Coincidence or Conspiracy?

Clearly there is no room for any one else, kitten or human.

Dorm Room

Last year Ernest was in a very old, small dorm.

This semester he is in a brand new tower on the 9th floor. There is a ballroom on the 16th floor. The 17th floor is a mystery. No one's allowed up there.

The dorm fish are doing fine. Ernest will probably get custody of both next semester, as his roommate has an out of town co-op. 

The mass of mail boxes is bigger than our small town post office. Some students haven't even checked their boxes yet. Through their mail boxes' windows, you can see the coupon books that were delivered when school started.

This dorm opened in January, and already the air hockey table (hidden behind the center column) is unusable. There's a big dent where someone got angry and slammed down a striker with great force.

Ernest says this furniture is just as comfortable as it looks. Which is to say NOT AT ALL.

Since his roommate will be gone on an out-of-town co-op next semester, Ernest and another friend are getting a dorm apartment across the street. It will have a kitchen! They are quite happy about that.

Ernest got his co-op arranged, too. Oh happy co-op semester! No tuition, a $20/hour job, and no cafeteria food. It's like being grown up. 

Changes

About a month ago, I left work at 3:00, ran all my errands including a large purchase at the pet supply store, and came home to find the answering machine blinking, the red light throbbing like a bad hangover. Yes, we still have a landline, No, we rarely get messages so I was taken aback to see so many. I proceeded to just push play and a series of voices played out a bad dream. Your cat, Tiny, was hit by a car. I'm so sorry, we just didn't see her. We turned around. It was quick. We don't think she suffered. We petted her. We put her in a safe spot. We came back after the wedding and brought her a box. Here's our number. I called back. What can you say? I thanked them for stopping and being kind.

Rest in Peace, our dear sweet Tiny. Who came into our lives unexpectedly and stole our hearts.

(One of her favorite spots: the placemats my M-I-L made for us. Tiny probably helped sew them.)

A week later, and Handy's already cat shopping. You will recall he has done this before. There are so many cats needing homes. But should I return the small cat sized Advantage I had just purchased? I decided to hold off...

He found several likely candidates, including a kitten. We were thinking it might be nice to have a kitten for a change. It's been 24 years since we had a kitten. We visited the kitten on the way to the airport, and brought him home the day after we got back. 

His name...the shelter gave him the name of a musician who lives in the area. I thought that while it was a nice name, we couldn't keep it. The musician is a book store customer. I can't talk about my cat X at work and then have the namesake walk in. And I was so right! Last week X came in the store when I was talking about the cat!

We bandied about a few names before we brought him home. He's gray. So I said Gandalf. Handy said Gary (gray misspelled). Ernest said Randi for Mithrandir. Frank liked that. I wondered how many other names Gandalf had?

When we got the kitten home we noticed he was quite a hunter. Hunter? There was a long line of cats named Hunter in my mother's family. Plus Hunter and Homer? So cute and alliterative. So Hunter it is.

Homer and Fifi are not too sure about the new addition. But they got used to Tiny, so they should get used to this one too.

Us humans? We think Hunter's just adorable.

Pictures or It Didn't Happen

I had to hunt Frank down at work for this.

He's Luigi. He says Luigi's the smart one.

I have no idea about those things.

He went to his girlfriend's to hand out candy.

The first trick or treater was his "brother," Mario.

His real brother finally came through with a picture a few days later.

I Got My Lobstah

We had so much great food in Boston, but what with all the walking I think I lost a couple pounds.

Since I had lobster rolls at both the beginning and end of the trip, I am happy.  

Had to start with some chowdah, 

Then the lobstah!

North end Italian food was a must. I had gnocchi with wild boar.

Must not forget the cannolis.

In Provincetown, we had whole lobsters.

Paninis here along the Freedom Trail.

French Cambodian.

The final lobster roll, from a food truck at Harvard.

Then there was what I didn't photograph. More seafood, Ethiopian, pizza, pho, shwarma, Not to mention a really good burger at LAX and a decent deli sandwich at SFO.

Ernest introduced us to his favorite breakfast sandwich at Chicken Lou's:

SEC's On The Border sausage, egg and pepper jack cheese with a hash brown patty, topped with our own chipotle ranch dressing. served on a bagel.

that's pronounced SEX by the way.

NaBloPoMaybe 2015

I remember back in the old days of blogging, national Blog Posting Month was a big thing. Now? I have no idea. But it is a useful exercise to break the writer's block. 

And I have some trip photos to share, interspersed with other things. 

See you tomorrow. 

Sometimes It's Like This

Signs of Fall, Boston Edition

Cold Oktoberfest beer. 

