with people knows I can't keep grieving. Not as deeply, anyway. I know I won't see him again, and I have to understand that it's okay not to be able to recall everything. I need to be able to talk about him and be reminded of him and still miss him without feeling like there's a whole in my heart. Right now I'm somewhere in the middle of the process. At times I'm definitely more emotional, but I'm also becoming more rational. The loss of his presence still hurts and I'm sure it's healthy to give in to tears sometimes, but I'm beginning to be able to talk about him without falling apart. My sister told me she doesn't want him to be forgotten, but stopping the grieving doesn't mean forgetting. It just means moving on. I can assure my sister, Dad will never be forgotten.

Pregnancy Diaries

2012-01-27T16:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the first day of month five. In some ways it's hard to believe I'm so far along, but I do have a definite baby bump and there was a nice heartbeat at my appointment this week, so it's becoming more real. I'm still looking forward to feeling some movement, which should happen in a couple of weeks or so.

I'm feeling much better now that I'm in the second trimester. My sense of smell has been reduced (thank goodness), and the dish soap doesn't bother me like it did. I ate my first salad a couple of weekends ago, so raw veggies are back in my diet. I'm eating way less protein (also thank goodness) and am thinking about adding whole wheat bread. I'm still not quite sure about that, but as I don't get nearly as queasy as I had been, maybe it would be okay. The cereal I have every morning has the entire daily amount of whole grains so I'm not worried about getting enough. It's just that when I eat bread I want to make sure it's healthy.

I have exactly one official maternity top, but it doesn't look maternity. I found some long, stretchy shirts at Target and will be wearing those more often, at least to work. What I wear at home doesn't matter as much. I'm weeding out my closet as most of my shirts and sweaters are now too short. Thankfully winter hasn't been nearly as cold or snowy as usual, and so I haven't needed my sweaters. I'm still sticking with waistband extenders and belly bands to cover my unzipped jeans, though I do tend to wear fleece lounge pants at home. I'm hoping not to have to buy maternity jeans or shorts, but time will tell. I also hope I can find loose dresses for summer. Unfortunately there's not a good maternity store nearby, so it'll depend on whatever I can find in regular clothes.

Right now I'm feeling pretty good. I keep telling myself to get more exercise, but time always seems to get away from me. Maybe once we change our clocks and it's still light after dinner, then Kevin and I can walk together again.

Bye, Dad

2012-01-23T16:04:00.007-05:00

George N. Pierson

October 22, 1947 – January 15, 2012

George N. Pierson, age 64, went to be with his Savior on January 15, 2012 after a short battle with cancer. He was born in 1947 in East Liverpool, Ohio to Charles (deceased) and Claudie Pierson, of Kentucky, and he had a sister Karen Sewall of New Hampshire. They moved to New Hampshire when he was young, where he married Sara Barker in 1971. They had two daughters, Marcie Brandriff of Massachusetts, and Julie Pierson of Leesburg. He also had a son-in-law, Kevin Brandriff of Massachusetts, and a grandchild on the way. After spending years in New Hampshire, Texas, and Ohio, the family moved to Virginia in 1987.

After his discharge from the Navy he attended the University of New Hampshire, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in history. He began his working career in human resources but also worked in retail and most recently was a call taker for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.

He was an avid worker of crossword puzzles and a big reader, loving everything from history to mysteries to classics. He also enjoyed gardening, especially raising roses, and wanted to join the Master Gardeners when he retired. He attended Cornerstone Chapel, where he loved teaching the adult Sunday Blble class. He was a lifelong Red Sox fan and also followed the New England Patriots, the Washington Nationals, and the Washington Capitals.

Services will be held Thursday January 19, 2012 at 2pm at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent in his name to Good Shepherd Alliance, 20684 Ashburn Road, Ashburn, VA 20147 (or donate online at http://www.loudounhomeless.org/FinancialContributions), or to the USO, Department WS, PO Box 96860, Washington, DC 20090-6860 (or donate online at http://www.uso.org/donate/).
obituary by Marcie, Julie, and Sara as posted on www.colonialfuneralhome.com

Mom called over the weekend with the news that Dad's cancer, diagnosed only weeks before as colon cancer but with a large tumor on his liver, was now considered advanced. He had been scheduled to start chemo, but the doctors discovered that the tumor was growing much faster than they thought and said chemo wouldn't do any good. Kevin and I had family over for dinner Saturday, and Sunday morning Mom called again saying the nurses were telling her to come to the hospital early to see him. I had a doctor's appointment Monday and was toying with the idea of going to Virginia right afterwards, but as Sunday morning went on Kevin and I decided we couldn't wait.

We drove down and arrived around 11:30 Sunday night. Dad had already passed on, but my mom and sister and his sister were there. His cousin, aunt, and mother arrived shortly before we did. I think that as soon as he got the latest news, he decided not to fight. He chose to go out with as much dignity as one can have in the hospital, surrounded by family. He didn't get to see me in person, but Mom did bring him a picture of my baby bump. He refused to believe I'd have a boy; he would only talk about a granddaughter. I will not be surprised if I have a girl on July 15, six months to the day after her grandfather died.

The memorial service was Thursday afternoon at Cornerstone Chapel. Both Pastor Gary and Pastor Vic officiated, which was the best solution as Dad would have been happy with either. To have both was an added bonus. It seemed like the entire Rust Library staff showed up along with several of Dad's coworkers, past and present. Of course many church members came, and so did Dad's longtime friend Bill, whom we haven't seen in years. All but one of Mom's siblings attended, and one is still staying with her, keeping her company as she learns to live with this new hole in her life.

We set up a memorabilia table in the fellowship hall, which people were welcome to browse during the reception we had after the service. The church placed flowers on the table in the sanctuary next to the ones Mom and I picked out. These are pictures I took of all that:

Flowers sent by Dad's aunt and cousins on his father's side. A Chinese (?) tea cup, a Texas coffee mug, and tissues put out by the funeral home staff.

Envelopes for donating to the charities my mom, sister, and I chose. The memorial cards for the service, and a photo of Dad.

Dad's photo, a mug from Border's where he used to work, an American flag, a yerba mate mug from our former Argentine exchange student Cecilia, his UNH mug and teabags, and the registry book.

His marked-up Bible, an elephant he bought while in the Navy (from India, I think), his Patriots cap, his Ohio State cap, and his beloved Red Sox hat.

The only award he kept from his time in the Navy, the tie I got him in Scotland, another picture (from senior year of high school, I think), a stack of his favorite books, and his Washington Nationals hat.

A photo collage Mom put together years ago, showing Dad and his family from many aspects of his life. There are also two belt buckles that I remember him wearing, a Noah's ark tie his Sunday School class loved, and a stuffed buffalo, his favorite animal.

This is what the sanctuary looked like, and the following are the flowers and plants on the table. The red ones are ones Mom and I chose because the basket included roses, which were his favorite. The box is his urn (he was cremated, and Mom figured he'd want to be in the plainest box they had), and the last bouquet is actually sitting on Mom's piano bench at home. It arrived at the church after I had taken pictures but before the service, so I photographed it later.

Mom and I chose these because of the red roses. Dad loved roses.

I don't regret anything from my relationship with my dad. I have cried and will continue to cry, but I feel like I'm mourning the future. There are so many things that will never happen now, and those things are what I miss. My child won't get to meet his or her grandfather; he and my mom won't get to retire and spend the next twenty years enjoying each other's company after forty years of supporting a family and raising kids; he won't see the Nationals win their first World Series; there will be no more letters arriving on Mondays from him, filled with weather reports, sports news, and clippings from the paper he thought I might be interested in; I won't get to hear his voice, attend another baseball game with him, discuss sports and politics and world news, compare gas prices, or work a crossword puzzle together.

This experience has reinforced for me the reason why I so much wanted kids. I had a great childhood and come from the best family ever. I have a heritage of loving the Lord and strong family bonds, and I couldn't wait to pass that down to the next generation. Unfortunately Dad won't be able to pass anything on himself, but the rest of us can. Not only will I teach my child about my dad but I'll also impart lessons learned from my grandparents, most of whom aren't around to speak for themselves either. Kevin's family is wonderful too, and together we'll create our own memories and and keep the legacy going.

Some random memories:

him giving me a wintergreen lifesaver before the sermon on Sundays
attending an Orioles-Angels game with our exchange student and Dad explaining the finer points of baseball to a girl who was not sports-minded (she seemed to enjoy herself, but we didn't stay the whole game)
the t-shirts he'd bring back after business trips and the real turquoise necklace he gave me for my birthday that he got in New Mexico, which I still have
seeing him reading his Bible every morning, even on vacation
putting up with an extremely disappointed ten-year-old who wouldn't get to see her favorite singer in concert because we had to move--and then taking her to see that same singer for her birthday the next year
painting the shutters together and turning over the boards on the porch railing (and him letting my tool-challenged husband use a hammer)
him coaching my soccer team in second grade and putting up with my bassoon practicing in high school
teaching me to drive, to make scrambled eggs, and to polish my shoes (he would line his shoes up in front of the couch every Saturday and polish them while watching sports, whether they needed it or not)
his efforts to make the perfect pie crust from my great aunt's recipe and his brownies with the peppermint patties in the middle
helping me move in and out of college dorms and my many apartments
reading Judy Blume out loud when I was around nine
insisting on wearing a suit to my casual, outdoor wedding and including my favorite color (purple) and the tie I got him in Scotland
when I was in seventh grade, we'd play Jeopardy on the computer so many times we had the questions memorized
hearing stories of his time in the Navy and about the time the Beach Boys played Hampton Beach and trashed their room in the hotel/restaurant where he was working

I never heard him say "I love you," but I knew he did. Perhaps I should have told him I loved him, but in our family deeds speak louder than words. I could add so much more to the list of memories, but each one would have "I love you" written between the letters.

Goodbye, Daddy. I miss you, but I'll see you again one day in heaven.

Pregnancy Diaries: How I Knew I Was Pregnant

2012-01-11T16:32:00.000-05:00

For those who want the whole story from beginning to now. The rest of you can scroll to the bottom for a baby bump picture.

We'd been trying for several months and had even started going to a fertility clinic because I suspected I had a hormone problem. Turns out I did have one slightly elevated level, but it wasn't the one I thought. I got medication, and the doctor also suggested trying an ovulation kit.

About a week after using the kit, I started getting cramps at night. I had a feeling it was from implantation, but they lasted for two weeks. I had a few cramps during the day also, but I almost dreaded going to sleep because I knew they'd come and wake me up. (Thankfully they stopped.)

On Monday October 31 I was supposed to have an MRI, for which I'd requested Valium (because the thought of being stuck in a tube for an hour freaks me out). I found out over the weekend that there was a mix-up with my insurance company, so I had no way of knowing whether the MRI would get covered. I had pretty much decided to cancel the procedure until I could straighten out the mess, but I also thought I'd better take a pregnancy test since babies and Valium don't mix. It seemed a little early to get a positive result, but I wanted to know. Sure enough, Monday morning the stick registered two pink lines! (That night, Kevin said he suspected something days before when I scarfed down about half of a pizza he had made. He thought maybe I was already eating for two.)

I took a picture of the stick with my phone and texted it to Kevin. I also called to definitely cancel the MRI and explained both reasons why. The fertility doctor wanted me to take a blood test to confirm the test, so I did that the next day.

The first prenatal visit was actually a group visit with a nurse. I was about six weeks along, and there were a handful of us, including a few spouses, who got an overview of pregnancy and what the maternity ward was like. That very day I started feeling sick, and that constant feeling of nausea lasted about four more weeks. I also was very hungry and needed to up my intake of meat about threefold. At my first visit with the OB during my ninth week, she said not to worry too much about the hunger, that my body probably needed something in the animal products. I shouldn't be concerned just yet about gaining too much weight so soon as my appetite would probably slow down.

I had some spotting in week seven, which kind of scared me. It wasn't a lot and there was no pain, but I prayed often that it wasn't a bad sign. According to one of my pregnancy books, it was probably the placenta implanting itself.

Just about my twelfth week I started to feel less sick and less hungry. I still get nauseous if I go too long without eating, but I can handle the hunger better. No more midnight sausages and pretzels. My stomach sometimes does a weird heaving motion, which might make me gag, but I don't feel like vomiting anymore. I'm trying to eat more whole grains and less meat, though I still can't quite stand raw veggies. Cooked I can do, but raw ones sit like a rock in my stomach.

I haven't had any cravings so far, aside from the need for meat. I'm having trouble eating whole wheat bread, but we found a whole grain white bread that I can eat. I eat whole grain cereal and crackers so I am getting my grains, just not as much from bread. I eat a lot of pasta sauce with meat over rice as it's easy to heat up. I can't do sandwiches, but I take cheese and eggs and bananas to work. I always have a container of crackers and walnuts with me. For someone who never ate much at any one time, it's exhausting thinking about food all the time. Thankfully I'm doing better about that. I get hungry more often than usual, but it's not as intense at it was a few weeks ago. I keep fresh fruit on hand, though I have indulged in ice cream. Christmas meant lots of sugary and chocolatety snacks from my coworkers, but I restricted myself to one piece a day. I figure I'm eating pretty healthily already, plus the baby is going to have to learn to like chocolate.

I gave up drinking tea for several months, though the OB team allows 12 ounces of coffee a day. And since tea has less caffeine than coffee, I'm sure my one cup at lunch would be fine, but I didn't want to do any harm during the first trimester. (Though I did sip some of Kevin's sodas a few times when we ate out. Just enough to taste, nothing serious.) In the last week or so I've had a couple of cups of tea, but I don't think I want to go back to drinking it regularly just yet. For a while I couldn't stand drinking water, but now I'm doing better with it and try to drink it several times a day. I'm sure I'll never get the two liters a day my OB recommended, but I'll do what I can.

Here's me this morning:

I've been carrying a layer of fat around my midsection since college (darn aging and slowing metabolism), so this isn't all baby as the baby is only a few inches long at this point. But I'm beginning to embrace my new look since it can't be disguised by all my clothes anymore.

I'm Pregnant!

2012-01-04T12:53:00.000-05:00

Most people reading my blog already know, but this is my declaration to the rest of the world. Well, except my boss and coworkers. (Keep reading to find out why.) The baby is due mid-July, and Kevin and I are ecstatic.

I had some traditional symptoms, starting around week 6, and I've had some other embarrassing symptoms that you don't hear about, though they are mentioned in the book I bought. Now that I'm in my fourth month the morning sickness is fading as is the fatigue, though I'm still ravenously hungry most of the time. Kevin's been great about keeping me stocked with meat, as animal protein seems to be the only thing that fills me up. (I think he likes the excuse to get out his grill in the middle of winter.) He's also been very nice about doing dishes a lot because the smell of the dish soap turns my stomach. We have two different kinds, and they both nauseate me. He'll usually leave the dishes to air-dry and I put them away, so I'm not totally shirking responsibility. He also has to clean out the cat box so I'm not exposed to the possibility of toxoplasmosis, which can harm the baby, or at least make it sick. (Though I've been around cats my whole life so I'm pretty sure I'd be immune, but why take the chance?)

I feel like I'm in a limbo state at the moment because the main pregnancy symptoms are lessening but it's too early to feel the baby or to be showing, so I don't really feel pregnant. I am gaining weight and have had to get waistband extenders for my jeans, but I think it's more from eating so much because the baby isn't big enough yet to be making me look pregnant. I still have some of the lesser known symptoms, so I think everything is okay. I have another prenatal appointment in a few days, and I'm kind of crossing my fingers until then that there's still a living baby inside me. I'm hoping the symptoms are lessening because they're supposed to and not because I'm no longer supporting new life.

I haven't said anything at work yet because of that tiny concern. Also, it happened right after I started working there, and I feel bad telling them I won't be around for too many more months. I feel like I need some visible confirmation before I say anything, like an obviously pregnant stomach. It's always possible they already suspect because I do eat constantly and I do look kind of fat depending on what I'm wearing, but so far no one has said anything.

I'm sure I'll blog about being pregnant throughout the next few months. I'm thinking I'll title those posts "Pregnancy Diary" so those who aren't interested in that particular aspect of my life can ignore those ones. But be warned that once the baby arrives you'll all be subjected to copious cute baby pictures.

Happy Boxing Day!

2011-12-26T12:09:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve started out okay but didn't end up so good. Kevin got up early to take Lydia to New Jersey, and I was home doing laundry and dishes, and cooking macaroni and cheese to take to Kevin's mom's on Christmas. In the middle of the afternoon, the landlord's son called and said our hot water tank was leaking and he had to shut it off. Their plumber can't come look at it until Tuesday. I was all frazzled with chores and the news of no hot water nearly sent me over the edge, so by the time Kevin got home I wasn't in any kind of mood to go out to a Christmas Eve service. I did watch one from Cornerstone Chapel online, which made me feel a little better.

Christmas itself was good. One of Kevin's coworkers lives a few streets over, and she kindly let me use her shower before church. He and I came back home and exchanged gifts, then we went to the Sunday service and drove down to Connecticut afterwards. We'd seen one side of the family for dinner on Thursday, so yesterday we spent a quiet day with the other side. All around the gifts were great (thanks, everyone!), and the food and company were very good.

Any joy I did feel over the weekend was tempered by the knowledge that my dad would be spending his time in the hospital. He had a colon resection last week to remove a cancerous mass, and while that is healing nicely, the related tumor on his liver is pressing into his stomach, making it very difficult to eat and keep food down. My mom has been spending her days with him and has been rather stressed out by the back and forth journeys between the hospital and home. I wish I could be there, but I also know that even if I were I wouldn't be able to do anything.

This morning I washed from a big pot of hot water, which wasn't so bad except I don't know how to wash my hair. I'll probably be putting my hair into ponytails this week, hoping my coworkers don't notice it's not exactly clean. Working part time definitely helps and I don't have to feel completely clean every single day.

Kevin's been great about boiling water for dishes, though his plan to clean the cat box and bathroom will be put on hold until we have running hot water.

