Giving Thanks

Marc hosted Thanksgiving this year and we had a wonderful day together. Lots of yummy food, good family time, and lovin' on Harry, Marc's awesome dog. It couldn't have been better!

It's not a list of 10, but here are the things I'm thankful for this year:

1. Mom and Marc - we've been through a lot in the past year, but our relationships with each other are stronger because of it and I'm so thankful they are the family I'm stuck with!

2. My friends, near and far - you are amazing and I can't imagine my life without you

3. New beginnings - there are some new, exciting things happening that I'm not quite ready to post about yet, but life is pretty good right now

4. A job that, while challenging and stressful, has moments of absolute joy that keep me going


Happy Season of Thanks to you all!!

Favorite Photo Friday

George's Pond, Franklin, Maine. Oh how I miss summer!

Lisa's Birthday

Lisa turned 33 today and we went out last night to celebrate her birthday in style. It was a great night and a lot of fun was had by all! Below are some pictures from the first half of the night, which was dinner at the Red Blazer. Sarah was smart enough to go home after dinner, but the rest of us walked downtown to the Barley House and continued the fun until last call. We don't have any pictures from that part of the evening, but there are lots of stories...

Lisa's Birthday

Happy Birthday Pizza!!

Fall Morning at Camp

Lisa, Victoria and I went up to camp on Saturday to put away everything in the kitchen and get the dining hall closed up for the winter. It was a beautiful morning at camp and we had to take a walk before we left. I love being at camp when it is quiet and no one else is around (I also love it when campers are there, I promise!). And I'm not usually at camp so late in the fall, so it was neat to see what it looks like without a lot of color and with the trees pretty bare.

We headed down to Inspiration Point and attempted a few photos - luckily Victoria has long arms! I hadn't been down to Inspiration Point all summer and I had forgotten how peaceful it is. It was good to be at camp and remember that, even in the midst of all the drama that sometimes surrounds our involvement with Wanakee, the physical place can still bring such peace and happiness.

It's True Love...

Please be patient as I endlessly post about Berlin this weekend. It won't last forever, I promise!

Click on the photo to see some of my favorite Berlin photos

Berlin

Berlin

I have spent the last week or so wishing I could be in Berlin this weekend, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of "Die Mauer". The Germans know how to throw a party and I'm sure this is going to be one to remember. Both the New York Times and MSNBC have had some great articles and picture of Berlin. I particularly liked this article and this very cool collection of pictures that shows what certain parts of Berlin looked like 20 years ago and what they look like now. I know it may seem silly to be in love with a place, but I truly, madly, deeply love Berlin.

Favorite Photo Friday

Monday is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I wish I was in Berlin to be a part of the celebration - I can just imagine the festival they are having. I bet there will be a huge party at the Brandenburg Gate - beer tents, music, people, all the good stuff!

Saturday Morning Photo Shoot

Sarah and I spent Saturday morning at a great park in Northwood with her dogs, attempting to get some pictures taken of Sarah and the pups as a Christmas present (surprise) for Reg. I was not the official photographer (her friend Jane takes beautiful pictures), but was along to help manage the dogs. Needless to say, getting 3 dogs to do the same thing at the same time is pretty challenging. Treats helped a little bit, but by the end Annabelle, Bentley, and Jake were bored with the treats and ready to be done posing.

This picture was one of the few times that they were all looking at the camera at the same time, and it was taken at the end of the morning when we were loading up the car! The dogs were pretty exhausted from their morning photo shoot, and Sarah and I were too. I can't wait to see how Jane's pictures came out - I'm sure she got some great ones!

Favorite Photo Friday

Halloween 2004 at The Celtic Cottage in Berlin

New Blog Layout

Okay, I know that the new blog header may be a bit winter-ish for the end of October, but I really like the layout and couldn't find one I liked nearly as much as this one. Plus, as much as I'd like to pretend it isn't so, winter is on its way, so I might as well come to terms with it now. :)

10 Things

I've been missing Berlin, and my international life, a lot lately and have been quite envious of my friends who are still teaching overseas as I hear of their travels and adventures. It probably doesn't help that school is often stressful, so the idea of leaving it all and moving back overseas sounds very appealing right now.

Here is my list of "10 Things I Miss About Berlin":

1. The s-bahn and u-bahn. I LOVED the subway in Berlin and I miss how great it was to put on my iPod, take out a book, and happily ride the train to wherever I was going.

