Category Archives: family

Sunday catch up

A neighbor told us she saw us through the window as we sat at the Thanksgiving table and that it looked like a Norman Rockwell painting. Well, the food was very traditional, tasty in the main, and everyone enjoyed each other, so maybe?

(We’ll definitely be skipping the TikTok method of peeling potatoes in future!)

For some reason, I’ve been mildly obsessed with tree lightings. Faneuil Hall! Tuesday at 5! There’ll be hot cocoa! No one else was interested. Not even in the Festival of Trees at Elm Bank? No, not even that (at $20 per person, it was easy to let go of).

For that reason, I was hyped during a jaunt to the North End to see the lights at Christopher Columbus Park. I believe it’s still called Christopher Columbus Park even though his statue is gone. Photographing the bare monument-pedestal on Native American Heritage Day offered poetic justice, while a nearly full moon rising over the harbor gave us a kiss of beauty.

Four of us had rushed to the North End to tour the Paul Revere House (closing at 4:15) which come to find out consisted of two rooms and a diorama (a very cool, very detailed miniature silversmith shop of a diorama, but still). We were back on the street in no time and freezing in spite of walking at a good clip between sheltering buildings. There’s the statue of Paul Revere! Hustle, hustle. There’s the Old North Church! Copp Hill Cemetery was somewhere but we never made it because by then K and I decided to head home. The kiddos had to withstand the cold, however, for something like two more hours to make their dinner reservation (there might’ve been a birthday involved).

A Bruins game made getting back onto the Pike hellish, but the sky was beautiful and the heated seat was on high (aaaahhhh).

Having the boys back is the most natural thing in the world, familiar and lovely, but having them gone and far away is now also familiar, comfortable. It’s a weird mix. I’ll tell you this though — Finn is visibly relieved to be the only child again!

Weekend before TG

I made two kinds of cookies. Tomorrow: the pie doughs and chicken stock.

It’s been chilly. November-like. Raking’s on the agenda again and the usual dog walking.

I painted over the chipped-off paint spots on our stairs earlier and hung a pretty Japanese cloth above one of the boys’ beds. Both bedrooms are dusted and vacuumed and straightened. It’s been a while.

Gonna brine the bird this year.

Wordle pissed me off today.

The end, as LT would say.

Saturday, 33 years

It’s our anniversary. Here we are in Assisi a few years back.

Don’t enlarge the picture because my eyes are closed and you’ll get a glimpse of the neon crown that started this whole recent dental misadventure.

Content warning! Extreme photo to follow!

(Sorry-not-sorry — there might have been jokes with my dentist about not needing the retainer for travel in Alabama and Mississippi).

Here’s husband hard at work yesterday. It’s one of his virtues. I also work hard but tend to be messier, meaning I often walk away from piles of weeds and raked leaves — not necessarily intending for him to pick them up but generally he does and that’s as good a metaphor for our marriage as any!

Otherwise it’s a day when I am preparing for my trip, boiling eggs (because they’re soft to eat), and planning to make another pumpkin roll for K to enjoy in my absence.

And can I just say — maybe that’s a pretty good metaphor for our marriage as well?

I like being past the fanfare, by the way. We’re well into the “til death so us part” phase. Our plan for today includes picking up curbside a special dinner from Legal Seafoods. Also, since I just read on Nextdoor (it’s good for something, I guess) that a bald eagle’s been spotted over that way, we’ll go over early. Take a look over Hammond Pond for ourselves. That would be special, wouldn’t it? Scallop dinner celebrating 33 years and a bald eagle sanctifying our union?

I picked up this rock on the Cape recently. It’s for him.

Rescue, repair, and pause

We found this injured bird on the road this morning, then directed her to the curb, where she hop-flapped to this semi-sheltered spot. I promptly researched rehabilitation services without much success.

My Merlin app couldn’t identify her. Does anyone know? I think she might be a starling and that matters because the closest bird rehabilitation center does not take starlings. (why I wonder? Aggression?)

Or maybe it’s a northern flicker — although probably not because the beak isn’t long enough.

I pulled the curb-found birdcage out of the bed of day lilies and equipped it with seed and water and shelter from wind. It’s on our deck table under an umbrella, so it’s sheltered from rain too.

Sunflower seeds don’t seem like the right choice. Will have to research. Also, K wonders whether it needs more warmth?

Any and all advice welcome.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the table: a relic from the insulation in the basement “studio.”

A soggy mess to hear K tell it.

It’s a blessedly quiet morning here. Camp is over next door for the year, all the near-yard crews roared through yesterday, garbage trucks run and done, and many neighbors (I’m guessing) are getting the last of their summer fun on the Cape this week.

I’m on a quilt finishing spree (post coming about them) and also a pause (are the two related?) My summer writing workshop wrapped up on Tuesday, I’m taking a two week break on both the daily haiku and weekly Paris Collage Club responses. The calendar feels suddenly spacious.

I have a dental cleaning next week which I’m dreading with more than usual angst because of this loose front cap (can’t you just hear me — “Don’t polish it! Don’t floss on either side! Leave it alone!”), also a morning of babysitting for a new neighbor’s infant. Otherwise though the days are mine. Completely mine.

1975. Can you pick me out? Hint: earth shoes.

Nine years ago

Yesterday, someone left a comment on another YouTube video I made (once upon a time) and it led me here.

The video shows the background-audition process for a small row of connected felt houses. It reminds me of how much I (used to?) enjoy this stuff. Well, I still enjoy it but watching this made me feel like something’s been lost.

The video also offers up the impressions of being in Colorado for a college tour when we heard the news about the Boston bombing. There are images of the fretful travel home, too.

I’m posting it here because I don’t really spend time over at YouTube. It’s a little over three minutes long.

* the Marathon Bombing was ten years ago. The video nine years ago.

** 2013 was when I signed up for twitter. My son’s updates showed that it was generally 30 – 60 minutes ahead of the news cycle. I guess ten years was a pretty good run for a richly diverse and reliable news/opinion platform.