ok, early tomorrow I'm off, see some of you soon!

for great pictures of the lunar eclipse, visit katie and kip and kyra (and jack's) blog. very cool stuff!

Hello Utah :)

Ha. ok, after looking at my sister emily and my sister katie's blogs, next year I'm requesting everyone do fish faces. It'll be a theme birthday.
thanks everyone who participated!

joseph just picked up the check at the original pancake house for our breakfast this morning. this is acceptable second-option behavior if you can't manage the fish face. :)

this is for emily, I wanted to try that face too


It's my birthday today and what I want for my birthday is to see faces! everyone put up a picture of yourself and loved ones on your blog! that is my birthday wish. what do you look like on my birthday? :)

(happy birthday aunt corliss!)

tonight Tom graciously took me to dinner at Legal Seafoods for my upcoming birthday. it was good food! Ward and Kristin, it wasn't as expensive as we thought (but still pretty expensive, thanks Tom). we had a nice waiter.

the benefactor


me! with free birthday non-sugar mousse


nothing says birthday like sugar-free mousse courtesy of our good waiter and apparently his manager


then, oh boy, this was my favorite part, we went to Blockbuster so I could rent a movie! I haven't rented a movie in three months! heaven I tell ya, heaven.

stories from people

you can listen to stories at www.themoth.org

"The Moth, a not-for-profit storytelling organization, was founded in New York in 1997 by poet and novelist George Dawes Green, who wanted to recreate in New York the feeling of sultry summer evenings on his native St. Simon's Island, Georgia, where he and a small circle of friends would gather to spin spellbinding tales on his friend Wanda's porch. After moving to New York, George missed the sense of connection he had felt sharing stories with his friends back home, and he decided to invite a few friends over to his New York apartment to tell and hear stories. Thus the first "Moth" evening took place in his living room. Word of these captivating story nights quickly spread, and The Moth moved to bigger venues in New York. Today, The Moth conducts six ongoing programs and has brought more than 2,000 live stories to over 60,000 audience members."

recommended story- "Don't Fall in Love With Your Monkey", by Ari Handel, Neurobiologist
also -"Pink Bicycle", by James Braly

"My brain goo's coming out all artistical!". Hah. That's a quote from Moe, The Simpsons, season 18. I feel the same lately, working on an idea for a children's book. This is a photo of my office most of the time, a spot by the Charles where there's an inlet near the Galleria Mall. I hang out at the mall now. It's a nice spot, there are always cool breezes blowing through, not many people, and a super energetic dog I see almost every day that chases a flourescent tennis ball relentlessly. He's red and sleek and medium-sized, and every part of him is in animated motion constantly, right down to his floppy ears.



Today I decided to have at least one last full day outside walking around Boston, I leave for Seattle next week mid-week. Not much happened, I sat at Boston Commons for a few hours and read The New Yorker, ate breakfast at Citysearch's top breakfast place where I ran into English tourists and almost shared a table with them in the tiny dining room, until a one-seater opened up. Then I actually spent some money on an attraction which is rare! The New England Aquarium. It was crazy! So many kids and parents, and a huge central fishtank with a spiral walkway winding around it to the top, with windows you could look in and watch everything. This is part of the jellyfish exhibit.



At the top of the tank, this was a lecture given by a man who's been volunteering at the aquarium since '76. He was great, just sat on the steps and commented about the fish swimming around "oh, here is our turtle, myrtle. And over there, just swimming by, a pufferfish". He was so laid-back about it, really enjoyable.



Then I walked back home through the breezy streets. I did stop once, at a crosswalk with a bench to do another drawing for my street corners calendar, and once to take a picture of the state house.



The Charles looked like melted silver today.

this house is on top of Beacon Hill, wouldn't it be great to live in? what does it sound like to have traffic actually driving through under your house? maybe it sounds like the sea. probably it sounds like a bunch of honking.



well, I think I've found the place I want to retire to. and since retirement doesn't seem all that far from what I've been doing, it feels a little ridiculous to start all that working again, but I think I'll have to. it's a good thing though it took me a while to discover this particular spot because it's big on pastries and homemade noodles. the North End in Boston is the Italian district, and it's the most delightful place. saturday after doing some sketches and reading at the park I went back purely for the pastries. these are an example, beautiful marzipan fruits-



the best eating experience I've had in Boston was when Kristin and Ward were here and we went to a restaurant in the North End called Antico Forno (there's a picture down below in one of the other posts). the food was amazing! plus I like the general family feeling in the North End, and people's accents are wonderful, and it smells good. that's enough to recommend a place for retirement, isn't it? now I've just got to put in another 30 years or so, and then, for me and my cats it'll be all-italian, all the time.

better bridges

too much to catch up on!

we miss you kristin :(