I was out for a walk today with my cute twin cousins, Thomas and Christopher. Here’s the scene:

Characters: Rebecca (the cousin), Thomas and Christopher (non-identical twins), Lady in Red Coat (Strange Lady walking on the sidewalk)

Setting: A bright sunny afternoon. Boys are dressed in dark blue snow suits, dark blue and dark green hats, and are seated in a dark blue stroller. There is a blue blanket up to shade their eyes from the sun.

Rebecca: Hey boys! Don’t you love going for walks on lovely days like this?

T&C: (Simultaniously) MaMa, DaDa, EEEEEEE!!!, squeak!

LiRC: Oh my! Twins! I have two sets of twin grandchildren! Can I see them?

Rebecca: Um..okay. (Lifts blanket)

LiRC: Oh my! Two Girls!

Rebecca: (smiles) (nods)

LiRC: And they’re IDENTICAL! Oh!

Rebecca: (smiles) (nods)

LiRC: And they look just like you! How sweet!

Rebecca: (smiles) (nods)
(as LiRC walks away…Chuckles to herself)

Sometimes it is easier not to correct others and to let themselves be happy in their own little fantasies.

Happy New Year, from Dorothy and the Scarecrow!

***New Year’s Eve 2003 Gallery|http://gallery.prwdot.org/ny03***

Tuesday evening: Becky picked me up at work in Peabody and we drove to the ***Country Inn and Suites|http://gallery.prwdot.org/christmas_03_select/country_inn*** in Frackville, PA.

Wednesday morning/afternoon: hung out around the hotel, did a bit of shopping

Wednesday evening: Christmas Eve church with Mom, Dad, Mark, Kirsten, Nana and Pop-Pop, and Tom at the Schuylkill Haven Nazarene church. After-church party at Aunt Kay’s with the full complement of relatives. Food consumed, catching up and first-time meetings done. Becky presented Peter with Christmas eve gift, ***handmade Christmas-tree pajama pants|http://gallery.prwdot.org/christmas_03_select/matching_pants***. Becky made herself a matching pair.

Thursday morning: Christmas morning in the hotel with Mom, Dad, Mark, and Kirsten. Stockings and gifts exchanged, games played, pools and hot tubs at the hotel utilized. Fun gifts: Spongebob Squarepants pajama pants for ***Peter|http://gallery.prwdot.org/christmas_03_select/peter_spongebob*** and ***Becky|http://gallery.prwdot.org/christmas_03_select/becky_spongebob***.

Thursday afternoon: Christmas Lunch at Aunt Chris’s. More food consumed.

Thursday evening: Christmas Dinner at Aunt Kay’s. More food consumed, gifts exchange, Yankee Swap conducted, much hilarity ensued.

Friday morning/afternoon: Day-after-Christmas “shopping” (read: experiencing) at ***Cabela’s|http://www.cabelas.com/***. They had a full ***African diorama|http://gallery.prwdot.org/christmas_03_select/cabelas_diorama***.

Friday evening: Birthday party for Mom at Aunt Chris’s. Pizza and ice cream cake consumed. Watched Bend it Like Beckham with Mark, Kirsten, Johanna and Chad.

Saturday morning: Depart Country Inn and Suites. Head for Townsend, Mass.

Saturday afternoon/evening: Arrive in Townsend, Mass. Watch remainder of “Unconditional Love” with Ken, Dianne, and Corey. Consume home-made pizza, exchange presents. Corey and ***Peter|http://gallery.prwdot.org/christmas_03_select/peter_zipzap*** play with their ***Zip-Zaps|http://www.zipzaps.com/***.

Sunday morning: Church at TCCUCC with Ken and Dianne.

Sunday afternoon: Lunch at ***Panera|http://www.panerabread.com/*** in Nashua, bowling at ***Brunswick Zone|http://www.brunswickbowling.com/home*** in Lowell. ***Big Winner: Ken|http://gallery.prwdot.org/christmas_03_select/ken_bowling***; ***Big Loser: Peter|http://gallery.prwdot.org/christmas_03_select/peter_losing***. But it was still cool to see a ***Spongebob Squarepants bowling ball|http://gallery.prwdot.org/christmas_03_select/spongebob_squareball***. Headed home to Beverly after bowling.

Sunday evening: Unpacked, settled in, took stock of all of the craziness.

