Ever since we built the house we’ve been talking about making in a fenced in backyard for the doggo. This summer Eve worked out the plan, mostly, and talked me in to taking action! Last weekend we bought creeping thyme ground cover and ordered some easy-install wire fencing. The plan was to buy fencing local and do the work last weekend, but we couldn’t find any so we had to order online and wait. So far only one box has arrived, so we put that up and planted ten thyme plants, along with some morning glories that Eve started indoors last month.
The goal is to have a 6′ x 30′-ish fenced in area with low-grow ground covering that’s native and doesn’t need to be mowed. I hope it works out!!
Once the other fencing arrives we’ll put that up. I think we are going to do the ground covering in stages and not tear up the whole back yard right away. In theory the creeping thyme will overpower the grass and spread. We’ll see how that goes!
For some reason Friends has been on my mind (probably because social media REALLY wants it to be on my mind for some reason), so here are a few life updates, in episode format.
The One With the College Boy
Lex is home! Have I mentioned that already?! He came home last weekend after completely rocking his freshman year of college. He made friends, he aced his classes, he joined five different bands, he joined (briefly) a karate club, and he has plans to room with six friends next year in a college apartment! When he got home he set up a LinkedIn account and applied for a few summer jobs. He’s waiting to hear back from them. He also cleaned his room and cleared off his desk (which we haven’t see the surface of in years!) so he could have the dual-monitor setup he had in the dorm. One of his friends also set up a Minecraft server, so he’s been in his room most of the time, playing Minecraft online with his friends. I can’t even complain about it, though sometimes we do forget that he’s home. :)
The One With the Flowers
George is in full bloom! It’s funny because the branches are still short and the tree is barely taller than me, but it’s blooming like crazy! The garden in front of the house is full of tulips, with hostas starting to fill in the gaps. I did some weeding and pruning of the little rose bush and it’s looking way less dead now. I hope it thrives! Eve and I also have a plan for the backyard to fence it in, plant native ground cover, and grow some morning glories. We bought everything last weekend, but couldn’t find appropriate fencing locally so now we’re just waiting on the Amazon order to deliver the fence, then the planting will begin.
The One Where They Kidnapped a Cat (Briefly)
There is a beautiful Siamese cat that is free range in our neighborhood. It is very friendly, love pets, and will follow you home and try to come inside. Last summer we thought maybe it was homeless (though it doesn’t look scraggy or unkempt), but after asking around for a bit the general consensus was that it had a home. Most people thought it lived “at the house at the end of Davis, you know, the one with the rabbits.” I don’t actually know, but people seemed certain so that was enough for me.
Last week I saw this LOST CAT sign and immediately realized we hadn’t seen the cat in awhile. A few days later it ran through our yard! I sent Eve out to track it down, which wasn’t hard since it’s such a friendly cat. I took a quick drive down the street to get the phone number off the sign while Lex and Eve captured the cat in the garage.
We texted and called the number, from both my phone and Eve’s. We set up a lawn chair in the garage and took turns sitting with the cat. It loved the cat treats we bought for Jazzy awhile ago that the refuses to eat. The cat is adventurous, but also has no respect for personal space. If it’s on your lap, it’s on your chest and in your face too. I started to worry about what to do if we didn’t hear from the people. Fortunately, after an hour or so, they texted back and said it wasn’t their cat!!! Apparently other people in our neighborhood had also reported seeing this cat and thinking it was theirs. They said “we probably should just take the signs down.” They hadn’t found their cat yet though. :(
So we released the cat. It zipped right out of the garage when we opened the door, but then when I opened the garage door to pull the car back into the garage, the cat ran back in for more cuddles with Eve. Silly cat. Imagine if it went home and was able to tell it’s owners about it’s adventures. LOL.
The One Where They Went Geocaching
This weekend was Mother’s Day weekend. Saturday was beautiful and Alan was in town (before his big trip to Texas and Belize this week!), so I decided to drag everyone outside for a little sunshine and fresh air. Alan and the cooperative kids came along and we explored a local watering hole. I wanted to do a Geocache because we haven’t done one in awhile and because a colleague and I are making one at work. I thought it would be fun to get out there and try it again. I found one at a place I’ve heard of before but never knew where it was. It’s one of those places that always comes up in conversation about swimming holes, so I’m happy to now know where it is. And it’s beautiful!
