Born at 3:40 pm today.
9 pounds (NINE!)
21 inches.
And here he is, straight from Brendan's Facebook:
Will your middle name be T. Kirk?
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Welcome, new Marshall!
His name is James. All are doing well. Congrats to Jennifer, Brendan, and Luke!
Born at 3:40 pm today.
9 pounds (NINE!)
21 inches.
And here he is, straight from Brendan's Facebook:
Woo hoo! Best wishes to you, James.
Will your middle name be T. Kirk?
Born at 3:40 pm today.
9 pounds (NINE!)
21 inches.
And here he is, straight from Brendan's Facebook:
Will your middle name be T. Kirk?
Waiting (is the hardest part)
I'm sitting here waiting for news of the imminent arrival of a new Marshall. Hurry up and get born, kid! We can't wait to meet you. (To be clear, my brother and his wife are having a new baby! Hooray!) While we're waiting, here are some recent updates:
We've just wrapped up a fabulous weekend filled with local fun. We went to Founders Day at the Lowell National Historic Park, where Lucy did some crafts, we went for a trolley tour, and joined a sing-a-long with a ranger playing a ukelele. Awesome! Lucy loves "This Land is Your Land."
Then we had a fabulous luau in Somerville with Ian & Elizabeth. There were leis and little drink parasols. Lovely!
Sunday we went to Franklin Park Zoo! It was super terrific. Lucy really liked the lemurs, who came right up to the glass to say hello. She was also a big fan of tree-climing.
In other exotic animal news, someone found an actual alligator hanging out in a canal in Lowell. No kidding. See this from the Lowell Sun:
And of course, the Lowell Sun went to the Lowell Spinners (mascot: Canaligator) for comment:
Awesome. There are some great photos and some video at the local police log blog:
http://blogs.lowellsun.com/policeline/2012/08/25/canaligator-real/
So yeah, there really IS a lot to like about Lowell.
In other Lucy news, she has graduated to Purple Family. Very exciting. She came home with a cold after the first day in the new classroom. New class, new microbes. Nice. But she seems to be getting better.
And here we are, still waiting. Updates as soon as have 'em.
We've just wrapped up a fabulous weekend filled with local fun. We went to Founders Day at the Lowell National Historic Park, where Lucy did some crafts, we went for a trolley tour, and joined a sing-a-long with a ranger playing a ukelele. Awesome! Lucy loves "This Land is Your Land."
Then we had a fabulous luau in Somerville with Ian & Elizabeth. There were leis and little drink parasols. Lovely!
Sunday we went to Franklin Park Zoo! It was super terrific. Lucy really liked the lemurs, who came right up to the glass to say hello. She was also a big fan of tree-climing.
In other exotic animal news, someone found an actual alligator hanging out in a canal in Lowell. No kidding. See this from the Lowell Sun:
LOWELL -- Police thought they were dealing with a prank call when someone reported seeing an alligator in the Merrimack Canal Saturday night.
It wasn't a prank.
Sgt. Jack Cullen arrived at Broadway and Dutton streets, near the Lowell National Historical Park parking lot, and found a roughly 2-foot alligator swimming in the canal just after 9 p.m.
And of course, the Lowell Sun went to the Lowell Spinners (mascot: Canaligator) for comment:
Jon Boswell, director of media relations for the Lowell Spinners, said the team's mascot, the Canaligator, was not immediately available for comment.
He said he suspects the alligator might be a relative.
Boswell said Canaligator married Allie-gator in 2005, and the happy couple gave birth to Millie-gator in 2006.
Awesome. There are some great photos and some video at the local police log blog:
http://blogs.lowellsun.com/policeline/2012/08/25/canaligator-real/
So yeah, there really IS a lot to like about Lowell.
In other Lucy news, she has graduated to Purple Family. Very exciting. She came home with a cold after the first day in the new classroom. New class, new microbes. Nice. But she seems to be getting better.
And here we are, still waiting. Updates as soon as have 'em.
We've just wrapped up a fabulous weekend filled with local fun. We went to Founders Day at the Lowell National Historic Park, where Lucy did some crafts, we went for a trolley tour, and joined a sing-a-long with a ranger playing a ukelele. Awesome! Lucy loves "This Land is Your Land."
