Main Street Parade

Mark and I headed to Main Street for the Memorial Day Parade this morning.  I'm really glad we went since attendance seems to be falling off the farther we get from 9/11.

We found a nice shady spot right in front of Miss Porter's School.  Exchange Club members passed out flags to the bystanders.

It's such a sweet little parade with veterans, Scouts, and local school bands marching.  We joined the other bystanders in applauding as the veterans marched by so I didn't take any photos of them.  There were quite a few from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, complete with a Humvee.

This antique fire engine is from the firehouse down the hill from where we live.

The highlight of any parade for Ross was always the fire engines.  Mark and I realized that if there was a true emergency in town during the parade, all the police, rescue, fire trucks and personnel are in the parade!

This is a part of the FIRST Robotics Team contingent.  Dawn and Ross used to march too.

On the way back to our car, we passed this beautiful rosebush in full bloom.

Remembering the sacrifices our countrymen and women have made to secure our freedom and way of life





Memorial Day Weekend

It's wonderful to have a 3-day weekend!  We plan to watch our local Memorial Day parade tomorrow morning and then come home to spruce up our yard.  We've been catching up on errands and chores and are looking forward to the extra day.

We've been thinking a lot about the veterans in our family--Mark's Uncle Frank who died when The Arizona was bombed by the Japanese while docked in Pearl Harbor, my dad's service as a Marine in the Pacific during WWII, and Mark's dad's time in the Navy at Alameda Air Station during WWII also.  My sister Adria served as a Marine during the Vietnam War, as did two of our cousins.

Many lovely homes along our town's Main Street are proudly flying flags this weekend. It's tricky to find a place to park to get a good photo. Maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow during the parade.

I'm really happy to have a shorter work week due to the holiday.  Although I usually wake before my alarm goes off now, I have never been a morning person. Years ago when I worked in the city, I didn't mind having an hour commute when my workday started at 9 am and I used mass transit.  Now with a workday starting at 7:10 am, I dread the long car ride.  Spending close to 2 hours a day on the road, even when it is a pleasant drive, just feels like a big waste at this point in my life.  I am counting the days until this assignment ends!

A Very Special Event

Yesterday was our youngest niece's Bat Mitzvah.  The ceremony at their temple is so very moving. It's a welcoming, happy sort of congregation, and Ken's father pointed out that it is as liberal as you can get and still be Judaic.  He told us a great story about selling papers outside a Catholic church in Hartford when he was little and then his buddy would invite him in.  After Mass, young Ed would stand by his papers and call out, "Father McLoughlin's social democratic papers for sale!"...until his own father caught him at it and pulled him away by his ear!

Here are all the Fishman females outside after the ceremony.  With several hours until the evening event, Mark and I headed back to Ross and Malima's apartment for the afternoon.

White Cliffs in Northborough is a lovely venue for a big party!  The older girls had their Bat Mitzvah parties here too.

The DJ was fantastic and the dancers showed us all how to do the dance moves--we were movin' and groovin', that's for sure!  We really missed having Dawn and Malima with us to share the fun.  There is a part of the festivities where the Bat Mitzvah celebrant lights candles in honor of people who are important to her. Dana thoughtfully mentioned how only 3/5 of our family were there, with Malima in Milan and Dawn in Paris.



It was great to catch up with our nephews and their lovely wives.  Our nieces looked beautiful in their party finery--unfortunately I never did manage to corral them for a photo. Hopefully we'll get to see the official photos and DVD of these festivities soon.

Today is another beautiful sunny day--wishing you all good times, wherever you are!



Weekly Update

I just finished my third week of work.  We've been getting rain 3 or 4 weekdays the past couple of weeks, which is good and bad--we need the rain and I'd prefer sunny weekends, but the rainy days make my commute longer by 10 minutes each way. I keep reminding myself the next 5 weeks will fly by!

May is such a beautiful month with so many outdoor plants in bloom.  These bleeding hearts are a division of plants that originally came from Mark's grandmother's house. 

