Monthly Archives: July 2007

That I might catch you up

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Last Thursday, we were in Jamaica Plain with Jenny and Griff for the Forest Hills Lantern Festival. We had only gone once before, a few years ago, and we told ourselves that the next time we had to bring some friends along. And so we did! It turned out to be a great night: walking amongst the crowds of friendly folk, listening to an eclectic selection of live music, and watching performances of Asian dance, music, and martial arts of various types. The culmination of the evening was the launching of the lanterns from the shores of Lake Hibiscus. Truly a beautiful evening.

Lanterns on Lake Hibiscus

You can find more photos here.

Last night, we took up Christine‘s invitation to see the Rebel Shakespeare Company put on “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The performance was originally scheduled for Thursday night, but was rained out. Yesterday, the weather was perfect, and Christine’s daughter Jess was terrific as Nick Bottom. The performance was the culmination of an intensive month-long workshop, in which Jess had participated. We also enjoyed the opportunity to hang out with Christine. It was Rebecca and Catherine’s first opportunity to meet her, and only my second opportunity after a brief and unexpected meeting at CBD.

Jess as the Donkified Nick Bottom

I have an extensive selection of additional photos from the evening here.

This weekend, Rebecca, Catherine and I are parting ways. R and C left this morning to head down to Martha’s Vineyard for a week with Nonni. I will be leaving on Sunday afternoon for Portland, Oregon for the O’Reilly Open Source Convention. CBD sends a few of us out every year to take some tutorials and learn cool new stuff. Hopefully it will prove to be a useful and fun trip. If I have time, I’ll blog a bit while I’m out there.

Adios!

Catherine’s Favorite Lunch

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I recently mixed up a tasty little summer salad…and, as it turns out, Catherine LOVES it!

Click the photo for more cute shots!

 

Here’s the recipe:

1 can of Black Beans, rinsed and drained

1 can of Sweet Corn, rinsed and drained

1/2 jar of Salsa

Mix all ingredients and refrigerate a while- until it gets cold and the flavors have a chance to mix together.

Enjoy!

Window Treatments

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I’ve been doing a bit more sewing. Peter and I have been decluttering our ‘master bedroom’ to make it more livable and cozy. We decided that it was finally time to put some curtains up.

We went to Joann’s Fabrics with no idea what kind of pattern or colors we’d want in the room. I figured it would take us a while to find something we liked or to agree…but it didn’t. We both knew right off the bat and it was only the second bolt I had pulled off the shelf! I guess it was meant to be.

The actual sewing was pretty easy, and thanks to Peter spending some quality Dad time with Catherine I was able to work from start to finish. The curtains were done quickly; completed in less time than it takes to listen to The Best of James Taylor. (How’s that for a measurement of time?)

feeling special

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A couple weeks ago I received an email from Peter. He let me know that we would be attending a ‘special event’ on July 10th and that we would need a babysitter. I love a good surprise, so I didn’t ask questions I just set about finding a babysitter.

Turns out the ‘special event’ was a special preview viewing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix!! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie before its release date. The showing was arranged by a company that Peter’s company does business with and they had bought out a local theater. There were several other people from CBD in attendance as well as folks from other companies. We were given complimentary snacks and a goodie bag with HP glasses and some jelly beans (not earwax flavored!). The bags also had raffle tickets in them. My ticket was actually drawn and I won a Hogwarts key chain 🙂

I am feeling slightly privileged to have gotten to see the film early. Heck I wasn’t even planning on seeing it anytime soon! I won’t write any reviews or any thoughts because there are folks that read this that wouldn’t appreciate it.

In any case, the night was quite fun and I hope you enjoy this pic we took once we got home!

Independence Day!

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We had a very nice, very low key Independence Day. Peter, Catherine and I were joined by Bethany in celebrating with a picnic at the park. We ate lunch, played at the playground, had some ice cream, tossed a frisbee, bounced a ball and waded in the water.

There were no concerts, no parades, no fireworks (well, just the illegal ones that the neighbors keep setting off!) and no crowds. It was just the kind of day we were hoping for. I hope you had the kind of day you were hoping for!

Here are the rest of the pictures from today!

New Wheels

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There are some of you, dear readers, who may remember Hedwig, my white Subaru Legacy Wagon. Purchased in September 2001, her time with me was cut short by a drunk driver who smashed her late one night that following December. I barely had time to know her.

The insurance check covered the cost of a replacement and Stewart (the 95 Golf) entered the picture. Stewart served me well for a good 5 years. While he looked small on the outside, he had an ample amount of space inside. I loved that he got great gas mileage and was small enough to fit in most parking spaces.

Time, however, took her toll on Stewart. At 12 years old he was showing some wear. He got tired, he got rusty and the speedometer died…mostly. After much deliberation, some repairs and a little juggling of the budget we decided to replace good ole Stewart.

I really wanted a Subaru Outback Wagon. I love the way they look- outdoorsey, hip, spacious… So we looked…and as much as I wanted one there were none that fit our criteria. I was forced to put aside my car vanity and widen my search and I found my newest set of wheels.

Hedwig’s niece (or nephew, I’m not sure yet) is now parked in the driveway. We got the 2002 Subaru Legacy L last night and so far I’m quite happy with it. Truth be told, though, it wouldn’t have taken much to satisfy me. I’m giddy over having a glove box, working speedometer and room to take a friend along on some adventures!

 

iPhone

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I’ve been flattered, over the past week, to have several people ask me whether I would be buying or whether I had bought an iPhone. It was all a misunderstanding, as most of them saw me reading How to Unlock your iPhone 7 or 7 Plus – Picozip, which I was reading not for me but for my brothers new iPhone. I am not saying I was not flattered that people thought I might possibly have the financial wherewithal or budgetary flexibility to buy one. But with our recent house purchase, all the usual monthly bills, and the continuous challenge of supporting a family of three on one income, it simply hasn’t been a possibility.

Sure, I’d love to have one. If Apple is listening, here are some things that would make me more likely to buy one:

* Offer the iPhone for Sprint customers. I’ve been a Sprint customer for seven years, and have no desire to switch to another carrier, particularly AT&T, Apple’s partner, since I’ve heard some pretty bad things about AT&T/Cingular’s service. However, Apple’s deal with AT&T is for five years, so there’s always the possibility they could offer a Sprint plan after that.
* Offer the iPhone for $300 or less, without subsidy. That’s about the price of a new iPod, and being an iPod user, I can conceive of wanting to buy a new one within a few years. $500 is just a bit too much for me to pay for a pocket-sized device, especially when I get a new cell phone for free every two years.
* Make the iPhone work better as a phone. From all of the reviews I’ve read, the phone functionality is one of its weakest points. I don’t want to spend all that money and be stuck with a phone that’s a pain to use.
* Offer more storage. If this thing is going to replace my iPod, it’s got to have at least 20 GB of storage space.

In the meantime, however, I’ve come up with what I think you’ll find is an elegant workaround. It has many of the features of the iPhone: it has some of the features you’d expect from an iPhone: high quality audio playback, cell phone and contact manager functionality, web browsing, and a digital camera. It even has some features you won’t get in the iPhone: 20 GB of storage space, a five-megapixel camera with 4x optical zoom and flash, and the ability to run on the Sprint network.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the MyPhone.