Then we had a fabulous luau in Somerville with Ian & Elizabeth.
Sunday we went to Franklin Park Zoo!
In other news, someone found an actual alligator hanging out in a canal in Lowell. No kidding.
From the Lowell Sun:
LOWELL -- Police thought they were dealing with a prank call when someone reported seeing an alligator in the Merrimack Canal Saturday night.
It wasn't a prank.
Sgt. Jack Cullen arrived at Broadway and Dutton streets, near the Lowell National Historical Park parking lot, and found a roughly 2-foot alligator swimming in the canal just after 9 p.m.
Calvin Thomas, of Lowell, said he was walking past the area with his kids when he looked into the canal.
Jon Boswell, director of media relations for the Lowell Spinners, said the team's mascot, the Canaligator, was not immediately available for comment.
He said he suspects the alligator might be a relative.
Boswell said Canaligator married Allie-gator in 2005, and the happy couple gave birth to Millie-gator in 2006.
Read more: http://www.lowellsun.com/breakingnews/ci_21402780/glancing-down-into-lowell-canal-he-saw-gator#ixzz24hqx7Hjr
Then we had a fabulous luau in Somerville with Ian & Elizabeth.
Sunday we went to Franklin Park Zoo!
In other news, someone found an actual alligator hanging out in a canal in Lowell. No kidding.
From the Lowell Sun:
LOWELL -- Police thought they were dealing with a prank call when someone reported seeing an alligator in the Merrimack Canal Saturday night.
It wasn't a prank.
Sgt. Jack Cullen arrived at Broadway and Dutton streets, near the Lowell National Historical Park parking lot, and found a roughly 2-foot alligator swimming in the canal just after 9 p.m.
Calvin Thomas, of Lowell, said he was walking past the area with his kids when he looked into the canal.
Jon Boswell, director of media relations for the Lowell Spinners, said the team's mascot, the Canaligator, was not immediately available for comment.
He said he suspects the alligator might be a relative.
Boswell said Canaligator married Allie-gator in 2005, and the happy couple gave birth to Millie-gator in 2006.
Read more: http://www.lowellsun.com/breakingnews/ci_21402780/glancing-down-into-lowell-canal-he-saw-gator#ixzz24hqx7Hjr
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012
Project Underway! Basement Bathroom Actualization
So you may or may not know that there's a bathroom down in our basement. It features in the background of several previous project posts, such as this one and this one. It's a bit sketchy:
It has a toilet and a sink. The toilet was leveled with a shim in form of a paint stirrer. (Awesome!) Check it out:
It's an older style, with an enormous tank that was running a lot, so we actually turned off the water leads to it to conserve water. This was usually fine, except on the rare occasion when an unknowing guest, or Lucy, used the toilet. Ooops.
The sink leaks, and when I asked a plumber about it, he said it was not worth fixing the faucet; we should get a whole new sink set up. Also, it was previously the drain for the washing machine (as detailed in the posts I linked above). The faucet is set back very close to the basin, so it's actually not a great design for hand-washing.
So this project has been on the back burner for a long time, since we do indeed have two other bathrooms. But a few things have propelled this project forward: 1) we bought a third toilet back when we were replacing the other ones 2) our friends Matt & Mary gave us a new sink they had inherited [the tall white thing beside the sink in the photo above is actually the pedestal of the new sink] 3) we wanted to make more use of the backyard, and having a handy bathroom might make that even nicer. Oh, and 4) our neighbor, Lisa, was available for some projects!
So the project is underway today. She's taking out the old toilet, checking to make sure things are OK down there, then putting in a new one. Then she'll take out the old and put in the new sink. She's going to put down flooring plywood, and then go over it with some vinyl tiling I bought.
I am SO excited.
Updates as I have them.
Woo hoo!
Update: 3:40pm
Check it out:
Here's the latest status on the project:
--->Old toilet and sink are gone, gone gone.
--->Water intake valves (3 -- 2 for sink, 1 for toilet) replaced with shiny new, easy-to-use accessible ones.
--->Toilet drain confirmed secure (relief! we weren't sure -- it's an OLD pipe, but a solid one)
--->Wood beneath and around toilet confirmed secure and not damaged by water or critters.
