There’s definitely not a lot of lonely time around here, despite the empty house. Last weekend Alan and I went down to WPI to watch Lex’s band performance. Joyce met us there. The game was awful, the sun was HOT, but the band was great! We had fun. Then we took Lex out to dinner at the Olive Garden, where he ate new food! LOL.
The next day Mema and G’Tom came to visit for a few days. We saw an AMAZING musical at Northern Stage, had brunch in a tasty diner, checked out the (very dry) gorge, and have a lovely time together.
A few days later, E came home for the weekend!! She flew into Burlington and Alan picked her up. She wanted a fall-fun weekend, so we’ve been watching Halloween movies, apple picking, pumpkin carving, and baking tasty goods.
Eve’s taking a photography course at school and she brought home a DSLR camera for the weekend. Her assignment is “lighting” so she’s been grabbing the camera for random shots. Of course, I had to take pictures of her taking pictures. I couldn’t resist. :) She’s heading back to school on Tuesday, and the boys are coming home on Friday! Whew! Who knew it would be so busy in my empty nest. LOL.
We moved Lex into his first ever apartment this weekend. He’s living off-campus this year, with two of the guys from his campus apartment last year. They seem like a good group. One of his roommates who lives an hour away was there as well, with his family for a bit, unpacking and moving in. We had a nice chat. The boys have a nice apartment a few blocks from school. Second floor, three bedroom, classic old house with wood paneling, gypsum lath and plaster walls, and high ceilings. Lex has the smallest of the three rooms, but he seems fine with it. We bought him a new dresser, desk, mattress (he has a hand-me-down bedframe from a roommate who upgraded to a bigger bed), and window AC. The tenant before him left a pile of Christmas lights on the floor, so E and I put them up around the window for a little whimsy.
A cute little house…… on a cute little street.Building a dresser. They started it, but Eve finished it and built all the drawers.Building a desk.Photos by MemaGoats and musicCozy room with little sister resting on the bed.Good night.
Alan and Lex went out to buy an AC and some groceries while E and I finished building the furniture and unpacking his bags. We ordered pizza for dinner and finally said goodbye around 10pm.
I almost forgot to take a family photo! Fortunately I remembered, just as we were saying our goodbyes. I was sad to leave my baby, alone at night in that apartment by himself, but he was ready to settle in and start making it a home for the next year or two.
The next day he had his drumline audition. He’ll be playing Bass 2 again this year. He was hoping for snare, but he said bass is fun too and he’s just happy to be back on the field with his band friends. <3
Last Sunday I took R down to MA to catch his bus back to college. He had a very busy spring break, so it was nice to have some time to catch up with him before he left for school again. We had a good trip down, despite the on again, off again rain.
After dropping him off, I made a spur of the moment decision to zip over to Worcester to watch Lex march in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. It was a total spontaneous trip and I loved it! The weather was perfect, the crowds were varied in all ways, and suitably drunk for noon on a Sunday. LOL. The WPI marching band was early in the parade, but I parked near the end, so I walked along with the band as they finished up the route. There was another band mom there too (probably more than one), and she was following the band the whole way. We joked that we are “with the band” and therefore must be cool. 😂
This is a playlist with five videos. Not the best quality, but fun anyway. Dad — watch until the end! I took a video just for you! :)
I met up with Lex at the end and we got bagels for lunch. He said several band members didn’t make it to the parade, the bus never came, and he had to play two drum parts, but otherwise he had fun. Alan had just brought him back to WPI on Saturday, so it hadn’t been that long, but it was still nice to see him. 💗 I also enjoyed the walk back along the parade route. The energy was high and it was fun to be part of it.
On the drive home, things took a turn for the worse. I was routing to a charging station, cruising along, then suddenly started getting an error message saying “Vehicle may not restart. Service is required.” Umm… ok. I kept on to the charging station. When I got there, I plugged in, the car said “charging” for a second, then “stopped charging.” Threw a few more random error codes. I unplugged/replugged a few times, but no change. So I decided to move to a different plug, but when I tried to put the car in drive, it didn’t work. Just threw a bunch of more errors. So now it won’t charge, won’t drive, and is spewing error messages across the screen. I then spent the next few hours researching error codes, calling Tesla, calling my insurance company, calling Eve, calling Alan, and calling a tow company. Not necessarily in that order. In this time the battery died completely, with the window down, and the wind whipped ahead of an impending storm.
