My Little Gentleman Friend

Harlow is wonderful, but I sure do still miss this little man. 
I can't believe it's been three years.

Launching Shannon

I know it's silly, but I just launched Shannon's Love Letter and I'm really enjoying this sending love to my friends thing!  I should do it more often!

Dear Friend: My 40th Birthday Project

Rather than sit in my mixed feelings about turning 40, I had a project to focus on.

I forget how doing something creative and then sharing it can be scary.  You put your effort into something, and while I created these "love letters" for my friends, I hoped others will get something out of it too.  I was reminded this morning how vulnerable my work can leave me feeling when Mike and I had a texting SNAFU. I choked back tears because I misunderstood a text he sent in response to me telling him I'd launched the project.

I guess I do really care what people think. I want the people I care about to be proud of me.

One thing I didn't expect was to learn some new things about my friends. The running themes included; worry less, listen to others more, don't be afraid to do great things. I was sad to hear regret in the voices of a lot of my friends as they reflect on themselves as younger people, but also, not one seemed discontent with who they are today. Most like themselves and are more confident in who they are. More comfortable in their adult skin than their younger skin (even if we complain about that skin).

I think one of my birthday resolutions will be to aspire to be more like Suzanne who always assumes that people have the best of intentions, and Lauren who said "don't be afraid to be awesome"

Dear Friend: My 40th Birthday Project

Florida Street Painting Festival

These photos from my Florida visit back in mid-February are old at this point, but I wanted to share them anyway. It's sunny today in Boston, but there are rumors of snow coming this weekend.
I am unamused, Mother Nature.

My trip to Florida was a lovely and very appreciated one. It's a great time spent with Libby, who I stay with when I visit, and a nice annual pilgrimage for me and Shannon, who travels from IL. The festival is a cool excuse to come consistently.

This year we went with an elephant. As usual our goal was to finish by lunch. We accomplished that, although the next day I was SO SORE from all the crawling around on the concrete.

(If you click on the first photo you should be treated to a slideshow). This should be a long, flowery blog entry but frankly, I'm not feeling it today so hopefully photos are enough.

Lannis, who worked with us both, and still works, at The Palm Beach Post, stopped by for a visit!

Beautiful pastries from the Palm Beach Gardens green market where Libby and I visited on Sunday

Libby chats with the spice people

One major change in WPB - lots of public art, including these musical swings. 

Ice Castles

I finally made it to the Ice Castles in Lincoln NH!  I have known of their existence for a few years now but for whatever reason (perhaps simply the two hour drive to get there) I didn't make it til this year.

Mike and I had planned to go a few weeks ago, taking time off from work for our adventure. Tickets are required and as we approached the day for our visit, there was no way to buy tickets. It wasn't listed as sold out that day on their website, you just couldn't click on the option to buy! So strange.

I was under the impression that the castles close at the end of February, so because of our schedules, we wouldn't be able to make it this year. "February can suck it" I told Mike.

On a whim, I looked again last week and yay! They were staying open one more weekend. I bought the tickets and off we went.

I got tickets for a 5-5:30PM window of entry (you can stay as long as you want but they stagger entrances) which was perfect because we got to see the castles in daylight, and then got to see them glow once the sun (finally) went down.

Although crowded, it was an amazing place. The ice climbed into the sky and beautiful icicles hung down as you walked through tunnels and "hallways". There were lots of little hidden tunnels for kids (and Mike) to crawl through, a slide (with a very long line of dedicated visitors), a fountain, and a throne to sit in for photos.

After about two hours, our toes and hands were frozen. It was time for dinner. We headed to The Common Man restaurant just up the street which a few people had recommended to us. The place was a mob scene with a ninety minute wait. A good sign, really. We put a name on the waiting list and headed to the bar. The Common Man knows what they're doing, that's for sure. They had a table out where you could eat all the crackers and cheese you wanted while you wait for your table. There was a huge fireplace with a large, cozy lounge area, and dining tables making use of every available space both downstairs and up.

As Mike waited for our drinks at the bar, he spotted a group getting ready to leave their area in the lounge. We, along with a family of three, took it over and were able to order dinner right there with the fire blazing next to us. And the food was amazing!

There was about a 45 minute wait but Mike couldn't resist the slide!

Obligatory selfie

The Common Man Restaurant

My Beauty Is Injuring Me!

I've been noticing aches and pains. Likely because I stopped taking glucosamine months ago. Perhaps I shouldn't have done that?

Last night I told Mike over the phone about said pain, "When I bend my leg at the hip, it feels like bone hitting bone in my hip joint. I know that's not what's happening but that's what it feels like."

Mike has a job in IT that I can't explain cause I've never really understood what he does exactly, but he went to school for a time for physical therapy so to me, he's basically a doctor.

"Do you know what that is?" I asked him to diagnose me.
"Do you want an honest answer?" he responded.
"Sure"
"You're forty."
To be clear, I'm not forty for another month, "I don't like that answer!"
"Do you want me to try another answer?" he asked.
"Yes"
"OK...um..." he stammered, "your...hip joints...can't...handle...the weight of your beauty."
"That's better"

Weekend Musings

Last week I wasn't feeling well and then on Thursday I was rear-ended in my car. Entering the dangerous rotary near my neighborhood, a kid behind me clearly was looking back at the oncoming rotary traffic and stepped on his accelerator without look to see who was ahead of him. I was ahead of him. Substantial damage resulted and my Wag More Bark Less magnet is no more...

