My Mom and Brother Came to Visit

My mom and brother came out for the second time, again over Veteran's Day. My brother arrived a few hours earlier than my mom and needed a nap; the red eye is always hard.I think this was the first time Josh had lobster this way. Just the tail doesn't count. My poor mom was totally grossed out.
The Muddy River park is near my apartment.

Many of the leaves had fallen, but we still had some great color. There was an amazing orange tree behind this amazing yellow one.




It was warmer than last year at this time.
Downtown Crossing
Billy started watching me knit, then fell asleep. Napping is contagious.
Boston Common at the swan boat pond.
Greg took my mom and me to Connecticut. (I can't wait until he gets his hair cut. The end of November marks one year of growing it out, and a haircut is in the works.)



My brother stayed longer than my mom to see an old friend, and ended up getting sick. We spent the last couple days watching movies and lounging around in my apartment while Josh guzzled cold medicine. I washed everything after he left, but I can feel my body fighting off what I assume is the same cold. I'm currently drinking chicken noodle soup that I've made slightly ridiculously spicy. Still and all, it was a wonderful week, and it will tide me over until I get home for Christmas.

More Lovely Leaves

View from a window at work.

My uncle Mark was in town from Seattle on business and we met up for breakfast. It was great seeing him.
Some of the trees are completely bare, while others still have their leaves.
Sugar Maple trees (below) are where maple syrup comes from. They are known for being one of the showier trees in autumn.

There were leftover pumpkins from pumpkin carving at work. They happened to be sugar pumpkins - the best for making pumpkin pie. It took longer than making a pie from pumpkin-in-a-can, but the results were delicious, and it was fun.Ta da!
Almost a year ago, Greg decided to grow out the hair that he had been shaving for about a decade. It grew in curly - funny, it wasn't curly before he started shaving it. Greg wanted to grow his hair until he ran the Boston Marathon in April. But then since 6 months had passed, he decided to grow it out for a whole year. Our Halloween costumes were inspired by his crazy locks. He's Doc Brown and I'm a Flux Capacitor - from Back to the Future. Our friends dressed up as Nick (from the Girls' Costume Warehouse), And Frog. (It's a youtube commercial spoof.)
Geese and ducks, living together.

Swans


Another view from work. The spires in the background are the church where Ted Kennedy's service took place.

Autumn Colors

Sorry for the absence; I've had computer problems. Here are some autumn leaves.

I like these apartment buildings.

I raked part of my friend's yard, for the Complete New England Experience. I wore gloves but still got a blister.
Huge worms were under the leaves.
The second annual pumpkin carving at work.
On October 18, 2009, it snowed! It broke records for the earliest snow. It hasn't snowed since, but I can't wait until it does again.

From Newly Knitted Hats to Dear Deer

I knitted a hat as my first knitting project, during the course of a three-week class. Another woman in class had the same yarn, but I knit more tightly, so I got a pattern, called flashing, and she just got random color changes and was envious.

Ornamental lettuce is planted for color during winter.

Fog in Greg's parents' back yard in Connecticut.
Reflection in a puddle/pond in a park.

Black squirrels were introduced to this area from Britain and haven't affected the local gray squirrel population.

Another black squirrel

Greg's late grandfather's workbench. He was a wood carver, amongst other things.

A bamboo plant in a blender? I have interesting neighbors moving in.

Triple deckers. Each floor is a different unit.

Views from the Top of the Hub restaurant, atop the Prudential Tower. I know I have lovely pictures of the Pru, but at the moment, I can't find any.

If you look far off in this picture, you can see the cruise ship dock. Beyond that are some boats coming in, and beyond those is the Boston Lighthouse (a little fleck of white), the oldest operating lighthouse in the country, so says my Grammie.

The Charles River

The streets here were based on cow paths, which is why they're all wonky.

Scary Alfred Hitchcock image

I tried to get the ominous clouds and the shock of yellow leaves, but I couldn't catch both at once.

Two deer were having a nibble alongside the road.