It was a short little hike, punctuated with views of the falls and some rock climbing, then an fairly easy cache find.
Hello!
Swimming hole
Alan is there too if you expand the photo.
Eve
<3
Lex thought that handwriting looked like Aunt Katie’s writing. We concocted a whole story of Katie’s secret geocaching lifestyle. :)
Then the boys went home while Eve and I went grocery shopping. Can’t change the Saturday routine too much!
That evening we all played Catan. Eve and I teamed up and still got our butts kicked. Alan went home the champion, but we all had a great day.
The One With No Pretty Sky Lights
The other big thing this weekend was a huge solar storm the resulted in Aurora Borealis sightings as far south as Florida! All weekend the skies were full of color for some people, and clouds for others! Alan got some good photos in Montpelier, but we had solid cloud coverage all weekend. Every night I went out to check (and also walk the dog) and every night I got this:
Boring clouds. No colors. I (and probably everyone else) did learn that the lights look better in photos than in real life. Apparently the camera can see the depth of colors better at night, so those amazing photos you see probably didn’t actually look that amazing IRL. I still wanted to see them anyway. I enjoyed the discussions and the memes, even if I didn’t get to see them in person. I also reminded myself that we got a beautiful view of a full solar eclipse this year, so really I can’t expect too much of the New England skies in spring!
The One With Back Pain
My back and sciatic pain has been pretty minimal lately. My gym plans fell apart though, and I haven’t been doing much of any exercise lately. I’ve been thinking about exercising a lot, which really should count for something, but sadly it does not. After having such a nice day on Saturday, I decided to do some light stretching. Thinking maybe I’d ease myself back into a fitness routine. Slow and steady, right. Wrong!! Somehow, by doing light stretching for like 5 minutes, stretches I’ve done plenty of times in the past, I reactivated the back pain!! I’m soo mad! And sad. And in pain. I didn’t feel an immediate pain, but as the evening progressed it started to feel tight. Then by Sunday evening it was so painful and by Monday I was back to that awkward walk, hurts to stand and sit, and I’m miserable. I was hoping it would get better overnight and with ice, but nope. Today I emailed the physical therapist that I saw last year. Maybe he can squeeze me in for a quick appt. Maybe this will be the final straw to motivate me to make changes. Maybe not. We’ll see. First, I have to get rid of the pain again. Sigh. 😭
The One Where They Celebrate Mom
Sunday was supposed to be rainy and the kids had plans to play D&D, but all that didn’t happen, so instead we ended up with a lovely Mother’s Day with no plans. One might think we’d go out and enjoy the day, but instead we just hung out at home. Simon came over to visit for a few hours and that was fun. Eve made blueberry muffins and the cutest card in the world. I made a photo collage for my mom. LOL. I also made a delicious dinner of spring veggies sautéed with mini cheese tortellini. Sounds weird, I guess, but it was tasty.
Life has it’s ups and downs, but overall I can’t complain. Some days you get eclipses and beautiful handmade cards, other days you get clouds and back pain. Overall though, life is good.
Another quick post about Eve, for documentation purposes.
For years she has been complaining of joint pain, and random other stuff. We (me, Alan, school nurse, doctors, etc.) told her it was probably growing pains. Last summer she had some blood work drawn that showed she had low iron and B12, so she started taking supplements. She didn’t notice any difference in the joint pain, or anything else really. This spring we went back to the doctor, then a different doctor, who started her on a low-dose anti-anxiety medication, unrelated to the joint pain, but something she feels she needs. She has been experimenting with different anti-anxiety meds, plus various hormones to help regulate her cycle, but still the joint pain continues. Finally the doctor referred her to a rheumatologist, whom we saw this week. After about two minutes, the rheumatologist diagnosed her with hypermobility, based on the way she was sitting cross-legged on the examination table. While this might seem like a good thing, or at least a diagnosis to move forward with, I have two reservations. First, the doctor said right near the beginning of the appointment that there are very high rates of hypermobility in “this area” (not sure what that means exactly), especially among teenagers, and that she and some colleagues were conducting research on it. It felt very much like the old adage, “when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” My other reservation is that we have Googled hypermobility in the past and Eve really don’t meet very many of the criteria. The doctor even gave her a printout to read over, and Eve didn’t find anything, except joint pain, that matched her situation. The doctor said one hip wasn’t as mobile as the other and was concerned, so she sent Eve for a hip x-ray and more bloodwork. I checked the hospital portal yesterday and the x-ray had come back normal, as did most of the blood work. Some things looked a little low, so I’m waiting to hear back from the doctor on that. Or Dr. Rosy if I get around to texting her. :)
I think Eve is pretty flexible, but I’m not sure hypermobility is the answer to her problems. We’ll keep thinking.
