Princeton Friends Meeting

Pictures of Princeton Friends Meeting's Stonybook Meetinghouse taken during my December visit. The meeting house was first built in 1726 and rebuilt in 1760. It's a lovely old building and each December morning when I have visited there has been a welcoming fire in the fire place.

click on pictures to view them larger

Note that the bags on the porch are not trash, but clothing donations.






Interior light fixture

Note the width of the floor boards.

The old glass really entertains me.

Simple benches.

The black square to the left if the fireplace.

Thursday Challenge: Experimental

Back in December I was taking pictures of our Christmas tree and started playing with taking unfocused pictures of the lights. This is my favorite. The white snowflake shaped blob is one of the snowflake lights in the window behind the tree.

In photography terms this is called bokeh.

See more Thursday Challenge here.

Cold

I realize this may make you all roll your eyes, but I love the squeeking sound that snow makes when it's really cold. It's cold here, but not as cold as a whole lot of other places. I spoke to a colleague in Minneapolis this morning - it was -20 there which makes the 8 degrees when we left the house a veritable heat wave. Keep warm!

(This picture was taken during one of the December storms.)

Moody Monday: Athletic

My nephew D during wrestling practice.

You can read more about the program he wrestles with here.

See more Moody Monday here.

Taking Thanksgiving on the Road

We are somewhat notorious for making plans for major holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas...) at the last minute. Way back in November Amy headed off to Arkansas to visit her mother leaving me to determine how we were going to spend Thanksgiving. My little brother and I had already begun how to figure out how to provide Thanksgiving dinner for my parents and grandmother, without my mother having to clean her house or cook. (My brother lives near my parents, while I'm 160+ miles away.)

My brother lives in a small, second floor apartment which wasn't an option. Transporting my parents and grandmother to Boston also wasn't an option. At some point my brother said he wished we could rent an apartment for a day. That's when it hit me - that's what Residence Inn style hotels are. We'd stayed in a Residence Inn while visiting in New Jersey and it was quite spacious. So I did a search and discovered two relatively close to my parents and a room was reserved.

Amy learned of the plan when she returned from her trip the week before Thanksgiving. Planning began immediately. As much of the food as possible would be made before hand and be taken to heat up when we got there. Amy'd been reading up on cooking turkey, reading recipes is one of her favorite entertainments, and was eager to try brining a turkey. This presented a challenge. The plan was to head west Wednesday evening. The turkey needed to brine for 4-6 hours. The drive takes 3 1/2 hours. So, we decided that we would brine the turkey on the drive. The next challenge was figuring out what container to transport the brining turkey in. We have several large coolers - all of which would hold the turkey and it's brine. Amy was concerned though because any of those would require increasing the quantity of brine and since this was the first try at this method she was reluctant to make that change. The solution - a 5 gallon bucket lined with plastic bags.

The easiest part of the packing was our clothes. It was to be a quick trip so we didn't need much in the way of clothing. The rest of the packing was to accommodate the dozen people we were expecting (my parents, my grandmother, my younger brother, his wife and son, my older brother, his wife, son and daughter and Amy and me). The Residence Inn's provide kitchen equipment but not for that many people. We packed plates, glasses, silverware, kitchen equipment that Amy (who was doing most of the on-site cooking) couldn't live without, food - rolls, cranberry sauce, apple sauce, stuffing, vegetables, pumpkin pie, crackers, two card tables and eight folding chairs, napkins and table cloths.
Just to make things even more interesting Amy came down with the head cold I'd been fighting for weeks the week of Thanksgiving. The crowd ended up slightly smaller than anticipated - my brother and co-conspirator succumbed to the stomach bug that his son brought home from school, my older brother's wife was too exhausted to spend 5+ hours (round-trip) in a car and my oldest nephew needed to stay in Montreal (where it wasn't a holiday) and go to class. (For those keeping track that gave us a crowd of 9.
After dinner my nephew, N, who is five and my niece, S, who is 16 and I went down to the lobby to play Sorry. At one point N was frustrated because he wasn't doing so well, S and I were chatting about something (probably her swim season) and he decided we weren't taking the game seriously enough. He announced "stop talking and concentrate on the game". I smile every time I think about it, partly because it shows how much he's matured since July when he got frustrated by a game we were playing and wanted to quit.

A good time was had by all, though I don't know that we'll ever try it again.

(I do know that this post is month's overdue, but I didn't want to let this go undocumented.)

Clear Your Car Roof

Yesterday I became a poster child for why you should always clear the snow off your car roof. The weather yesterday was cold, wet and generally yucky. There were about 2 inches of snow on the ground when we got up. By the time we headed out to clear the cars (or more correctly by the time Amy headed out to clear the cars) the snow had turned to sleet. Even though we were driving into work together both cars needed to be cleared because her car doesn't have 4 wheel drive and has to be parked at the top of our steep driveway and we were driving to work in my car which does have 4 wheel drive. I've been nursing a sore knee this week (it's getting better but I'm not very steady on my feet) so she did the bulk of the work.