--->Evidence of critters, in the form of SQUIRRELS confirmed. Not ideal, but not posing imminent harm to plumbing or the house. Further investigation necessary. Possible "re-location" plan may need to be developed. We're not even sure if the critter is still in residence.
So hey, most of that is good news. Liza is putting down new flooring plywood right now and then will paint it. Tiling happens next.
Stay tuned!
UPDATE: 10pm: IT'S DONE!
We're just delighted. Liza stayed until 10pm just because she wanted to get the job done. Awesome.
I need to do a bit of clean up tomorrow, but hooray!
Of course, now the new floor and new fixtures make the rest of it all (the walls) look worse.....perhaps another upgrade will be in our future.
Cheers!
It has a toilet and a sink. The toilet was leveled with a shim in form of a paint stirrer. (Awesome!) Check it out:
It's an older style, with an enormous tank that was running a lot, so we actually turned off the water leads to it to conserve water. This was usually fine, except on the rare occasion when an unknowing guest, or Lucy, used the toilet. Ooops.
The sink leaks, and when I asked a plumber about it, he said it was not worth fixing the faucet; we should get a whole new sink set up. Also, it was previously the drain for the washing machine (as detailed in the posts I linked above). The faucet is set back very close to the basin, so it's actually not a great design for hand-washing.
So this project has been on the back burner for a long time, since we do indeed have two other bathrooms. But a few things have propelled this project forward: 1) we bought a third toilet back when we were replacing the other ones 2) our friends Matt & Mary gave us a new sink they had inherited [the tall white thing beside the sink in the photo above is actually the pedestal of the new sink] 3) we wanted to make more use of the backyard, and having a handy bathroom might make that even nicer. Oh, and 4) our neighbor, Lisa, was available for some projects!
So the project is underway today. She's taking out the old toilet, checking to make sure things are OK down there, then putting in a new one. Then she'll take out the old and put in the new sink. She's going to put down flooring plywood, and then go over it with some vinyl tiling I bought.
I am SO excited.
Updates as I have them.
Woo hoo!
Update: 3:40pm
Check it out:
Here's the latest status on the project:
--->Old toilet and sink are gone, gone gone.
--->Water intake valves (3 -- 2 for sink, 1 for toilet) replaced with shiny new, easy-to-use accessible ones.
--->Toilet drain confirmed secure (relief! we weren't sure -- it's an OLD pipe, but a solid one)
--->Wood beneath and around toilet confirmed secure and not damaged by water or critters.
--->Evidence of critters, in the form of SQUIRRELS confirmed. Not ideal, but not posing imminent harm to plumbing or the house. Further investigation necessary. Possible "re-location" plan may need to be developed. We're not even sure if the critter is still in residence.
So hey, most of that is good news. Liza is putting down new flooring plywood right now and then will paint it. Tiling happens next.
Stay tuned!
UPDATE: 10pm: IT'S DONE!
I need to do a bit of clean up tomorrow, but hooray!
Of course, now the new floor and new fixtures make the rest of it all (the walls) look worse.....perhaps another upgrade will be in our future.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Lowell Folk Festival Rocks!
Just like last year, we picked up our bag of compost from the previous year.
We went down to the Lowell Folk Festival on both Saturday and Sunday. Both days were amazing. We were especially into the food. Our favorites: The Jamaican meat pies. Oh, and pretty much everything we shoved in our mouths. Thanks, Lowell Folk Festival! We'll see you next year!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
...and we're back
We're back from our yearly Pennsylvania/Maryland/Delaware tour. A good time was had by all. Apologies to those of you we didn't get to visit; things were a bit jam-packed. Some highlights from our major destinations:
Carlisle: They'll fix you up
The above proposed promotional tag line for Carlisle is a result of the fact that we (finally) got a bunch of things fixed while we were here. And all within like 8 hours. I got a new battery for my watch, then Jake got his battery fixed, then we got the car fixed. It was an amazing day of getting stuff fixed. What was wrong with the car? Well, if you saw us during our travels, you also heard us....Ernie suggested that we could easily join a motorcycle gang. Lucy exclaimed "the car farted!" We needed a bit of exhaust work. But all is well now!
