Author Archives: Rebecca

Travel Journal

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For our first anniversary, October 26, 2003, Jennifer gifted us with the traditional first anniversary gift; paper. It came in the form of a spiral bound travel journal. We got off to a slow start with only a couple of entries until the spring of 2005 when the posting took off with our trip to Russia. Since then we’ve faithfully recorded our travels, large and small. Our most recent trip to Ohio gave us enough material to fill the last remaining pages.

journal 
penmanship 
ticket

The book is a hybrid journal and scrapbook of sorts. It includes narratives of our journeys (often with mileage notes and time markers) as well as having brochures, napkins, photos and ticket stubs pasted in. While I am the primary note taker, Peter has chimed in with his perspective from time to time. Even Catherine has made her mark in the book. Our entries are full of misspellings and grammatical mistakes (due to hastiness while trying to record everything) and poor penmanship (due to writing in moving vehicles).

I love looking back through the pages and reliving the memories that we’ve made over the past four years. We’ve been to Ohio, Russia, Canada, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts, and a ton of places in between. We’re looking forward to finding a new journal and filling it with even more memories in the coming years. I wonder if my grand children and great grandchildren will have as much fun reading about our adventures as we have had living them.

More pictures are here: Travel Journal Album

Christmas Joys: Tomtegubben

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Every year there is a small tribe of Tomtegubbes that watch over my Mom’s kitchen. They were always my favorite of her Christmas decorations. I was thrilled last year to find some of my own at Bestemors Scandinavian Shop
 in Mystic, CT this past summer.

Tomten  

Tomten2

I did a little internet searching to find a little more about them. Here’s the wikipedia entry: Tomte.

We didn’t do a whole lot of decorating for Christmas this year but I did make sure that those little guys were up and they have added to my Christmas Cheer. Who else has something that makes them feel especially festive?

Christmas Joys: the Tree

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One Christmas many moons ago (four years ago, but who’s counting?) Peter and were spending Christmas in Pennsylvania with his family. It was my first Christmas away from my family and also my first Christmas morning in a hotel. I was feeling a bit melancholy about missing the big tree an ‘home-ness’ of the hotel and during a last minute gift run to the Schuylkill Mall, we decided to buy a little tree.

It was the cheapest tree that K-Mart sold. It was also fiber optic. I’ve had serious mixed feelings over the years about this tree. I typically do not like artificial trees, or light-up branches. It is too small and the branches change color on a too-fast rotation.

BUT-having lived in an apartment for years and not wanting a real tree this year (due to the two ts- travel and toddler) we continue to set up this little tree year after year. I fear it is starting to grow on me.

tree

Still, I miss the pine smell, the cutting of the tree, the vacuuming of the fallen needles, the tucking of a bird’s nest inside and all the other things that come along with having a real tree. There’s always next year’s tree to plan for! How do you trim your trees?

Christmas Joys: Cards

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As soon as all the Thanksgiving leftovers are gone I start stalking the mailbox for Christmas cards! Photo cards, homemade, letters, postcards…it doesn’t matter. I love them all. It’s great to hear from friends and family and to have something other than Chinese menus and Bed, Bath and Beyond coupons in the mailbox!

I’ve been hanging up each card we’ve received on the door in the kitchen and they’ve made the room so festive!

card door

I know that sending out Christmas cards is a huge project, but I hope everyone knows that I truly love receiving them and looking at them day after day! They are physical reminders of all who we love (and who love us). Thank you!

Christmas Joys: Stockings

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A family of Christmas Stockings

A Family of Stockings

Last Christmas there was a little smudge on my festive holiday mood. Due to lack of inspiration, time and supplies I didn’t get around to making Catherine a Christmas stocking. Fortunately she had no idea, but I felt awful about it. I love my stocking and our family’s stockings were my favorite decorations to hang when I was small.

This year I was struck with inspiration, had the supplies and eked out some time to sew. Having a homemade Christmas stocking is very important to me. My Mom made mine (and Corey’s and my Dad’s) and every year I look at it and think of the time she spent making it and love knowing that it was made especially for me. I wanted to pass that same feeling along to my own little family. I sewed up Peter’s stocking for the first Christmas we spent together (2001) and now Catherine’s joins the group.

As a kid my stocking always had a box of Cracker Jax in it on Christmas morning. We don’t have a tradition like that yet- what do YOU get in your stockings?