2. Riding my bike around the city. When I first moved to Berlin, everyone raved about riding their bikes and how easy and great it was to get around by bike. It took me a year to join the craze, but when I did, I could finally understand how great it was! Berlin is very flat and there are bikes lanes everywhere. I loved riding at night with my little bike light shining, and ringing the bell on my bike to tell the pedestrians to get out of the way.

3. Christmas. No city does Christmas like Berlin. Christmas markets, lights, food - its all perfect! Every year at the holidays I wish I was back in Berlin to experience Christmas there.

4. Having two of my closest friends live in the same building. Michelle, Karisti and I all lived at Markelstrasse 10, along with 2 other JFKS teachers. We affectionately referred to it as the ATG (American Teacher Ghetto) and it was great to live so close. I was on the first floor of the apartment building, Karisti was on the second, and Michelle was on the third and it often felt like life in a college dorm - running back and forth in our pajamas, watching Sex and the City and eating pizza every Tuesday night, and meeting each other in the morning to take the train to school.

5. Walking from the s-bahn to school and from the s-bahn to my apartment. Yes, it was cold in the winter, but it forced me to actually get a little exercise every day.

6. All the vacations. It seemed like we were always on break from school, or at least always getting ready to go on break. We got both German and American holidays off and it was nice!

7. Eating Indian and Thai food every week. There was an Indian place near my apartment called Nirvana and I stopped there at least once a week to get take-out. It was such good food!

8. Beer gardens. Summer in Berlin is not complete without spending lots of time at a beer garden. Sitting outside in the beautiful weather, drinking beer - it doesn't get any better than that.

9. The independence I felt in the city. It is such a safe city and I loved feeling like I could go anywhere and do anything I wanted.

10. All the beauty that is Berlin - the Brandenburg Gate, the Teirgarten, the Reichstag, Unter den Linden, the Berliner Dome, Friederichstrasse - I could go on and on.

I spent every day of my two years in Berlin thinking how lucky I was to live there. I truly miss it every day and would go back tomorrow if I could.

Favorite Photo Friday, or Saturday

My childhood best friend Amanda and I, circa 1982 or so, sitting on Whale Rock at Wanakee.

I love this photo for many reasons: it brings back great childhood memories, it reminds me of how long my connection to Wanakee has been, and any pictures of Amanda and I as little kids just make me happy. Amanda and I were inseparable throughout our childhoods and essentially every memory I have of my life from age 5-15 involves her. In the time since then our friendship has had its ups and downs as we've grown and changed, but we've reconnected in the last few years and its really nice. I'm grateful for our shared childhood memories, but also thankful that we can accept each other as the women we've become now and have a friendship as adults.

10 Things

It was a crazy week and I've been having a hard time coming up with a "10 Things" list this week, so I thought I would just skip it. Then my friend Terie made a comment about missing the list this week, so I couldn't just not do it. So, for Terie, and the rest of you who enjoy the "10 Things" list, here is what I came up with for this week...

10 Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Be a book editor. I always thought this is a job I would be really good at, plus I would get to read books all day long. Sounds like a dream job to me!!

2. Knit well. Now that the weather is cold and dreary, all I want to do is curl up under a quilt, drink tea, and knit. However, I haven't knitted in years and I wasn't particularly good at it back then. I'm inspired to try again and would really like to try knitting myself a sweater. It might be a bit ambitious, but I want to make something I'll use and love.

3. Keep my mouth shut. I have a bad habit of saying things I shouldn't, or things I wish I could take back and think over a bit more before I say them. I have to be very, very careful about what I say these days - the new job is pretty intense and I feel like I am constantly under a microscope. Anything I say could be used against me and I need to be careful... not nice to think about, but it's true.

4. Be better about exercising. I know it would help with my stress level and just make me feel better in general, but I HATE to go to the gym. My fully packed gym bag has been sitting in my car for the past month, at least, and I look at it every day when I get in the car at the end of school, but I never manage to actually make it to the gym. I would rather do just about anything than go to the gym. Good thing I only paid $100 for the year for a membership - I'll be lucky if I go 10 times this year. I need to find some other type of exercise, because the gym just isn't going to happen and I need to stop feeling guilty about it. Maybe a yoga class... it would help with the stress too.

5. Work only 4 days a week. Wouldn't that be nice? I would happily have the school year extended if it meant that every weekend was 3 days long. Yes, 4 day weeks always seem busier, but I love having 3 days off - one day to recover from the week, one day to get ready for the next week, and a day in between to actually enjoy myself and do something fun.