The complete photo gallery for the trip is online in the family area of the gallery. If you’re a family member and don’t already know how to go there, please contact Peter and he will set you up. For those who aren’t family members, I’ve set up a photo gallery with select ***photos from Christmas 2003|http://gallery.prwdot.org/christmas_03_select***. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Day was spent in South Boston at the Lowe house, with 18 people in attendance if my count is correct. There was a lot of good food to be had, but here are some of the selections:

turkey (at 28 pounds, it was bigger than either Thomas Jr. or Christopher, who weigh about 22 pounds each!)
cranberry sauce
homemade stuffing
corn pudding (yummm)
mashed potatoes
grilled brussel sprouts (never knew these things could taste so good)
gravy
sweet potato pie (amazing dessert… better than pumpkin pie)
apple pie
apple spice cake (made by the Woods!)
mud pie (for Corey’s birthday)

Besides the delicious food, there was also lots of football watching, playing with the twins, and napping off the effects of tryptophan.

Relive the whole experience in pictures ***here|http://gallery.prwdot.org/thanksgiving*** – including some photos from the pre-dinner walk Becky and I took around Boston Common/Public Garden.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We are headed down to South Boston today to celebrate the feast with the Lowe family. I hope everyone has a great holiday.

And as long as you are on the web, check out Boston.com’s special section on ***Plymouth|http://www.boston.com/travel/newengland/massachusetts/articles/2003/10/29/plymouth/***, Massachusetts, where the Thanksgiving tradition started.

Becky and I would like to wish Corey a Happy Birthday! In honor of his birthday, I thought I’d post one of the most flattering photos I could find:

Looking good!

Oh yeah, and there were also some photos taken at the ***birthday celebration|http://gallery.prwdot.org/coreys_birthday*** in Townsend.

In celebration of ***this guy|http://www.mvnu.edu/facstaff/professors/FineArts/swood.html***’s birthday, it would be prudent to review some of the events of ***the year 1943|http://www.infoplease.com/year/1943.html***.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Becky and I were at the Lowe family reunion today in Chelmsford. Had a nice time there seeing assorted family and friends. For those who are interested, the ***pictures are online|http://gallery.prwdot.org/lowe_reunion*** for all to see.

Also, congratulations to the Red Sox for winning tonight’s ALDS game against the Oakland A’s!!! Becky and I watched the whole game. It was tied up at 1-1 until the bottom of the 11th inning, when Trot Nixon belted a two-run homer to win the game. Game four of the series will be tomorrow at Boston, and if the Sox win tomorrow, the sixth and final game will be in Oakland. If Boston wins the next two, and the Yankees win tomorrow against the Twins, there could be a Sox-Yankees faceoff in the ALCS.

On Sunday, Becky and I attended the Quitadamo family reunion in Shrewsbury, Mass. There was more than enough rain outside, but there was also more than enough food and warmth inside.

I was there with my camera, as usual, and took lots of pictures. I even put up my own captions for all of the photos, so take a look!

Yet another weekend away from Beverly. Not a bad thing! This weekend we were in Troy, New York to see Corey graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ( pictures here ). The weather was beautiful for commencement on Saturday. The program was about three and a half hours long. The highlights:

• Commencement speaker Benjamin S. Carson. Excellent, excellent speaker. One of the best I’ve ever heard.
• Flyover by a B-2 Stealth Bomber – amazing! It actually made two passes of the field. The first time, it dipped its wing and flew right around the field. The second time, it flew directly over the field! It was one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen, hands down.
• Corey walking across the stage (that’s what we were there for!)

Saturday after graduation, we ate lots of food at the post-graduation picnic. Saturday afternoon was relaxing, playing around in the pool and hot tub at the hotel. That night we had dinner at Cracker Barrel. One of my key observations from the trip: Cracker Barrel’s menu is ridiculously hokey and contains far too many occurrences of “n”. For example “Fixin’s ‘n’ Such” or “Chicken ‘n’ Gravy”. Their food is decent, but wow… the menu be needin’ some fixin’ up! I guess it’s b’caus’a da country style ‘n’ all, but anyway…

Today we helped Corey move the rest of his stuff out of his dorm, then Becky and I took the long drive back on the Mass Pike. It was actually a very pleasant day for the drive. The weather was again very clear, but unfortunately the closer we got to metro Boston, the less green we saw. 🙁 Now we’re back in Beverly for another week, and then it’s yet another weekend away – this time on the Vineyard!

I leave you all with perhaps the best picture of the graduate from this weekend:

Corey at his best