Sign that delighted me: Free Veggies Mondays 5:45 / Next Bike Repair Clinic (seen outside a local church)
Sign that horrified me: Gun Raffle (seen outside the local fire station)
Sight that delighted me: A giant field of solar panels at my old high school, including SHEEP grazing underneath them to keep the grass & weeds under control. Brilliant!
Other highlights: walking Gus (Mom's neighbor Gloria's dog), as pictured here:
Among other Carlisle attractions, there's always the fun of going up into the attic archives at my Mom's house. On this trip I found and claimed:
-a doll that I made of Long John Silver as a book report project in the seventh grade (it now sits in my office as a talisman against extra credit projects)
-two metal casket plates engraved with my name (I once made these regularly on Saturdays spent at the Boyertown casket sales office with my Dad. I thought they were all long gone, so I was delighted that these had been saved!)
-my three Strawberry Shortcake dolls (Apricot, Lemon Merigue, and Lime) all wrapped up inside their original boxes (will they go to Lucy or will they go on Ebay?)
Being back at my Mom's house always involves seeing things that I haven't looked at in decades....particularly since she did a really good job of saving all of my (and Brendan's) toys and has cleaned them all up to share with Lucy and Luke. One of the greatest hits is these fish (shown above), which are a really simple thing -- basically plastic or vinyl and they cling to the walls of the bathtub. I remember them vividly my childhood, and Lucy is crazy about them. The design is just so simple and pleasing. But we have no idea where they came from, or who made them, or if anything like them is still made. Readers, do they look familiar? We think they're circa 1978 or so. Maybe 1980.
__________________________________________________
Maryland:
It was a short visit to Germantown, but we were delighted to see Brendan & Jennifer & Luke. We can't wait to meet their new family member, too. We visited the best playground ever: South Germantown's Adventure Playground. It was really, seriously, amazing. It even accommodated grown-ups (though the taller ones had some trouble with the height of some things). Because Lucy and Luke were both vibrating balls of excitement flying off in different directions, it was difficult to get a photo of the two of them together. But there are a few good ones:
There's some video of that madness, too, and I will try to process it and get it posted soon.
We also played an exhausting game of Settlers of Catan. Mistakes were made, alliances formed, trust broken....we may never play again.
Below is the first photo on the camera from Germantown, which bears striking resemblance to the last photo on the camera from Rehoboth (a bit further below):
There was a lot of reading going on.
__________________________________________
Rehoboth:
There was so much that happened in the week that it's hard to keep track. Lucy had an amazing time with her cousins, who very kindly tolerated her particular variety of insanity, which included fairly constant singing, a return to her narration mode ("she said"/'she exclaimed"/"she yelled as she pushed" after every statement), and an obsession with being read to. Jamie read her a ton of books, as did most of the visitors to the house. She slept in our room, and in the middle of one night, she awoke and groggily, pitifully asked, "can somebody please read something to me?" Yup.
Yup, pretty excited. But she wouldn't go up to him. Oh well. Instead, she and Jamie and Ma read some books together:
(And yes, Lucy is carrying two loaves of french bread there in the back seat.)
The big beach event was the Cocktail Party hosted by Ernie and Vonnie. The crowd was huge, the food was amazing, and the dancing....well, here you can see for yourself:
Jack and Charlie and Sammy's Lemonade Stand was another standout, particularly with the amazing feature of potato chip cookies.
These boys are sitting on a goldmine -- investors? Seriously, they could make a mint on this.
We also took the requisite visit to Funland, which was, despite this image of Lucy's apparent displeasure:
very fun, as you might infer from this image:
Cousins: they make everything more fun.
And although Lucy was completely exhausted (and covered in ice cream) by the end of the evening, she really did have a tremendous time. We all did:
I'm going to wind things up here, but wanted to end by thanking all the lovely folks who made our trip possible. It was great to see all of you. I've tried to put the better photos up on Flickr.
And if we didn't get to see you on this trip, I sure hope we can next time!
Where has the summer gone? It's almost August.
Carlisle: They'll fix you up
The above proposed promotional tag line for Carlisle is a result of the fact that we (finally) got a bunch of things fixed while we were here. And all within like 8 hours. I got a new battery for my watch, then Jake got his battery fixed, then we got the car fixed. It was an amazing day of getting stuff fixed. What was wrong with the car? Well, if you saw us during our travels, you also heard us....Ernie suggested that we could easily join a motorcycle gang. Lucy exclaimed "the car farted!" We needed a bit of exhaust work. But all is well now!