Cool temperatures. 

Dressed for fall.

Decorated, too. 

Colorful. 

Carpeted. 

What's this wet stuff called?

And why did the geese cross the road?

Back to the Future Day

October 21, 2015

Happy Back to the Future Day

Do we have hoverboards?



Power-lacing Nikes?



Jaws 19?

Two out of three isn't bad.

Meanwhile, enjoy some then and now some film locations.



Handy and I are on a road trip.

Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads.

Signs of Fall 2015

Just a couple of days before fall officially began, we had Talk Like a Pirate Day. This also coincided with our local weekend festival. As I did my volunteer duty in the Lego Tent, look what I found...

Talk Like a Pirate Day is also known as Frank's birthday. This year he requested pie. This is Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie. Homemade pudding, I'll have you know. Chocolate on the bottom, then bananas, then vanilla on the top. Yummy. 

It is still freaking hot here. This is my last electricity bill. I keep telling myself, "It's always hot here in September," but it seems even hotter than usual.

We are planning a trip to see Ernest next month.

Dreams do Come True

Tuesdays are the best, because that's when we shelve the new books!

Words

I discovered Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries on Netflix and now I've started reading the series of books. I love a book that stumps me with vocabulary words. So far I've had to look up:

Phryne /ˈfraɪnɪ/

noun

1.

real name Muesarete. 4th century b.c., Greek courtesan; lover of Praxiteles and 

model for Apelles' painting Aphrodite Rising from the Waves

epicene [ep-i-seen] 

adjective

1.

belonging to, or partaking of the characteristics of, both sexes:

Fashions in clothing are becoming increasingly epicene.

Reefer coat

parvenu/ˈpɑːvəˌnjuː/

noun

1.

a woman who, having risen socially or economically, is considered to be an 

upstart or to lack the appropriate refinement for her new position

orotund[awr-uh-tuhnd, ohr-] 

adjective

1.

(of the voice or speech) characterized by strength, fullness, richness, and 

clearness.

2.

(of a style of speaking) pompous or bombastic.

Recently, I was delighted to be able to use penultimate in normal conversation.

Have you come across any interesting words lately?

Dorm Pets

Ernest has completed his road trip and arrived back at school. He didn't send any pictures of his adventures, nor has anything appeared on Facebook.

It looks like he and his roommate will have some company.

One is Bane. The other is Thorin. (Thorin wants to autocorrect to authoring.) I don't know which fish is which. 

Milestones, Migrations, and Mitigation

Last week marked many milestones for my friends. Local parents sending their children to the first days of elementary and high school. College age peoples making their migration. This made me wistful for the days when school started after Labor Day.

Ernest decided to migrate himself. He and his roommate (a friend from Hogwarts) left Wednesday morning on the going-to-college road trip. I am slightly annoyed because Ernest would not let me give or make anything for the trip, while roommate's mother got to make 18 vacuum-packed dinners for them. OK, the other mother does own a restaurant. And maybe the roommate can't say no to her. (Although Ernest seems able to say no to me. But still.)

Packing the car the night before, it was not quite full. There was still room for the cooler full of food and a few more bags, to be picked up in the morning.

My annoyance was mitigated by one of the greatest compliments Ernest has ever given me. "Thank you for being so uncomplicated." This was in regards to the vacation planning and how flexible I am about him being or not being here for holidays. As long as we get a visit...sometime. Handy and I are hoping to take a trip east around the fall foilage foliage how the heck do you spell that time.

Here he has just promised me that I will get my traditional goodbye mom picture the next morning so I should stop taking pictures now. 

OK. I got it! There's a goodbye dad picture too.

And then Tiny had to get in on the action. She LOVES cars.

Ernest had said over the summer that he had a favorite cat. How dare he? I would NEVER EVER say out loud if I had a favorite cat or child or husband (easy on that score since I've only had the one) but STILL.... 

Said cat apparently HEARD him and tried to go along but alas, no room for litter box or food so she had to stay home.

She climbed a tree instead.

We were all grateful for the distraction as Ernest pulled out of the driveway.

On to Zion, Yellowstone, The Badlands, and then some cities on the way.

Saturday PhotoHunt ~Beard~

This was an easy subject!

For the rest of the Saturday PhotoHunt, click here.

Four Dozen

Ernest complained because I only made 2 dozen cookies and gave a dozen to his grandmother: "That's left us only 3 apiece!" So he took matters in hand and made 4 dozen, with no eating limits.

They don't last long.

Neither did his summer. He is leaving on the 19th. That is only a week away.