A quick Fall

I can't believe how quickly we have flown through Fall. Just three weeks ago it was in the mid-80s, and last night we had our first snow! Ok, more like a wet, 'wintry mix', but there was definitely snow on the ground and a thick layer of ice on the car this morning. More is predicted tomorrow... and it isn't even Halloween yet :o( At least I can confidently say that it was colder in Florence this time last year. Also, we can actually turn on our heater in our Waltham apartment before November 1st if we so choose, and we won't have to sell a kidney to fund its use. Thank goodness for cheap American energy.

First 'snow' of the season

Cool ice designs on the passenger window (as a daily commuter I officially have to start thinking about scraping ice and snow everyday... ergh).

The past couple weeks have been pretty busy. Not hard, but busy. Now that mid-term week has passed I can finally do house chores again, catch up on little things, and maybe even bake something for Halloween.

Like I mentioned before, my classes are really not hard, but they do require a little bit of time. Here is how I spend a couple hours of my life every week, slaving away in my food and culture lab:

After all that hard work we get to sit down and pig out! (This meal was our first project.)

I have heard that this is the 'fun class'. Even the following courses that have food labs are rarely described so nicely. When the semester ends I will have to look at these pictures every now and then so that I can remember these happy times.

While we get to eat home cookin' in the food lab, the campus squirrels are on the typical college diet.

Great music at Fall Fest

We were watching the clouds this weekend and kept our fingers crossed that the rain wouldn't continue past Sunday morning. The Waltham Library was hosting the second annual Fall Fest, organized by REACH (an organization aimed at preventing domestic violence), and Seth was given a spot to perform at the community event. It was supposed to be Saturday but it was called off due to threats of rain, so it was held yesterday instead, under cloudy skies.

It was the first time Seth had played out in a while, but he sounded fantastic and seemed to get back into it so naturally. Our next step is to find some places in the neighboring towns that have live music so he can make his way back into the scene. Unfortunately the pickings are rather slim around here, but what good it is writing so many wonderful songs if no one gets to hear them?

(Most of the people were in the other half of the lawn,
where all the events were taking place.)

Let's go shroomin'!

This particular Fall in New England is THE TIME for mushrooms. The semi-cool weather, persistent rainfall, and I am sure numerous other factors have combined to produce the perfect conditions for an unusually fantastic mushroom season. This past week Seth and I have seen the entire Prospect Hill forest floor bloom with 'shrooms. They aren't especially unusual and deadly looking (like the ones we saw in Australia), and not quite as bizarre as what we saw sold in Sant'Ambrogio market in Florence, but they are numerous. According to Yulia--who used to go mushroom picking before she moved to the US--most of them, especially in Cape Cod, are edible. I told Seth to go out with her husband and pick a few but he said he wouldn't trust a Russian in identifying American mushrooms, haha.

Since the mushrooms change almost daily (they seem to burst out of the ground in a matter of minutes only to die off within a couple days, if they manage to escape being gobbled up by a squirrel), you never know who to expect out in the park. Finally this morning I remembered to grab my camera to document some of our favorites, before they disappear.

A great morning with the fungi! Now time for some muffins ;o)

The time for birthdays

Besides school, the past couple weeks have been dotted with birthdays. Two weeks ago Seth and I went the Cambridge to check out an exhibit on depictions of scientific observations in Renaissance Art at the Harvard Art Museum. We then stuffed ourselves with Ben & Jerry's before heading to the North End for an AWESOME dinner at Giacomo's. The seafood pasta was totally worth the hour-long wait in line outside, especially since we had the company of Bo and Song. A fantastic birthday of art, science, food, and friends :o)

Waiting in the line that wrapped around the block. (Thankfully we got there when it was a little shorter.)

Bo and Song, looking apprehensive about their meal...

Having cake with Bo in Verona

Seth celebrated his big day last weekend with a trip to Lowell. Yes, Lowell. Though it may appear sleepy, it is shameless in promoting itself as the 'Birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution'. There was a nice National Historical Park visitor center smack-dab downtown, complete with a continuously running 20min film about the history of the mill town, so you know it is the 'real deal'. Lowell is also famous as the hometown of the famous beat generation writer Jack Kerouac, but we bypassed the pilgrimage to his home and burial site. We did, however, treat ourselves to one of the numerous coffee shops--each very colorful and cozy. This was the coziest, and a great way to spend a little time. I wish Waltham (or even downtown Boston) had a coffee shop as cute as this!

One of the Merrimack River canals flowing through Lowell. Doesn't take a big imagination to see why this city is called the Venice of America ;o)

Birthday wishes

Also, since this is the time for birthdays, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Dad today! And to Seth's mother on Thursday :o)

Survived the first week!

I can finally say, without guilt, that I am happy the weekend is here! I made it through my first week after re-entering the world of full-time students. I am only taking 3 classes, nothing too crazy, but two are each 4 hours a week (one is only 2), and they all have 3-hour labs. So that is 19 hours of classroom time per week... for only three classes... However, one class I took twice before (anatomy and physiology), one class is devoted to healthy cooking, and the other will be just a pain in the butt, but at least the professor seems nice (microbiology). Not too shabby. As a total surprise and bonus, the nutrition lab is a cooking lab! We modify recipes, learn cooking and baking techniques, look at ethnic cuisine, etc. Next week we will be making cocoa meringues and vinaigrettes. This is where being an 'older student' comes in handy--I have probably 7 years of recipe modification experience on most of the other students. Joke's on them!

The worst part of this week really was just dealing with the Registrar, IT, and Student Accounts, and also getting used to commuting. After stressing for months over the drive, I am quite proud that after just four days of practice I have gotten my driving time down from about 40min to 30min. This is assuming the traffic isn't too terrible, which it usually is, but I have been driving at strange hours and avoiding peak traffic, leaving the house as early as 6:45am and driving home as late as 8:15pm. In the following weeks I will be having even longer days, and will be getting home at 8:00pm two nights a week, and at 10:00pm once a week. UGH.

Today was tricky with a morning class. Too early to go running with Seth, I instead went after class and explored the neighborhood around the university. It wasn't a great outing (lots of traffic, often without shoulders, lots of poison ivy on the roadside, etc), but at least I was able to sneak it in and keep up with my streak. As of today, I have been able to run every day for the past 13 months! This of course includes days traveling--Seth and I went running at the Iceland airport, and I had to run at 2:30am two days this summer due to early flights. Somehow I have been able to fend off illness and injury, too, and have not come up with a health reason to take a day off. Slowly I am learning Seth's secrets to fulfilling this addiction ;o)

Getting ready to hit the classroom!

Today was the graduate student orientation at FSU. Besides hearing about Campus Police, Blackboard, and Career Services, it was nice to have a second look at the campus--it is fairly compact and well maintained. The main student center seems to house about 80% of the admin offices, which is convenient, and the library and fitness center are decent-sized. It was also exciting to start looking at the books for my (2) classes. The nice thing is that I am super thrilled to be back in a classroom, even though I really haven't left since being an undergraduate. It will be fun to take notes, be inundated with homework, and after several stressful exams, actually earn credits towards a degree. So far, hands down the biggest stress for me in starting on September 6th is the commute. It took 40 minutes to get to campus today, and I even had Seth to help navigate. I can't imagine driving those CRAZY roads without someone telling me where to go. Oh my god, I am so worried about the driving out there 4 or 5 days a week for the next three or four years.... :o(