long time no blog

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Work has been extra busy. I'm facing down a deadline on Thursday. So far, I think I'm winning, but the victory has involved long hours and a certain level of exhaustion. My part-time status at work has allowed me to recover in between my long days. It's also allowed me to mostly keep the household running during the week, minimizing the number of errands we need to complete over the weekends. Which is good, because weekends have been busy too.

Two weekends ago, we went to one of those infamous same-gender weddings. I know many same-gender couples who've married over the last year, and we've attended three of these weddings. It still amazes me to think that the union is legal, at least in our protected little state. It's a thrill, and I think it'll continue to be a thrill for a long time.

This wedding was between our friends Chris and Corey and was in the Arlington Street UU Church. The day itself was cold and rainy -- so much so that we saw two Japanese tourists nearly blown away on the streets of Boston while we were headed to the church. But inside, the church was warm and welcoming. The two grooms wore tuxedos, and the flowers were tasteful. Each groom walked down the aisle with their mom. Another friend performed the ceremony, and even though he'd gotten a one-day permit, he came across as if he'd been doing it for years. The Boston Gay Men's Chorus sent 25 members (the two grooms are also members) and they performed a couple of songs admirably, including one of my favorites, Everything Possible. The church wasn't packed, but there were lots of people there.

Afterwards, we went downstairs for a potluck appetizer buffet (yum -- this was the crowd to try that experiment in!) and an amazingly good cake (of course -- it was from Konditor Meister). And of course, lots of hugs and laughs.

We went home for a bit, then turned around and headed back to the city ("the city," of course, being Boston) for an evening contra dance in honor of the wedding. One of my two favorite callers led the dance, and the band was great.

The next day, we caught up with two friends for a mother's day brunch, hastily arranged the day before. We each made something tasty, had a great get-together, then dashed into Boston again for the last Boston Symphony Orchestra-sponsored chamber concert in our series. I'm so glad we've discovered these concerts; we've already signed up for next year's series.

And this weekend, we went to what was billed as an early music concert, featuring a tiny German orchestra playing Bach, Handel, and Geminiani. It was totally delicious. As usual, we ran into friends, so had a nice chat during intermission. (We're never sure which friends we'll see, so it's always a nice surprise).

Saturday was wonderful. We started the day "in town" at a Vegetarian Cambodian cooking class at the home of the founder of a local set of restaurants -- the Elephant Walk. It was a treat to be in the kitchen of a professional chef, and equally to hear her story. There were ten students, so we split up into three groups and with supervision cooked three amazing dishes. Then we all sat down and ate them. I'm hoping we can attend more of these classes; this one was just stellar.

After a brief trip home and a much-needed nap, we headed back to "the city" again, this time with friends to see the Boston Pops. The first part of the program was "light" classical -- the fun stuff that has been featured on cartoons and in popular culture ("kill the wabbit" and "hello mudda hello fadda"). There was a surprisingly non-schmaltzy Paul Simon medley and a very nice rendition of Birdland, and then Rockapella came on and did some numbers with their enormous backup band (kind of an oxymoron, don't you think?) and some "solo" numbers with just the five of them.

And Sunday, after a two-hour phone call with my mother (actually, we transacted a lot of family business, but I was glad to have a headset), we mowed the lawn. It's too bad that new grass isn't considered valuable -- this was the "first mowing," and the grass had become quite uncontrolled. Actually, I like all the flowers that pop up in the spring -- the violets and ajuga, and even the dandelions. But a neighbor came over and said "oh! we were concerned that something was wrong!" which is New England for "thank god -- you were starting to bring down the property values, but we like you too much to say that out loud."

Funny story -- I guess I'm not the only one who likes the dandelions. While I was on the phone with my mother, I saw two boys (around 12) ride up on their bikes, spy the dandelions, and leave the bikes on the lawn while they ran around and, with great joy, picked handfuls of the ones that had gone by. Then, standing in the middle of the front lawn, they each took a deep breath, blew, watched the seeds float down, laughed (still with joy, not with meanness), and hopped on their bikes and rode away. Made me smile.

These days, I'm not sure if I'm resting at work or on the weekends, or perhaps on my days off. Life is good.