Boston Pops

2011-12-22T12:48:00.000-05:00

We went to see the Boston Pops last night at Symphony Hall. Lydia's been here since last weekend so it was the three of us, and we had a great time. We had dinner in the Prudential Center*, the bottom floor of which is a very upscale mall. I'm not sure I could afford to even walk in the doors, though it sure would be fun to go back with Jen and window shop. Dinner was at the California Pizza Kitchen, then we walked to Symphony Hall. It was warm and drizzly, but not bad for being outside.

The concert was good. The Tanglewood Festival Chorus sang with the Pops for several songs, like "The Hallelujah Chorus" and various holiday favorites. An actor narrated "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," and Massachusetts Governor Duval Patrick read "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." One of the songs was a cute version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Instead of the usual melody that gets stuck in your head, each verse was a parody of another song, like "Swan Lake" for the seven swans a-swimming and Beethoven's Fifth for the five golden rings. There was also a strain from Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." It was really funny. The Pops also played "Sleigh Ride," one of their signature songs, and "White Christmas," which is one of my favorites.

It took us several minutes to figure out how to get out of Boston, but we finally managed it. We got home around midnight, but luckily I'm off today so I got to sleep in. Poor Kevin had to get up early, but I'm sure he'll say it was worth it.

*Hey, honey, did you know we were getting a $50 voucher for food and drink at Symphony Hall?? It was in the envelope with our tickets. I wonder if we can redeem that at any time...

Tree is Up

2011-12-16T11:15:00.000-05:00

New Car!

2011-12-16T11:13:00.000-05:00

We got a nice check from the insurance company for Kevin's truck, and with some money from savings we were able to have a sweet down payment.

This is a 2011 Subaru Forester with about 2800 miles. The official color is sage green, but mostly it looks grey. (It looked more green online.) It belonged to the dealer so it has extra features, but because the dealer is looking to get rid of it (they probably already have a 2012 to show off to clients) they marked it down to an affordable price. And with our down payment, the loan is definitely manageable.

It has heated seats, but I'm more excited about the outside mirror defrosters. That will come in quite handy once winter arrives. (I wish they would invent steering wheel heaters, because I'd appreciate that more than seat warmers.) It's roomy and a good height. You don't have to fall on the floor to get in, neither do you have to step up. It's not the quietest ride but it is smooth. So far Kevin's been backing it into the driveway for me, but I do need to practice that for myself. I hear we're supposed to get some wintery weather next week, and I'll want to get it off the street.

Fun in New Jersey

2011-11-20T19:38:00.000-05:00

We spent the weekend in New Jersey. There was a benefit concert and auction for Clint yesterday. The performers mostly had a connection with the boychoir school (although a couple were from the local colleges), so it was nice to hear them. A former boychoir accompanist played PDQ Bach, selections from "The Short-Tempered Clavier: preludes and fugues in all the major and minor keys except for the really hard ones (S. 3.14159, easy as)" [the number for pi -- it took me a minute to figure it out]. The alumni choir also sang PDQ Bach, and one of the pieces was a round that when the parts sang together had the line "look up her dress". Apparently Clint specifically requested that song. Kerry, the current choir accompanist, brought his harpsichord and played a piece.

We were totally surprised to find ourselves seated next to Clint in the front row for the concert. We'd only paid for general seating, but someone had reserved seats for us right up front. Clint also suggested we be given the donated hotel room for the weekend, which was extremely generous. I think Clint thinks very highly of Kevin, though he might not actually tell anyone. They don't talk often, but they do seem like very good friends whenever they get together.

A local tailor donated a suit for Clint, a custom-made one. It looked very nice. We had lunch yesterday with him before the concert, and he was telling us how he's been taking yoga. One of the poses is called the corpse pose, which he got a kick out of. He said his new suit was nice enough to be buried in, so I asked him if he's been practicing the corpse pose in the suit to see how it would look. It was a funny moment.

He's doing very well. He looks good and still has his sense of humor. He's been given a clean bill of health, though he's still finishing up chemo just to make sure the cancer is all gone. We also had breakfast with him this morning, and it was really good to spend time with him.

The auction was lots of fun. There were nearly 100 people who showed up last-minute, so it was a big success, though kind of crowded. Kevin saw lots of former students and caught up with a bunch of people.

The only bummer of the weekend happened in the middle of the night. Our landlord's son called about 2:30 Saturday morning to say that Kevin's truck had just been hit. The guy drove off, but Sean was awake and heard the noise, and was able to get his license plate number and called the police. So hopefully they can track him down and maybe Kevin can get some kind of compensation. The front end was pushed into another car and is now up on the curb. The bed is skewed, not sitting on the back wheels. The rear axle may be broken. Most likely it's totaled as the repairs will probably be more than the truck is worth, but we haven't been able to see it in the daylight yet. Luckily Kevin can get a bus pass and still get to work. We've been saying we should get a newer car anyway, so now we'll have to start seriously looking. We should see what the bank would be willing to lend us first and we'll have to budget for a car payment, but we might have a more family-friendly vehicle soon.

Sign of the Apocalypse?

2011-10-30T15:30:00.000-04:00

We got several inches of snow yesterday; yes, snow in October. Believe it or not, it's rare for New England to get snow this early. But we heard that if it snows early, that often means a mild winter. After last winter, I'm all for as mild as possible.

I took a few pictures yesterday morning for the "Before" section, then I took a few more this afternoon for the "After" section. Kevin cleared off the cars before I got up and by the time we got back from grocery shopping the sun was melting a lot, so the "After" pictures could have been a lot worse had I gotten outside earlier. Still, you can see quite a contrast. Luckily it's supposed to be warm this week, so I'm hoping all the white stuff will be gone by next weekend.

No, these limbs didn't fall on the cars, thank goodness. (I didn't get an "after" picture of our cars because Kevin cleaned them off before I got the camera out.) A Mercedes SUV up the street had a huge branch fall on the hood, windshield, and roof though. That's going to be one big repair bill.

Fun Sunday

2011-10-23T18:01:00.000-04:00

This morning we visited St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Worcester. Donna, a colleague and friend from Grafton Library goes there. She graciously met us at the 10am service instead of going to the 8am one, as she usually does. Their service is very much based in liturgy, which Kevin tends to like. I thought it was interesting, though it did go a little long with announcements and a presentation of the budget so congregants could decide their pledges for the year. It was really good to see Donna.

The church has Tiffany windows, and if I'd had a chance I would have gone around the sanctuary studying them. They were really pretty, prettier than the ones at Church of the Covenant in Boston, I think. Mostly because the ones at St. Matthew's had a unified look to them. The ones in Boston seemed to be of differing styles and were often dark, but St. Matthew's windows were brighter.

This afternoon we went to Trinity Lutheran in Worcester for special hymn sing. It was titled "From Age to Age the Same: Twenty-One Centuries of Christian Assembly Song." There were twenty-one hymns chosen, one for each century in church history. A combination choir sang with the congregation joining in on most of them. A couple were read, which was neat because hymns are also poems, just set to music. Trinity Lutheran has a great organ, and the arrangements sometimes had flute, oboe, and violin accompaniment. I'm not sure how many people were actually singing because it was hard to hear and also because most of the hymns were unfamiliar, to me at least. But still, it was a learning experience and kind of an interactive concert.

I Saw a Snake!

2011-10-21T16:48:00.000-04:00

I decided to get outside and go for a walk and chose to visit the Audubon center. I also decided to bring my camera since it seems like forever since I took any pictures. There were squirrels and chipmunks and birds out, so when I heard rustling I figured it was a squirrel. However, I saw an 18-inch skinny black snake with a yellow stripe down his back looking at me. It's the first snake I've seen in years, certainly the first one I've seen since moving to Massachusetts. I'd almost forgotten they do live up here.

The leaves around Worcester haven't been terribly bright this year, but I did manage a few colorful shots. There's still a lot of green, but it seems like most trees just dropped their leaves without turning.

Here's what I saw this afternoon:

The stone wall is for Mom. It doesn't really have a bend in the middle; that's from my inexpertise at taking panoramic photos. Maybe I should have brought the new tripod I got...didn't think about it. The picture above the panorama is the bushes at the right side of the stone wall, just zoomed in and oriented vertically.

I was looking for splashes of red since it's less prevalent than yellow. Orange isn't quite as common as yellow but not as rare as red. Besides, red shows up against all kinds of backgrounds.

Reflections on New Job

2011-10-19T10:52:00.000-04:00

I'm in my fourth week Northborough, and it's going fine. I'm still settling in and there are some things I don't like, but mostly it's good. The potential for reference questions is always there, though I haven't seen a really busy day yet. (Not that I want to be overwhelmed, but I do like to be occupied.) I'm getting the hang of cataloging, and I like knowing I have things to do when I get to work. The collection is kind of old and worn, there are plenty of things I would have gotten rid of a long time ago, but it's not my place to make those decisions. The DVDs are a mess, which drives me crazy, but they only have one page and a couple of volunteers who shelve, so there's no way to keep them in order. I think there are some workflow issues in terms of getting things checked in, upstairs, and on the shelf, but again, it's not my job to critique that. It's just kind of frustrating when I have to pull items on hold and can't find them because they might be sitting on any number of carts or shelves.

I do like having days off, though I'm still figuring out how to maximize my time. It's easier to run errands and make appointments and do housework, but I also want to keep up with library news (home is the only place I have time now to read all my Google Reader newsfeeds). I also want to get feedback on my photos, so I've started a Google+ account. That's fun, though I need a new camera and a plan for taking pictures on a regular basis. I also feel like I should be doing something else to contribute to our household budget since I'm not working as many hours as I used to. I need to follow up on the idea of couponing; though I don't think I'll get too deep into it I do need to find ways to save money.

On a side note, congratulations to Grafton Library for getting the acceptance of the grant passed. The town had to agree to raise their share of the construction costs, and that had to pass by two-thirds majority of the voters present. It passed by two votes! They also have to vote on debt exclusion so the battle isn't entirely over, but the first hurdle has been cleared. (I'm not sure I can explain debt exclusion, so you might have to Google it.)

Northborough Free Library

2011-09-27T17:36:00.000-04:00

Original building from 1868; what you see from the street

Addition from 2009; this was added onto the back of the building but is now the front

My first day went well. It wasn't terribly busy, although I guess once school lets out it can be overrun with middle-schoolers. I showed a few people where things were, which doesn't sound like much but it's definitely more than I'd do on an average day in Grafton.

Farewell, Grafton

2011-09-19T15:43:00.000-04:00

I've been offered a position at Northborough Library and so have given my notice at Grafton. My last day there will be this Saturday. I'm looking forward to doing something different for a while. I'll be working part-time, which will be an adjustment not just in our family budget but also in how I'll use my days off. I'm hoping I can discipline myself to learn photography, especially the post-production process, and I want to see if I can find some kind of freelance tasks to do online, maybe bring in a few extra dollars each month.

The reference staff at Northborough is a little bigger, with one full-time person and me at half-time, plus a lady who works a few hours a week and the teen librarian, who pitches in when the kids aren't around. I think the director also takes some time on the desk. I hope to be busier answering reference questions, though I will miss ordering materials. I will be cataloging adult nonfiction, so I'm looking forward to learning a new skill. (We're changing to an open source ILS in December, a system called Evergreen, so by the time I learn how to catalog on the current one, I'll have to figure out the new one. But at least we'll all be in the same boat and can learn together.) Not having paid holidays or vacation/sick time will be another adjustment, so we'll have to do some planning in order to take trips longer than a weekend.

The town of Northborough is actually smaller than Grafton (14,000 people versus 18,000), but it's closer to Boston and the library is on the main drag so it should get more traffic. I was in on Saturday filling out paperwork, and there were several people browsing and using the computers.

I really do mean what my post's title says, that I wish Grafton to fare well. The library staff is nice to work with, and there are some patrons I'll miss seeing. The town does deserve a new building, so I'm crossing my fingers that they'll vote at October's Town Meeting to accept the grant and raise their share of the cost to expand the library. I hope they can find a new librarian who's better at outreach and can bring library services to the people.

I'm sure there will be things I don't like about the new job, but I think dealing with those unpleasantries will be easier since I don't have to be there every day. Even if the job isn't a perfect fit, it'll be different. I'm looking forward to the change.

Quabbin Reservoir

2011-09-04T16:29:00.001-04:00

Yesterday Kevin and I went to Quabbin Reservoir in Belchertown, just over an hour west of Worcester. I've wanted to go there for about three years, since I first read about it soon after moving to Massachusetts. The reservoir was constructed in the late 1930s to supply water to Boston. It was created by flooding a large valley that just happened to include four small towns. So those townspeople were evacuated and their graves moved so Boston could have water. It's sobering to stand on the shore and picture the towns, now under water. (There are lots of nonfiction books out there for anyone interested, and there's also a novel that I read, The Taking by J.D. Landis, that's interesting. The novel isn't just about the flooding of the towns, but that certainly does overshadow the events.)

There are lots of trails to walk, which we may do later in the fall, because I'm sure the scenery will be beautiful with the leaves turning colors. I would also like to see the cemetery across from the park where the graves from the four towns were relocated. Yesterday we did some driving so I could get a sense of the place and take some pictures. I extended the rental time for the high-end compact Canon just for this trip. Unfortunately, the sky was overcast and so the pictures aren't as nice as I would have liked. However, you can still get the general idea. (Click on any picture for a full-screen view. It'll be easier to read the signs, though I apologize for any fuzziness. I don't seem to have a steady shutter finger for close-ups, and I'm too cheap and lazy to buy a tripod and lug it around.)

400 billion gallons of water is in the reservoir. It averages about 50 feet in depth and is 18 miles long. The dam is one of the largest in the eastern US. The aqueduct connects to the Wachusett Reservoir in Worcester, so the water supply reaches quite a large number of towns in the state. (The Wachusett Reservoir can be seen from Tower Hill for those readers who have been there.)

There's a lookout tower with a 360-degree view of the valley. On a clear day you can see Hartford, CT, about 50 miles away.

To the north, on a clear day you can see Mt. Monadnock, NH, about 40 miles away.

I liked the "face" of the viewer, looking out the window.

The town of Enfield would have been across the water on the right side of this picture.

Enfield Lookout.

The town of Enfield before and after evacuation but before flooding.

Where Enfield would have been. The water doesn't completely cover where the town was, but it certainly took a large part of the town's area.

Another view of the reservoir but further east of Enfield.

The dam on the southern end. We walked across it and back. The other side is a green valley that looked very peaceful. There was a trail there, so maybe we'll have to take it next time.

Most of the area around the reservoir is not public land, just the park on the southern end. The valley has become home to many species of wildlife, which is a plus after the destruction of the four towns. The reservoir serves water to a large percentage of the state and is one of the largest preserved green spaces in New England.

DC

2011-09-04T15:42:00.003-04:00

Friday of our anniversary trip to Virginia Kevin and I spent in DC. We went to the National Archives and saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. (No pictures allowed in the hall - drat.) They also have an extensive exhibit of American history using files found in the Archives (basically anything having to do with federal forms, so immigration papers; ship's logs; homesteading deeds - which includes one filed by Charles Ingalls, the father of Laura Ingalls Wilder, for their home in De Smet, Dakota Territory; presidential papers and speeches, including the Emancipation Proclamation; war documents; and much more), which I hadn't realized. There were film and audio clips as well as papers, so we got to see and hear footage of President Teddy Roosevelt. Pretty cool. The American History Museum was always one of my favorites, but since its redesign it doesn't seem to have as much as it used to, so the Archives just might become a new favorite - as long as there are rotating displays because I do like to see new things.

I'd never seen the White House in all my trips to DC, so we walked down the Mall towards it. The side near the Ellipse has tons of security checkpoints and officers around, and the fence where the public congregates is actually quite a distance from the building. I got a picture through the bars to demonstrate how far the White House is, but then we walked around the other side on our way to the Metro stop, went down Pennsylvania Avenue, and got to see it much closer. Pennsylvania Avenue was blocked to vehicular traffic after 9/11 so it's now pedestrians only, and you can get a nice view. This is the side where protesters stage demonstrations, either in large groups or by themselves. The day we were there only one guy was holding a hunger strike for some reason, probably against the Iraq War, but I really don't know.

Across Pennsylvania Avenue is Lafayette Park, the former home of Oliver Stone, a character from David Baldacci's Camel Club series. No one was in the park on this particular day, but it was still a nice walk.

After spending the day on and around the Mall, we rode the Metro to Nationals Park to see the Phillies play the Nationals. Kevin wore his Phillies jersey and I had on my Nats T-shirt, which made us attractive to the stadium photographers. We had our picture take several times by different people. Our seats were down the left-field line, row K (so about eleven rows from the field). We got our hot dogs and drinks and settled down to watch, but barely into the first inning we were chased onto the concourse by an absolute downpour. The rain lasted about an hour, during which thousands of fans crowded into a small space. We were jostled many times by people who just had to go somewhere, and one lady threw up right in front of us. That cleared a little circle around us. After the rain stopped, we walked around the stadium waiting for the grounds crew to clean up the field so the game could resume. Kevin bought me a bear at the Build a Bear Workshop, and I got a Nationals uniform for it. That was my anniversary gift. Thanks, honey! I love it!

The best part of the game was watching the crowd deflate in the bottom of the ninth inning. The vast majority of the attendees were Phillies fans, and they were very loud during most of the game. The Phils had a big inning early, scoring four runs off Livan Hernandez, and the Nats were able to score only two in response. But then Ryan Zimmerman came up in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded. I just knew Zim was going to hit a homer. And he did. A walk-off grand slam to win 8-4. The crowd got positively quiet. The few Nats fans cheered, and it was so much fun to see a win at the expense of the cocky Phils fans.

Outside the Natural History Museum.

Giant hibiscus in the Sculpture Garden.

Also in the Sculpture Garden. It reminded me of a quilt pattern, only in 3D.

The Archives. "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty" is written under the statue.

Other side of the entrance to the Archives. It says, "The heritage of the past is the seed that brings forth the harvest of the future." The historian in me liked this.

In the Natural History Museum. The robe Daniel Radcliffe wore in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

For Mom. They had a taxidermied giraffe in the Natural History Museum, but I didn't photograph it. I would rather see live ones in the zoo. However, I did like the demonstration of how much larger a giraffe's vertebra is than a human's.

The Washington Monument from the Ellipse, across from the White House.

The White House, behind bars.