6. Play the guitar. I love watching people play - they make it look so effortless. One of my favorite things at Wanakee is to watch and listen to Sue play the guitar and sing. I'd love to be able to play all the camp songs and actually play a portable instrument. Someday I'll take lessons...

7. Travel more often. My passport is gathering dust and it makes me very sad. I haven't been anywhere that requires a passport since I returned from Peru a year and a half ago (!!!!!!) and I'm itching to go somewhere, anywhere.

8. Cook and bake. I don't have a single domestic bone in my body (with the exception of my newfound love of crafting - who knows where that came from!) and I'm okay with that, but more and more lately I've been wishing I knew how to cook and bake. My issue is I have no patience for it and I don't really find the process of cooking and baking particularly enjoyable. But I love the outcome and always appreciate homecooked meals. As the weather has gotten colder, I feel a stronger pull to actually cook. We'll see if it really happens...

9. Be a great letter writer like my mom. My mom is amazing about sending cards and letters to friends and family, as well as people in her church. She is very thoughtful and enjoys sitting at her desk writing to people. I love getting cards from her and I know other people appreciate it too. I think email and Facebook have made me pretty lazy when it comes to writing letters, but I'd love to get in the habit of it and be more like Mom. Nothing is better than opening the mailbox and finding an actual letter in the midst of all the bills and other random stuff.

10. Be a better photographer. I love looking at things and I often see things I would love to capture in a picture, but when I take the actual photo, it doesn't turn out how I want. I've never taken a photography class, but I think it would be really interesting. I've always just had a point-and-shoot camera, so I don't really have very many options, but I love well-taken photographs and would rather look at photos in a museum than paintings.

Favorite Photo Friday

I love this picture of my great friends from Berlin - Rosemary, Karen and Karisti. And I love that our friendships have lasted through the years since we left Berlin. Karen is coming up to visit me this weekend and I'm really looking forward to seeing her.

Apple Picking

I went apple picking with Stacey, Fred, and the girls this afternoon and had a wonderful time! Stacey found this great orchard in Brentwood that is organic and has trees that are nearly 80 years old. The apples don't look as nice as the ones at other orchards, since they don't do any spraying, but they taste amazing!! We picked a bunch of Cortlands and I'm looking forward to eating them all week.

It was so nice to spend time with one of my favorite families. Christel is adorable and hilarious and I just love being with her. She thought the apples today were the best she has ever tasted and raved about them the whole time we were there. Faith turns 1 tomorrow and is a beautiful, happy baby. She was loving the apples too!

It was a perfect afternoon!

Favorite Phot Friday, Part II

Marc and I are visiting our Mimi and Papa this afternoon and we haven't seen them in ages, so I thought a little photo tribute to them was called for. Mimi and Papa are my mom's parents and they are just about the cutest grandparents ever. Marc and I have been very lucky to have them incredibly involved in our lives and they are just wonderful. I hate to see them getting older (this picture was taken almost 10 years ago - they are in their early 80s now), but I'm very thankful for the time I have to spend with them. And I was impressed that Marc was the one who called me a few weeks ago and said we should go visit them. It will be great to see them this afternoon - a perfect way to spend a day off from school!

Favorite Photo Friday

I've been missing Berlin a lot lately, so this seemed like an appropriate photo for this week. It is an amazing city and I was so lucky to live there. I'd do anything to be able to live there again. Hopefully someday...

10 Things

I had to proctor junior testing today and I had some time to kill, so I'm not waiting until Thursday to post my "10 Things". Enjoy the list!

10 Things That I'm Doing On My Long Weekend

We have Friday and Monday off this weekend, so here's what I have planned, or am at least hoping to do:

1. Sleep in! I've been waking up at 5:30 and instantly starting to stress about school, so hopefully a few days off will give my brain a chance to rest.

2. See my grandparents - Marc and I are going to visit Mimi and Papa on Friday afternoon.

3. Hang out with Harry, Marc's dog.

4. Take my marching band to the Salem Band Show - we've been preparing for this all season and I'm really hoping they will pull off a good performance.

5. Go apple picking with Stacey, Fred, Christel, and Faith. I haven't been apple picking yet this season and it was easy to convince Stacey that Christel needed to go apple picking with her godmother.

6. Watch Grey's Anatomy - I got the first 2 seasons on DVD and it is fun to watch them again and be reminded of watching them for the first time with Reada in Lima. We used to get together every Thursday night and eat pizza and watch episodes of Grey's that Ben had downloaded for us. Good times!