LOL. I think this will be our last tour. Unless another friend (or aunt) of hers tells her about the *perfect* college that she should check out. :)
Today we dropped my car off for service at the new Tesla dealership, and met Alan for a drive to SUNY Plattsburgh, “Set in one of the world’s most spectacular regions — the Champlain Valley.” (according to their website) It was a beautiful sunshiney day. The trip to Plattsburgh requires a 15 minute ferry ride, which is fun on a beautiful sunny day. Not sure what the experience would be in December though. 😬
We had a great tour around the Plattsburgh campus, despite the high winds! (My co-worker, who also attended SUNY Plattsburgh, said that wind is par for the course and he has “visceral memories” of the wind during his time there!) The campus is large (about 300 acres) but it is all within a narrow triangle shape and has several really nice green spaces mixed in. There was a beautiful fountain, some old buildings, some new buildings, and a great library!
King Gerald, dreaming of his homeland.
A sunny day on campus
Daddy and the King
A lovely fountain on campus
A pathway outside the library.
Just inside the library.
The tall building is the freshman dorm.
Water.
Pretty water in the sunshine.
Eve liked the campus and the tour, but didn’t get the same vibe she got from Farmington. She’s decided that Farmington is (currently) her number one, with Plattsburgh and New Paltz coming in a tied second. She’s going to apply to all three this fall, plus J&W, then see who takes her (everyone, I’m sure!) and what the costs are. She’s got a whole spreadsheet going and was texting with Lex on the car ride home about creating a decision matrix. LOL. Glad to see she’s taking this decision seriously!
Yesterday we hit the road before the sun even woke up, and headed into the sunrise to visit the 4th college on Eve’s list. Fourth in order of visiting, first in order of preference. It was in the top two, but after spending the day there I think it has jumped to #1 in all categories.
University of Maine at Farmington (NOT Framingham, as I keep accidentally saying) is a “premier teacher education and liberal arts college for the state of Maine.” (according to their website) It’s a very small college with a tight connection to the local town, Farmington. Eve loved everything about it.
The welcome ceremony is about to being.
The “quad” area. There were lots of kids out playing games, reading, and just hanging out in the beauitful weather.
A newer building.
An older building.
A sweetie and her shark.
Chompers and King Gerald
A sculpture of recycled materials. It’s supposed to be grass, I think it looks like wheat, but apparently they call it “the asparagus.”
A dorm hallway.
A dorm room.
A shark in a tree.
We were there for a “Junior Visit” day with a group of maybe 2-3 dozen other kids and their parents. They had a few sessions, lunch in the dining hall, a campus tour, and a resource fair (that was too crowded and loud so we went to the bookstore instead!). All of the student ambassadors were really friendly and outgoing. Eve brought King Gerald, who happens to be a great conversation starter! I’m trying hard not to take over that King Gerald Instagram account. I would have fun with it. LOL.
I have a few reservations about the size of the college and academic rigor, only because of the amount of time she spend complaining about the people and academic rigor at her high school. I think this college is only a small step up from high school. The graphic design program there is also very new, which could be good (she could be part of the cohort building the program) or bad (if they don’t really grow the program).
In a funny little trivia session I won a prize by knowing what the name of the mascot. Can you guess what I won?
We have one more college visit scheduled for next week. Then it’s time for a vacation from college campuses for a few weeks! (Unless I’m the one picking Lex up in early May, still TBD).
After 10 days in Peru, River was ready for a quick trip to RIT. He got home Friday evening, took a shower, then we headed to Rochester, arriving at 2am. After a quick sleep, we headed to RIT for their Accepted Students Day. We had a day of presentations, campus exploration, dining hall food, and a resource fair. There were lots of cheesy photo ops, but he wanted nothing to do with any of that. LOL. I took a few other random photos instead.