Sign that delighted me: Free Veggies Mondays 5:45 / Next Bike Repair Clinic (seen outside a local church)
Sign that horrified me: Gun Raffle (seen outside the local fire station)
Sight that delighted me: A giant field of solar panels at my old high school, including SHEEP grazing underneath them to keep the grass & weeds under control. Brilliant!
Other highlights: walking Gus (Mom's neighbor Gloria's dog), as pictured here:
Among other Carlisle attractions, there's always the fun of going up into the attic archives at my Mom's house. On this trip I found and claimed:
-a doll that I made of Long John Silver as a book report project in the seventh grade (it now sits in my office as a talisman against extra credit projects)
-two metal casket plates engraved with my name (I once made these regularly on Saturdays spent at the Boyertown casket sales office with my Dad. I thought they were all long gone, so I was delighted that these had been saved!)
-my three Strawberry Shortcake dolls (Apricot, Lemon Merigue, and Lime) all wrapped up inside their original boxes (will they go to Lucy or will they go on Ebay?)
__________________________________________________
Maryland:
It was a short visit to Germantown, but we were delighted to see Brendan & Jennifer & Luke. We can't wait to meet their new family member, too. We visited the best playground ever: South Germantown's Adventure Playground. It was really, seriously, amazing. It even accommodated grown-ups (though the taller ones had some trouble with the height of some things). Because Lucy and Luke were both vibrating balls of excitement flying off in different directions, it was difficult to get a photo of the two of them together. But there are a few good ones:
There's some video of that madness, too, and I will try to process it and get it posted soon.
We also played an exhausting game of Settlers of Catan. Mistakes were made, alliances formed, trust broken....we may never play again.
Below is the first photo on the camera from Germantown, which bears striking resemblance to the last photo on the camera from Rehoboth (a bit further below):
__________________________________________
Rehoboth:
There was so much that happened in the week that it's hard to keep track. Lucy had an amazing time with her cousins, who very kindly tolerated her particular variety of insanity, which included fairly constant singing, a return to her narration mode ("she said"/'she exclaimed"/"she yelled as she pushed" after every statement), and an obsession with being read to. Jamie read her a ton of books, as did most of the visitors to the house. She slept in our room, and in the middle of one night, she awoke and groggily, pitifully asked, "can somebody please read something to me?" Yup.
Speaking of beach reading, I picked up the second installment of Deborah Harkness's trilogy and devoured all 500+ pages while at the beach. I was in a race against Jessamy (I lost) to finish. It was terrific. You may recall my praise for the first volume, A Discovery of Witches, but I may have liked this one -- Shadow of Night -- even better.
In the spirit of reading, we visited our favorite beach store, Browseabout Books, where we had a special visit from Clifford, the Big Red Dog. Here's Lucy's face when he arrived:
Yup, pretty excited. But she wouldn't go up to him. Oh well. Instead, she and Jamie and Ma read some books together:
Besides reading, there was also some bike riding, with the tandem playing a key role in our transportation around the beach:
The big beach event was the Cocktail Party hosted by Ernie and Vonnie. The crowd was huge, the food was amazing, and the dancing....well, here you can see for yourself:
Sadly, I didn't get many pictures (though I did take some pictures of the night-before-practice-cocktail-party: check the flickr stream right around here), but boy, did everyone have a good time. On the way home from the party (we were on the bike) Lucy asked, "Can we have a cocktail party at our house tomorrow night to thank Vonnie and Ernie for their cocktail party?" Genius idea. The kid likes a cocktail party.
We also took the requisite visit to Funland, which was, despite this image of Lucy's apparent displeasure:
Cousins: they make everything more fun.
And although Lucy was completely exhausted (and covered in ice cream) by the end of the evening, she really did have a tremendous time. We all did:
Final analysis: Funland: it's fun.
So long, Farewell, 506 Scarborough:
I'm going to wind things up here, but wanted to end by thanking all the lovely folks who made our trip possible. It was great to see all of you. I've tried to put the better photos up on Flickr.
And if we didn't get to see you on this trip, I sure hope we can next time!
Where has the summer gone? It's almost August.
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