holidays#3: Christmas Day

We made our annual pilgrimage to Sandy and Mary's house and the beach on Plum Island. The dinner theme this year was Indian and Sandy prepared a feast of chicken tandoori, curried chickpeas and raita. The desserts were English trifle and a chocolate tart with a gingerbread crust.

holidays #2: Hannukah

Cookies, candles, lights . . . very simple this year.

holidays #1

Champagne, many candles, cookies and much warmth at Susan's on this snowy Sunday.

Silver Lining

My job at the medical school ended and a position at the business school I was excited about fell through which left me with no work this work. At lst I wasn't too happy about it all but here's what I would have missed had I been working all week:

1) A time on Monday sitting with my three children, as we all discussed an essay for one of Alex's college applications (to the same school Samantha attends). The subject was "what makes a good student?".
2) Making several dinners the kids enjoyed, all cooked before 5 pm;
3) Going to hear Cora's class read their African narratives in the middle of the day;
4) Lounging at the Charles Hotel Wednesday morning;
5) Attending Cora's vocal performance this morning where I overheard one teacher say it was the best they had heard in 20 years;
6) Visiting the classroom I worked in last year where every single child I knew gave me great big bear hugs and wouldn't let me go (how often does that happen in life?!);
7) Browsing at Whole Foods and walking home through Fresh Pond where I took these photos.

So -- I'm grateful for this week, after all. Happy Holidays everyone!

The Year in Pictures

A selection of drawings I made in the last year. I'm realizing I like the simple line drawings best, with a minimal amount of shading/darkness. I also love pastels of nature scenes and am curious to explore monotypes (thanks, Louisa!) -- those two mediums can be for next year.

Stacked

My freshly organized and edited bookshelf, organized by subject: poetry books from the late 70's, a couple of books on how to write, fiction I haven't read, (lots of )art and nature books to use for drawing and books on what I thought of as 'how to be happy', inspirational books with a Buddhist slant. The other stacked arrangement shows pears and pineapple and leftover Thanksgiving pies in the pantry.

morning walk, red sky

The sky was a rare red the other morning as I was walking Dusty. Other images include our neighbor's potato chip bag that hold clothespins and some leftover Halloween pumpkins.

nail salon

Sunday afternoon stroll to the local nail salon. I love the colored bottles, standing all in a row.

leaf carpet

Leaves covering the ground look like abstract paintings...

Arrangements

I helped organize 2 events this week and brought home flowers from each. The blue arrangement is from Nellie's Wildflowers in Somerville and the orange is from Madison Floral, also in Somerville, but doesn't have a storefront so you can just go in a buy a bouquet. The rocks are a combination of Asia's collection she left behind when she moved to Florida and our own.

Indoor Color

As the outdoor summer color fades I turn to the color of walls, clothes and artwork. Here are some of the shades currently gracing the walls.

Happy Fall

Happy Halloween, too.

yesterday

Starting with my trip over the railroad tracks where fall's New England favorite, asters, are in full bloom to Harvard Medical School where I've been working, to dinner with Larry: here was my day in pictures.