The White House from Pennsylvania Avenue. From one extreme to the other - far away to up close. Don't know if Barack was at home, we didn't ring the doorbell.

Stonewall Jackson in Lafayette Park. Somehow we missed the Lafayette statue. I'm assuming there is one, since it is his park after all.

The view of Nationals Park from the concourse as you're walking in.

One of the racing presidents, Abraham Lincoln.

George Washington, another racing president, with some young fans.

The scoreboard.

Love the curly W's in the gates. And as radio announcer Charlie Slowes would have said at the conclusion of the game, a curly W went into the books as the Nats stunned the Phillies with a bottom-of-the-ninth grand slam by Ryan Zimmerman. (I won't get tired of saying that.)

Inside the concourse. I love the quote by Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell: "A thing of beauty. The Nationals' new ballpark is the bomb. After decades of waiting, Washington has a winner." The stadium is very nice, even Kevin agreed.

My anniversary gift.

Sky Meadows

2011-09-04T14:49:00.000-04:00

Kevin and I went to Virginia in mid-August for our second anniversary. We spent a whole week there, not doing a whole lot for most of the time. It was nice to get away for a while. One evening we went to Sky Meadows State Park, intending to walk to path there, but it started raining. A gorgeous full, double rainbow appeared and stayed out for many minutes. Unfortunately, in my excitement to use my rented camera, I wasn't paying attention to water spots that got on the lens. I think I picked out pictures with no raindrops, but I also noticed that the lens had a grey spot in the center. I'm having trouble editing it out (I need more practice with the post-production software), so please excuse the distraction.

It was really neat to be able to see both ends of the rainbow. I couldn't stand far enough away and didn't have a wide-angle lens, so you can't see the entire rainbow in the pictures, but it was there. I thought it was funny that one of the cows was standing at one of the ends. I couldn't zoom in enough and still capture the colors of the rainbow, but use your imagination on the second-to-last photo to picture what I mean.

Camera Try-out

2011-09-04T14:26:00.000-04:00

I rented a high-end compact camera for our anniversary trip to Virginia in mid-August. I want to get a DSLR, and while the Canon Powershot G11 I borrowed isn't quite the same as the one I have my eye on, it's definitely a step up from what I currently own. I had fun practicing changing the aperture and shutter speed. I think I want to get a DSLR, though, and not a G11, because with a DSLR I can change lenses. I'm most attracted to photographing landscapes, and I'll need a camera that can handle smaller apertures than compacts have in order to get the sharp, deep depth of field required for a lot of those types of shots.

As a result of playing with the camera and going on vacation, I'm way behind with posting. To start, here's a sunset picture, one of the first pictures I took with the borrowed camera.

Tropical Storm Formerly Known as Hurricane Irene

2011-08-28T15:13:00.000-04:00

We're surviving Irene. It was downgraded to a tropical storm long before hitting New England, but it's still a powerful storm. We had rain yesterday with periods of calm, then it rained overnight and got very windy today. Church was canceled, so we've been reading and watching Chuck on DVD. The rain stopped a while ago, but the winds are still strong. We went for a little walk hoping to find a newspaper, but no luck. The first store didn't have any, and the second one was closed. We moved a few large branches out the road, including one that fell right next to Kevin's truck. Luckily there's been no damage so far. All the baseball games scheduled for today that had been moved up to yesterday (lots of doubleheaders on the East Coast) probably could have actually been played. Yesterday turned out to be worse in terms of rain.

Some Things You Just Have to See to Believe

2011-08-07T14:10:00.000-04:00

A few things around Worcester and Millbury that make us go, "Huh?"

There is also a Hair Mechanix, and Kevin wondered if the employees are guys in greasy jumpsuits. I want to know if they put you in a chair and raise you to the ceiling. Do they use motor oil instead of shampoo?

This had better be truth in advertising. Do you get some kind of guarantee that Mr. Richer will actually make you richer?

So, gentlemen, where else can you go to pick up roses for your girl and also get her a car?

I'm so glad we're not Pentecostal. I mean, I like to stay up late and all, but I'm not sure I could endure a service starting at 11pm on a Friday night. Especially not when I have to work on Saturday.

Lady Being Funny

2011-08-07T14:02:00.000-04:00

Kevin was doing laundry last week and left one of the baskets in the kitchen. Lady jumped in and settled down, so I took a few pictures. (I think she was trying to attract attention by being cute, hoping it would make me give her a snack. Didn't work.)

Boston Again

2011-07-31T17:55:00.003-04:00

We spent another gorgeous day in Boston, Kevin, Lydia and I. We went this time to go to the Church of the Covenant and then to go back to the Public Garden.

Church was all right. They are a combined congregation, Presbyterian and United Church of Christ, so they are more liberal than I'm used to. The people were friendly, and even if I wouldn't want to worship there every week, it's nice to visit new places and to remember that we're all part of the same body of Christ.

I think I figured out part of what bothers me about such liberal churches. I knew they sometimes change hymns and prayers to exclude mention of gender (no "Father" or "Son" or "Him"), but this was the first time I heard the pastor change the words of the Bible as she was reading. She started in Matthew 6 and 10, the passages about the sparrows, about worrying and about hidden things coming to the light. Then she read Psalm 84, which has a passage about a sparrow finding a nest in the sanctuary of God. (Sparrows were a theme of her sermon; keep reading for more information on that.) It also has lots of mentions of "Lord," which she read as "God" every time.

It struck me as I was reading along that refusing to acknowledge God as Lord puts a distance between us and Him. There is no obligation to obey, as a servant would a master, which is what we are: servants of the Most High. By only calling Him "God," we don't have to actively listen to what He wants or feel guilty when we don't follow His Word. It's bad enough that liberal churches refuse to acknowledge His gender and the fact that Jesus was His Son, though both those aspects are biblical, and make Him out to be some spirit being that dwells in all nature and in all people, whether they call themselves Christian or not. It's an attitude of inclusion that I don't agree with (and that I find a source of amusement as people perform linguistic gymnastics to get around such gender-specific words), but to refuse to call Him "Lord" just reduces His power even more. Is He the One True God, Creator of the Universe, Savior of our souls, Redeemer, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, or is He not?

Here's the doxology as the congregation sang it this morning:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise God all creatures here below.
Praise God for all that love has done,
Creator, Christ, and Spirit, One.
(no Amen, which I though was interesting.)

Here's how I grew up singing it and how I sang it this morning:

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
(Since the music had stopped I didn't sing Amen either, but I thought it.)

The first version isn't nonbiblical, but it is less powerful. I think it's awkward to say "God" so much when it's clear in the second and third lines that that's Who we're singing about, but we can't mention gender so we end up being repetitive. And yes, love in the form of Jesus did do a lot, namely died on the cross for our sins, so I can praise Him for that. And yes, He is Creator, Christ, and Spirit, but to refuse to call Him "Father" or "Son" is again awkward. I just think the rewrite doesn't give God all the glory that He is entitled to, and I find that so often in liberal, inclusive churches.

Okay, the sermon is over. Here are some pictures from our day:


Church of the Covenant

The church is noted for their Tiffany stained glass windows, so here are a couple:

Madonna and Child

His Eye is on the Sparrow

The pastor has been doing a series of sermons on the windows this summer. The Sparrow window was the subject of her sermon for this morning. (See the church website for more information on the windows. They really are amazing, so it's worth a click.)

Left side of the front of the church. I liked the detailing, which is over a doorway that I cut out.

The Tiffany chandelier that hangs in the center. One lady told us it had been on display at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.

Right side of the front of the church.

You can get a better picture of the front of the church on their website.

The Boston Public Library was only a few blocks from church, but it's not open on Sundays. Still, I got a couple of pictures. It's an impressive building, and I would love to see inside someday.

Statue for Science

Front door

Statue for Arts

I couldn't resist this picture: a church is reflected in a store window. As Kevin put it, are you worshiping God or money?

The Public Garden is also a few blocks from church, but in the opposite direction from the library. These pictures are from there:

purple flowers with George Washington in the background

I finally got a picture of the Make Way for Ducklings sculpture. This time there were fewer people around, so I could get a clear shot. It would have been cute to have kids on the ducklings, but what I didn't want were the parents hovering over them. (Lydia didn't want to sit on Mother Duck. She did have a point that it was probably hot, and she was wearing a dress.)

New 100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About

2011-07-29T17:11:00.000-04:00

I saw this on Stephen's Lighthouse a few days ago and wanted to post about it. My comments are in italics.

100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About

Audio-Visual Entertainment
1. Inserting a VHS tape into a VCR to watch a movie or to record something.
I do have a VCR still and used it to record LOST. Kevin has several VHS tapes (and I have a couple), but I think we've watched one or two in the years we've been together. I don't see getting rid of it soon (a DVR seems expensive, especially when we don't watch much TV or need to record anything), but I also don't see us using it much.

2. Super-8 movies and cine film of all kinds.

3. Playing music on an audio tape using a personal stereo.
Hey, we still have a tape deck on the stereo. I use the stereo often to listen to the XM radio, but I've recently replaced almost all of my cassettes with digital files. Again, we hardly ever use the cassette player, but I don't see us getting rid of the stereo any time soon.

4. The number of TV channels being a single digit.

5. Standard-definition, CRT TVs filling up half your living room.

6. Rotary dial televisions with no remote control. You know, the ones where the kids were the remote control.

7. High-speed dubbing.

8. 8-track cartridges.

9. Vinyl records. Even today’s DJs are going laptop or CD.

10. Betamax tapes.

11. MiniDisc.

12. Laserdisc: the LP of DVD.

13. Scanning the radio dial and hearing static between stations.
Probably could just say "scanning the radio dial." Kids these days listen to iPods or Pandora and its like, creating their own music playlists. Hardly anyone discovers new music through the radio anymore, or listens to the radio at all. I have mine on in the car almost all the time, though. I grew up with radio and don't see giving it up.

14. Shortwave radio.

15. 3-D movies meaning red-and-green glasses.

16. Watching TV when the networks say you should. Tivo is slowing killing this one.
And Netflix and Hulu.

17. That there was a time before ‘reality TV.’

Computers and Videogaming
18. Wires. OK, so they’re not gone yet, but it won’t be long.

19. The scream of a modem connecting.

20. The buzz of a dot-matrix printer.

21. 5- and 3-inch floppies, Zip Discs and countless other forms of data storage.
But we do use flash drives for portability. And Kevin bought us a 300GB external hard drive so we can store documents, pictures, music, whatever and get the files off our computer hard drives. It's also portable. I see the appeal of storing files in the cloud, but there is usually a fee involved. Plus it would take a lot of time initially to upload everything, and I'm just not used to the idea of working solely online. I do think we should get a second external drive to back up our files.

22. Using jumpers to set IRQs.
Huh?

23. DOS.

24. Terminals accessing the mainframe.
Like the library catalog in Loudoun when I started working there! That was only 1999. It was a couple of years later that they finally went onto the Internet.

25. Screens being just green (or orange) on black.
Yep, the library catalog (and one database from InfoTrac) was either green or orange depending on which computer you used.

26. Tweaking the volume setting on your tape deck to get a computer game to load, and waiting ages for it to actually do it.
Again, huh? What does the tape deck have to do with a computer game?

27. Daisy chaining your SCSI devices and making sure they’ve all got a different ID.

28. Counting in kilobytes.

29. Wondering if you can afford to buy a RAM upgrade.

30. Blowing the dust out of a NES cartridge in the hopes that it’ll load this time.

31. Turning a PlayStation on its end to try and get a game to load.

32. Joysticks.

33. Having to delete something to make room on your hard drive.
Well, I still have to do this to some extent with my laptop. It's about six years old, and even with more memory I still took off almost all the files and programs and moved them to the external hard drive. The computer boots up a little faster, but I do need a new one.

34. Booting your computer off of a floppy disk.

35. Recording a song in a studio.

The Internet
36. NCSA Mosaic.
No idea...

37. Finding out information from an encyclopedia.
As much as the librarian in me wants to say encyclopedias won't be going away, I do think this will be true. It's easier to search a print encyclopedia (at least for general topics because you just open the book to the right page since entries are alphabetical), but it's much faster to keep an online version up to date. Plus you can often get maps, charts, pictures, videos, etc.

38. Using a road atlas to get from A to B.
Not for me. I prefer the atlas to Google Maps (no offense to Google) because I trust the publishers more. Google and Yahoo and Mapquest all have a few strange directions, and I find the print atlas to be more accurate. (This is the same reason why I wouldn't get a GPS.) I like having the overview, whereas with Google Maps you get a pinpoint map or a wide view with little detail. I do use Google Maps for driving directions or to quickly find a particular location (sometimes scanning the grids in the atlas is time-consuming), but then I'll often go back to the atlas to get the big picture. Plus the atlas is portable, and unless you want to print a whole bunch of maps from Google if you're traveling, you can't beat the book. Maybe if I had a smartphone and could Google locations, I'd feel differently.

39. Doing bank business only when the bank is open.
Depending on what you want to do, though, you might have to visit the bank in person. You do still have to appear in order to open an account, for example, but banks have expanded their hours so now you can go late in the evening or on Saturdays. I do like online banking and direct deposit. Very handy.

40. Shopping only during the day, Monday to Saturday.
Depending on what you want, yes. I would rather pick out my own groceries so I wouldn't use Peapod, and sometimes you have to go to the store to browse (or try on clothes). I do like shopping online, and I do like that stores have expanded hours so I can go after work or after church on Sundays. Jen and I always wondered when people in New Zealand had time to shop as places there still close at 5 Monday through Friday and might not be open on the weekends. Though stores in Wellington, being a city, did have late hours one night a week. And there were no big box stores, no Walmart...where do you buy toilet paper in New Zealand or Scotland? We never found out.

41. Phone books and Yellow Pages.
Yep, these are outdated. But a lot of online people finders now charge a fee for phone numbers and addresses. I always recommend checking with your local public library to see if they have access to Reference USA. It's a combination of business and residential listings, and all you need is a library card (or a helpful librarian to do the search for you). It's available from any Internet-accessible computer. (If your library doesn't have access, talk to me and I'll search it for you.)

42. Newspapers and magazines made from dead trees.
I was thinking about this yesterday as I read through a couple of photography magazines I got from the library. I wouldn't want my own subscription because it's a lot of money and I might not find every issue interesting. I would prefer something like an iPad app, which does cost but is usually cheaper than the print version, although sometimes you have to have a print subscription in order to also get the app. It depends on the magazine. I could scan issues quickly with the app (though I don't know about saving important articles for later use), and I wouldn't have to worry about what to do with the old magazines. I read the Washington Post online, though Kevin likes to read the Worcester Telegram in print. I do like my Sports Illustrated in print because I do read them almost cover to cover, but if I had an iPad I would consider getting the app as well. Articles are more interactive that way, and that might be fun.

43. Actually being able to get a domain name consisting of real words.
Huh? Domains still have numbers as far as servers are concerned. At least I think that's how IPs work.

44. Filling out an order form by hand, putting it in an envelope and posting it.

45. Not knowing exactly what all of your friends are doing and thinking at every moment.
Now this I don't like. If we have kids I'd want them to know the pleasure of being unplugged once in a while. Frankly, I don't want people to know where I am at all times and exactly what I'm doing. I don't see the appeal in Foursquare, where you check into locations using your iPhone; I'm not constantly on Facebook; I don't use my cell phone much, mostly for texting quick messages to Kevin or sending pictures to my sister. I like sitting down with a book and enjoying peace and quiet. I think it's important for kids to learn how to be still and amuse themselves without needing to be connected all the time.

46. Carrying on a correspondence with real letters, especially the handwritten kind.
But people do still say they prefer handwritten thank you notes. The post office does have to rethink its operating procedures, however, because snail mail is definitely not part of the future. I wonder about FedEx and UPS, though. They probably see plenty of business with Internet shopping, but sometimes you have the option of ordering online and picking up in a physical store. And documents can be sent electronically so businesses don't have to package up huge envelopes for overnighting anymore. Guess we'll see about the package delivery services.

47. Archie searches.

48. Gopher searches.

49. Concatenating and UUDecoding binaries from Usenet.

50. Privacy.
Well, I'm not sure about that. Yes, Internet companies want to know everything about you so they can target ads and sell you stuff, but I think people do need to be careful about who they give personal information to.

51. The fact that words generally don’t have num8er5 in them.
This is just lazy grammar. It makes me sad to hear about teachers finding text-speak in students' papers. I can't even do text-speak when I'm texting. It's too much of a switch for my brain to read numbers where words are meant. ("Talk 2 u ltr." What is that?) There has always been a difference between formal speech and information speech, whether written or oral, and I don't see that going away. Formal speech forces you to organize your thoughts and words so your audience knows clearly what you are trying to say. Information speech is for friends, family, peers, not for business dealings or much of publication.

52. Correct spelling of phrases, rather than TLAs.
I don't know what TLA is, but again, this is just laziness. There is nothing wrong with correct spelling and grammar. In fact, it's the best way to get your point across in the most efficient manner. Language rules are agreed-upon standards that everyone knows. (Yes, changes do occur over time, but then then become standards themselves.) Using text-speak or whole language can actually muddle your message.

53. Waiting several minutes (or even hours!) to download something.
Downloads can still take minutes, especially with video and audio files. But I suppose Internet connections will continue to get faster and computers will continue to have more memory, so eventually this won't be too much of an issue.

54. The time before botnets/security vulnerabilities due to always-on and always-connected PCs.
You do still need a firewall and antivirus software, though, especially if you have always-connected computers.

55. The time before PC networks.

56. When Spam was just a meat product — or even a Monty Python sketch.

Gadgets
57. Typewriters.
My library still has two of these. In fact, our cataloger just got a new one because her old one gave out. She uses it for spine labels because it's so much easier to pop in a couple of labels and type the call number than to set margins on the computer, feed the sticky labels into the printer, and potentially waste a sheet of labels if she only needs to do a couple. For the general public typewriters are obsolete, but for certain businesses they might still be useful. We also have a fax machine because it's quicker to feed paper into that machine and send it than to scan it and figure out who to email it to. (If we even had a scanner...) Members of the general public do not have personal faxes or know how to send faxes online (requiring a scanner possibly, an email account, and a credit card to pay for transactions), so we offer ours as a service.