7. Work on my mom's quilt. I started it months ago and it still isn't done. I've made lots of other quilts since then, but this one is still sitting there in pieces. It is queen-sized and I think I am daunted by the size of it and how much it is going to take to put it all together. But I'm determined to get it done by Christmas so it is time to get a move on.

8. Make something in the crockpot. I'm not sure what, but I love my new crockpot and rice cooker and it is nice to have food for the week.

9. Clean my apartment - I've been practically living at school lately so it could use some attention.

10. Sleep! Did I mention that one already?? :)

Favorite Photo Friday

My first trip to Machu Picchu in September 2006. It is hard to believe it was 3 years ago - sometimes it feels like yesterday, other times it seems like a lifetime ago.

10 Things

10 Things I'm Going To Do In The Next Week

1. Send a card to Reada and Dave to congratulate them on the news that they are having a baby in March.

2. Book a hotel in Quebec for Christmas for me, Mom, and Marc - we've decided to go away for the holidays and we all have passports, so Canada here we come!!

3. Have a marching band rehearsal on Saturday afternoon, and hope that it stops raining long enough for us to be outside.

4. Finish a quilt I've been working on - it is a surprise gift and it is beautiful!

5. Maybe go see the Indigo Girls in Concord on Sunday night, if I can find someone to go with me. Anyone interested?

6. Have a Wanakee program meeting - it will be nice to see the girls and talk about camp, especially on a day when the weather doesn't feel very camp-like.

7. Talk to my mom on the phone - it has been a crazy busy week and I haven't had a chance to call her.

8. Choose concert band music for my band - we're hitting the halfway mark of marching season, so it is time to think about the transition to concert band. I love picking concert band music. Ah, the possibilities!!!

9. Look at plane tickets for Berlin/London this summer.

10. Answer some of the emails piled up in my inbox.

Favorite Photo Friday

I love this photo of Marc and me. I'm definitely lucky to have such a great little brother. A good friend of Marc's died this week and I was with my brother, and my mom, for the funeral. It was sad to see my brother hurting so much, but it was also amazing to see what a support Marc was for Rick's family. When it comes down to it, Marc is always there when we need him and he is just a good boy.

10 Things

10 Things I Can't Get Enough Of Right Now:

1. Heather Ross fabric - she makes the cute VW bus fabric I blogged about, as well as tons of other irresistible fabrics

2. Garlic bread - I could eat it every day

3. Reading - I'm really into the books I'm reading and would like to spend all day, every day just reading

4. Sunshine and cool fall breezes

5. Searching etsy and ebay for the Heather Ross fabric mentioned above, and the joy of it arriving in the mail

6. Burts Bees pomegranate oil lip balm

7. Days off from school - if only they came more often

8. York peppermint patties

9. my Birkenstock clogs - the perfect fall footwear

10. Sam Adams Oktoberfest

Late Summer Fun

This past Sunday was one of the best days I've had this summer (my summer was a little crazy, so I'm extending it to include this great day - plus the weather was amazing). Sean and Victoria and I spent the day at Salisbury Beach and it was perfect. I haven't been to Salisbury Beach in forever and it was nice to be there when it isn't so busy. It really feels like you are stepping back in time there. We had Tripoli pizza for lunch, then lounged on the beach for a few hours.

Brooke came to the beach with us and she enjoyed getting sand on the blanket and shaking water and sand all over us. As Sean and Victoria say, Brooke really thinks she is a human, so she needs to be in on everything that is going on around her. Here she is enjoying the beach views.

After a couple of hours on the beach (I got my last sun tan/burn of the season) we continued our day of fun with ice cream at Hodgies, a round of mini-golf, and dinner at a yummy restaurant in Andover. It was truly a perfect day - one last summer hurrah.

Makes Me Smile

I keep hoping I'm going to be able to stay on top of all these blog posts I want to write, but it just isn't happening. Ten Things Thursday is a wonderful idea, but lately my weeks have been insanely busy and stressful and by the time Thursday comes around I'm hard pressed to come up with a list of two things that make me smile, let alone ten. So I'm going to continue to be sporadic in my postings and assume that all of you, dear readers, will be okay with that.

I luckily did have two things that really made me smile this week that I want to share with you. The first is this lovely guy:

We have monthly faculty meetings at school and at each meeting the Apple Awards are given out. These are given by one faculty member to another in recognition of something great they did or something they should be acknowledged for. There are three Apple Awards, of various designs, but this guy is the coolest. And I got him this month!! I was the first new faculty member to receive an Apple Award and, as all the teachers have been telling me, it is quite an honor and a big deal. It was given to me by our sound and technology teacher, who is hilarious and who has been so great to me since I arrived. I'm a disaster when it comes to technology and sound equipment, so he's been helping me figure out what I need for a new sound system in my room and all of that stuff. When he presented me the award, he said the apple represents the music department and the guy is me holding it all up. I am very proudly displaying the Apple Award on my desk for the month, and am already thinking about who I'll pass it on to next month.