It was cold and rainy, but RIT did their best to make it a celebration.
This place was FULL by the time the welcome presentation started.
Because RIT has a large school for the deaf (2nd largest in the country, I think) everything was captioned and/or signed. It’s a neat environment to be in.
His incoming class is bigger than most of the colleges Eve is looking at, and RIT is almost 4x bigger than WPI. It almost feels like it’s own little city. Crazy, but definitely cool too. Now if we could just pick it up and move it a few hours closer… :)
Day three found us at SUNY New Paltz, “in the stunning Hudson River Valley.” (according to their website)
While Johnson & Wales* was very urban, and Purchase was very closed and artsy, New Paltz seemed a really nice in-between. The campus was large, but filled with tress, flowers, and lots of green space. The buildings were a mix of architecture and many were visually interesting. New Paltz has a fitness center and a pool, which Eve liked. We had a very nice tour guide and only one other family on the tour with us. The tour was pretty comprehensive, which was great. Eve likes the wide variety of academic options, perfect for her Liberal Arts heart. :) She thought the campus was too big, but was eager to do our own little walk after the tour for a King Gerald photoshoot. She found her way around campus with no trouble and seemed confident.
So far this is my favorite of the three we’ve seen so far. She is still very undecided, but feeling comfortable with the process so far. She’s eager to see the other two on deck. We’ll be vising University of Maine at Farmington on Wednesday and SUNY Plattsburg next week.
On our way home last night we stopped to visit Joyce at her new house. It’s a lovely little house, and will be even lovelier when the rain stops and (unrelated) when she’s fully unpacked and settled. We all went to the Olive Garden to celebrate the end of this trip. Then E and I drove home through awful rain, fog, and wind. We were both VERY ready to be out of the car by the time we got home at near midnight!
* Johnson & Wales University is abbreviated to JWU and pronounced “J-Woo.” Whenever E talked about J-Woo (and she says it smoothly, like it rolls right off her tongue), all I can think about is “woo girls” from How I Met Your Mother. Young, usually drunk, party girls who yell “woooo” about everything. Every time she said something about JWU, I had to stop myself from yelling “wooo!” 😂 I guess if she ends up going to JWU, that’s something I’ll have to work on! LOL.
Today we visited SUNY Purchase, a very artsy school in “Westchester County, one of the oldest and most well-established destinations in the scenic Hudson Valley.” (according to their website)
The area is beautiful and expensive, but the college is all Brutalist architecture and Eve didn’t love it. It is very much an art focused school and it seemed like you would need to declare a firm major (graphic design, sculpting, painting, etc) when you enroll. They say they have sciences as well, but it’s clearly an art school.
The library, from afar.
King Gerald came along for the ride.
Dorm room
E!
Design space
The graphic design area
Unrelated, but we got a sampler pack from Crumbl yesterday and have been working on it for days. 😂
It seemed like there was a lot to do on campus, but there was nothing within walking distance off campus. The tour guides said most people live on campus for all four years. They showed us all of the art studios and spaces, and a dorm room, but not the dining hall, underground tunnels (between dorms and the dining hall), or the library. We were struck by how few people were out on campus. It wasn’t as sunny and beautiful as the day before, but it was pretty nice for a spring day and we only saw dozen or so students out and about. I asked the tour guide about it and she said that people spend a lot of time in their studio spaces, working on their projects, especially now that it’s close to the end of the school year. She said they have regular events on campus and everyone comes out for those, but otherwise what we were seeing is pretty standard.
Eve loves art, as we know, but while we were discussing the visit over lunch (at a delicious pub!) she decided she didn’t want to be at an ALL art school. She wants some sciences and some variety. She also liked the area, but not the campus itself.
Big “small” school, right in the middle of the city. Cool dorms (pet friendly, AC, high ceilings), energetic tour guide, beautiful day (no thanks to JWU). We had a nice tour, but it’s definitely a city college. The green/quad is very small and surrounded by three buildings and a road. All of the other buildings are within a several block radius and many are old buildings with local “charm.” The building Eve’s classes would be in was the newest building, but it looked like a pretty small department. She liked the tour, but isn’t sold on the location. (I agree, but it’s not up to me. 😉)
Gerald came along for the ride. He’s not a very good driver.