58. Putting film in your camera: 35mm may have some life still, but what about APS or disk?

59. Sending that film away to be processed.
No, but plenty of people still upload images to Kodak or any number of photo websites and still have to wait for the prints. Yes, even with photo-sharing sites, sometimes people do want the prints.

60. Having physical prints of photographs come back to you.
See above. I personally love looking at my photo albums and reliving vacations and special times. Like my wedding... I have lots of my own photographs hanging in our apartment.

61. CB radios.
Do truckers still use these? Or do trucking companies keep in touch with drivers by cell phone? Your average driver is not going to have one in the car anymore, though.

62. Getting lost. With GPS coming to more and more phones, your location is only a click away.
See #38. I still would rather have an atlas at hand, but if I'm alone in the car then okay, maybe a smartphone and Google Maps would be handy. I don't think I'd use a GPS enough to buy one, though.

63. Rotary-dial telephones.
I used to have one, but my mom got rid of it when I moved to Massachusetts. I wanted a cordless phone, and I didn't have enough phone jacks to also plug in the rotary phone. But that rotary phone was the best one I've had. It was old, but the call clarity was great. I miss clear calls - cell phones just can't match landlines, and cordless phones can't match that rotary phone I had.

64. Answering machines.
People with landlines might still use these as it's cheaper than paying the phone company for voicemail.

65. Using a stick to point at information on a wallchart.

66. Pay phones.

67. Phones with actual bells in them.

68. Fax machines.
See #57, the second part.

69. Vacuum cleaners with bags in them.
As much as I'd like a Dyson or another bagless vacuum, they're just too expensive. But maybe when mine finally dies we'll get a Dyson. It would be nice not to have to track down a vacuum store that still sells the proper size bags.

Everything Else
70. Taking turns picking a radio station, or selecting a tape, for everyone to listen to during a long drive.
No, now you just have to agree upon a CD, book on CD, iPod playlist, whatever. I don't like having DVD players in the car as the ones mounted on the ceiling are distracting for other drivers, plus kids should learn to amuse themselves without having to be entertained. Part of the fun of trips is learning to deal with being in close quarters and having to share.

71. Remembering someone’s phone number.
Though still handy in case you lose your contacts list somehow.

72. Not knowing who was calling you on the phone.
But not every number comes up on the phone, and not everyone wants to pay for caller ID.

73. Actually going down to a Blockbuster store to rent a movie.

74. Toys actually being suitable for the under-3s.

75. LEGO just being square blocks of various sizes, with the odd wheel, window or door.

76. Waiting for the television-network premiere to watch a movie after its run at the theater.

77. Relying on the 5-minute sport segment on the nightly news for baseball highlights.

78. Neat handwriting.
Unfortunately, handwriting isn't taught like it used to be. As much as we like to think we're in a paperless society, we aren't. You might still have to jot notes for someone (or yourself) or write those thank you letters for your birthday presents. Shopping lists are still on fridges, and Post-Its aren't digital.

79. The days before the nanny state.

80. Starbuck being a man.

81. Han shoots first.

82. “Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.” But they’ve already seen Episode III, so it’s no big surprise.

83. Kentucky Fried Chicken, as opposed to KFC.

84. Trig tables and log tables.

85. “Don’t know what a slide rule is for …”
I didn't even know what a slide rule is for until my dad explained it.

86. Finding books in a card catalog at the library.
Pet peeve: People still referring to the library catalog as a "card catalog." There are no cards anymore, it's just "the catalog" or "the online catalog."

87. Swimming pools with diving boards.
Huh? Do people not dive anymore?

88. Hershey bars in silver wrappers.
Mmm, Hershey bars. (Sorry, got sidetracked there for a second.)

89. Sliding the paper outer wrapper off a Kit-Kat, placing it on the palm of your hand and clapping to make it bang loudly. Then sliding your finger down the silver foil to break off the first finger.

90. A Marathon bar (what a Snickers used to be called in Britain).
Do they not have these anymore? I know we still have Snickers bars.

91. Having to manually unlock a car door.
I kind of like the manual locks and manual windows. Not sure why, except that the electric ones are just another thing to go wrong and be expensive to fix.

92. Writing a check.
This we still do, though checks are on their way out. Rent still gets paid by check (our landlord doesn't take credit cards - does any landlord?), as do church tithes. Though some churches are going with online payments. It's easier to pay someone in cash or check as not everyone has PayPal, and you can't just deposit money into someone else's bank account online.

93. Looking out the window during a long drive.
Even if you have your iPod plugged into your ears, don't you still look out the window?

94. Roller skates, as opposed to blades.

95. Cash.
Nah, this isn't going away soon. The penny maybe, but a lot of financial advisors advocate cutting up the credit cards and using cash. You spend less money that way. And frankly, I prefer to pay in cash for small purchases instead of using the debit card. It makes me feel less dependent on technology. Cash purchases can't be traced so your bank can't keep track of your spending habits.

96. Libraries as a place to get books rather than a place to use the internet.
Hey, no way! Books may turn into digital files as e-readers become more popular, but e-books are not the norm yet. Internet computers are not leaving the library, but books aren't either.

97. Spending your entire allowance at the arcade in the mall.
Why not? Do kids not get allowances? Are they paid by check or PayPal? Or are arcades going away?

98. Omni Magazine.
I've heard of this but don't remember what it was for. Magazines in general are in trouble, though. See #42.

99. A physical dictionary — either for spelling or definitions.
See #37. In either case, though, computers or smartphones are necessary. Plenty of people still do not have access to Internet from their homes, and smartphones are still a small percentage of the market. A book is easier to use but for staying current, yes, online access is better.

100. When a ‘geek’ and a ‘nerd’ were one and the same.
I'm not sure I ever knew a hard and fast definition for either one. They're kind of like porn: You know one when you see one.

I suppose these are predictions for the next generation, so twenty to thirty years out, but I don't know that they all will be disappearing by then. Some have already disappeared or are on their way to becoming obsolete. It would be interesting to revisit the list in a few years and see how fast technology has changed.

Fun Day in Rye

2011-07-26T22:02:00.001-04:00

Sunday Kevin and I went to Belmont Baptist. Their pastor is leaving in September, and we wanted to stop by for a visit before it was too late. We saw several regulars and some Dirty Marbles friends, so it was good to catch up.

Right after church we headed to New Hampshire to see the beach where we got married. It was kind of an anniversary trip since we weren't sure when we'd have another nice weekend. It started out rainy and cloudy, but by the time we got to the beach the sky was blue and the sun was out. It wasn't humid or blazing hot, it was just a really nice day to be outside.

We didn't want to pay to park at Rye Harbor, which is "our beach," so we parked up the road a bit and walked back. There were lots of people out, but it wasn't badly crowded. After about an hour of walking in the sand and getting my feet wet, we headed into North Hampton and stopped at the library. It wasn't open, but they had a bench out front so we sat with our books and read. Then we got a little snack at Shaw's and went back to Rye Harbor. By this time it was about 5:30 and the ticket lady was gone, so we parked there and sat on the rocks watching the tide come in for about an hour. Most people had left by then, so we enjoyed the sunshine and each other's company.

I'm posting a few pictures I took. A couple are a little blurry, especially at large sizes. I seem to have a problem keeping the camera still while I press the shutter button. Not a good thing if I want to get a quality camera!

I was trying to capture the pattern of the water as the wave receded from washing over the rocks.

Layers of waves. The water was deep blue.

The beach-walking couple.

Two bunnies were eating dinner in Rye Harbor State Park. One of them let me take his picture.

The couple now sitting and watching the tide come in. We could see the Isles of Shoals on the horizon.

This flock of seagulls must have been waiting for the tide to be exactly right so they could have dinner. A tanker slowly made its way from Portsmouth out to sea. It took all afternoon to go a few feet.

Whale-watching boat coming in at the end of the day. The harbor is next to Rye Harbor State Park.

Some sea kayakers went past. Even though they weren't far from shore, I don't think I'd be in the ocean on a kayak.

Yes, M does love K...very much.

Outside the library. The happy couple is about to celebrate two years of absolute wedded bliss.

Can Anyone Identify This Flower?

2011-07-18T10:23:00.000-04:00

I never saw these until I moved to Massachusetts, and even then the only place I've noticed them was in front of a house in Grafton. Just this summer I have seen them in a couple other spots, but I don't know what they are.

Unusual Pillow

2011-07-18T10:19:00.000-04:00

Yes, Lady is sleeping with her head on the base of the fan. Even though it's hot she likes to sleep in the sun, and I guess the fan seemed like a good place to lay her head.

Farewell, Rusty

2011-07-15T13:44:00.000-04:00

Lydia and her grandmother took Rusty to the vet this morning to have him put down. He'd been having seizures this summer, and today they got worse. Kevin's busy at work setting up for the Big Dipper ice cream festival tomorrow so he couldn't be there, and he's heartbroken over not getting to say goodbye. Rusty was nine.

Fourth of July

2011-07-04T22:59:00.004-04:00

Kevin, Lydia, and I went into Boston today. We followed the Freedom Trail to Quincy Market, had lunch, and wandered around the shops. Lydia got a T-shirt and a bunny at the Build a Bear store. She put a Boston outfit and Wally the Green Monster slippers on it--it was too cute!

We walked back to the Common, got some water, and sat for a while, then went to the Public Garden. We walked around the perimeter, eventually finding the monument for the book Make Way for Ducklings. I wanted a picture, but there were too many people around. Actually, there were too many parents around. The kids were sitting on the mama and baby ducks, which was cute, but the parents kept swooping in and around and I couldn't get a good shot. Also, we were heading back to the station, and I didn't want to make us miss the train.

It would have been really cool if we could have stayed for the Pops concert and fireworks, but we would have had to wait around for several more hours and fight the crowds. We were tired anyway (it was hot and sunny), so we came home and had dinner, then Kevin took Lydia back to Connecticut. So I watched the concert on TV from the comfort of my couch.

Sign for the Boston Common. I liked the shape of the tree.

Re-enactor next to Paul Revere's gravestone.

Gravestone marking the resting place of the casualties of the Boston Massacre.

Inside Quincy Market, looking up. We had lunch here. Lydia wanted chowder, even thought it was in the 80s outside. But how can you go to Boston and not eat chowdah?

A plaque commemorating Larry Bird's basketball career. This is in Quincy Market.

A vendor was selling these in Quincy Market. It's best read out loud. (People really do talk like this.)

A T-shirt at a vendor's stall in Quincy Market. Lydia bought one.

The duck boats are so funny-looking. Some are camouflage, some are painted in the Red Sox colors, some are yellow. As the Worcester Telegram reported, "They drive better than a boat and float better than a truck." It's a unique way to see the city, from land and water.

This church is near Boston Common. I thought it was neat that it was the first integrated church in America.

The outside of the Tremont Temple Baptist Church. It's hard to see, but the brickwork was intricate and caught my eye before I saw the sign over the door. (See photo above.)

This little monument is on the edge of the Common. It's the Declaration of Independence in bronze. I was hoping some of the words would be visible, but the sun was too bright. Midday isn't the greatest time for taking pictures outside, but I didn't have a choice. You can see more detail if you click the picture for a full-size view.

The Boston Massacre monument on Boston Common.

Detail of the front bottom part of the Massacre monument.

Detail of the back of the Massacre monument.

Statue of George Washington in the Public Garden.

Cool, A Deer!

2011-07-01T13:12:00.001-04:00

I was out walking on the bike path this morning, taking some pictures (didn't turn out very well, probably because the sun was too strong, but I had fun) and picking some flowers. I paused at the fence to let a couple of moms and their kids go by when I noticed antlers above the tall grass. I looked again to make sure, and yep, it was a deer. I could only see the head, but I thought I'd get a picture anyway. Sorry it's a little blurry. I zoomed in and was trying to hold the camera so the fence wasn't in the way, and I may not have held it steady. Anyway, it was an exciting moment. (Click the picture for a bigger view.)

Concert, Cookout, and Pretty Pictures

2011-06-29T19:04:00.000-04:00

The Blackstone Valley Community Concert Band -- which I'm taking a break from this summer -- played Sunday afternoon at Riverbend Farm in Uxbridge. Kevin and I brought our chairs and listened. The sun was warm but not baking. The music was good (several pieces were from our April concert, like "The Wizard of Oz," plus they played a few band standards such as "The Stars and Stripes Forever," and the rest was eclectic, from "Strike Up the Band" from the Gershwins to a Tijuana Brass medley). Afterwards I chatted with a couple of fellow band members. One is leaving for Afghanistan in a couple of weeks. She'll be gone a year, so those of you who are inclined to pray, feel free to add her to your list. Her name is Christine.

We'd also brought burgers and buns, so during the second half Kevin commandeered one of the little grills by the canal and started cooking. There's something especially tasty about hamburgers on the grill, especially when eaten outside. We walked along the canal for a little ways after dinner.

I took a couple of pictures before we went home, which you can see below.

That evening a cloud sat right between a house behind us and the church. I watched it go from gold to pink and took several pictures. Here's one of the gold ones:

Amazing Weekend

2011-06-14T21:30:00.001-04:00

I took Friday off work and Kevin came home early so the three of us (Lydia came up Thursday night) could go to New Jersey for the weekend. We actually stayed in Pennsylvania in a hotel Jen's sister found for us. Jen joined us, so it was lots of fun seeing her and catching up.

Saturday we had great fun shopping at Peddler's Village. We found a little outlet mall and picked up all kinds of goodies. The sales were terrific. Kevin got a pair of shoes at Bass, and the sale meant he could get two pairs free so Lydia picked up the free shoes. Kevin also got a suit on sale at Van Heusen; with the discount his jacket was essentially free. He got a shirt and tie also and wore the new outfit to church and the American Boychoir School graduation on Sunday. I got two summer dresses, both about 60% off. Jen got some shirts, and Lydia found a couple of dresses and shirts. For dinner we went to an arcade in the Village, and afterwards we played skee ball and air hockey. We had dessert at Friendly's on the way back to the hotel.

Sunday we went to church at Nassau Presbyterian in Princeton. We were running a little late, only about ten minutes, but somehow we missed two pages of the bulletin. We came in a bit before the sermon, then because it was Pentacost they served communion. Jen was fascinated with the organ, so we spent some time admiring the pipes and taking pictures.

Lunch was at Hoagie Haven, a local sub shop across from the university. We all got steak and cheese - good stuff. Kevin drove us around a little so Jen could see the area. He took us past the new ABS campus but not the current one, figuring there would be too many people around busy with packing up and getting ready for graduation. (ABS is selling their property and moving to a renovated monastery, where they'll be sharing the campus with two other small schools.)

Graduation was at Princeton University's chapel. The boys sang several songs, then I think thirteen eighth-graders graduated. We stayed a little bit afterwards to catch up with people Kevin and Lydia know, but Jen left after a short while. We all had about a five-hour drive home, one south and two of us north. Kevin and Lydia and I met Clint for dinner at this cool fifties diner called Cheeburger, Cheeburger. You can design your own cheeseburger from about a dozen toppings, and you can also create your own milkshake from about fifty flavors. It was all excellent.

We got home about 12:30 AM, tired but had a great time. Vacations never last long enough. Work always comes too soon.

Audubon Walk

2011-06-05T21:25:00.000-04:00

I took a walk this afternoon through the Audubon sanctuary in Worcester. Kevin had gone to Connecticut to see Lydia and bring the rest of her stuff, so I had a few hours to myself. It started out cloudy and cool, but then the sun came out and it got quite warm. I wasn't sure I'd find much to take pictures of, but I brought my camera and thought I'd practice. There wasn't a lot of light (or rather, there was lots of speckled light) and there are few flowers among the ferns and trees, so I was looking for splashes of color and leading lines (the paths, walls, streams, fallen trees - anything that's straight and leads the viewer through a picture). I actually found quite a few things to take pictures of, so I'm putting some of my favorites below.

I saw a mother duck and a handful of babies, but they were behind a tree so I couldn't get a good look. Mama led the kids down the brook in the opposite direction of me when she noticed I was watching. I also had insects buzzing in my ear and saw lots of mosquitoes. I'd put bug spray on, but I'm not sure how well it worked. I don't have major itching yet, but sometimes it takes a day for the bites to swell.

I really liked the symmetry of this fern.

I was practicing focusing on one part of the picture, in this case the flowers in the forefront. I think it came out pretty well.

This is one stone wall I took for Mom. I also liked the forest of ferns in the middle, and if you look closely you can see a stand of white birches in the background on the right.

Another stone wall for Mom.

I don't know what these are, but at one point on the trail there were several bushes of them. There were plenty of clusters that hadn't bloomed yet.

Rainbows

2011-06-05T19:46:00.000-04:00

Twice in the last couple of days we've had a rainbow. The first picture is of the first one. It was short but vibrant. The second picture is of a full rainbow. It was also doubled on one end, but the colors were too faint to show in the camera.

Weekend

2011-06-05T19:29:00.001-04:00

Friday night Kevin and I went to see the Worcester Chorus. The program was called "The Southern Cross," and they performed songs from South America (specifically Argentina), Australia, and South Africa. They were really good. They did a song cycle based on William Blake poems, an Aboriginal-infused piece with overtone singing (Google it or search YouTube - you can sing certain vowel sounds and position your tongue in such a way that you can produce multiple sounds. If the acoustics are just right, the sound vibrations will bounce off each other and create more tones. It fascinated me.), a Mass in Spanish, and a couple of African pieces. I had a great time. Kevin had gotten a gift certificate for Christmas from his boss, and this was the most appealing Worcester Chorus concert this season. I'm glad we went.

Yesterday was Kevin's birthday. I had to work and Lydia had made other plans, so he had the day to himself. He did drop by the library on my lunch hour, so we ate outside and took a little walk. He wanted to have dinner at Outback Steakhouse, so we both got steak and potatoes. I had grilled shrimp with mine, and it was all so good. I ate way too much, but we did bring some home. I'd made a cake and tried to make ice cream, so we came home for dessert. (The ice cream never thickened while the machine was spinning. I don't know why, but I put it in the freezer and it did harden. It actually doesn't taste too bad.)