Eventually, about four hours later, the tow truck came and towed the car to the nearest Tesla service station. Alan picked up Eve and they came down to pick me up. Alan thought maybe we could replace the 12V battery and get the car going again, so we went to the service station. He and Eve braved the winds to do some diagnostics, then we went to WalMart (the only place open at that hour) to buy a battery and some tools. Back at the dealership we got the old battery out, the new battery in, and the car started. Yay! Lights on, screen on, windows up… but still no drive. Each time we tried to put it in drive, we got all the same slew of error messages. So we gave up and Alan brought us home, after a quick stop to recharge our bellies and his car. We drove home in heavy wind and think fog. It was a late night for us, especially him!
The Tesla service center was able to diagnosis it today. I was hoping it was a big battery issue, because I have another year left on that warranty. But, alas, it was not. It’s a “PTC heater failure.” Apparently that’s an important thing and part of the “high voltage” circuit thing and no longer under warranty. 😭
Tomorrow, E and I are taking the day off from work/school and going back to MA to pick up the car. Maybe we’ll swing by and see Lex again. LOL.
We met Rosy at WPI this weekend to take in a pep band concert (with a little football on the side)! It was a great fall day for a day trip. The sun was shining, the leaves were falling, and the WPI Engineers won! We took Lex out to dinner afterwards (Olive Garden, of course), then had to say goodbye again. :( Good thing we’ll see him again in a few weeks for Thanksgiving!
This is a playlist, so just click play and let it run through all six videos.
One of my besties from school accompanied me to a WPI concert this weekend, with a little football on the side. :)
When I first told her that Lex was going to WPI she got all excited because her sister had also gone there. When I said he was joining the marching band, she squealed (literally) and said she’d love to see him. She’s the music teacher and was instrumental in his musical career. I suggested a football game and she was all in.
Months later Lex is happily marching with the band and I am no longer at school. I texted her to see if she was still interested and she said heck yeah! It was a beautiful week all week, with just one rainy day, Saturday, football day. :/ I monitored the forecast obsessively and bugged Lex daily via text. The band can’t play in the rain, so all our plans hinged on that rain holding off. And it did! (mostly) It rained on the drive down, drizzled a little for the first quarter, then stopped. The band did the tunnel and played for the first half of the game. Then they did the halftime show as the wind picked up and the sky darkened. The forecast predicted an imminent downpour, so the drum majors (the band bosses) gave the band members the option of staying or going. A handful stayed, but most left. Lex was hungry and eager for Olive Garden, so he was happy to leave after halftime. We were happy to leave then too.
I loved having hours to catch up with my friend. I loved watching the band. I loved watching the band with a music teacher and former pep band member! She had so many good questions and observations that I didn’t even know to make or observe. I loved getting to see Lex. I loved that the rain held off enough that we got to see the band perform. Overall, it was a great Saturday!!
My posts are now going to come in threes, apparently. You’re welcome.
Tonight I got to watch WPI beat WSU in football. They livestreamed the whole event. Do you care? No, me neither. HOWEVER, they have the “greatest band in the land” and THAT is why I tuned in! Lex had his first marching band performance tonight. His first week at WPI was for marching band camp. He auditioned for the drum line and was given cymbals. He was hoping for the snare drum, but he is just a freshman after all, so cymbals was a good place to start. Half way through the week he told me he was so glad he was on cymbals because the marching part was so complicated, he really appreciated having an easy instrument to play. Maybe the band director knew what they were doing. :)
So tonight was their first game. They livestreamed it and I loved it. WPI is a NCAA Division III school, so their football setup (and streaming setup) is only slightly better than high school, but they have a marching band and it was awesome. Apparently the football team is good too. Or at least better than WSU. :)
He sent me a selfie!! <3 (I might have suggested it a few days ago, but he did it and that's what counts!)
The band playing during the game.
The drumline
The cutest cymbal-er in the world. :)
I’m incredibly happy that he decided to join the marching band in college. He has made friends, learned new skills (marching!), and even put on a silly uniform that matches everyone else. He’s come such a long way. And the best part is, he’s loving it!! I’m so proud of him!