Of course, working outside means more exposure to ticks, and on Monday the results of my blood test were postive for recent exposure to Lyme disease.  I have been feeling lousy for the past few weeks but decided I was just tired from my new job.  When I didn't improve, I checked with my doctor and told him about the two ticks I had taken off in early March, so he did some bloodwork.  Thank goodness I'm already feeling much better after six days on antibiotics.

Now the wood hyacinths are blooming in front of the deck.  Yesterday and today the weather has just been perfect with highs in the low 80s and clear dry air. We sat on the deck reading after dinner yesterday and it was so pleasant--and no bugs yet!  I had a haircut appointment in the morning and then worked the Open House at Hill-Stead all afternoon, so I really appreciated the time outside.  Mark had mowed the lawn earlier in the day and the air smelled so sweet and fresh.

Even the chives are blooming!  The rhubarb in front of the chives is small this year, maybe because the weather was so dry when it first started to grow. 

We were late bringing the amaryllis bulb into the greenhouse but were rewarded wth two stalks having 4 flowers each. It won't be long before the danger of frost is past and Mark is able to bring most of the plants outside.

We did some shopping today.  I can't believe I haven't dragged Mark to the Shoppes at Farmington Valley in Canton before!  I got a great deal on a dark stretch denim pencil skirt at Talbot's--$69.50 retail price, but with markdowns and special sales, it ended up costing $19.08 including tax.  Of course I can't imagine anyone paying the full price--that's just ridiculous for a casual skirt.  But it will look great and even somewhat professional for our dress-down Fridays.

Have a wonderful week!





What a Weekend!

Ross finished putting the engine into his 1987 MR2 and fired it up. Success! It runs!

I think that's a pretty big accomplishment considering that the car has been sitting in our garage for nearly 7 years.  Ross had planned to replace the original engine with a turbocharged version, and the car was in pieces when he left for college.  Recently he's been working on swapping the turbocharged engine for a regular engine again, and he put it all back together this weekend. Mark will get a short-term registration for it so it can be driven on the road.

We were driving down Old Mountain Road today when we saw this tom turkey strutting alongside the street.  Mark stopped the car so we could take photos--I was very excited because I usually don't have a camera handy when a male is displaying his tail feathers just like a classic Thanksgiving turkey illustration. 

Ross opened his window and took these photos.  Mark decided to help keep the turkey around by gobbling. The tom must have thought another male was close by because he kept walking back and forth in front of the car and even began to peck the front tire.  Since his head came up to the car windows, I was pretty scared sitting in the back seat thinking that he might try to fly inside the car! I didn't realize how big they are until I saw this bad boy up close.

Since we are celebrating Mother's Day a week early, we went to the minigolf for our traditional outing.

Hmmm, I don't want to admit what my score was because it was too close to my age...but we had a lot of fun golfing on such a nice day, and then we stopped at their snack bar for lunch and dessert. What a great weekend!

Welcome to My Weekday World

This week was a bit easier at work.  I took some photos this morning to show you my office.

Standing in the doorway, you see my desk straight ahead.  I love having a big window wall!  Although you can't see them, the windows have miniblinds which I'll need to use when it is sunny.

The left wall has a nice big bookcase.  I always like to bring in a few things from home to make these temporary digs into "my space". Kids tend to come in and sit on the chair to the right of my computer, so I keep photos of Kita and Amber displayed there on my desk. They're great for starting conversations or getting a student to relax.

If you stand facing the bookcase, this corner is to its left. To the left of the green wall is a floor-to-ceiling window and then the door.  It's pretty nice for a school counselor's office.  I am sooo happy to be back working with kids again. 

In the department of random, I was going over a reflection paper with a girl. As we talked, she mentioned that she had gone to see some gypsy vanners and I casually said, "Oh, so you like horses".  Was she ever impressed that I knew about the breed!  We had a great discussion--turns out her father was a breeder and trainer of Arabians. And people think that students can't connect to me because I'm old...it's so frustrating.

Ross is coming here after work for the weekend--yippee!  Hope you have some fun things planned for your weekend too!