When I got out I finished clearing my windshield, but skipped clearing the roof because there was only 1/2 inch of icy frozen stuff on it. The drive was basically uneventful, except perhaps dodging the chunks of frozen stuff flying off trucks on the Turnpike, and the constant rain. As is typical the off ramp was clogged with traffic. As we stopped at the first traffic light (there are two before crossing the river) a small amount of icy stuff slid off the roof. It was easily removed by the wipers, which were on because of the rain. However, when we stopped for the second the bottom third of the windshield was suddenly filled. This wouldn't have been too bad except that the wipers tried to clear it and because it was icy about 3 inches of the driver's side wiper got shredded. Once across the river I pulled into a gas station and cleared the accumulated snow and ice from the windshield. The wiper was clearing enough of the windshield for me to see so I continued on to drop Amy off at work.

Then I headed directly to the car dealer. The service guys were nice enough not to turn me away, and I spent just over an hour watching tv and reading old magazines. The only repair was the wiper blade, and because it's a new car and the service guys like me they didn't even charge me for it. It could have been worse - not only could there have been more damage to the car (one of the service guys mentioned that another customer's car had required body work when ice came crashing off his roof) but it could have caused an accident.

And so we add another rule to the Chelle/Shelley's (pronounced the same) rules of driving: no leaving the neighborhood without clearing any accumulated snow or ice off the roof of the car.

Summer Vacation

It's almost January and outside the window the world is white. Snow is falling and from the comfort of my living room I can just tell that it's cold. As an antidote to the cold I thought I'd offer this tale of our summer vacation, which I have previously failed to record.

As regular readers may recall way back in July we once again headed off to Wakanda on Rainbow Lake in the wilds of the Adirondacks for two weeks of rest and relaxation. The day we left was hot, really, really hot. I stopped to let the neighbors know we were leaving and their grandson, A, who's about 9 offered to help pack the car. Given the weather I took him up on his offer. First step was to load the kayak onto it's rack, then drive the car up to the front of the house, unload the kayak and load the car. Into the car we packed games, puzzles, food (there are always a few things we take from home), clothes, and books - lots and lots of books. A carried/dragged most of the bags and boxes out of the house. Particularly amusing was watching this boy try and propel our large, rolling duffles down our bumpy front walk. The duffles were almost as big as he was and very definitely out-weighed him. I really wish I had a picture of that. Finally the kayak, once again, took it's place of honor on top of the car and we were ready to head out.

The drive was uneventful, or at least uneventful enough that I don't really remember it 5 months later. We did stop at a liquor store near my parent's house to pick up wine for a co-worker. (The back story on this is that he'd been to a wine tasting and fell in love with a particular dessert wine that he then couldn't find near Boston. He found it at a liquor store in New York, and asked if we would mind picking some up for him. Since the liquor store was on the way to my parent's house, the halfway point of our journey, we were happy to oblige.

We arrived at Owl Cabin well after dark, perhaps our latest arrival. We quickly unpacked and finished just as the clouds opened up and rain began to fall. It rained for days. We were prepared so this did not impact the enjoyment at all. We read, worked puzzles, baked, and I swam.

Oh, and played with my then new macro lens.

My brother T and nephew N joined us for a few days of fun in the mountains.

N enjoying a kayak ride.
T gave kayaking a try and loved it. I'm guessing I'll have a partner for some longer paddles next summer.

Helping Amy with a crossword puzzle.

Working on the project I brought for us to do.
(I did not make the parts for this.)
The finished project.

Other highlights of the trip

loon sightings

fresh blueberries from the bushes surrounding the cabin

the beautiful lake - the sun did finally come out

our hosts bountiful flower garden
The path to the morning beach.
(This is my entry in the current Thursday Challenge.)

The morning that T and N left, N and I headed down the path above with a bucket of Legos which we were returning to Loon cabin. N was carrying the bucket and we were chatting when a tree root jumped up and tripped him. He was devastated, but I quickly let him know it wasn't a problem, and we spent several minutes searching under bushes and leaves for Legos, some of which are quite tiny. There are probably a few still along the path.

We finished up our vacation with an overnight visit from my parents. It was great to be able to share our favorite spot in the woods with them again. Then it was time to load up the car again and head home.

Only 6 1/2 months till we return.

Editted: Click here to see more pictures from our Adirondack vacation.

Thursday Challenge: Light

One of the string of 5 snowflake lights that are hanging in our living room window.

See more Thursday Challenge here.