The quad and our tour guide.
Some other buildings.
Gerald was very popular.
This looks like a very cool project to me. Each poster is about a different font.
After months of thinking about it and weeks of planning and days of worrying, the big day finally came! Eclipse 2024! The skies were clear, the weather was perfect, my chosen location was fantastic, and we had a great day!
The state has been putting out traffic warnings for weeks now, warning us of a massive influx of vehicles and people for this one day. They brought in tons of extra police and port-a-potties, they made arrangements with fuel companies and cell phone providers to make sure we had enough gas and cell coverage. All of that was probably for the best, but it also stressed me out. For awhile my plan was just to “drive North and figure it out,” but eventually that was adding to the stress, so I made a real plan. Yay! I found that the Shelburne Museum was opening for one day (they normally open mid-May) and for the price of admission you got a parking spot, dozens of acres of land to choose from, bathrooms, and a snack bar. I was sold! I bought tickets, invited a few friends, and made peace with my decisions.
As it turns out, my decisions were fantastic! We got up there with minimal traffic. We caravanned with a friend and her kids. We found a nice spot on the lawn with a southwest view. The museum did a wonderful job providing just enough amenities (bathrooms, food, small gift shop) and lots of family friendly activities like lawn games and live jazz music.
The real action started at 2:14 when the moon just peaked over the sun.
From there, we were hooked! We watched as the moon crept over the sun. The temperature slowly dropped. The light changed. The excitement grew.
For the final minutes we all had our glasses on, faces to the sun, watching in real-time as the moon completely covered. the sun. It was wild! The yellow/orange sun disappeared and I was expecting to see the corona, but all I saw was darkness. Rose said, “take your glasses off!” and I did and WOW!!! It was like glowing, sparkling, shining in the sky. So amazing that it’s bright, bright, bright, then OFF! Just gone in a second. Even the tiniest bit of sun showing is too bright to look at, but when the moon covers the sun completely, it’s like a flip is switched and you can stare right at it. I was wondering (and my friend Timothy was worrying) about how we’d know when to put the glasses back on. Turns out you don’t need to time it. As soon as even a smidgen of the sun reappears, BAM, it’s way to bright to look at!
Some quotes I’ve heard/read lately:
“A partial eclipse is like a cool sunset. A total eclipse is like someone broke the sky.” (Randal Monroe / xkcd alt text)
“100% is 1000 times better than 99%” (someone on Facebook)
“It’s like someone turned the sun off, then back on again.” (the ether)
I would love to be more articulate right now, but alas, I am not, so instead I’m going to share something a more literary friend wrote about viewing the eclipse. He wasn’t at the same place we were, but he was looking at the same sun and moon!
“Everything I anticipated became so thrillingly true it reclaimed its ability to surprise, on top of all the surprises. The alien light, the drastic cold, the immediate night, the ability to take off your glasses and stare straight at this object that seconds ago was burning your skin, the sharp clarity of the corona, the command of science to put us in the right spot, the awe of the heavens revealed, the stranger nearby who came alone and laughed in spontaneous delight, the inability to look when a mere pinpoint of the sun returned, and how much that pinpoint alone could light up the entire world.” — Bob Kalm, posted on Facebook
When the sun came back on again, we packed up and headed home, along with thousands of other people. We took back roads, changed the route a few times based on map routing data, and made it home in a speedy three hours! Only twice the time it takes in a normal day. However, my friend decided to stick around a little longer and wait out the traffic, which unfortunately turned out to be a big mistake! The traffic only increased as the evening went on! It took her four hours, but because she waited so long she ended up getting home really late!
I feel so fortunate that all of the decisions Rosy and I made around this event worked out so very well. Our location was fantastic. Traffic up and down was manageable. The weather was beautiful. I could not have asked for a more perfect eclipse viewing experience!
Scrolling through Facebook today it’s wild seeing the long lines of cars on the highways, huge crowds in cities and fields, and crazy lines at the Tesla chargers. It made me feel even better about how smoothly our day went!
If you’d like to see more pictures, here is our Google Album: Eclipse 2024
