Water sculpture

Wednesday, October 26

8:17am
Good morning! 48 drizzling brrrr… have a wicked good Wednesday!

11:06 am
Did you see this Japanese water sculpture?  Wicked cool.  I don’t know what Zen is, but this might be close.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gusJeslMbLc



11:21am
Something about the autumn rain… has a peaceful beauty – falling leaves, gentle drizzle… makes me want to curl up in front of a fireplace with a handsome man and listen to him breathe as he sleeps. 

3:51pm
Finally quieter at work… writing another story.  About a baseball game.  And a man and a woman. 

11:12pm
Full of German food – wurst, schnitzel, bavarian stew and sorbets!  Yum.  Hope you had a good day.  Sleep well, sweet man. 

Healthy

Tuesday, October 25

2:12pm Phil
I’ve decided I pretty much just like pumpkin pie. No latte, bisque or other stuff.  Had a pumpkin martini the other day that was not bad though. Been the normal busy week so far but not bad.  Weather is starting to turn brisker.  Not too bad. Football game was slow last night but great baseball game.  Listening to Vic Damone, Doris Day, stuff from the late 40s- early fifties.  Nice for a change.  Kids are coming for Thanksgiving and I am so excited. Did not think we would see them till Christmas and this is fabulous. Hope your day is great!

8:16pm
Wow!  Both kids for turkey!  Great news!! 

8:24pm
Another oddly busy work day – senior staff sniping at each other and expecting me to referee.  Bleh.  Went out to the last farmers market, got a chair massage… amazing how calming that is!  Got lab results from physical – amazingly healthy!  Phew. Hubby is out tonite, made my own supper.  New plan to save money and calories. 

8:50pm
Hope you’re having a relaxing evening.   Feeling lonely… reading old messages.  You make me smile. 

Pumpkin food

Monday, October 24


8:09am
Good morning! Chilly 45 sun and I hope your week is off to a grand start! 

8:29am Phil
Cool crisp morning, hot coffee.  It’s good. My team won! Hosting some big wigs this week and then party Thursday, dinner with friends Friday. Halloween party Saturday, I think. Should be a fairly busy week.  Weather was amazing over the weekend.  Shorts all weekend. The pumpkin fest was fun!  Have a great week Sass!

4:30pm
Posted photos of my hair.  I’m at the “five months since chemo ended” point.  It’s wicked curly in the back.  Finally getting out of the “too wicked scary short she musta been sick” to the “could be a style choice” stage!  

10:13pm
Hiya, kid.  Had a crazy busy day at work… first time I looked up it was 2:30 pm and I had to pee wicked bad!    Big grocery run after work – got spiced pumpkin bisque and pumpkin mousse for supper – I may turn orange!  Hope you had a productive day and can relax with some football. 


Royal Proclamation

Sunday October 23, 2011

2:21 pm
Hiya kid.  Saw this joke about our relationship with the British… every single one made me giggle!  I wonder what that means?  It mentions beer and football!

To: the citizens of the United States of America
From: Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
In light of your failure in recent years to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.
(You should look up ‘revocation’ in the Oxford English Dictionary.)
Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy).
Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.
Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
1. The letter ‘U’ will be reinstated in words such as ‘colour,’ ‘favour,’ ‘labour’ and ‘neighbour.’ Likewise, you will learn to spell ‘doughnut’ without skipping half the letters, and the suffix ‘-ize’ will be replaced by the suffix ‘-ise.’ Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up ‘vocabulary’).
2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ”like’ and ‘you know’ is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter ‘u” and the elimination of ‘-ize.’
3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns or lawyers. The fact that you need so many lawyers shows that you’re not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can’t sort things out without suing someone, then you’re not ready to shoot grouse.
5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.
6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.
7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.
8. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.
9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable, as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth – see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat’s Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.
10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in “Four Weddings and a Funeral” was an experience akin to having one’s ears removed with a cheese grater.
11. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). 
12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside ofAmerica. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.
13. You must tell us who killed JFK. It’s been driving us mad.
14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty’s Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).
15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.
God Save the Queen!
PS: Only share this with friends who have a good sense of humour (NOT humor)!

Upstander

Saturday, October 22

10:12am

Good morning!

12:02pm Phil
Morning. Been to the gym and now heading to the kids Halloween party, party tonight and hopefully a stop at the Highwood pumpkin fest!

12:15pm
Heard a new phrase re: bullying.  Be an upstander – not a bystander.  Don’t stand by, stand up and say something.  Have you heard that?  Might be good tag line?

12:17pm
My sister took us out for a delicious Argentinian dinner last night at Tango.  Yummy pork chops!  

1:51pm

Mom heard about my trip to Singing Beach yesterday and decided she wanted to go!  So we had an adventure today with lunch in Manchester by the sea and then a drive around.  The restaurant looked fancy online but turned out to be a bar by the train station!  Not my mom’s sort of place, but the chowder was yummy!  

Classic clam chowder at Nicholas Seafood, Manchester by the sea



Lobster lunch

October 21, 2011 (continued)

2:45pm
Another amazing meal at Lobsta Land.  So wish you could have been with me!  

Super cheesy French onion soup

 Classic clam chowder

 Scallops satay

My lazy man lobster, rice pilaf, butternut squash, and Hubby’s Black Angus Beef teriyaki steak tips 




Singing Beach

Friday, October 21


8:44am
Good morning! 54 sun, mid 60s.  Yay!  I’m off work.  Yay!  Hope your Friday rolls!

9:57am Phil
Enjoy the day. Have a dinner party this evening to bid farewell to one of our neighbors.  Ready to strangle my assistant and it’s only 9:00.  Woman drives me up a tree. Have a great day!