The other thing that made me smile, and which I unfortunately don't have a picture of, was the faculty golf tournament on Thursday. I hate golfing and had no intention of going to the tournament, but my friend Michelle (who is the colorguard instructor and is the person I know best at school so far) was golfing and she convinced me and Joy, one of the math teachers who is good friends with Michelle, to come and cheer her on. I had chatted with Joy a few times but didn't know her well so it seemed like a good opportunity to hang out with her, and be at a school social event. Joy and I decided that we would drive a golf cart and drink beer for the afternoon, which is exactly what we did. We zoomed around the course, visiting all the faculty teams (only nine people played) and delivering them beers and snacks, and generally being silly. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time and it was a much needed release after the last few stressful, intense weeks of school. Everyone who was golfing, including my principal, apparently found us quite amusing and insisted that we have to come back to drive the cart when everyone golfs again in the spring. Joy and I are already looking forward to it, though we have been told that we need to learn some golf cart etiquette first - something about driving down the middle of the fairway while people were trying to tee off...

I've Been Tagged

I just added this post on my craft blog, Crafty Camper, but I thought I would put it up here as well.

My friend Amanda over at Sevin Stitches recently tagged me to tell you six random things about myself that I haven't shared on this blog. Between my two blogs I've share quite a lot of information about myself, but I've been thinking about this post for a few days, racking my brain for new tidbits, and this is what I came up with:

1. I don't like cooked fruit - no apples, or blueberries, or cherries, or anything. I can handle cooked strawberries, but that is it. This hatred of cooked fruit means I don't like apple pie, apple crisp, apple fritters or anything else involving cooked apples that everyone else in the world seems to love so much. The words "un-American" often come up when I mention how much I dislike apple pie - it is a label I'm prepared to bear.

2. I could watch "The West Wing" on DVD over and over, and over and over again. It is my favorite show and no matter how often I watch it, it never gets old. I just finished watching the entire series (7 seasons) for what might the billionth time and I'm considering starting to watch it all over again fairly soon. I think the show is incredibly smart and witty, plus if I could combine Sam Seaborn and Josh Lyman, I'd have my dream guy.

3. Speaking of "The West Wing", I think part of why I love it is so much is that it appeals to the part of me that was a political science major my first year in college. Yep, at 17 years old I had aspirations of becoming a politician. I still find politics and public policy interesting (though I do think it is more a love of history than politics, and probably always has been), but halfway through my freshman year of college I realized it just wasn't the right track for me. By that time, I was hanging out with all the music kids at Holy Cross and taking more music classes than political science classes, so I knew it was time to make the change. My mom tells me that she had known all along that I would eventually go into music education - it was just a matter of me figuring it out on my own.

4. I can read the same book multiple times and not be bored with it. I know a lot of people who can't go back to a book and read it again months or years after they have first read it. I'm not like that at all. One of the best things about moving into my new apartment was that I had the space for all my books that had been living in Sarah and Reg's garage for the past 5 years. I loved unpacking them - it was like being reunited with old friends. I think part of the reason why I can return to a book again and again is that I read really quickly and once I've finished the book, it is kind of out of my head. I can't tell you all the details of the plot and recount the book once I've finished reading it - I remember the general ideas and whether I liked it or not. This means that I can come back to it months or years later and it is fresh again. I guess the good thing about this is that it saves me money on always buying new books!

5. I have no desire to own my own house anytime soon, which is very unlike pretty much everyone else I know. I like living in apartments, especially now that I have a big one, and not having to worry about all the details and hassles of home ownership. My biggest dream is to buy a house on Georges Pond, Maine, where I spent summers growing up, and have it as a summer home to retreat to at the end of the school year. I'd be completely fine with owning a summer house, but I have no desire to own a year round home. I think my ideal life would be an apartment in Berlin for the winter and a house on Georges Pond for the summer. Sounds pretty nice, don't you think?

I hope you enjoyed my random facts! Now I get to tag some blogs to do their own lists. Play along if you'd like - I'd love to see what your facts are!