Sick Again

2011-05-25T17:06:00.000-04:00

I stayed home today. I believe this is the fourth time in five months that I've had this sore throat/congestion thing. If it's allergies, it's the worst I've had them. I went to Target this morning for Dayquil, and once that kicked in I felt better, but I still needed the day to take it easy and not have to deal with patrons. I took a nap after lunch, and that helped too.

Kevin and I spent the weekend in Virginia. We got Lydia from school (her college years are half over!), put some of her stuff in storage, and brought a few things to my parents' house. We dropped her off with her mom in New Jersey on Sunday, and took the rest of her stuff home with us. She'll be up next weekend for the summer. Kevin and I then took a little detour Sunday afternoon to see Clint. It's always good to catch up with him. I also got to see Jen, who spent Saturday afternoon with me at the mall. I was looking for shorts and found one pair. I also got a T-shirt, and Jen bought me another short-sleeved shirt as a very early birthday present. Kevin and Lydia went to the outlets on Saturday, where he found me a gorgeous aqua blue dress. Even on sale it was more than I usually spend on myself, but he thought it would look nice on me (and it does), so he bought it. He's so thoughtful. Thanks, honey! I can't wait to wear it.

Pretty Pictures

2011-05-15T16:51:00.001-04:00

The sunset pictures I took while out on a walk with Kevin after dinner a couple of nights ago.

The flowers were from a walk I took the other day during my lunch hour. I also took one of a beautiful red tree, but it came out fuzzy (it was really windy, plus I need to learn to use the self-timer as I tend to shake the camera a bit as I press the shutter button). I'm hoping I can redo the tree plus maybe these others as they may also be a little unsharp, but with the rain forecast for the week I don't know if I'll get the chance.

Lady

2011-05-11T21:07:00.000-04:00

Lady went to the vet today to get her teeth cleaned. She also had two molars pulled. One was broken (I don't know how that happened), and one was irritated. She put up a twenty-minute fight this morning, but I did finally manage to get her in the carrier. I picked her up after dinner. She's still a little unsteady from the anesthesia, but she's eating fine. I don't want to feed her too much, but the two forkfuls of wet food were licked right up. I'm supposed to squirt liquid pain medication into her mouth for the next three days, but I don't think that's going to happen. I might try to put it on her food in the morning.

I wrote a few weeks ago about repotting my jungle plant. When my parents were here last month, Mom suggested putting the cuttings in water instead of soil. So out of the half dozen or so, I had three that weren't doing badly. I decided to take her advice, and have had them in a glass in the kitchen window for about three weeks now. One looks like it's putting out green root nubs, one might be trying to shoot off a new leaf, and the other one doesn't seem to be doing anything. It's not shriveling up, at least, so I'll leave it for a while longer. I add a few drops of plant food when I change the water, so I'm hoping I can repot them all at some point.

Messy Trees

2011-05-05T21:22:00.000-04:00

Whatever trees we have along our street, they sure are messy. Their droppings seem too large for pollen; it might be some kind of seed. This is the sidewalk leading up to our house:

Odds and Ends

2011-04-27T20:35:00.000-04:00

Easter was good. We went to Bryan and Dawn's for lunch (Dawn's a really good cook) and were entertained by Hunter. Barry, Kevin's mom Priscilla, and Dawn's mom Linda were also there. Hunter is three and a half and is quite the charmer. He's a talker, although I don't always understand what he's saying. He seems tall for his age, not that I'm an expert in child development, so I'm guessing he's going to be a big kid.

Spring seems to finally be here. It's been warm, in the eighties yesterday, but rainy. I'm all for warm temperatures, but I could do without the mugginess that comes with rain. I want some sun and blue skies. The trees are turning green, and I swear the rhododendron bush at the corner of the house bloomed overnight. We've had daffodils, but it's really nice seeing other plants and flowers coming out.

I mentioned in my previous post that I've been trying to learn to use the manual settings on my camera. I went out Friday to Green Hill Park in Worcester and took several pictures. I also took some on Monday of a rhododendron cluster I have in a bowl of water, and last night I shot the tree and the three-decker across the street. I thought I'd post some of my favorites. I'm also posting a couple from Tower Hill that I took when my parents were here. (Green Hill Park is a huge tract of land with a playground, a pond across from a golf course, a tiny zoo/farm, a Vietnam War memorial, and a long road that we've walked down once. Usually there are quite a few people there, playing Frisbee or soccer or just enjoying the nice weather, but it's still a nice place to go to get away from the city. The zoo/farm has sheep, a miniature horse, llamas, goats, a few chickens, a peacock, and a few other animals. I imagine it's a great place for small kids to be exposed to wild or at least untamed animals.)

Fun Weekend

2011-04-21T17:57:00.000-04:00

My parents were here for Patriot's Day weekend. They had spent a couple of days out near Cooperstown first, so they brought strawberry preserves from Fly Creek Orchard. Good stuff. They weren't here a full week, but we still had fun catching up. We spent some time with Kevin's folks, which made me happy because it's been far too long since we all got together, probably since our wedding. We also watched a lot of baseball on TV and tried to get outside when we could, but it was generally windy and chilly. We did visit Tower Hill one morning, which is always nice even if very few flowers are in bloom yet. Mom and I took a few pictures. (I'm trying to learn how to use the settings on my camera and have even explored the Program mode a little. What I need to do next is find someone who can teach me to use GIMP, the open source photo editing software. I've been playing with it, but I'm sure it can do much more than I've figured out so far. Books are nice, but I can't ask questions and have a conversation.)

Lady Nesting

2011-04-08T20:12:00.000-04:00

One More Hockey Game

2011-04-06T20:10:00.001-04:00

Someone donated tickets for a Worcester Sharks hockey game to Kevin's office, but the guy who won them in the raffle couldn't go. Since the last home game was last night and just the day before the guy decided he couldn't make it, Kevin asked me if I'd like to go. I said sure, so we headed off after dinner. The Sharks are the Atlantic Hockey League team for the San Jose Sharks of the NHL, kind of like a AAA minor league baseball team. San Jose will often call up Worcester players when they need some new guys.

They played the Portland Pirates, the Buffalo Sabres affiliate. Sadly, the arena was more than half empty. The Sharks are in the middle of the standings but on the cusp of a playoff spot, so you'd think they'd have more fans in the seats. Also, they skated slowly and didn't seem to care whether they won or lost. (They lost, 2-1.) The Pirates scored almost immediately, then both teams had a goal disallowed. The Sharks tied it halfway through the third period, so they had to play a five-minute overtime. Neither team scored, so they finished up with a shoot-out. Of the five players on each team who took a shot only one Portland guy scored. So the Pirates won, 2-1. There were a couple of fights, so at least there was some excitement.

The Sharks goal sparked some passion in the crowd and lit a little fire under the players, but it wasn't enough. The Holy Cross arena may be tiny in comparison, but they crowd likes and supports their team.

On a totally unrelated note I've seen crocuses, daffodils, and robins, so spring is here even if it doesn't feel like it.

Happy Spring!

2011-03-20T18:07:00.001-04:00

Today is the first official day of spring, and it does feel like it. It's been warm for a few days now. I'm trying to be better about walking at lunch or when I get home from work, and today I didn't even need my jacket. (Actually, since today is Sunday I wasn't at work, so I took a walk this afternoon. Lydia is on spring break, spending it in Connecticut. Kevin and I got her yesterday, then he took her back this afternoon. I went walking and shopping while they were gone.) I wouldn't be surprised if it got cold again, maybe even enough to snow--not that I'm wishing for that!--but I'll enjoy the warmth while I can.

I decided to cut some good stalks off my jungle plants and repot them into a smaller planter. I don't know if roots will grow, but the centers of both plants were brown and without new growth. I thought taking nice green cuttings and starting over would be a good idea. I took more cuttings than I meant so I probably should have used two pots, but I figure I can use a bigger pot when they get large enough. I want to see how they do first.

(I'm not sure the official name of the jungle plants, some kind of philodendren, I think. My mom named them because they tend to get viny, and they grow quickly.)

On a final note about Holy Cross, they lost their semifinal match against Air Force. But their season was impressive enough to get their coach named Atlantic Hockey Coach of the Year. So congratulations, Paul Pearl!

Dirty Marbles Tournament

2011-03-06T16:15:00.001-05:00

The Dirty Marbles tournament at Belmont Baptist was yesterday. We won two, then lost two. We probably should have won all four, but it literally wasn't in the cards. We hung around and played a couple more games for fun, then watched the four finalists play the first of their championship games. We left soon after they started the second game to go find dinner. It was fun. There were 15 teams so the brackets were uneven, but I think everyone had a good time. Even those who lost early stayed for a while and kept playing other teams who lost.

The anniversary of the day Kevin and I met is Tuesday, so we went out to Applebee's last night to celebrate. (Well, he isn't mentioned in that blog post, but I did invite him to the sugar maple farm and he was willing to go.) Three years ago I took a chance and decided to meet in person a guy I'd met online a few months before. (Okay, so that link isn't of our first date, but it's about three weeks later at our first Dirty Marbles tournament and the first mention of him in my blog.) Our first couple dates were of the usual awkward conversation type, but we both knew pretty quickly that there was something special between us. We started talking marriage within a few weeks, got engaged five months after we met, and got married a year after that. He's the love of my life, and I thank God all the time for bringing us together.

On an unrelated but still happy note, there is grass outside! We've had some warm temperatures and rain, and so finally we can see some grass. There's still plenty of dirty, ice-packed snow, and the streets are still clogged with piles left from the plows, but I'm so happy to see evidence of melting. Spring better be on the way for good soon.

Holy Cross Wrap-up

2011-02-27T19:29:00.000-05:00

Friday night was the final home game for the men's hockey team, and then they played their last away game on Saturday. We didn't go as neither of us was feeling up to it (I had a cold early in January...how'd I get another one so soon?); plus, we figure we got our money's worth out of our season tickets. It was fun to get away on the weekends, but I haven't become a hockey devotee. Holy Cross, for getting off to a rough start, ended up third in their conference of about twelve teams. RIT and Air Force were first and second. Holy Cross's final record was 15-14-5 (14-8-5 in conference). Everyone participates in the playoffs, and the winner goes to the NCAA tournament.

More Icicles

2011-02-02T17:02:00.001-05:00

Neighbors' houses. It was windy, so my apologies for any fuzziness.

There's a long icicle hanging off the left side of the house. It might be hard to see, but it's quite impressive in person.

These last two are of the house next door. I took a picture of the front about a week ago to show the icicles, and they're still about the same length (scroll down to the bottom).

It's a little frightening to walk along sidewalks with snow piles higher than my head. Turning out of the driveway is always an adventure. I'm thinking we'll still have snow on the ground on July Fourth.

Holy Cross Wins -- Twice!

2011-01-30T14:59:00.002-05:00

We saw Holy Cross play UConn on Friday and Saturday. The Huskies' hockey team isn't as well-established as their basketball and football programs, so they play in a smaller league. Both games started out with more energy, and Holy Cross seemed better at setting up goals and finishing shots. The goals they did score had assists, so players were there to grab rebounds and errant shots and put them in.

In Friday's game, Holy Cross scored twice in the first period, once on a power play. In this league the power play ends when a goal is scored, so at the face-off both teams are back to full strength. UConn also got a power play goal in the first period. Then in the third period, Holy Cross got two more goals, and UConn answered with seconds left. So the final was 4-2.

Saturday's game was pretty physical for the first two periods. There were a couple of near-fights, and the refs were blowing whistles left and right. By the third period the teams had settled down, and Holy Cross was up 3-0. They scored two in the first period again, then another with less than a minute to go in the second. They got their fourth right after the third period started. Once they were down on a 5-3 power play, but managed to play some good defense to keep UConn from scoring.

The pictures are from Friday's game.

Playoff and championship flags. The last time Holy Cross won the championship was 2006. They seem to have a few freshmen on the team, so they may be in a rebuilding cycle. I heard one kid in the stands say to his buddies that one of the players had gone to a Washington Capitals camp, so maybe someday they'll have a player in the NHL.

Center ice. It says "College of the Holy Cross Hart Center" around the interlocking HC. Their colors are purple and white. We've been sitting near the center, just behind the home bench. We can see into the penalty box and the box where the announcer and the scoreboard guy stand. We also have good views of both goals.

The Zamboni with the Crusader on the front. It takes him about ten minutes to clean the ice, and it's a lot of fun to watch. He does the same pattern each time: twice around the outside, then up the middle and down one side in overlapping circles. He finishes by going down the center and out of the building, where he turns around and waits to go on again.

Yes, they had a ref name Foote and one named Legg. They have four guys for each game, and they rotate among a group of eight or ten or so. Two guys judge the lines, calling off-sides or icing, and the other two--the ones with the orange bands on their jerseys--skate around and call other stuff.

UConn Huskies lined up after the introduction, waiting for the National Anthem.

Holy Cross Crusaders, lined up for the National Anthem. The librarian in me thinks it's cool that they line up in order according to number. I wish they'd put their names on their sweaters, but maybe they do that for away games. I do like the goalie's helmet, which looks like a knight's helmet.

Final score. We finally saw a win, yay!

Weekend

2011-01-23T19:54:00.001-05:00

We went to our first Holy Cross hockey game of 2011. They did have a couple earlier in the month, but I came down with a cold that weekend. There was also one on Friday night but we totally forgot about it, so we went last night to see them play Rochester Institute of Technology. It was way more physical than usual. The refs had to break up a couple of fights (fighting, while a regular part of NHL hockey, is not allowed in this college league), and there were more penalties issued than we've seen. The Holy Cross coach was livid at one point because the refs called a penalty on one of his players and ignored several other infractions by the other team. It was probably also the most passionate we've seen the Crusaders. RIT had tons of fans, making the largest and most vocal visiting fans we've seen, so at times the ice house was quite exciting.

Holy Cross scored twice in the first period, but RIT answered each goal with one of their own within a minute. RIT got a third goal in the second period, then Holy Cross tied it in the third. At the end of regulation they take only two minutes before playing a five-minute overtime. The Zamboni doesn't clean the ice so it's quite a mess. Holy Cross did their best, but they couldn't pull out a win. I don't think we've seen a win yet, so it was nice not to lose. Maybe one of these next games will be a win.

I went outside this afternoon and threw breadcrumbs for the birds. It's not unusual for the birds to stay away until I'm finished, but today I noticed a bunch of squirrels chattering like crazy. They eat the bread too so there are often several around, but when I looked up I saw a small hawk sitting on a branch near the garage. I was surprised the squirrels stayed in the vicinity, but they apparently are too large for this hawk to eat. So I got a picture, though it's kind of small.

I also went outside with the intention of capturing some of the icicles hanging off the roofs around here. Our neighbor has some long ones, so that's what I have here:

Snow Day!

2011-01-12T10:30:00.001-05:00

By 7:30 this morning we had nearly a foot of snow with more on the way, but the Town Administrator wanted to open at 11 with the library opening at 1. Just after 9, my boss called and said the town was staying closed after all. I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it in anyway, so I'd gone back to bed with the idea that I wouldn't kill myself trying to get to work. If I got there, fine. If not, fine too. But this way I don't lose a vacation day.

Our street has seen a couple of plows, but it's not down to pavement and the driving would still be treacherous. The driveway probably won't get cleared until tonight when the snow stops. I'm debating going snowshoeing around the neighborhood. It's rather windy, so I don't think I'd stay out long. Really, it's a good day for curling up with a book or making popcorn and watching a movie. And it's especially nice having another person to be snuggly with all day.

later in the day...

I just went out and took a couple of pictures. Our landlord's son was in the process of snowblowing the driveway, so I could get a good cross-section of how much was out there. The yard stick measured about 15 inches at that point. With drifting and blowing, it could be higher in some spots but not much lower.

This is the backyard. Between the drifting and snowblowing and general snowfall, it was halfway up the basketball pole.

2011

2011-01-01T14:15:00.001-05:00

Another year over, and a new one just begun...

Happy new year! We went to game night last night and stayed until 10:30 or so. Most people had left by then, but there was one Dirty Marbles game still going. We played a couple of matches and ate snacks. When we got home I finished reading a book, and Kevin watched a Sherlock Holmes episode from the DVD I got him for Christmas. We had sparkling grape juice at midnight, then went to bed around 1 am when the show was over.

It's been warm this weekend, so a lot of snow is melting. There are still big piles left from the plows, but there's also quite a bit of grass. I'm happy to have a break from the cold. In fact, we opened a couple of windows to let some fresh air in. Lady likes that - she'll jump onto the windowsill, nose pressed to the screen, sniffing the outside world.

I'm not one to make resolutions, but we are hoping for some changes this year. Like finding a place to settle down and call home for a while and starting a family. We're looking forward to what God has in store for us in 2011.

First Snowfall

2010-12-27T15:32:00.000-05:00

We got maybe a foot of snow overnight. It's so windy that it's hard to know exactly how much, but the weatherman said Worcester got 11 inches. It was worse in Boston and on the Cape as they had to endure storm surges as well. They had high winds plus huge waves, which made for some bad flooding. It was like a hurricane with snow. We probably could have traveled yesterday and been home before much snow had fallen, but there was no way to know that ahead of time. So today we slept in and got my car cleaned off, then after lunch Kevin went to get Lydia so he can take her to Boston tomorrow night to head back to Virginia. I had hoped to go snowshoeing today, but it's so windy that I probably couldn't stand the cold for too long. But I'm sure I'll have more chances before the winter is over.

Christmas

2010-12-26T16:16:00.001-05:00

This is an outdoor Christmas card. My grandmother made one many years ago, and it's one of the things I remember most about her house. So after she passed away one of my uncles modified the pattern so the stand and the top can be taken apart for storage. This is the first year Mom has had it, and I love it.

Kevin and I drove down to Virginia on Thursday. It was quite novel to make the trip in the daytime. We stopped for lunch and dinner with some bathroom breaks in between, so it took us longer than normal. But still it wasn't a bad drive.

Friday I helped Mom empty the book drop at the library while Kevin stayed home to practice piano. Dinner was chili, then we went to Cornerstone Chapel for their Christmas Eve service. (Dad picked Julie up on the way and took her home afterward so she could wrap presents.) It was good but not Kevin's style, all rockin' guitars and keyboards, so he and I went to the Presbyterian church's 11 pm service. That was great, a candlelight/communion service that ended just after midnight.

