30 June, 2011
the writing on the desk name plate says: Veronica Martzahl / Records Archivist / Awesome Mom
Veronica hit a birthday today. We won’t say what, but suffice it to say it is a number smaller than mine.
She got a new pocketbook, a gift card for Starbucks, a gift certificate to Porch and Wardrobe, the lovely clothes store downstairs, and, from Thomas, a nameplate for her desk.
4 June, 2011
Thomas at work at his desk
Erik, Veronica and Thomas (with missing teeth)
I have been struggling to keep my allergies in check long enough for short bursts at the computer, but have not yet even come close to finishing the Best Picture of 1987 post, so here are some pictures from yesterday.
Thomas’ class had a Literary Tea where all the parents came in and we looked at their portfolios from the year and they did a little presentation and then we had tea. It was a nice dress occasion, so Thomas was all snazzy. The picture on the left is him at his little desk before going to school and it looks like he’s ready for a job. On the right is all of us at the tea, and you can see how many teeth Thomas has lost (3 in the last two weeks – all in the front on the top).
Anyway, hopefully by tomorrow or Monday enough pollen will have subsided so that I am no longer so miserable.
24 April, 2011
Veronica and Thomas next to the famous Bronx Zoo cobra. It's actually really small.
Well, the reason for the big gap between the Year in Film and Best Picture for 1984 was that we went down to New York and Philadelphia on Thursday and Friday.
Bert, Veronica, Thomas and Ernie
All started out well on Thursday morning. We zipped down to the Bronx in 3 1/2 hours (including stopping for breakfast) and we got to the north corner of the Bronx Zoo (Fordham Rd and Southern) by 10:08, just after the zoo opened. All we had to do then was drive the four blocks down Southern and make a left into the zoo entrance.
It took 72 minutes. On the worst paved major road I have ever been on. Maybe next time instead of spending $150 million to run for a third term, Bloomberg should just spend his money on paving the damn road next to one of the biggest tourist attractions in the city. And put a cop at the intersection who won’t tell me “go down to the next light and make a left” when the next light is a one-way street running the wrong way.
Luckily, the rest of the trip was much better. The zoo was nice (it was sunny and nice, although windy). We saw a lot of things (although the Asia monorail didn’t open until the following Saturday) and Thomas had a nice time. In fact, Thomas did great at both locations on the trip and the drive (but he did have a hard time calming down at night in the hotel because he was so excited). (more…)
31 March, 2011
Thomas among the rocks at Purgatory Chasm
With a weekend visit from my dad and my total inability, it would seem, to get anything typed, there has been a big lag on the blog lately. We took a trip out to Purgatory Chasm while he was here, which is where the pictures are from. So, here is a bit of a family update to keep everything going while I try to finish my piece on the next book (Midnight’s Children), the next film year (1983) and the next For Love of Books (Disney). It would appear that we haven’t done a family update since Christmas so this is long overdue.
16 January, 2011
Due to a conversation I had with some other mothers of special needs kids, I have started a second blog for our household. It’s unlikely many of our regular readers will be very interested in the new blog, but I thought I would mention it. Its purpose is to aggregate resources for special needs kids and their families in Massachusetts, specifically the Arlington area. If anyone is interested, it is at http://massresources.wordpress.com/.
1 January, 2011
15 December, 2010
Not a good time for getting stuff written or being at work. After never in my life having missed more than 3 days in a row for being sick, I missed a week in October with bronchitis that bordered on pneumonia and now I have a vicious stomach flu which has caused me to miss all of this week so far and now has laid up Veronica and Thomas as well.
22 November, 2010
We will be seeing these people (V's mom and grandparents)
At best, I hope to get the Best Picture 1971 sometime in the next week, but that will be the only film / literature post in the next week. We are off to Wisconsin before the crack of dawn in order to be there before midnight. We’ll be back on Sunday. Hopefully.
and this person (V's sister), though she will probably not feed any giraffes while we are there.
and this person (V's dad)
10 November, 2010
Well, between being sick for over a week and a horrible reaction to the antibiotic and work and Veronica’s NEA conference (which went great), there is one other reason I haven’t been able to get a new post up yet:
2011 Civic Hybrid (with GPS) with three of the most wonderful words in the English language: "heated leather seats"
our new car
27 October, 2010
Don’t know when a new post will make it up. I have a nasty case of bronchitis that has laid me up since my birthday and Veronica and Thomas aren’t feeling so great themselves. The only reason I even got the last one up was because it was all ready to go and just had to be posted. We’ll see how the rest of this week plays out.