A Meager Harvest

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I learned some good gardening lessons during my first growing season. Top of the list: Don’t plant your garden (almost) directly underneath the dryer vent. Duh.

I was able to enjoy a few handfuls of green beans and sweet peas over the course of the summer. And I got a couple bunches of cosmos that bloomed beautifully. The green peppers and spinach were totally strangled by the cosmos and the pumpkins and squash were nuked by the dryer exhaust.

The carrots didn’t do too badly. Since I’m an optimist I’ll say that we got a great harvest of “baby carrots”. Those are practically a delicacy, right? They are almost too cute to eat!

Carrot Harvest

All in all, not too bad. Due to our travels the garden didn’t get planted until late in the season and I probably didn’t water and weed it as much as I should have. We’ll give it another try next year!

[edit] I cleaned up the carrots, steamed them, and we ate them whole with dinner. YUM!

Keeping Warm the Earth Friendly Way

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Here it is November 5th and the Wood family has yet to fire up the furnace. I had set a goal not to use the heat until October was over, but now it is a game to see how long we can go without it (and without the high heating bill!) We know that eventually it will get too cold and we’ll be happy to turn the heat on. Until then, though, here are some things that we’ve been doing to keep warm as the temperature starts to dip.

* wearing socks and slippers
* wearing sweaters
* drinking hot tea and cocoa
* eating soup
* exercising

What are your favorite ways to keep warm?

Hiketober: Week 5

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Week Five is a short week!

Day 29: Appleton Farms Grass Rides, Hamilton, Ma
There are several old carriage paths that lead through the woods here. they are wide and green and quiet. Catherine and I had a nice hike passing by a stone pinnacle that once sat on Gore Hall (once the library at Harvard). Even though we spent just over an hour there we left plenty of trails unexplored for some other day.

Day 30: Warren-Weld Reservation, Essex, Ma
This was a cute little property tucked away down a quiet road. Catherine was particularly fascinated with the leaves today. She loved the way they crunched beneath her feet and she went shuffling through them at the trail head. Once up on my back she kept leaning out to grab leave off the branches of nearby trees.

Day 31: Halloween Surprise Reservation, Middleton, Ma
After trying on two occasions to find this trail (and failing) we decided to take our last hike of the month on a trail I spotted on the same road. There was only a sign with the usual message: carry in, carry out- watch for hunters- be respectful. With out a map we went in blind and quickly came upon a rude bridge and a wooden staircase going up the bank on the other side. We walked for a while through the woods and with no sign of a loop trail, we turned back towards the car. A pleasant hike, indeed.

I feel as if there should be some sort of wrap up now that the month is finished. I had a great time hiking my way through October. I was thrilled that I was able to find a distinct hike for each day of the month all so close to home. I now have an arsenal of great places to go for hiking, picnics and romps in the woods. I feel as if I had become jaded by the abundance of commercialism in this area, and this month I was reminded that there is more to the North Shore than malls and movie theaters. I spent some quiet time with my daughter showing her God’s handiwork and I had time to myself to ponder His plan for me.

Leanne suggested creating a GoogleMap of the locations that we hiked in. Thank you, Leanne, here it is!


View Larger Map

Halloween 2007

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pumpkin!

Happy Halloween!

This is the first year in, well almost ever, that I’ve lived in a place where there’s a chance of having trick or treaters. We’ve got a bowl of candy and a jack o lantern to welcome the little ghouls, goblins, fire fighters, princesses and whatever kind of kiddo that might grace our steps tonight.

live blogging Halloween
(updated periodically)

5:35- one bloody surgeon
6:23- paintballer, “cereal killer”, ‘the Scream’, vampire, ghost
6:26- punk rocker and ghost punk rocker
6:29- grim reaper (with dad to collect the candy because his creepy gloves inhibit his candy grabbing)
6:32- Pumpkin seeds start to toast
6:53- an onslaught- pirates, ghost pirates, edward scissorhands, a NE Patriot, 2 gals in pajamas, a vampire and many more!
6:59- two boys in black robes
7:00- Pumpkin seeds are out for the snacking!
7:06- Hannah Montana, geisha, “fearsome, gruesome, skull headed wizard”, grim reaper
7:19- Police officer, gypsy
7:23- two skeletons, a scarecrow, a soccer player
7:35- Piglet and an angel
8:00- That’s all folks!

Jack O' Lantern