5:03pm
Amazing beach day!  Found a new beach!  Lobster!  Off to see Hubby’s latest project.  WEEKEND!  Have a great one, kid. 
Manchester by the sea inner harbor

The harbor in Manchester by the sea

Singing Beach, Manchester by the sea

Singing Beach

 Magnolia

Boston 30 miles away

A bizarre house under construction in Magnolia

 The Gloucester Fisherman’s Memorial

The Gloucester Fisherman

Gloucester Harbor

Tablets with hundreds of names (over 3,500) of fishermen lost at sea

Weighty matters


Year 2 Week 10
Thursday, October 20, 2011

11:02am
Good morning!  55 rain.  Yesterday got weirder… a fire in our building! So we couldn’t get back w/ our supplies.  I begged the A/V guys to let me store stuff in their office.  But no one at the reception had a clue.  Boss said he thought it was the smoothest one ever.  Hee!  

My annual physical is this afternoon, hope I’ve bounced back!!  Feeling fabulous!  Have a great Thursday!

11:50am
Hiya, kid.  Love the new profile photo!  It’s been on my desktop since July, makes me smile.  Figures you’d pick my fave.  I made a cropped version w/ just you -if you’d like that better I can email it later.  You said very sexy sweet things to me that night… probably don’t remember – you were TIPSY! 

12:22pm Phil
Just needed a change and had a blast that evening. That photo was at Jimmy’s Charhouse after rounds of lamb chops, liver and onions and ouzo.

12:27pm
Mmm… makes me want Greek food!  

2:28pm Phil
Jimmy’s is amazing! I am trying to moderate how much of that stuff I eat though.  Down ten pounds with a goal of 40 more. Amazing what you can do when you pay attention.  We do a lot of 5 and 10k races here and my knees have not allowed me to participate.  Dr feels if I was that much lighter, I will be able to run so I’m on it. At about 210, I am very lean and lanky and I like that look better so here we go. Been grilling salmon and tuna and chicken and completely cut out carbs and sugars except for what goes into wine and scotch of course. I know I can drop 20 just by being focused but the rest will be a challenge. Be nice to wear those 34 inch waist pants again. Hoo Ya!
3:16pm
I love you no matter what you weigh, but if you have this goal, I’ll want to help however I can!  What can I do to help?  My best success comes with making it a numbers game. I can eat 1,200-1,500 cal per day to lose weight, and plan out what adds to that.  200 breakfast, 300-400 lunch and stay under 1k for supper, and know regular stuff that adds to that.  And drink lots of water.  If you were here, I’d have some special exercise suggestions. 😉

4:35p Phil
LOL.  I feel better lighter. At 210, I’m not much bigger than I was in high school and I can do so much more. More endurance, more agile, and it’s better for me. Problem is I’m already a ball of energy and it gets worse. I turn into the energizer bunny and drive everyone nuts cause I just never wind down.  I like it. I maintain a fairly tight diet and schedule. Lots of fruit and vegetables, limited carbs and fat and the weight just falls off.



Pep talk

Wednesday, October 19

8:03am
Good morning!  57 rain.  Argh.  Off to get cheese/crackers for a reception.  Rain makes the entire day tougher.  Bleh.  Whine!  Hope your day stays quiet.

8:09am
You wooda had fun w/us last night – fresh salad, yum pizza, great beers, bowling and interesting people raising money for a good cause.  And me!  Felt like your sort of night.  Missed you more than usual.  But it set off great scenarios!

8:12am Phil
Morning! Looks to be a nice quiet day. Spent time last night talking to a very good friend who is new here and is struggling with the whole fishbowl thing. Told him it comes with the job. You just have to try to make the right decision for the right reason and err on the side of the subordinates. Everyone is always going to second guess every decision and they will watch what you do and say.  The hours are long but at the end of the day, it’s all worth it. This is an incredibly rewarding job on a personal level if you do it right. You put your all into it and you have the chance to improve things and people. I know I make an impact every single day and I carry the fact that my decisions may sometimes change the course of people’s lives in good or bad ways. It ain’t always easy but you signed up for the job, now you have to suck it up and quit feeling sorry for your self. Hope I was able to help a little. Have a great day, enjoy the cheese and crackers!

2:40pm
Ah, the fishbowl.  Been there, done that.  You are such a great military man.  And good man.  And a good friend.  I am so proud to know you!  



2:46pm
Been a wild morning… pouring rain to roll all our supplies to the hall, assistant called out sick (I’m suspicious), lost the check meant to pay for pastries, fridges at the site locked, threats of protest due to some attendees decision!  I’m pulling in reinforcements… hoping the rest will go smoothly.  Yeehaw!

7:53pm
Hey, they just dedicated this game of the world series to the military!  That’s you! 

Sexy search


Tuesday, October 18, 2011


11:16am
Good morning!  60, cloudy but bright.  At home, doing chores and prep for big project fundraiser tonight.  Restaurant gives us money for every pizza they sell today.  Whee.  Hope you’re having a smooth Tuesday.

1:12pm Phil
Hey! It’s a “my team won” Tuesday! Started with bible study and been an active but good day since then. PT in a couple hours and I’m looking forward to that.  Trying to hit it harder working on strength and conditioning. Crisp, cool air.  Fall has sprung for sure! Have fun tonight.

2:02pm
Ah, I love this time of year.  Crisp days, bright sun, and you all giddy over football.  What was today’s scripture? 

7:18pm Phil
Working through the old testament [named the verses]

11:21pm
Hey, kid.  Hope you had a good evening.  We had a blast at the pizza place! 

I just did a fun thing… went to the page with our messages to each other, typed the word lick into the Search this conversation box.  Wow.  You put that word to good use. Sweet dreams.