1. Julie over at Los Lemleys. Julie and John taught with me in Peru and are now living, teaching, and raising their son in Japan. I love reading Julie's blog and keeping up with their lives.

2. Cindy at Just Alaska. She is a former student of mine from Manchester who has a beautifully written blog sharing her life as a newlywed, lower 48 transplant now living in Juneau, Alaska.

3. Amy at Making The World A More Creative Place. Amy and I went to high school together and she keeps a blog about her life in Florida and all of her exciting travel adventures with her husband.

Favorite Photo Friday

My mom came up to Wanakee a couple of times this summer and she and Eloise became buddies (I think it helped that Mom brought M&Ms every time she came). Eloise is a sweetheart and it did my mom's heart good every time Eloise was happy to see her or asked for her. Here they are reading books in front of the farmhouse.

Guest Room

I bought a mattress and box spring for my guest bedroom and finally got it all set up. Sarah came over this morning to help me get the mattress and box spring upstairs and get the bed all set up.

It was nice to finally get the room cleaned up and put in order. It has basically been a storage room since I moved in and it was good to get things put away.

My friend Karen is coming to visit in a couple of weeks, so now she'll have a nice place to stay. Everyone else is welcome too - I love having visitors! It is a nice cozy room now. :)

Favorite Photo Friday

I'm jumping on the bandwagon of posting a favorite photo on blog on Fridays. It has a couple of purposes - its a chance for me to look through all my old photos and enjoy the memories, and it will hopefully help me be more consistent about posting on my blog. A quick post every Friday with a fun photo seems like it should be easy enough to keep up. We'll see... :)

I've been missing Berlin a lot lately (okay, I'll be honest, I miss it a lot all the time) and this picture has lots of my favorite things in it:
1. Karisti and Michelle
2. The Brandenburg Gate
3. World Cup fans - I'm not a huge soccer fan, but the World Cup happened around my 30th birthday and Karisti and Michelle came to Berlin to celebrate with me. It was one of my most favorite times in the city.

Good times!

5 Things

I've been a bit behind on my Thursday posts of 10 things that make me smile and the last few have been incredibly busy, so all I can manage today is "Five Things Friday". Here are the things I'm loving right now:

1. This amazing Heather Ross VW bus fabric. It is very hard to find, but I snatched up a total of almost 2 yards on ebay. I still haven't decided what I'm going to make, but I love looking at it!!

2. Dinner last Saturday night with Sarah and Reg. I hadn't seen them in what felt like forever, so it was great to catch up.

3. My student who asked me to be his mentor for his senior project. He is in my jazz workshop class and he is a great kid. And his project is going to be a clothing drive for the homeless - how great is that?

4. New books! I treated myself to some new books the past few weeks and I'm very excited about them: Last Lion, Julie & Julia, Girls Like Us, and I See You Everywhere. I've been on a non-fiction kick lately, but am hoping to get back into novels too. And I've finally broken down and decided to read Twilight. We'll see...

5. Sewing. It is an incredibly good stress relief for me and I love all the things I've been creating lately. You can check out my sewing projects on my craft blog, Crafty Camper.

My Favorite Photo

I LOVE THIS PHOTO!!!! On the left is Donald Hall, former NH and US poet laureate and my favorite author, and on the right is Papa, my grandfather. This was taken at Old Home Day in Wilmot, though Mom and I aren't exactly sure what year it was taken. Papa and Donald Hall grew up together in Danbury and Donald Hall has talked about Papa, and my great grandparents, in his books. They have stayed friendly all these years and I love that I have a photo of the two of them together. Mom just sent it to me and it is now one of my most prized possessions.

My Summer

This picture pretty much sums up my summer in a nutshell. As most of you know, I spent my summer working in the office at Wanakee. And while it was hectic and full of drama at times, it also had it's moments of joy and fun. The staff was great and I enjoyed getting to know them. Besides Jean and Mike, and the cook Dave, I was the oldest person on staff, but the kids on staff did a good job of not making me feel too ancient. :)

This One Time At Band Camp...

Yes, I hear that quote every time I mention band camp to anyone. I'm sure every band director hears it pretty often around this time of year. I'm happy to report that I successfully survived a week of band camp at Bow. I was pretty nervous before it started - it's been 5 years since I last taught marching band and even then I was one of two people teaching it and Mike had all kinds of marching band experience, so I was really just along for the ride. This is the first time I've ever had to teach it myself. Luckily it came back to me pretty quickly and everything went great. The kids are fun and they worked hard this week - we actually learned to march and play all four of the tunes for the show this week. That never happens and I didn't think it was going to here either, but the kids stepped it up the last two days. And it helps that we're doing a Billy Joel show and the kids like the music. It looks like our marching band season is off to a good start!