Saturday, Christmas morning, Julie came over for breakfast, then we opened presents. We all got some good ones. I enjoy giving gifts, so I'm sure I went a little overboard this year. Like, I probably didn't have to go up to Applecrest in NH and get maple syrup, sugar candy, and apples, but I really wanted to bring them something from New England. I'd gotten a few things this summer on our trip to Cooperstown and Tanglewood, but I always feel like I should get "one more thing" for everyone. They were very generous to us too, so thanks, Mom, Dad, and Julie.

We had planned to leave Monday morning, but Friday and Saturday the meteorologists on TV were warning about snow up the East Coast. It was a tricky time line with most of it falling Sunday night into Monday. Sitting here now on Sunday seeing flurries out my window, I think we could have left today and gotten home before the worst of it, but we left last evening in order to be ahead of it. Leaving Monday would have meant being behind it, but perhaps traveling on roads that hadn't been fully cleared. I was bitterly disappointed, having looked forward for months to spending Christmas with my family for the first time in four years, and I cried much of the way home. I'm still heartbroken, but no matter what happens overnight, I'm still taking tomorrow off work. I need a break from the boredom there, and though I was hoping to have another day to chill in Virginia, this way we got our grocery shopping and laundry done and can enjoy the snow tomorrow.

Wreath

2010-12-22T20:06:00.000-05:00

Kevin's Aunt Nancy had this wreath shipped to us from LL Bean. It's hanging on our storage room door. It smells like Christmas, all pine-y and outdoors-y.

Lydia's Here!

2010-12-19T15:35:00.000-05:00

Lydia finished her fall semester on Thursday and took the train up to CT that night. There were delays because of snow in VA (who would have thought two years in a row they'd have snow this early in December?), but she got in Friday by noon. Kevin went down yesterday, and the two of them went shopping for the food basket we said we'd fill for church. He brought her up to spend the night. We had dinner out, then he bought her a purple wool winter coat she found at Kohl's. For Christmas he also gave her a couple seasons of MASH on DVD, while I gave her the requisite iTunes card and a small quilt I made. It has puppies on the front and her name on the back.

This morning we went to church, where we did the readings and lit the candles for Advent. Lydia handled the pyrotechnics. They had to get back to CT after lunch to stack wood for Kevin's mom, so I stayed home and did laundry. It's always nice to have her with us. I know Kevin likes just loves it when she's around, and I'm sure she enjoys seeing her dad. She does miss her dog, though, so she has to balance the time spent with each of them.

Christmas is Coming

2010-12-16T18:42:00.001-05:00

I put the tree up last night. I always think it looks nice, especially with the lights on. I'm still using the strings I bought in 1999, though I did discover a testy wire in one of them. I put two strings on the tree, then decided to put the other two around the dining room and living room, draping and tacking them over the windows. I've always wanted to put lights up that way, and I'm glad I did. They look very pretty.

Weather-wise we're cold, single digits overnight then in the 20s during the day. There's a chance of a snowstorm Sunday night, but I'm crossing my fingers that it misses us. The weather guy on the radio this morning said we'd escape, and I'm going with his prediction. (He's usually more right than the Weather Channel, so I'm hoping that holds true for this weekend.) I'm not ready for snow, at least not that much of it. There's snow down south, though, reminiscent of last year.

The Christmas Season Has Started

2010-12-06T10:45:00.001-05:00

Our band's Christmas concert was Friday night. We've moved to a school with a slightly larger auditorium, although the stage seemed cramped. That could be because we've added new members this year, so now we're up to 60 musicians. We did our usual sing-along and "Sleigh Ride" at the end, which are crowd-pleasers. We also did a couple of songs by Gustav Holst that I really like and am trying to track down mp3s.

Saturday night was a Christmas party at the home of a lady at church. She lives in Rhode Island, just across the border. At first there weren't many people we could sit and talk with, but as the evening went on and more people came who we knew, we enjoyed ourselves better.

We lit the second Advent candle in church yesterday. (The Brandriffs' turn is coming Dec. 19, including Lydia if she wants.) Somehow, though, I'm still not quite ready to put on the Christmas CDs and get out the decorations. I think I might, however, dig through Kevin's closet to get to the boxes storing my stuff. Maybe putting out a few things will get me more in the mood.

I am pretty much finished with my shopping. I have a couple of gift cards to get and I'm waiting for a couple of things to be shipped so I can wrap them, but I am ahead of myself this year.

Weekend Catch-up

2010-11-29T20:33:00.000-05:00

Saturday we saw another hockey game, this time against Providence. It was another loss, but the score was closer at 2-1. Holy Cross got lucky on that; it easily could have been much worse. Providence, according to Kevin, seemed like they were in another league. Holy Cross doesn't skate fast, and they still have trouble finishing shots. They wait until the third period to bring out their A-game, which means they play from behind. If they played that well from the beginning, they'd have a better chance at winning.

Sunday we saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1. It was good, but it's obviously not the final part of the story. It dragged in the middle, where the three kids are tramping all over the countryside (but, to be fair, the book also dragged in that spot), and it just kind of ended. It didn't have a real story arc, with a build-up, climax, and resolution, so it was a little unsatisfying. But Part 2 comes out next summer so the wait to see what happens next isn't terrible.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T15:21:00.000-05:00

We went to Connecticut for the day. I brought macaroni and cheese, straight out of the oven and into Kevin's pizza carrier so it was still hot when we got to his mom's house. She made ham, sweet potatoes, and coleslaw. His brother Barry was there, so it was a small group but still fun. Mostly we read and played with the dog. I called Virginia late afternoon and talked to my parents and sister.

We both have off work until Monday, so we're enjoying the time to do nothing or to catch up on projects. I have a few more Christmas presents to order, but I spent the afternoon today wrapping the ones I do have. I also have a thick book to keep me occupied.

Cool New Footwear

2010-11-20T22:23:00.000-05:00

The two pairs of Converse came from the Leesburg Outlets last weekend. I needed new sneakers and saw some really cool ones the last time Kevin and I were in Virginia. I couldn't decide so I got both pairs. At outlet prices, they were very reasonable. I saw two other pairs that I really liked, but they didn't have my size. It's probably a good thing or I would have had lots of new shoes.

The pair in the middle are my Wicked Good Slippers from LL Bean. That's what they are called - Wicked Good Slippers. My old moose ones were ten years old and very worn, to the point where they were falling off my feet and had holes in the lining. These ones are so warm and soft. They have soles, unlike my previous pair, so I can wear them outside to get the mail or to run out to the car if I need to.

Holy Cross vs. Bentley University

2010-11-20T22:14:00.001-05:00

Kevin had a benefit concert for work, so I went to another Holy Cross hockey game by myself. This time the stadium didn't fill up until the second period, and it emptied out during the second intermission. Some of the kids came back for the third period, but it wasn't full this time. There was no pep band, so that freed up an entire section; people had more places to sit for this game.

Bentley University is in Waltham, MA. I sat in front of the two students calling the game for the radio, and I heard one say they were just under .500, while Holy Cross was just over .500. I forget the actual records, but Holy Cross had at least won more than they lost. However, Bentley scored three goals in the first period in roughly five-minute intervals. Holy Cross got two in the second period, but then Bentley put two more in during the third period for a final of 5-2. Holy Cross had some good chances but just couldn't get the puck over the line. They even pulled their goalie and had a 6-4 advantage but couldn't score. Their defense did shut down a 5-3 power play - Bentley really could have demolished them.

Holy Cross did a better job by the third period of rebounding. Earlier in the game one guy would shoot but there would be no teammate to back him up and catch the puck for another shot.

The puck actually came over the glass in the first few minutes. There weren't many people in the stands yet, but it did manage to find three guys sitting about four rows back. Two sticks got broken. There were a lot of tangles by the boards, more than I remember from the previous game. Still not a lot of fighting, but the referees did put several players in the penalty box.

It was fun. I like it because it's quick. There is one hour of playing time plus a total of 30 minutes while the Zamboni cleans the ice between periods. There are no out of bounds, so there isn't a lot of stopping time. The game moves quickly and is over in a couple hours. And since we live five minutes away, there's hardly any travel time. It makes for a nice night out.

Birthday Weekend

2010-11-15T09:52:00.002-05:00

My birthday was actually during the week, but Kevin and I went to Virginia over the Veterans' Day weekend, so I got to celebrate with my family a few days later.

We left Wednesday after work. Kevin had eaten dinner already and he picked up some for me so I could eat in the car. That way, we got going a little bit earlier than usual. I got to see my parents and Julie, and Jen came up twice. Kevin went to see Lydia at school. We also dropped by the library to use the Internet, and I saw several former colleagues. That was a nice treat. Mostly we didn't do much, just read and went for walks. Jen and I went shopping, and I got some jeans and Converse sneakers plus two shirts for Kevin. We headed home Sunday. Those trips are always a lot of fun. They go by too quickly and it's sad when we have to leave, but we keep hoping we'll be able to move closer sometime soon. But as always, we'll just have to see.

Another Year Older

2010-11-10T16:56:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was my birthday. I had to work, naturally, but it was a good day. I didn't tell any of my coworkers so there was no celebration, but that's fine. I haven't been feeling the need to broadcast my birthday for a few years. Kevin and I did have dinner, lasagna roll-ups* that we made on Sunday (since pasta usually tastes better the in the days after initial cooking) and cheesecake he brought home. I got lots of Facebook messages, some cards, and good presents.

*A coworker told me about lasagna roll-ups, and I thought I'd give it a try. Basically, we modified the lasagna recipe my mom gave me but instead of layering lasagna noodles in a pan and making a large batch, we laid strips of cheese onto the cooked noodles and spooned the meat sauce onto it and rolled each noodle. We fit four into my 9x9 pan, covered them with more sauce and cheese, and baked at 350 for 45 minutes (uncovered for the last 15). They turned out great. Each noodle was enough for one meal, so between the two of us, we had two meals. I'm thinking we might try stuffing big shells for a similar dish, but since we have a box of lasagna noodles left over, I'm sure we'll be doing them again too.

On a side note, the sunset was beautiful tonight. My desk at work faces the window, and I could see the golds deepen into oranges and then purples. Of course I didn't have my camera, but I did watch it. I will say this for Grafton: They have some really pretty sunsets.

Holy Cross Hockey

2010-11-06T11:50:00.003-04:00

Last night was the home opener for Holy Cross's men's hockey team. Kevin won season tickets at the Children's Friend auction back in March, so we went over to the athletic office in the afternoon and got our tickets. They played Robert Morris University, a school in Pittsburgh.

The ice rink seats maybe a couple of thousand people. We got there early because we weren't sure about parking or finding seats (it's general admission), and had plenty of options. The crowd was mostly students, who didn't show up until the end of the first period, but they packed out the place. A pep band played (wearing purple-and-white-striped shirts, very similar to the one I was wearing, which was actually from Bishop's University in Canada).

I think RMU had more possession time, but it seemed to me that the teams were pretty evenly matched. (Although I see from their website that RMU has lost only one game, and Holy Cross is 3-4.) The game was fast and physical, though the referees don't let fights get out of hand. They break them up quickly and issue time-outs, so there's not a lot of stopped time. The game started at 7, and we were home shortly after 9...a nice night out.

No one scored until the second period, when the two teams scored five goals. RMU started, Holy Cross got one back, RMU scored two quick ones, and Holy Cross got one more. Play was furious in the third period, but Holy Cross couldn't get the puck over the line. They pulled their goalie with about 90 seconds left, which was perhaps a minute too soon as RMU scored in the open goal. Holy Cross had been on the offensive, but RMU got the puck and had a clear shot with no defenders.

I'm not sure when we'll be able to go to another game due to our schedule and theirs, plus they're away the whole month of December, but we'll definitely use more of our tickets.

Edited: Kevin said he thought RMU was better. I did notice a lot of double- and triple-teaming, but that's also because the two defenders hang back when their team is on the offensive and so the defending team has more guys around the goal.

Fall

2010-10-15T18:57:00.000-04:00

Usually I post some pretty pictures of leaves and exclaim how colorful New England is in October, but this year isn't as spectacular as the previous years. I think the hot, dry summer has adversely affected the trees. It's not that they aren't changing color, but the colors aren't as bright and haven't lasted as long. Leaves are turning then dropping immediately. It's still fall and the colors are nice, but nothing has struck me as photo-worthy this year.

I hear winter is supposed to have normal snow amounts but be colder. I'm not sure I'm ready for six months of cold weather, but I'd rather have that than lots of snow.

Someone Doesn't Know Me Well At All

2010-10-03T16:46:00.000-04:00

A publisher sent an offer with this address label. It's good for a chuckle, but I don't ever want to see "Director" after my name again. I'm happy just being the librarian and letting someone else be in charge.

All Alone

2010-09-24T20:21:00.001-04:00

It's parents weekend at Lydia's college, and Kevin went down on the train. I dropped him off about three hours ago, and I missed him as soon as I drove away from the station. He'll be back on Sunday. It's the first time we've been apart since we got married, and facing two nights by myself makes me feel very lonely. I have to work tomorrow, so at least I'll have something to distract me. I'm sure he and Lydia will have a great time, just the two of them. They need daddy/daughter time without the stepmother intruding. I don't think Lady will miss him. She seems glad when he leaves in the morning and disappointed when he keeps coming back at night.

Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-08T19:38:00.001-04:00

Kevin and I went to Virginia for Labor Day. We left after work on Thursday, slept a few hours at my parents' house, then took Lydia's stuff to her at college on Friday. She'd gone down the weekend before but couldn't take much, so we brought a bunch to her.

We stopped to meet Jen for dinner on the way to my parents', then she followed us the rest of the way. We ate at Five Guys, where they have excellent french fries. They practically filled the bag with them so we had lots more than we could eat. Jen spent the night, then she offered to drive Mom, Kevin, and me to Harpers Ferry in her new car. It's a Honda Civic, bright blue. We got a late start because we sat around chatting before my dad went to work, but that's okay. We still had time to walk around the downtown area and across the bridge to the C & O Canal path. It was a beautiful day, and lots of people were there. We had ice cream before heading home. Jen had to leave that night, but we had tons of fun. Our visits always seem too short.

Sunday Kevin and I went to Leesburg Presbyterian (we ran into Becky before the service but didn't have time to chat), then met my friend Tony for lunch at Leesburg Restaurant. They were still serving breakfast, but that was fine. It's a local greasy spoon, just the type of thing Kevin and Tony like. They'd met before, just once, I think, and they got along really well. I enjoy it so much when my friends end up liking each other. That afternoon we headed to the outlet mall, where we stopped for some Converse shoes for Lydia and met my sister. We brought Julie back to the house, and Kevin grilled us hamburgers and Esskay hot dogs.

We left Monday morning to come back to Massachusetts. It was a quick trip (aren't they all?) but a fun one. We didn't do a whole lot, though we stayed up late talking and didn't get as much rest as we might have liked. Still, I'm glad we went. Now it's back to work.

Tanglewood

2010-08-16T19:23:00.001-04:00

After Cooperstown and the Normal Rockwell Museum, Kevin and I spent a day at Tanglewood in Lenox, MA. In the morning we sat in on a Boston Symphony Orchestra rehearsal for their Gershwin, Bernstein, Schuller concert, then in the evening we sat on the lawn and heard John Williams conducting the Boston Pops in many of the scores he wrote for Steven Spielberg films.

I like Gershwin and the Bernstein piece featured a clarinet solo, which really got the audience going, but I think the Gunther Schuller piece lost everyone. It was in seven (thankfully short) movements and was based on a series of paintings by Paul Klee. It was impressionist, arhythmic and non-melodic. One movement featured a flute, played off-stage to give the melody a haunting quality, and that was kind of cool, but the rest of the song was rather boring.

It was so awesome to hear John Williams in the evening. Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies hosted. They showed some clips of films on the large screens, which was neat. The first half of the concert was like a salute to Hollywood, from the early days of film to the 1970s. Then the second half was all Williams/Spielberg, from Jaws to Close Encounters of the Third Kind to Schindler's List to the Indiana Jones encore. Two of the pieces featured a high school honor chorus, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Chorus. Kevin was reading through the program when he discovered he knew one of the boys from the Boychoir School. We had such fun sitting outside under the stars listening to amazing music - it was over too quickly and we didn't want to leave. But, like all vacations, it had to end and we returned home.

Here are a few pictures from around the Tanglewood property:

There's a small garden in one corner of the estate, and this is a memorial for the people who donated the land that became Tanglewood.

This is the Serge Koussevitzky Music Shed. We sat inside for the morning rehearsal then on the lawn in the evening to hear John Williams. It's an open building, and the have screens and speakers so everyone can see and hear, even if they're not inside the hall. It probably seats a couple of thousand, but more like ten thousand can camp outside.

The view from about halfway back inside the shed.

The Berkshires.

The Lions Gate, where we went in.

The Seiji Ozawa hall. The whole building is the concert hall. They can open this end to allow people sitting on the lawn to enjoy the music.

This is a scan of a postcard I bought. It's Ozawa Hall from the inside. Before the Williams concert, three ladies were performing here. We didn't listen because we didn't want to lose our spot at the music shed, but I came down to take a picture.

Norman Rockwell Museum

2010-08-16T16:40:00.002-04:00

After visiting Cooperstown, Kevin and I went to western Massachusetts where we had tickets for two Tanglewood concerts. That's the place in Lenox where the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops have their summer home. First, however, we stopped at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge.

I didn't take any pictures (the museum doesn't allow pictures inside), but it was neat to see the canvases up close. Besides magazine covers, he also did advertisements for a medical insurance company and a few movie posters. The upstairs has several rooms with lots of his paintings, and the downstairs has many Saturday Evening Post covers. (You can see his Post covers and many other paintings on the website. Mouse over "Store," then click "Buy Prints.") We also watched a short film of his life and work. I realized at the end of our tour that we hadn't seen any of his sports paintings. He did several memorable baseball ones, but I guess they were in storage waiting for their turn to be displayed. It's also possible the museum doesn't have them all as private collectors do own a good portion of Rockwell's works. We did see one at the Baseball Hall of Fame the day before, so that was neat.

