Southern summer teeth

Last week Seth finally got his wisdom teeth pulled, which must not have been very pleasant given that he is older and they were impacted. Once the teeth fully form and anchor into the bone sometime in a person's 20s or 30s, it makes the teeth harder to remove. It has been over a week and the poor guy's jaw still hurts, though mostly when he eats or talks for very long. I feel lucky that mine popped out easily, and after the anesthesia wore off I felt no pain--I could even eat solid foods by the next day. Of course, I was also 14 years younger than him.

Seth and I flew out to Raleigh on Tuesday. Here we can experience a true southern summer. That is all I will say about that. It will be good, though, to see a few friends while we are here, and hopefully pay a visit to Chapel Hill. Mom, Seth, and I went out to the newly renovated North Carolina Museum of Art this afternoon, which was actually really impressive. It was well laid-out and had a good selection of works. Since it is nice and close we will certainly have to go back again soon!

The biggest downside to being in NC must be that we are missing Lorenzo; since we flew out here we asked Seth's parents to watch him for us. The only other time we have asked someone to watch him was when we went to Philadelphia for a long weekend back in November. At least we know he is in good hands with 'grandma' and 'grandpa'!

Cruisin' Night in downtown Geneva, NY. Notice the drunks peacefully co-existing with the prized farm equipment ;o)

Melissa's birthday celebration over the weekend.

Berry-mania

Since we arrived in New York last week we have been feasting on berries. Melissa was really thoughtful and, as promised, sent over a blueberry pie for us. She had picked 17 pounds of berries over the weekend of the 4th and had some baking to do.


On Sunday she picked me up, nice and early, and we went back to the 'U-Pick' blueberry orchard (or is it a patch?). I must have eaten at least a pound of berries, and what I didn't eat I brought home (my bag weighed a little over four pounds). Melissa, with her own freezer and a mother with whom to split the pickings, was more ambitious and brought home another 19 pound bag! Hanging out in that orchard was a long-awaited fantasy of mine: not only do I LOVE blueberries in all its forms, but they were ripe, plentiful, and super easy to pick (no bending over a vine or shifting through thorns!).

Good-bye, Waltham

Well we did it! We managed to pack up the apartment with only slight dramas on my part over thinking we did not have enough boxes and not enough room in the storage closet. After loading up the car we cleaned each room, top-to-bottom. It looked so nice it was almost a shame to leave it, though the echos in the relatively empty rooms convinced us it was time to go!

It really did feel nice to finally be on the road, the car loaded with dirty clothes, bags of food from the pantry, gerbil supplies, and a gerbil. We tested some gel on Lorenzo, and he seemed to like it. Now we won't have to worry about him getting dehydrated on the long flight.

Now that the first big move is out of the way, we must decide if we should go to Minnesota to visit family (both mine and Seth's) and a friend (Monica) before heading to North Carolina. From there we will still need to head back to New York and Boston before leaving for Italy. Until then, we will enjoy the fresh (though hot and humid) air in upstate New York!

Stepping out the door!

House-swap

Tomorrow is the big day! Since the Donnellys left Seth and I have been sending crates of books to store in his office (three large, full bookshelves-worth) and trying to pack as much stuff into our storage closet as efficiently as possible. We have also been eating non-stop, trying to clear out the fridge and freezer (we gave up on trying to empty the pantry a long time ago). The freezer was full of meat, but since the two of us usually only share about a pound of meat once a week or so, this has been quite a task. This past week alone we have had BBQ pulled chicken, homemade meat pizza, Teriyaki chicken, German potato salad with sausage, pepper steak yesterday, and with a pound and a half of turkey meatballs tonight, we should just about finish off the meat. Better eat meat now because if it is anything like Australia I doubt we will be able to afford it in Italy.

Besides packing we have also been catching up with a few people. It is a little strange and somewhat awkward, however, knowing that we will be back in a year; this will be the first time we move and actually return, so we are trying not to get too sentimental about taking off. However, Seth did say goodbye to some of the regulars up on Prospect Hill this morning...

Today is also my last day in the lab. Luckily things are pretty quiet these days so I have had a little time to catch up on trip preparations and give myself time away from thoughts of packing. Too bad the big Smart Balance experiment (the experiment I was originally hired to work on before they decided to do the soymilk experiment instead) will be conducted just after I leave. That would have been really fun to help design and coordinate!