Ted Kennedy

“It's better to send in the Peace Corps than the Marine Corps.” -Ted Kennedy

My fascination/love of all things Kennedy dates back to middle school. I don't really know what prompted it, but I remember collecting magazines and reading books about them and just being incredibly interested in their lives and the mystique surrounding them. I found the image of Camelot inspiring and remember saying I wish I had been born decades earlier so I could have voted for JFK.

While the coverage of Ted Kennedy's death has been a bit overwhelming, I've also found myself in tears as I've watched footage of the procession through the streets of Boston and the pictures of the Kennedy family, and the rest of Massachusetts, gathering at the Kennedy library. And then there is this obituary in the New York Times. What can I say, I'm a sucker for this stuff.

10 Things

My friend Amanda did a list on her blog today entitled "10 Things Thursday" which listed 10 things that made her smile this week. Since I've been horribly lax in posting to my blog lately, and it is always good to be reminded of the great things in my life, I thought I would present to you a list of 10 things I love right now.

10 Things I Love Right Now
1. the excitement, and nervousness, of starting marching band camp tomorrow
2. the new AC I bought and installed in my bedroom - I finally slept well last night and wasn't melting
3. the piles of beautiful fabric I have lying around my apartment just waiting to be sewn into great things
4. living in Concord and feeling truly settled for the first time since I got back from Peru
5. my new students who keeping stopping by my office at school just to introduce themselves and say hi - I think they are very curious about me and are just too cute about it
6. knowing that my mom is at Georges Pond right now - I wish I could be there too, but it is nice to know she is there and enjoying a place we all love so much
7. all the times I got to hang out with Sean and Victoria this summer - it has been great to reconnect with them
8. my goddaughter Christel and her little sister Faith (and their parents Stacey and Fred) who I got to see on Tuesday - I hadn't seen them in months and it was so much fun to spend time with them at the Hedding pool
9. my sunburn that is turning into a tan - the sunburn wasn't fun at first, but it is nice to finally have a tan after being inside the office at camp all summer
10. spending time with Mom at Hedding at the beginning of the week - I was there for 24 hours and it finally felt like I was on vacation for the first time all summer - Mom and I shopped in Exeter, had dinner at Zampas, walked at Hedding, and sat on the porch and read - it was wonderful!

The Girls

Karisti posted this great picture of the three of us on her Facebook page and I couldn't resist stealing it for the blog. It was taken on the Sunday morning of our weekend in DC when we were at the family brunch. Good times + good friends = a sweet life.

Harry

When Marc and Megan broke up, she took Ralph with her which means Marc has been without a dog for a few months. He was a bit lost so he quickly decided to get a new dog. It took a little while for Harry to arrive, but he was well worth the wait.

I met Harry for the first time today and I am already in love. He is a super sweet dog - and he is a little peanut! Marc was told that Harry is 2 years old, but it doesn't seem possible. He has such a puppy brain and still trips over his own feet. Here is "Grammie", taking Harry for a walk around the yard.

Harry was rescued from a kill shelter in Ohio - can you imagine someone wanting to get rid of this adorable face? He is a love muffin and I'm so happy to have a great dog in the family again.

The Hedding Fair

Today was the annual street fair at Hedding. I've been so busy this summer that I haven't had a chance to get over to Hedding at all, but Marc, Mom and I had lunch plans so it gave me a good excuse to check out the fair. It was nice to see people I haven't seen since last summer and it was a beautiful day at Hedding. The fair is a big deal for everyone at Hedding and it is always fun to wander around and see what they are selling. I did very well and only bought a new Hedding t-shirt (for a whopping $5) and some homemade dog biscuits for Harry.

Concord Apartment

I finally had a minute to take some pictures of my new apartment. I'm settling in well and I really love it.

Footnotes Part II

I was really excited that my friend Nathan was one of my volunteers for Footnotes. Nathan and I were Wanakee campers when we were little kids and we have both loved Wanakee for all the years since. He did an amazing job as a counselor for the high school Footnotes site and every time I saw him, he seemed to be having an incredible amount of fun. His wife Jennifer and daughter Evelyn came to visit camp on Friday night and had dinner with us. Evelyn enjoyed pizza and ice cream night in the dining hall. Here Nathan and I are wearing our napkins as bibs to help convince Evelyn to keep hers on and protect her cute dress from Peru that I sent her.

