I got stung by a bee!!!

on my ankle.... my ankle is super swollen.... weird stuff from a bee that is soo small!

Still travelin'. Enjoyin some time in Vermont this week. Life is grand up here. I've got to figure out how to make a living in this state...

Words from the Wise Traveler

I'm busy travelling this month..so the posts will be sporadic and few. Sorry! Are you ready for the words from the wise traveler? I just spent three days in Chicago...gorgeous city! Flew from there to Raleigh and came back to Boston via a missed-connection in DC. The missed connection resulted in an unplanned overnight stay. It would've been fun, if I weren't tired and wasn't wearing fancy shoes. I was only in my hotel room for six hours before hopping on the 6am shuttle back to the airport. Anyway...the wise words are:

"thunder and lightening storms cause severe delays in air traffic"

Pretty profound, huh? I think I'll start flying in the morning as much as I can. As opposed to afternoon/evening flights.

This coming week I'll be on tour in South Dakota!

Fireworks!

Every year that I see fireworks, I wonder how much pollution is going into the air and how much debris is falling into the water body below...

A and I ventured down to the Mass Ave bridge for a prime viewing of the fireworks (in the rain). They were absolutely fabulous! Boston really does do a spectacular job There was a full 25 minutes of fireworks, all different shapes and sizes, super shimmery ones, skyrocketing ones, booming ones, ones that sounded like popcorn and looked like camera flashes going off. Comedian Craig Ferguson and John Mellencamp were the big stars this year. We were only listening via the speaker, but they did a great job. It was also neat to see the fireworks reflecting off the tall buildings along the river...such gorgeous shimmering.

Now we must think about the fact that it's summer already! Wow, July is here in full force!

Enjoy!

Horseshoes!

This weekend I was lucky enough to see the hungarian and his family. It was great. I also tried my hand at horseshoes! Yes, my arm is sore after the fact, but I didn't do so bad. Actually, I had a glorious "ringer" which landed right on top of the tie breaking "ringer" and cancelled it out. I maintained the tie long enough for A to get a ringer on his next turn and win the game for us! We also hit the driving range that afternoon. What a sporty saturday we had. Oh yeah, I ate the most ginormous ice cream cone ever. Wish we had a camera...

Sunday morning A and I hit the pavement. Before long, A was on the ground with a sprained ankle. The curb jumped up at him when he was trying to step off it (or something like that). It's still swollen, but getting better. I've been carrying on the training with out him (sad face here). I did two laps around the reservoir and back on Sunday (60 minutes). Last night I ran around the neighborhood for 30 minutes. Tonight is a rest night and tomorrow is another speed workout!

The bookclub is reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini (sp?). He's the guy that wrote "The Kite Runner". ATSS is a fantastically intense book. Absolutely amazing. Super well written and a dramatic plot. I'm loving it.

Tomorrow's Mom's Birthday!
Happy Independence Day everyone!

Brighton Wildlife

So.. I did my activities last night...made it to japanese class (after the train dumped me out at Winchester St to go express) and then went for a run at the Brookline Reservoir. On the way home, on my very own street but down a few blocks from my house, I saw the cutest little things scurring across the sidewalk and hiding under parked cars! Little opposums! They were all fuzzy and had long tails and pointy little noses. Last year was raccoons, I guess this year is opposums.

The last japanese class was good. The weird kid asked me out. I said no. He had asked one of the married girls in class a while ago. He's just weird and obsessed with dates, I think.

The run was great. I warmed up for 12 minutes and then ran fast (well fast for me) around the reservoir 1 and 1/2 times for 15 minutes and wogged my way home after that. To wog is to walk and jog. Sometimes it is in one motion, other times it is a trade off between walking and jogging intermittently.

Post run, I sat on the porch, amongst my flowers, enjoyed the cool breeze and read the book club book. Summer is nice!

Happy Friday!

Do they sting?

The girls and I took a walk down Wollaston Beach last night. Lots of folks were wading and swimming in the water even though we could clearly see bazillions of dried up, dead, jellyfish on the sand. We even saw some, not dried up, still gooey, jellyfish in the process of being washed up (riding the waves). We walked out onto a concrete peir and dangled our feet in.

Then, some jellyfish came swimming by. We pulled our feet out at that point. I'm curious why the swimmers were not afraid of the jellyfish. Things that make you go hmmmmm....

I haven't run since Monday... so tonight and tomorrow night it's on!
Tonight's run: 10 minutes easy, 15 minutes at a faster clip, followed by a 10 minute easy cool down. This, of course, will take place at 8pm after the last japanese class of the semester and hopefully the temps will have cooled down by then. Oh, I think there's a forecast for thunderstorms this evening. Fun!

The tomato plants are flowering!!! The porch pansies are beautiful.
Happy Thursday!

Summer bliss

I realize the solstice was a few days ago, but it is really feeling like summertime now. The last two evenings have been fabulous. A bit warm, but fabulous, nonetheless. The tomato plants are skyrocketing out of their pots, the flowers are starting to bloom, and I cooked! Monday night I made a meatloaf and mashed potatos. (not exactly summertime food, I know). The cooking storm warmed up the kitchen quite considerably. But, the food turned out great!

After the sweating Monday evening (which included a run, in addition to the cooking)...I took last night as a lounge evening. I relaxed on the pink couch (in cool spring clothes) while A studied for his big exam this weekend. No cooking...no moving around...just laying still, reading. It was summertime bliss.

I'm generally not one to lounge around the house in the evenings. I usually have activities to attend, but I really enjoyed the past few evenings of quality "at home" time. I'm proud of my cooking acheivement and loved the relaxing reading evening. Tonight, it's back to activity central for a couple nights. The girls are going walking along the beach in Quincy tonight...and tomorrow is the last japanese class of the semester.

Every morning, I say hello to the jellyfish, and take a moment to chat with them. I figure that if I'm nice to them, I might not get hurt so bad when they take over the city. There are quite a few out there!!! Here's a pic taken last week.

Wingnut Meatloaf Recipe:

Hot italian sausage (a pack)

Ground Beef ( a small pack)

Ground Turkey ( a pack)

Egg (2)

Ketchup (several large squirts)

Worcesteshire Sauce (some) (spelling?)

Oatmeal (some)

Mrs. Dash (more than a dash)

Mix it all together with love. Bake at 375 for about an hour. YUMM!

Wingnut Mashed Potatoes:

I peeled, chopped, and boiled the potatoes until soft...then drained them....added Cabot garlic herb cheese, butter, and milk...and blended them until creamy with the mixer. YUMM!