Rebecca, an inspector (I think?) who works at the lab has been really wonderful in helping to make Lorenzo's trip easier. She gave us a nice shipping box, some nesting material, and gel packs for him to keep hydrated. She also offered herself as a registered veterinarian to give him a health check so he can go through customs. Unfortunately, the health inspection needs to be within 10 days of departure, so we will need to do this in NY before we leave.

Oh how I can't wait for this time tomorrow, when the packing should be done and we are on the road! Even better, Seth promised we will go to Mr. Twistees when we are in NY this time, AND Melissa made mention of baking a pie to send over for us tomorrow :o)

One good thing about moving is that it forces you to throw out things that probably should have been tossed long ago. Here is a bag of peanut butter kisses Seth mailed to me when I first moved to Australia. He actually sent a box of chocolates earlier but the hungry boxer dog that lived in the house busted into my room and ate it up, leaving me lonely and upset. Seth was really sweet and promptly mailed me another batch of goodies, including these, the bag marked "NO JAKE". It was so nice of him that I couldn't get myself to eat it. Nearly four years and a photo later, it is time they go.

Due to weight limitations, we may need to think up a better way to transport one year's supply of supplements (we are actually still short two bottles of fish oil). I feel like such a pill popper.

However, just like a bag of Doritos, here is an excellent example of a container that is far too large for it's contents: this bottle is unopened, yet it is probably filled only one-fifth of the way.

A week with the ladies

This past week (yes, a full week!) Aunt Dee and my cousins, Eileen and Darlene came out from Fresno, CA for a visit. We even got to meet up with another cousin, Christina, since she is now a nearby New Englander, having just moved to Stamford, CT a couple months ago. It was so wonderful spending a good amount of time with them, though I wish they could have stayed longer! We just loved catching up over tea, going for long scenic drives (Eileen sat behind the wheel--she is sooo brave to willingly take on these roads and drivers!), and playing gin rummy (the secret is to sit out a few rounds and you eventually end up in the lead).

I only wish the weather could have been better for them. It has been in the mid-90s and humid, and we only have one little window AC unit, which really doesn't cut it. The last night during dinner it was 88 degrees in the kitchen... :o(

Just arrived in Waltham (the weather is still nice at this point, hence the sweater)

On our way down to CT we stopped in Rhode Island. Darlene in front of the State House.Christina's new place in Stamford, CT

Christina had to work, so the four of us went out for day trips. Frank Pepe's Pizza in New Haven, CT, birthplace of the 'American Pizza' (we never figured out what this means)

At least the pizza was really good, and worth waiting in the line that went way out the door (notice the cheese-less 'original tomato pie' Darlene and I split--aka marinara pizza)Yale has a remarkably beautiful campus (Don't tell the Harvardites I said this)

The rare book collection inside walls of translucent marble

Along the Connecticut coastThe next day, a trip to West Point

To balance out all the testosterone from West Point, a trip to Woodbury Commons (NY), considered the best outlet mall in the US

Christina's apartment

Saturday morning we took Christina back with us to Massachusetts, with a stop in Concord and Lexington

Old North Bridge

This Minuteman is all Eileen will remember of Lexington

Back at our place!

Coming back from Veronica's, our local mini-mart/Keno place/bottle shop

July 4th dim sum in Chinatown--thanks, Christina, for the suggestion!

Boston Commons at the start of the Freedom TrailNo trip to the North End would be complete without Mike's!

The Hatch Shell just a few hours before the fireworks

We claimed a park bench about 4 hours before the fireworks

Seth made it down via bus and T from Waltham in record time, just an hour and a half before the show. Bo, Natalie, and Melissa also joined us!!

The view from the bridge

All 10 of us, waiting by the bench and fenceThe train home. Thanks, City of Boston, for providing something efficient!

The next day, Christina had to head back to CT. I went with the Donnelly girls on a trip to Harvard Sq (we weren't there long. TOO HOT.)

Harvard's Co-op book storeBeef brisket and bison tips dinner at Bison Co. BBQ :o)

The next day, a trip to Salem and the North Shore (once again, we weren't here long. Too hot.)Gloucester made me hungry for fish sticks

For the first time since moving here 2 years ago, I finally got to have a bowl of New England clam chowder!

It was really wonderful to visit with family and also join them on a tour of Southern New England. I can't think of a better way to spend the last two weeks in Massachusetts! Now it is officially time to pack up the apartment and head out the door to something else.