This is possibly one my most favorite pictures ever. Jennifer took it during the concert and it just cracks me up. Nathan and his co-counselor Erin were partners during the boy/girl dance and here they are showing off their fancy dance moves during the free section at the end. Becky choreographed an awesome dance and it included this great part that reminded me of the last scene of "Grease". I loved it!

Footnotes, Part I

Hands down, the best week of my year is always the week that I spend directing Footnotes at Wanakee. I can't even begin to tell you how excited, and terrified, I was when was Sue Rudolf told me that she wanted me to take over Footnotes, after she had done it for over 20 years. Sue and I talked about it this week - how she had prepped me to take over Footnotes for years and years without me even knowing it. I'm glad she had such great faith in me - I don't think I have that kind of faith in myself, but knowing Sue wanted me to take over Footnotes means the world to me. It is truly the best thing I do all year and makes me more happy than I can even express.

I was happy to see my two favorite co-counselors at week three check in. Rich was counseling for LITE for the week and Tom G-L was dropping his daughter Emily off of to be one of my Footnotes campers for the week. My first summer on staff (1996) Rich and I were counselors for Footnotes and it was amazing. Then the next year I got to be Tom's co-counselor for LIT. I loved my time with both of them and am always happy to see them and reminisce about our time together.

My fabulous bell director, Kerri-Lynn, always brings her kayaks to Footnotes. We got out on the water on Thursday afternoon and had a great time.

It has never rained on a Footnotes concert, in over 25 years of doing Footnotes. I'll be honest, after the year I had in 2007/2008 I was a little worried that it would torrential rain on the Saturday of the Footnotes concert, but if it didn't happen last summer, I was pretty confident that it wouldn't rain for us in subsequent summers. This year it poured on Friday night and rained through the night into Saturday morning. Luckily, the staff firmly believes that it is not suppose to rain on the Footnotes concert, so they are determined to make the concert happen. Here is Lisa, Kerri-Lynn, Jason, and Sean shop vac-ing and sweeping the volleyball court so the water is gone for our concert at 10am.

Washington DC, Part IV

On Saturday Karisti and I decided to check out the Newseum, the museum of news that everyone had been raving about. It was amazing! And the best part, which was a complete surprise to us, was that there is an exhibit of the Berlin Wall there. How fun is that, especially for us!! Yep, that is a real piece of the Berlin Wall you see there. We were so happy to see it. It sounds silly, but it was like seeing an old friend - it did my heart good. I know that sounds weird - the Wall is a symbol of a terrible time but it is also such a strong symbol of Berlin and I miss living in Berlin every day.

The view from the balcony of the Newseum is pretty amazing, as you can see. In addition to the Berlin Wall, there were really interesting exhibits on photos from Barack Obama's campaign, election, and inauguration, and a moving exhibit about 9/11. The next time you are in DC, I highly recommend the Newseum.

We spent Saturday night at Camden Yards, watching a game between the Orioles and the Nationals. There was a big group of us and we had a great time. I have a hard time paying attention at baseball games, but I enjoyed drinking beer and sitting outside in a ballpark on a warm summer night.

Washington DC Part III

Michelle and John had planned an amazing weekend, which included a party on a cruise as their "reception" on Friday night. The boat took us up and down the Potomac and it was beautiful. It was fun to meet all of Michelle's friends I had heard about over the years and to see everyone so happy and excited for John and Michelle.

I don't think I've ever seen a couple quite as happy as they are. Aren't they just too cute? I loved watching them interact all weekend and remember back to when we were all in Berlin and they had just gotten together. It is so great to see them at this point, happily married!

The Markelstrasse Girls, all dressed up at the party. We've decided that we've started a new tradition where we are going to get together each summer for a couple of days, somewhere fun, and just hang out together. Last summer the three of us were together in Chicago and Iowa, this summer DC, and next summer we are hoping for somewhere in Europe. I'm voting for future summers to include Vegas and New Orleans too.

Washington DC, Part II

I've decided that bike tours just might be my favorite way of seeing a city. Michelle, Karisti and I did a great bike tour in Chicago last summer, so I was really excited when a bike tour was part of the adventures for our weekend in DC. Here are the three of us with our cute blue flowered bikes and stylish (note my sarcasm here) bike helmets.

The bike tour took us all over the city, with lots of time spent on the Mall. Here are Michelle and John near the beginning of the tour, in front of the Smithsonian.

Look, it's the Capital! Our tour guide was great and gave us all kinds of interesting information about the buildings we were riding past.