Melrose High School Junior Prom

Just practicing for when Cameron and/or Duncan reach this age. Lennart, our German exchange student, attended the Melrose High School Junior Prom with his date, Alex. Being new to both the date and prom thing, it was a learning experience: the mandatory parent/student “Make Good Decisions” lecture, shopping for a tuxedo rental (they still have variations on the 1978 classics, if you want) and having the couples meet at our house for pre-prom photos.

Lookin’ Good, Lenny!

Brewers 6, Rangers 2

The Brewers (2-1-1) can beat you with speed, as they showed today int he 6-2 victory over the Rangers (1-1). At one point Duncan scored from first on a base-clearing hit to right-center field. Combine hat with several good plays in the field and the season is shaping up pretty well.

Geocaching with Lennart and Duncan

Duncan and I took Lennart out for his first geocaching experience – a quick trip to Belle Isle Marsh and Point Shirley (Winthrop). We found the medium-sized cache at Belle Isle quickly but had trouble with the two nano (very small) caches at Belle Isle and Point Shirley. We did fun skipping rocks into Boston Harbor from the shore in Winthrop and then walking to the top of the Deer Island drumlin for a scenic view of Boston Harbor. Not the most exotic field trip for our German exchange student, but we did top it off with a visit to Kelley’s on Revere Beach for cheese fries (with bacon).

Menu for Easter 2009

lemon cake for Easter 002-300

Originally uploaded by Paul-W

Sunny but cold for Easter. We had been planning to take a stroll on the beach this afternoon, but the 45 degree weather and stiff winds do not say “Spring.” Time to stay indoors and watch the Red Sox play out there in the West Coast sun.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, we’re looking at “Nathan’s Lemon Cake” (from the May 2008 edition of Cooking Light) for dessert tonight. This will go well with the blob-o-lamb with Herbes de Provence, beets with brown sugar and balsamic vinegar, and some kind of roasted potato.

Note that increasing the frosting volume by 50% (like I did) could negate the beneficial “Cooking Light” effects.

Duncan’s 12th Birthday !

What does Duncan want to do, now that’s he’s12? How about skydiving? Maybe he should think about that question for a few more days… Breakfast-in-bed (cheese omelette, bacon), followed by a day off from school, followed by dinner at Fire & Ice in Boston. Unfortunately the laser guide on his new Nerf weaponry wouldn’t shut off, but that’s why Dad’s become handy with soldering irons.

Cameron’s 15th Birthday Party

Cameron had a dozen friends over for his 15th birthday party last week. They set up 3 XBox 360’s and played Halo on the LAN: 3 playing in the living room, a couple in the dining room and our in the basement, plus spectators. The ice cream cake culminated the event.

Photo Request #3

Perhaps the coolest request, the Smithsonian asked to use this photo of Cameron pitching for a secondary level curriculum on Human Body Systems. It would be in a section in the book on “Muscle size and Strength.” And the point they would be making…?

Photo Request #2

This photo of the Richmond Corner Sauna Bath Bed & Breakfast was requested for use as part of advertising for the B&B in Maine. We spent a couple Christmas holidays there with Sarah and Carlos… 20 years ago…

Photo Request #1

The first of several requests we’ve received to use our photos from Flickr. This would be part of an interpretive sign to hang outside the entrance to a new apartment building near North Station, along Canal Street.

Better to be awake than…

…the dreams I had last night. We begin with a dream of guilt/remorse about burying something (someone?) under the shed in the backyard. That was followed by a train trip and arrival at a station that was very crowded and I was struggling to exit while a flow of people entered on their way to a concert that was being held in the station. I was separated from my companions and ended up in an unfamiliar section of Boston that had interesting, decayed, post-industrial buildings. I wanted to take photographs but for some reason felt compelled to take apart  my camera first. When I put it back together, there was an extra piece (white plastic, cylindrical, about 1.5 inches long with small holes on either end) and the camera didn’t work. The taking apart/putting together bit was repeated several times. I tried to leave but wandered looking for a bus or trolley and had some encounter (I don’t remember the details) under an elevated train line. I finally boarded a trolley only to discover I had lost my train pass and needed cash. This last part – the lost T pass – was also repeated several times.

I lay in bed awake trying to both remember the details of the dreams but also to keep from falling back asleep and into them again.

The dog’s paw on the bed at 6:20 was a relief.