Thin Ice

This picture was taken nearly a year ago but it's fairly close to the view outside our windows now, though instead of sun we've got light snow falling. Through those trees, if you know what to look for, you can see the pond. There is only one house between us and it. It's a small pond and with the exception of the access path that runs down the hill on the other side of our next door neighbor is fairly inaccessible. It's set down from the few surrounding houses and ours is the only nearby road.

It's a small pond and doesn't get a lot of use - an occasional fisherman, teenagers looking for a spot to be alone, and in the depths of winter ice skaters. Yesterday our little pond was the focus of a lot of activity. Early in the afternoon Amy noticed fire trucks and police cars parked, lights flashing near the access path.

My first reaction was that someone had fallen through the ice, but the lack of an ambulance and the quick departure of the police car - sirens blaring - had us thinking that maybe we were wrong and they were just checking the barrier on the access path. But the fire truck didn't leave and we heard shouting. The only words I could make out were "talk to us". The fire trucks were there a long time.

Amy was out shoveling when a neighbor walked by headed back to his house. He'd been more curious than we were about the activity and had gone to see what was happening. As it turned out my first instincts were correct - someone, or rather two someones had fallen through the ice. Apparently two teenage boys, 15ish according to the tv reports, had decided to walk across the pond. They almost made it falling through the ice just before reaching the far side of the pond. The very good news is that the fire department was able to rescue them and they are going to be okay.

It was not been cold here for very long, in fact until the last three days it has mostly been in the mid-30s. There's been frost but we have not had the kind of sustained cold to form reasonable ice on any pond. Given the lack of cold I'm amazed that these boys didn't fall through within feet of the shore on this side.

The boys, despite their really bad decision to walk across the thin ice on the pond, did a couple of things right once they ended up in the water. They removed their shoes and pants - which worsened their hypothermia. They were able to pull themselves out of the water. When the firefighters finally got to them, after what the news reported as a mile long trek through the pathless woods, two of them removed their cold water protection suits and wrestled the boys into them.

The fire trucks and the news vans that arrived in their wake are now gone. The memories of this will stay with me. My heart goes out to the families that came way too close to losing their children. The outcome of this incident could have been much, much worse.

Please remind all those close to you - stay off the ice!

Don't Bake While Tired

A couple of weeks ago I was up late finishing cupcakes for a party the next day. I'd gotten a late start and I had to have the cupcakes ready to go first thing in the morning so even though I was really tired I was determined to finish. When I added the confectioner's sugar to the mixer for the frosting I realized that I needed to mix it in by hand because the mixer was putting too much of the sugar into the air. I reached for the switch to turn it down. In my sleepiness I did not turn the mixer off as was my intent, no I switched it to high. The result, as you can see, wasn't pretty.


The powdered sugar was everywhere. I was coated, the counter was coated, everything on the counter was coated. So take it from me - if you're tired step away from the mixer.

Thinking about Marriage

Maria posted a link to a commentary by Keith Olbermann on gay marriage which I think should be read or listened to by everyone. You can find the commentary here. It's a little long, 6 1/2 minutes, but worth the listen.

In other news, the cold I've been fighting and yesterday's wet weather kept me from joining in on the protests against California's Prop 8. But I was there in spirit.

Thursday Challenge: Sound

The pianist for the Broadmoor Chamber Singers (Amy's chorus).

See more Thursday Challenge here.

Happy Birthday to Me!

As a child growing up in a household with a dog, I knew what a veterinarian was. I did not understand what a veteran was. And so I thought that November 11th was Veterinarians Day. I remember the conversation when my mother explained the difference between veterinarians and veterans. Veterans Day was, and is, an important day in my life. Not because it's Veterans Day but because it is also my birthday.

Because my birthday is a holiday I have almost always had the day off from school and work. (There was one year when the government decided to make Veterans Day a Monday holiday at the end of October, but I digress.) My current place of business does not give us Veterans Day off. We get the Friday after Thanksgiving instead. However, I do get generous vacation time. So I was able to take both Monday and Tuesday off to play.

I spent most of Monday in my woodshop, working on a project for Hiker Boy. (I haven't posted about it yet, but will soon on elf business.) And I installed the car rack on my new car .

Yesterday, I headed off early for a paddle. I'll post about that tomorrow. My timing was perfect. The morning, when I was on the river, was full of sun and clear blue skies. By the time I had the kayak and all it's equipment put away it was gray and threatening to rain. I spent the afternoon watching a movie (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - recommended).

After dinner out at our favorite Chinese Restaurant, we returned home for cake, complete with squiggly candles.


In addition to the new ipod, which goes with the new car (there's a connector so the ipod can be played through the car audio system), I also got the way cool bumper sticker from my sister-out-law, Shelley (who will be getting a proper thank you). It now holds a place of honor on my car.