Also on the property is the studio Rockwell used when he lived in Stockbridge. It's been moved to that location so visitors can go in, so even though it was a pretty red building with a lovely view, I didn't take a picture. I would have if it had been in its original spot, but I felt it was out of context where it was.

After dinner we walked along the streets of downtown Stockbridge. It's small but cute, and the stores that were there in Rockwell's days are still there.

Cooperstown - Baseball Hall of Fame

2010-08-16T16:18:00.006-04:00

Kevin and I took a little trip out west. First we went to Cooperstown, NY, to see the Baseball Hall of Fame. The day we arrived we poked around a bit, stopping at Otsego Lake to walk. I got a picture of the sunset, plus we happened upon the covered bridge at Hyde Hall, the oldest one still in existence. We never did find Hyde Hall, but apparently it's a magnificent nineteenth-century country house. The website has some great pictures. Now I wish we'd looked harder for it. The builder married into the Cooper family, of James Fenimore Cooper fame.

The Hall of Fame building was built in 1939 and stands near the alleged site of baseball's invention by Abner Doubleday in 1839. History has discovered that Doubleday did not really invent the game; rather, it evolved out of children's games also played with sticks, balls, and bases, but there is a field now on that spot. The day we visited fans were participating in an Orioles fantasy camp. Not with the actual players, just wearing T-shirts or uniforms of their favorite players.

The first class of Hall of Famers was 1936 and included Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, and Walter Johnson. I took several pictures of the plaques in the gallery, trying to get a representation of players not otherwise shown in my photos. Thus I don't have ones for Ted Williams or Joe DiMaggio or Hank Aaron. The Hall of Fame includes umpires, managers, owners, and executives as well as players. There's even a woman. (More about her at the bottom of this post.)

I'm putting indoor pictures first. The plaques are after those in a slideshow so people not interested can scroll quickly past them. If you want to read the plaques, check out the list on the Hall of Fame website and browse or search. The plaques should be on the right side of each player's page. You might have to scroll down a bit.

The front of the building. It says "National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum."

The first induction in 1939 when the building was dedicated was "attended by Grover Cleveland, Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins, Walter Johnson, Nap Lajoie, Connie Mack, Babe Ruth, George Sisler, Tris Speaker, Honus Wagner, and Cy Young."

The front gates.

Norman Rockwell painting, "Bottom of the Sixth." One room in the museum is devoted to baseball in art. They have a statue of Casey Stengel that looks so lifelike you think he's going to kick dirt on you for blowing a call.

The uniform Hank Aaron wore in April 1974 when he hit home run 715 to pass Babe Ruth as the all-time leader.

Hank Aaron's Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards.

Balls from no-hitter games. Top center is from Sandy Koufax's perfect game and to his left is Jim Bunning's perfect game. (Sorry, his face is under the glare.) Under Koufax is Dave Moreland's no-hitter with Boston. There's a wall filled with these balls.

Pins and World Series rings. Bottom center is the Red Sox ring from 2007 and to its right - next to the glare - is the Phillies ring from 2008. These were in a glass case and range from simple rings for early Series to large, gaudy ones from more recent championships. They aren't as bad as Super Bowl rings, but they are still elaborate.

Curt Schilling's bloody sock and the shoes he wore from the 2004 World Series. The ball was the one thrown to first base to record the final out to give the Sox the championship.

Ted Williams' equipment.

The bat Ted Williams used to hit his 500th home run and the ball he hit.

Joe DiMaggio's locker and equipment.

David Ortiz's jersey from the 2004 World Series and a Pedro Martinez Mets jersey. I don't remember who the Expos hat belonged to. It could have been Vladimir Guerrero, but I don't think so. These were in an exhibit showcasing Latin players.

A photo from 2007 showing Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken getting inducted into the Hall. Their plaques are in the slideshow at the bottom of this post.

Statues of Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, and Roberto Clemente. I'm guessing these are life-size. If so, Clemente was just a little guy. Maybe not short but pretty skinny.

Statues of Babe Ruth and Ted Williams at bat.

Painting of Cy Young. If this isn't life-size it's pretty close to it.

There was also an exhibit of baseball movies. This was the uniform Robert Redford wore in The Natural.

We also went through the exhibit for sportswriters and sportscasters. The plaques for them were a little small for pictures, but we did see the one for the newest enshrinee: Jon Miller of ESPN.

We also saw a Phillie Phanatic costume, seats from past stadiums, ticket stubs, an early popcorn box, the ladies of baseball (the all-girls professional league from the 1930s and 1940s), and much more. There are three floors and we hit them all, but like most museums it takes several visits to absorb everything. There is also a library, which looks like it has other cool stuff like photos and documents, but we didn't visit that.

Now, onto the Hall of Fame Gallery. There are 14 photos in the slideshow. Of the thousands of players over the years, fewer than 240 have been enshrined. Pretty cool. There are several Negro League players as well as a handful from pre-Negro days.

Did you spot the woman, Effa Manley? Back in the 1930s and 1940s she was owner and manager of the Newark Eagles, a Negro team.

The Hall recognizes players who served in the military, so the medallion under Stan Musial's plaque commemorates his time in the Navy.

The village of Cooperstown is tiny. It's overrun with card shops and merchants selling souvenirs. However, there are also some little cafes plus a small public library. It's cute, although you probably should have some interest in baseball if you're going to visit.

First Anniversary!

2010-08-09T10:36:00.001-04:00

Saturday Kevin and I went up to New Hampshire to revisit the beach where we got married last year. First we stopped in Hampton Falls to see the covered bridge my uncle helped build:

Then we went to Rye Harbor and sat on a bench for a while, looking out over the ocean. The Isles of Shoals were on the horizon, and several sailboats were on the water. It was a little windy, but the sun was warm. It was nice to relax and reminisce. The wedding went by so quickly, but we had such fun. In some ways it's hard to believe it was a whole year ago - time really does fly when you're having fun. But in others it seems like we've been together for a lot longer than that. Of course, we dated and were engaged for a year and a half before getting married, but even still, we fit together very well and take much joy from each other and from our relationship. I don't like to think of how lonely I was before we met, and neither of us wants to think about living without the other.

We had dinner at Chili's on a gift card from Kevin's friend Clint, then headed back up to North Hampton and walked that beach for a while. I took this photo of a sailboat:

I used the sunset setting on my camera, which brings out the orange shades. It wasn't really that dark, but I like how the colors show on the water.

Sunday we both wore our wedding clothes to church. I even wore my blue shoes. Then after lunch we went to Auburn and took a few swings in the batting cages (Kevin sneakily took a phone video of me; thank goodness I actually hit something while he was filming!) and played mini golf. I got two hole-in-ones and Kevin got one. I ended up winning by one stroke, but mostly we just had a good time. One of my hole-in-ones got us more tokens for the batting cages, so we'll have to go back. Kevin might also take Lydia before she goes back to school.

After dinner we had our wedding cake that Kevin's mom had saved for us. It was wrapped in Saran Wrap, zipped in a baggie, and stored in a plastic container in her freezer. It actually didn't taste bad. The frosting was a little hard but tasted fine, and the cake was reasonably moist. Later we went for a walk and ran some errands. It was a busy weekend but a fun one. I'm looking forward to the next anniversary!

Some Neat Architecture Around Worcester

2010-07-30T18:53:00.001-04:00

Most of these are in the neighborhood east of Elm Park. I'm sure there are other examples of the architecture around Worcester, but these are ones that never fail to catch my eye. For all Worcester's faults, it sure does have some really cool-looking buildings, especially its churches. It would be lots of fun to do a church tour sometime.

I'm always taken with the details. The multi-colored paint and woodwork make the buildings unique to this city. If more people would keep them looking nice and pick up the trash around their yards, this place would be more appealing. I also like the way the ethnic groups have made their marks here. One of the churches below is Vietnamese, another one is Greek Orthodox, and another was French Canadian, although that congregation has moved out of the building.

Tudor style

Love the stone

Reminds me of an Italian villa

Train station

Former Notre Dame des Canadiens

Tudor style in green

St. Spyrion, Greek Orthodox

The hotdogs aren't so great but it's a landmark

Vietnamese Catholic church

New England Dream Center

Woodwork detail

Neat use of color and detailing

Love the porch

Interesting doorway

Wildlife in the Backyard

2010-07-30T16:21:00.000-04:00

Our landlord lives downstairs, and his son often throws bread to the birds and the squirrels in the driveway. Over time they have gotten quite friendly, so this afternoon I sat on the back steps and waited while they came around. The birds had a great time bathing in the puddle, and the squirrel was about five feet from me.

Worcester Tornadoes

2010-07-30T16:16:00.001-04:00

Last night, courtesy of the Children's Friend Board of Directors, Kevin and I and his coworkers went to see the Worcester Tornadoes play. They're an Independent League baseball team that uses the Holy Cross field. Their manager is Rich Gedman, a former Red Sox player. They played a team from Quebec. Neither starting pitcher did very well, throwing a lot of pitches, going 3-2 on most batters, and the Quebec Capitales had glove trouble with two errors, so the game was pretty slow. We left in the middle of the seventh, down 7-3 (which turned out to be the final score), and the game was already three hours old. But the weather was perfect, and the cookout before the game was good.

Kevin's boss threw out the first pitch. Or at least she tried. She'd practiced her windup but must have forgotten about the actual throwing part as she stopped after her leg kick and kind of pushed the ball toward home plate. But she had fun, which was the important part.

The stadium seats about 5,000, so every seat is a good one. The food is expensive, but the seats are cheap. There's a lot going on for kids, making it a great family outing.

Children's Friend is in a neat building. I'm putting a picture of the back below. (Although it's the back of the building, this is where the door is.) I'm also including a couple pictures of the meeting room. The owner, when it was a house, put this room on as an addition to be used for his daughter's wedding. One end has a balcony but no stairs. It's a really neat room. (Apologies for the fuzziness.)

Catching Up

2010-07-26T10:59:00.001-04:00

Saturday a week ago was the ice cream festival that Kevin's work puts on each year. For $5 you can eat all the ice cream you want. Places like Friendly's and Turkey Hill were there, plus some local ice cream vendors. It was good, nothing especially outstanding but still a good way to pass a very hot day. I went late in the day. Kevin and I grabbed some cheeseburgers and ice cream, then I stayed to help clean up. He was there all day Friday setting up and all day Saturday helping to oversee the festival. Needless to say, he was exhausted by Sunday and very glad to have that project over for another year.

This past Saturday my cousin Luke was in New England for his high school reunion. He emailed to see if we could get together, so I suggested the mall in Marlborough. It wasn't exactly halfway between Kevin and me and where he was staying, but it was better than having him drive all the way into Worcester and all the way back. We only had about an hour together, but the three of us sat in the food court and chatted. It was nice to see him and catch up.

Yesterday was our pastor's last Sunday. He's not sure what he'll do next. He wants to take some time off, but he does have some feelers out. The church had a luncheon for him and his family, little sandwiches and cake. It's sad to see him leaving, especially since we just got there, but if he feels called to go somewhere else, than I'm happy to see him following God's plan. Now there's a long procedure to follow and many months will pass before we can get a new pastor. So we'll see what God has planned for Whitinsville Presbyterian as well.

Sunset

2010-07-04T22:55:00.001-04:00

We had a really pretty sunset tonight so I ran out and took some pictures. The last one is a stitched-together shot. I was standing on the side of a hill facing a valley and shooting pictures, so the stitching was a little rough. Still, the sky looks neat.

Happy Fourth of July!

2010-07-04T19:50:00.001-04:00

Worcester does its fireworks before July 4 for some odd reason, so when Kevin got home from work on Friday we went to CT to get Lydia, then went to Cristoforo Columbo Park for the celebration. The Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra played show tunes, accompanied by a couple of singers, then switched to Sousa marches during the fireworks. It was a gorgeous day, not too hot with sunny skies. It took a couple of hours to get home, which was a bummer for me because I had to work on Saturday, but it was still a fun evening.

Today, the real July 4, I spent napping. Lydia's been on her computer, and Kevin read and napped. It's getting hotter and more humid, but I can deal with it because I know it won't last. Unlike in Virginia, when summer comes in May and stays into October. New England summer comes slowly, like June, and for the next couple of months summer and spring take turns. Then fall arrives in September. I do like more defined seasons, but I would happily trade Virginia's winters for Massachusetts' summers if possible.

Fun Weekend

2010-06-27T20:49:00.001-04:00

Kevin brought Lydia up on Friday night, and the three of us went to Lexington on Saturday to see the Muppet exhibit at the National Heritage Museum. It wasn't as big as I was thinking, but it was still neat. There were lots of Jim Henson's drawings and a few storyboards, like for commercials and the opening sequence of The Muppet Show. I hadn't realized he did commercials, but that's where he got his start. A few costumes from The Dark Crystal were there, and a few videos were playing. I liked how he could take a piece of music and put visual images with it, making it come alive in creative ways, ways you don't usually think of music being. (The Muppets were behind glass, so the pictures have some reflections in them.)

Rowlf

Bert and Ernie

Kermit the Frog

We got lunch from Stop and Shop, then had a picnic on the Battle Green. We walked around a bit, looking at the memorials commemorating the battle where America's independence began. There's not a lot there, although as we drove by the Concord battlefield, it looked like there were several walking trails.

Courtesy of Lydia. Getting silly after lunch.

Minuteman statue in Lexingon.

Line of the Minutemen

April 19, 1775

Stand your ground

Don't fire unless fired upon

But if they mean to have a war

Let it begin here.

Captain Parker

Sunday Lydia went to church with us, then we dropped her off in Connecticut before heading off to see the Blackstone Valley Community Concert Band at River Bend Farm. We had planned to grill there, so Kevin had marinated some chicken and we picked up some snacks and drinks and had a nice outdoor dinner after the concert. Barry joined us, which was fun.

We had a busy weekend, but somehow it felt more restful than some weekends spent at home doing chores. We spent time in the sunshine, had a mini vacation, and enjoyed each other's company.

Family Stuff

2010-06-22T19:12:00.000-04:00

Friday we went to Bryan and Dawn's to celebrate Lydia's birthday. The whole clan was there. We had pizza and red velvet cake.

Sunday was Father's Day, so we went to Connecticut so dad and daughter could spend some time together. We had grinders and cookie cake.

Before that, however, Kevin attended the annual meeting at church, where he ended up being voted in as an elder. Mind you, he only officially joined the church two weeks ago. His first Session meeting was last night, where they not only discussed the budget for next year, they also had to talk about the process for getting a pastor, since the current one will be leaving next month. So he really got to jump in with both feet and get immediately involved in his new church.

Here it is, the United Presbyterian Church at Whitinsville:

It's a small congregation but very friendly. They don't get too many new people (there are hardly any Presbyterian churches in New England), so they all remember us and know our names. They might get 75 on a Sunday morning. They do have stuff for kids, which is nice. If we're here any length of time, I wanted to find a church that was family-friendly. We intend to introduce Dirty Marbles to them, but so far the going has been slow as we've only had one opportunity but no serious takers. We'll keep trying though.

Fenway - Finally!

2010-06-16T21:45:00.006-04:00

Sunday was Lydia's birthday. She spent the weekend with us. Kevin made pizza for dinner on Friday, and we finished off the cake she had made for his birthday. We decided that Sunday we would brave the weather and go into Boston to see the Phillies-Red Sox game, so Kevin found some tickets online for a reasonable price. They were in the right field grandstand, so they were the wooden, cramped seats with a post between the catcher and pitcher, but it was neat just being in the stadium. Lydia had a blast, taking pictures and texting. She especially had fun because her Phillies won, 5-3. The best part was probably the atmosphere in general. Fenway is a park with few frills, yet the crowd knows their baseball and cheers at all the right times. And there's nothing like hearing "Sweet Caroline" over the loudspeaker with 40,000 people singing along.

We took the train from Worcester, buying round trip tickets at the station. On the way home the conductor never came by to take our tickets, so we now have three free passes into Boston!

Cask 'n' Flagon

Lydia with Wally the Green Mawnstah

Outside the stadium is a new statue, called "Teammates." It commemorates the friendship of Dom DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr, and Ted Williams. Lots of people wanted pictures, so it was nearly impossible to get one without anyone standing in front of it.

The scoreboard might be hard to read, but it has the date on it -- June 13, 2010. The history aficionado in me really loves the old-style scoreboard, although they didn't keep all of the rest of the games up to date.

Retired Numbers

Bill "Spaceman" Lee

Mixed Marriage

The retired numbers are:

1 - Bobby Doerr
4 - Joe Cronin
6 - Johnny Pesky
8 - Carl Yastrzemski
9 - Ted Williams
14 - Jim Rice
27 - Carlton Fisk
42 - Jackie Robinson

Yes, that was really pitching great Bill Lee signing autographs and hanging out with the fans on the field before the game. You had to have a special ticket so we couldn't meet him, but he was standing mere yards away.

Kevin's Birthday

2010-06-07T10:53:00.000-04:00

Friday was Kevin's birthday. He asked me to make macaroni and cheese (which I do from scratch, not from a box), so I did in the late afternoon. It was still hot when we got to Connecticut, where we had dinner with Lydia and Dick. Priscilla was working, but the four of us has mac and cheese and the chocolate cake with peanut butter filling that Lydia made. She likes to bake, and she's good at it. He got some good presents and spent time with his daughter, so the evening was pretty nice.

Lydia's Here!

2010-05-24T12:27:00.000-04:00

Well, not here as in Worcester, but she is in Connecticut with her grandparents, hopefully for the summer if she can find a job. Kevin and I went to Virginia to get her, then detoured to New Jersey to attend a retirement celebration for her high school headmistress. She got to see a few high school friends and we stopped in at the Boychoir School and visited with Clint briefly. We left home Thursday after work and got back Saturday around midnight, so it was an extremely tiring trip, but both of us took today off. Thank goodness - we've had two days to recover and feel like we've had a little break.

Blackstone and Millville

2010-05-07T17:09:00.000-04:00

After lunch I drove down to Blackstone, MA, to find the gorge I've been dying to see. The day was warm and sunny, great for being outside and for taking pictures.

This is the Blackstone River right before it spills over the dam.