Knowing my Valentine would be spending the day of love with his daughter, (since it was her weekend), I decided to take a road trip to the Berkshires to pay Meg, Aaron and their kids a visit.

I'm so glad I did. What a barrel of monkeys! When I arrived, Sylvia, 3, ran at me with arms outstretched, donning a tutu, "Auntie Honey!" she yelled my kid-given name, as she leaped into my arms and whispered an "I love you, Auntie Honey" Few things are better.

Little hands grabbed me from all directions "Let me show you my room!"  "Let me show you my room!"  Stella, 8, was very excited to be spending her first night ever in a room of her own. With it's Under the Sea theme, it's a beautiful blue color with a large four poster bed in the middle, and a comforter reminiscent of the ocean spread across it. And on the door, a hand-made sign read "Keep Out" on a small piece of notebook paper. The younger ones are just getting the hang of knocking.

Once settled in, we were making tea and the children were waiting for some too, when Meg looked at (I think it was) Sylvia and said "Are you chewing gum? Where did you find gum?"  She had found it under the table where Stella had stuck it for safe-keeping moments before. Here was our learning moment; while it is a hot commodity, gum goes in the trash when we're done chewing it!

Sylvia sports some self-added art

It was tubby time after the kids had dinner, and the twins had great fun splashing around while Meg and I caught up. When they hopped out of the tub, they exclaimed "NAKED RUNNNINGGGG!" and headed to the hall where their solid ten minutes of back and forth scampering helped them air dry, their giggles of delight like the best kind of music.

That night, we adults rode an hour to MassMOCA to go see two time Grammy winning African singer Angelique Kidjo. Her energy was completely unreal.

So were the freezing temperatures. It was well below zero the whole time I was visiting and Aaron spent a great deal of time worrying about the pipes, one of which had frozen. Yikes! We basically stayed inside with exception to when we needed to go somewhere. Then, our snot would freeze in our noses while re ran to get into the van.

Sunday morning I came downstairs to friendly little ones, all bedhead and footie pajamas, and a plate of waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. After I finished eating, the children scurried off with Aaron's prompting to get ready to present their Valentine's to their mom. First was Stella who gave her mom a lovely bag of Lindt chocolates. Then Miles, 5, who brought another bag of delicious chocolates. Then in walked Sylvia with a tiny box and a "Happy Valentine's Day!' followed by Vivian, who handed over her gift and whispered "You can share them with us if you want!"  From the hall her siblings could be hear scolding "You're not supposed to say that!"

I had brought my weight in valentine making supplies, and the children must have sat for two hours making Valentine's. I made some for my Valentine too; paper fortune cookies with statements inside. Statement which were shockingly hard to come up at the dull hour of 8:30 in the morning. Not my finest time of creativity.

The middle of the day thankfully included a nap time. Something I always need when presented with kid energy. I just don't have the stamina. I'm unimpressive like that. Since the guest room is in an unheated part of the house, I slept in Meg's giant king sized bed with her while Aaron joined Miles in his bunk. The twins' bedroom adjoins Meg's and the regular stream of made-up songs coming through the cracks of the door was delightful.

During nap time, one sang 

"I love you I love you I love you, hedgehog.

I love you I love you I doooooooo!

Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!..."

The day continued with cooking and flourless chocolate cake-baking for that evening's dinner - at Mimi and BopBop's house for Mimi (Meg's mom Judy)'s birthday.  The children each participated in the cake making, one adding the butter, one adding the chocolate. Later that evening as the incredible dessert was being served Sylvia exclaimed, "I added the chocolate! If I didn't add the chocolate it wouldn't be chocolate cake!"  Indeed! We were all very grateful for Sylvia!

Stella expertly added a "J" for Judy with a stencil and powdered sugar

After dinner at Meg's parents' place, the twins went upstairs to crash. When it came time to leave, they were bundled up half-asleep and brought out to the van, which had been running in an effort to warm it up a bit. As we started to back out of the driveway, Vivian burst into hysterical laughter. She kept it up for about five minutes. None of us knew why, or whether she was even awake, but it was hilarious!

It was early when we got back on Sunday from dinner, so I interviewed Meg for the project I'm doing for my birthday. I'm turning 40 on April 2. 40! Pretty mind-blowing actually. Meg and I will be throwing a joint party (her birthday is in late April), but beyond that, I needed to do something more to commemorate it. So, I decided on a project. I would do audio interviews with the women in my life and pair those audio clips with their portraits. Meg's interview is my first and it was really great. We talked about motherhood and the work life balance, our history together and so on. I liked learning more about her through the questions, which were chosen from a list I'm giving my participants. 

Our interview was followed by popcorn and Downton Abbey. Not a bad way to spend an evening at all!

The next morning, after everyone else was up (except me) I heard Sylvia in her adjoining bedroom, singing a little ditty about being stuck in the bedroom, how she'd been locked inside and won't someone come and let her out?"

She wasn't actually locked in but rather, the knob's a bit tricky. 

My visit came to an end that same morning, Monday. With President's Day off from work, I had some cushion time which was very nice! I took my portraits of everyone (to prepare Sylvia dressed in a Dalmatian-inspired leotard and tutu, and Vivian sported a pumpkin costume with black and orange striped tights. And then just the striped tights and socks on her hands, (as you do) after interviewing the kids too, (because why not?) and made my way back home listening to Wild by Cheryl Strayed. 

Finding Love on Comm Ave

It was a lot of work but a lot of fun too. This story was shared on FB more that 220 times, and "liked" more than 1.6k times! Cool!

Love on Comm Ave