Comfort Food

One of the casseroles my mother made when I was a child, was this concoction of egg noodles, ham and peas with a sauce of cheese, milk, ketchup and horseradish topped with bread cubes. She made it with velveeta cheese and spam. I don't remember it being a favorite of mine during my childhood, but as an adult I occasionally find myself craving it.

I haven't been able to eat it for years because my body can not successfully digest milk fat. I am able to eat goat cheese, though. And earlier this fall while perusing the collection of goat cheese at the local Whole Foods, I discovered that they carry fat-free cheddar cheese. It's taste's pretty good and doesn't upset my stomach.

So, when I got a craving for this casserole last week - on one of those cold wet gray November days - I realized that I could satisfy my craving. So for tonight's dinner I had ham and noodle casserole. It was delicious. Amy missed out, since she left this morning to visit her Mother in Arkansas.

Melancholy Excitement

We bought this car in early 2000, when we finally decided that we needed to become a two-car family. It was the first car we bought with the help of our dear friend Robert, who runs a car buying service (he does all the negotiation for a small fee).

Late this summer I took it in to the shop to have the air conditioning fixed. While it was there the service guys (who I really trust) determined that the car needed several major fixes. Since these weren't life threatening I decided to ponder whether to fix the car or replace it. This was a tough decision because I really love this car. After consulting with Robert, I decided it was time to replace it.

Test drives were made and two weeks ago I picked up my new car. It's a new Subaru Forester. I don't love it as much as the old one, but it's a very nice car.

The new car has:


heated wipers

radio controls on the steering wheel

cool blue speedometer


moon roof
(this is looking out the moon roof at the edge of our yard)


chrome door handles

And best of all the new car comes with peace of mind, but I still miss my old car.

Poster for WFM Anniversary

This weekend Wellesley Friends Meeting is celebrating its 50th Anniversary. There will be speeches, plays, worship, food, and fellowship. As an added decoration several people have put together posters highlighting the major work and concerns of the meeting. The picture below is the poster I put together of pictures from our participation in Boston's Lesbian and Gay Pride parades. The wording on the finished poster is slightly different, but the sentiment is the same.



I'm lucky enough to have access to a poster printer at work. Back in September, when I was really thinking I'd get this done ahead of time, I was reminded that the poster printer is booked solid for a good portion of the month. Once the event which causes this demand was over, I'd moved on to other things. Last weekend I finally got back to thinking about the poster. I got it put together Sunday afternoon, but didn't get around to thinking about printing it until yesterday.

So this morning I grabbed my thumb drive moved the poster file to it and headed off to work with Amy. I got to the other building (home of the poster printer and Amy's office) and was opening the file to show it to one of the poster printing experts when I realized that the program I created the poster in does not import the image files, but links to them. This was a major problem because I had not put those files on the thumb drive.

After some agonizing, there'd already been a couple of issues with the payroll posting that I'd had to deal with remotely, I headed home again to retrieve the files. Given that it was mid-morning it was an easy drive. Then back to print the poster. Which also went relatively smoothly. The good news is it's printed, the bad news is I'm still not happy with the wording.

I'll mount it to foam core tonight, and deliver it to the Meeting House tomorrow when we head over to help set up for the afternoon and evening festivities.

PhotoFriday: Freeze Frame

Duck taking off over Rainbow Lake.
Taken during our vacation in July.

The back story to this is that the first thing I do each morning during our two week vacation at Wakanda is head out to the lake to swim. Most mornings I take along one of my cameras (The working arsenal includes 2 digital (slr and waterproof), 2 film and a video camera.) Early in the morning the lake is usually crystal clear. Most mornings I see some sort of wildlife. Managing to photograph the wildlife is a rare occurence. This was taken when the camera was ready at the same time as the wildlife.

See more PhotoFriday here.

PhotoSunday: Sunset

Sunset over New London Harbor in Connecticut

See more PhotoSunday here.

(It has been brought to my attention that I haven't been posting anything. I'm not offering any excuses, but it's been a really busy month or so. The picture above was taken while I was in Connecticut for the fall conference for the users group I'm the president of.)

Photo Honors

I stopped by MacroDay this evening to check this week's challenge, and there at the top of the page was my name. My photo of one of the lane marker's in the pool at Wellesley (repeated below) was voted on of the top 3 favorites for the "Wet" challenge. That put a smile on my tired face. (Tired because I've been getting up earlier that usual to go swim, in the pool, next to the lane marker....)

Now I just need to find something on the floor to photograph (this week's challenge).

PhotoSunday: Metal

Detail of the sculpture Mozart III which is installed at Wellesley College.
A couple more photos of it are here and here.

See more PhotoSunday here.