The river as it's falling over the dam.

I walked a little ways down the trail but not to the end. I don't think there was anything else to see, plus I wanted to go into Millville. It's entirely possible I walked just over the border into Rhode Island.

Millville is just north of Blackstone, and they have one of the best-preserved examples of the locks used on the canal to transport boats back in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

It turns out the lock wasn't very exciting, but I liked this view of a bridge over what I think is the canal and not the actual river at this point.

The trail in Millville ends here. Although if you're very adventurous and/or stupid, I suppose you could continue across the trestle.

The view from the end of the path was nice though.

Last Concert for a While

2010-05-02T15:17:00.000-04:00

Friday was our spring concert. The theme was space, so we did "Jupiter" plus "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" as well as a couple of Sousa pieces and some other galaxy-related pieces. It wasn't my favorite concert, but the audience seemed to like it. I'm taking the summer off, so I was excited about coming to the end of my rehearsal time for a few months. I'm looking forward to having my Thursday nights free. I'm also looking forward to not playing the same music for weeks and months on end. I prefer rehearsing a handful of times, performing that music, and moving on. I do like having the opportunity to play with a group, but I'm wondering if the time has come when I prefer not playing at all instead of doing the same stuff over and over. We'll see how I feel in September after some time away.

Huh?

2010-04-27T21:27:00.000-04:00

Heard on the radio, advertising a concert:

"If you haven't seen the Commodores live in person, you haven't seen the Commodores."

Um, true?

Bancroft Tower

2010-04-23T20:33:00.003-04:00

This afternoon I went to Salisbury Park in Worcester in search of Bancroft Tower. It sits on a hill and would have a great 360-degree view of the city if not for the trees nearby. It's in the middle of a nice neighborhood, so the setting is kind of strange. There's nothing else there, no trails or benches, just grass and this mini castle. If I lived there, I'd be up at the tower all the time with my blanket and a book.

the front

the back

the plaque explaining why the tower was built

It reads:

BANCROFT TOWER
THIS TOWER WAS BUILT IN 1900
TO HONOR THE MEMORY OF

GEORGE BANCROFT
1800-1891

BORN AT THE FOOT OF THIS HILL
HE ROSE TO THE POSTS OF
SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
FOUNDER OF THE U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY
ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND
U.S. MINISTER TO GREAT BRITAIN
AND GERMANY

THIS MEMORIAL WAS BUILT BY HIS
FRIEND AND ADMIRER
STEPHEN SALISBURY III

The structure is one room wide. One side just has a room with a little fireplace, but the other side has a staircase that I imagine goes up to the tower. From the windows, it looks like you could walk across the center portion. Unfortunately the doors are blocked off so I couldn't explore inside.

Bonus picture:

Sunset a couple of nights ago from the street near our apartment. It looked prettier in person. Every once in a while we get some real nice sunsets, and someday hopefully I can capture one of them. It's neat to see the sun setting over the city.

Updated 7/4/10: I got some great sunset shots!

Visitors

2010-04-21T20:42:00.002-04:00

Mom and Dad came for the weekend. They came on Friday in time for dinner and left Tuesday just before I went to work. It seemed like a quick visit - and the weather wasn't so great - but it was so nice to see them.

Saturday they helped us get some slats for our bed frame. The mattress feels more secure now. That afternoon, while Kevin was off to Connecticut spending time with his dog, the three of us went to New Hampshire to pick up an outdoor Christmas card that my mom's brother made. It's a wooden structure, kind of like a diorama with a cutout of a star in the back and figures of the wise men on their camels in the front. There are some small lights set inside so it looks like the wise men are following the star to Bethlehem. My grandmother would put hers on her lawn every winter, and we all thought it was the coolest thing.

Sunday we went to church, the Presbyterian one that Kevin is joining. The team that went to Mexico did a presentation so it wasn't the standard service, but I think my parents enjoyed it. In the afternoon we went over to the College of the Holy Cross to hear the Cincinnati Boychoir. It was the last stop on their tour and it was obvious they were tired, but they had a good sound. We had pizza for dinner (Mom tried the gluten-free one from the Boynton restaurant), then met Kevin's mom at Piccadilly Pub for dessert.

Monday, Patriots Day in Massachusetts, was the only decent day. The sun was out, and it was almost warm. After lunch we went up to Tower Hill Botanical Garden and had a great time just walking the paths and looking at the few flowers in bloom. We went to Westborough for dinner at Not Your Average Joe's since they have a gluten-free menu. I had baked haddock, and it was delicious. We came home for dessert: brownies and home-made ice cream.

Kevin was able to grill several times, the first time this year. Hopefully we can do it plenty more times over the next few months.

Air Force Band

2010-04-09T14:28:00.000-04:00

Wednesday night Kevin and I went to Hanover Theatre in Worcester to hear the Air Force Band of Liberty. They're stationed near Boston, so they mostly play around New England. (The Hanover website has a few revolving pictures of the inside at the top of the screen.) The band was really good. They did some traditional patriotic songs, but they also did a couple of classical pieces and two jazz tributes. A couple of ladies sang, and the oboist played a solo. She was incredible. I've played with some good oboists, but I've never heard one who could make it sound effortless. She went between registers (that is, low to high notes) with amazing ease. She was probably the highlight for me.

Off to Florida

2010-03-31T21:09:00.001-04:00

Kevin and I spent last weekend in Fort Myers, Florida, soaking up the sun and catching some baseball. It was so nice to escape chilly New England for a little while.

We flew out of Worcester's tiny airport. The airline flies directly to a few places in the south, one of them being the Fort Myers area, so we decided to give it a try. The plane was an older one but still full-sized (and full). It took us to Punta Gorda, where we picked up a rental car and drove thirty-some miles south to our hotel in Fort Myers.

Kevin in our Chrysler Sebring. It was so cool to ride around with the top down. I didn't drive it; it's the kind of car that makes me a little nervous because I wasn't sure I'd be able to adjust to its dimensions. It was pretty small but wide enough that I'd be afraid to park and back up.

Our first day was cloudy but not rainy. We went to Fort Myers Beach in the morning and walked for quite a ways. The sand was packed down, making it easy to walk. The water was cool and clear. It was a little chilly that day, so we only got our feet wet.

This sign worried me a little. I'm glad we weren't there between May and October!

Doesn't this look so inviting? Beach chairs under palm trees...so relaxing.

Fort Myers Beach pier - you can fish from it

We had lunch at Dairy Queen then went next door for ice cream. Yes, the ice cream next door was better than at Dairy Queen. Kevin had something banana flavored, and I got Fort Myers Beach Mud (it had lots of chocolate). When our parking meter ran out we went back to the hotel for a nap, then headed to Target's grocery section to pick up something for dinner. We had a kitchenette in our room with a cooktop, fridge, microwave, and sink. We went back to the beach to see the sunset in the evening.

I'm not sure if that's Sanibel Island, Captiva Island, or a peninsula on the horizon.

Two different palm tree types. I love the ones with the braided trunks, but I kept staring at the smooth-bark ones. I'm not sure I ever noticed them before, but I really like them.

Saturday we went to the Lee County Sports Complex to see the Philadelphia Phillies play the Minnesota Twins in a spring training game. That place is really neat because they have about five different fields where the players do drills and practice pitching and batting. The only thing separating fans from players is a chain link fence.

This is near the practice fields and is a popular photography spot. The back side has the TC logo (for Twin Cities).

The aisles in the parking lot are named for former Twins. We parked on this one, named after Harmon Kellebrew, a great hitter in the 1960s and '70s.

Yes, that's manager Ron Gardenhire pitching batting practice.

Paul Molitor played for the Brewers, Blue Jays, and Twins in the 1980s and '90s. He was batting grounders for the infielders and pitching so guys could practice bunting.

I didn't know these players, but this shows just how close fans could get to the action. This long, narrow space is intended for a pitcher (he's at the right). The batter, at the left, is there only to simulate how a game would actually be with someone standing at home plate.

We went inside the stadium to get lunch - hot dogs, of course - and to find a place to stand. We could only get standing room tickets for both games, but that was fine. We were able to move around, and there really is no bad view anywhere in the parks. Both held about 8000 people, giving fans a chance to be close to the action. Kevin said it was like attending a minor league game with major league players. Spring training is a great place for families to bring the kids.

The view from where we were standing, about halfway up. It was warm and sunny, and I was getting overheated standing in the sun, so around the sixth inning we moved up to the top and stood in the shade. This is the first pitch.

The Phillies brought a bunch of kids while the Twins used their regular players. Although it's late in the spring, teams might still need to evaluate some young players so they put them out instead of the veterans. Cole Hamels pitched for the Phils, though, probably because as a pitcher he needs to stay on a regular schedule to get his arm ready for the season. Brian Schneider was the catcher, which was cool for me because he was one of the original Washington Nationals. I didn't know he was with the Phillies this year. Despite their inexperience, the Phillies did pretty well for a while. Then the Twins got a home run and went ahead, winning 8-4.

We had dinner at Cracker Barrel. We had so much food that we brought half of it back to the hotel and had it for dinner on Sunday too.

Sunday was a little cooler and had rain in the forecast, but it held off until that night, which made us happy because we were able to see the Red Sox play in their stadium. Their opponent? The Twins.

The Red Sox complex is in a residential area and not a very nice one, either. We were rather disappointed that the practice fields seemed closed off because we'd had so much fun the day before watching the Twins. Minnesota fans can spend $5 to park and then watch practice and drills all morning without having to pay to get into the stadium. Boston fans pay to park and then apparently can only enter the stadium (with a ticket); there's no getting up close to the players, at least not that we could see. But when we went inside we did catch a bit of batting practice and also saw Mike Cameron and Boof Bonser signing autographs.

Just outside the stadium entrance is this statue of Ted Williams.

batting practice

Pitcher Boof Bonser signing autographs along the left field fence. I'm not an autograph hound, plus a lot of players only sign for kids, which is fine with me. I'm sure plenty of adults rush home and sell whatever inked item they just got on eBay. Some "fan."

first pitch

The Twins brought their regulars and the Red Sox put their veterans on the field as well, so this one was almost like a regular season game. We ended up sitting on the lawn in right field, lunching on hot dogs and snacking on a pretzel. We weren't sure if the lawn was for anyone or if there were tickets sold just for that space, but the ushers didn't say anything so we stayed. It was nice to be able to sit. Only one foul ball came close, and the guy next to us knocked it down before grabbing it. He then gave it to the girl in front of us, who passed it to her younger brother.

The starting pitchers were Clay Buchholz and Carl Pavano. Buchholz came out before the fifth inning so he didn't get the win, but the Sox beat the Twins, 11-5. Jonathan Papelbon pitched the last four or five outs. David Ortiz hit a three-run homer, and the kid who pinch-hit for him later also hit a three-run homer.

Monday started out cloudy and damp but ended up sunny. We flew out of Fort Myers with one stop on our way north. Our first flight was delayed because of heavy rain along the East Coast, but we managed to make our connection in Philadelphia. So we ended up getting home on time, but we went through a lot of turbulence, some of the worst I've experienced. Kevin's mom picked us up in Providence and brought us to her house, where we'd left my car.

We definitely had a great time. It would have been even nicer if we'd had more days off from work, but we enjoyed the ones we did get. We'd love to go back to spring training (and get another convertible) - maybe next year. Most of all, we enjoyed the time we spent together.

Sound of Music

2010-03-22T11:01:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I played in the pit orchestra for a high school production of The Sound of Music. It's the same school that did Cinderella last year. Several of the kids were in this one and some of the musicians came back, so it was nice to reconnect. I thought it went pretty well. The audience seemed to like it, and the music was fun. It helped that I knew most of the songs, not from having played them but from having heard them so many times since I was a kid.

The weather over the weekend was gorgeous, not like New England in March at all. The sun was out, and it was very warm. We were able to get outside for a little while each day. It's a little cooler today but still not too bad. I haven't seen signs of spring yet, but I've heard reports of birds singing and flowers poking up. Hopefully soon spring will be here for real because I'm tired of sweaters and feeling like I'll never get warmed up.

Dirty Marbles Tournament

2010-03-13T20:44:00.000-05:00

The tournament was today, but I had to work. Bummer, because we think we have a good shot at winning it sometime. Kevin decided to play, though, and ended up paired with a lady who had never played before. She had the rules with her, but she needed some help figuring out what moves to make. Kevin said they lost their first two games and so were eliminated quickly. We'll just have to be sure that both of us can attend next year.

In other news, I got a new camera yesterday. I ordered a Canon Powershot A1100 IS from Amazon. It's a kind of metallic mint green. It's similar to my old one, which is cool because I don't have a lot of buttons to figure out. (And also I can use my old cards and view what pictures I already have.) It has way more pixels, though I haven't developed any prints yet or put anything on the computer so I don't know how the pictures will look, but I suspect they'll be just fine. I did take a couple of shots, mostly for practice but I do want to get a print (the machines at Target were out of order tonight), so I think I'll be ready for Spring Training in a couple of weeks.

Movie

2010-03-11T17:18:00.001-05:00

Last night we went to the Elm Draughthouse Cinema in Millbury. It's old; I don't even know how to guess its age, but it's been around for at least 50 years. It's cheap, and the concessions are right in the back so you don't have to miss anything if you want pizza or popcorn in the middle of the show. Between the seats are little tables so you can put your food and drink somewhere besides your lap. Under the screen is a small stage where they can hold live shows.

We saw Sherlock Holmes. It was okay, suspenseful and clean, definitely a guy movie. It had violence (including some slow motion sequences that were a bit disturbing) but no sex or swearing. It's set in a crude, gritty London, and 221B Baker Street is something of a mess (Holmes' side is a bachelor's haven). The plot was similar to the Young Sherlock Holmes movie from several years ago, involving a secret cult and the bad guy rising from the dead, so it's not entirely true to the books but it's still entertaining. Of course everything gets wrapped up in the end, with Holmes demonstrating his powers of observation and deduction, and everything that seemed mystical had a basis in science. I thought Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law did well, and I wonder if there are plans to make more because of the way it ended.

I had a hard time understanding some of the dialogue and the music was kind of loud, so I wouldn't go there for anything I was dying to see, but it's good for second-run movies and it makes for a cheap date night.

Playing Dress-Up

2010-03-07T19:48:00.002-05:00

Last night Children's Friend had a big fundraiser, a dinner and auction. Kevin rented a tux and I wore a deep purple cocktail dress I got at Macy's. They had a silent auction and a live auction, and dinner was three courses. We sat with Kevin's coworkers, who were keeping track of winning bids so they could estimate the evening's take. (Children's Friend did very well.) During the silent auction Kevin bid on season tickets for Holy Cross men's hockey. He ended up winning them, so we got them for a good bargain. The season doesn't start until November, though, so we have a long time to wait before we can use them.

We wanted to get pictures of us all dressed up and maybe make Christmas cards out of them, but when I was setting up the self-timer on my camera, it took a tumble off the bookshelf and broke. So unfortunately there are no pictures. But trust me, Kevin looked smashing. And I didn't look too bad myself, if I do say so.

Free Day

2010-02-11T15:14:00.000-05:00

I have today off, not because we got lots of snow (we didn't), but because the boiler at work is getting replaced. It has a crack in it and has been billowing steam into the furnace room - not good. So we've had the heat low for the last week or so, and today we're getting a new boiler. We're not getting paid, however (way to take care of your employees, Town Hall), so I'm using a personal day. I have housekeeping stuff to do, so I'm glad for the extra time off. I am not pleased about using precious vacation time, but for my own sanity I'd rather not have to make up the hours.

We did finally get some snow yesterday, but only a couple of inches and not the 6-12 that was forecast. Schools were canceled in anticipation of a blizzard, but it never came. I'm not complaining because I've dealt with plenty of snow the last two winters, but I do feel bad for people in the Mid-Atlantic who have had enough snow to last about five winters. So this morning I got up earlier than I usually would on a day off and spent over an hour shoveling the driveway. Not because I had to go anywhere but because I wanted to get outside. Our landlord's son usually snowblows, but he isn't here so I started on the front walk and the end of the driveway where there was slush. The snow was powdery, which was a surprise because it was supposed to be wet, so the going was easy. I cleared the end of the driveway with no problem (so now it's much easier to pull in and out) and just kept going. The sun came out and started the melting process, and now at mid-afternoon the driveway is pretty much down to blacktop.

How weird is it that DC has gotten about twice as much snow as Boston so far this year?

Six Months Married

2010-02-08T22:47:00.000-05:00

Today marks our six-month anniversary. Yes, we are the saccharine couple who counts the little anniversaries. Probably after the first year of marriage we won't do it monthly, but each March 8 will still be special as the day we met in person, and each August 8 will be our (engagement and) wedding anniversary.

I can honestly say I'm happier than I can remember being in my life. I've had happy days and periods of happiness, but this is an extended and lasting happiness, a knowledge that my life has meaning and purpose. I do still have to deal with day to day boredom and unsatisfaction in my job and my dislike of our present living location, but when I come home at night and see my loving husband I know that none of that matters as much as my being the best partner I can be for him. As enjoyable as it is to have someone love me and want to be with me, I get even more joy out of loving someone else and looking out for him. I really like being a wife.

So happy anniversary, honey. May we have lots more little things to celebrate over the next many years.

St. Olaf Choir

2010-02-04T17:41:00.000-05:00

Last night Kevin and I went to Mechanics Hall to see the St. Olaf College Choir. Two of the boys had been at the Boychoir School when he was there, so we stayed afterwards and met one of them. He's from Massachusetts so his family was there too, and Kevin had a great time catching up. We also ran into my boss and his wife and a guy from church. The choir sounded wonderful though I didn't necessarily like all their selections. They did one in Persian that was rather discordant, at least to my American ears. It didn't totally sound Middle Eastern either though (it's a modern piece). I could tell it was incredibly difficult so I admired the choir's ability to pull it off, but I'm not anxious to hear it again.

Mechanics Hall is world-renowned for its acoustics. Check out their homepage where you can see the ceiling. The concert hall is a huge room that they can configure depending on the event. It has a wood floor and really intricate detailing on the ceiling and around the walls. The sound was amazing. Even though the room is big it feels like you could hold a conversation with someone on the other side.