Mice-less....

Louise & Kai have head up to Ontario for a Jones family reunion (her mom's side of the family). They'll be seeing her dad, bro, sis, bro-in-law, and newest niece, Allie (actually, our only niece!). So other than some music pumping thru the stereo (listening to some Hawaiian tracks, Keali'i Reichel, on a new CD-player that replaced the constantly-dying Onkyo I've had for ages), its been quite quiet in the Fennell household. I guess the Fennell household, by majority, is actually in Orangeville, so I should rather say "quiet at the Billerica place" or something. Anyway, no giggle or pitter-patter of little Kai feet, no sing-songy Louise voice, no nudges from Louise to get up & turn off the alarm (meaning: I've slept late just about everyday so far), and no smooches.

I've been trying to keep busy - the family wall on the stairwell is about complete, and I spent most of yesterday cleaning out the garage and getting some more stuff for the house. It was a pretty busy day and this morning, I felt like I had gotten run over by a truck. My plan to check oot the much-ballyhooed trails that Louise sang about a few days ago was put on hold and I stumbled off for a short run instead. I DID explore some trails nearby the house, another promising source for communing w/ buzzy bugs and potential ticks (until the weather turns to the cooler!). Louise tried to explore it once from one side (that starts from a graveyard) but got spooked out by the scene. Coming from another side is much more pleasant and doesn't require any charms, chants, or crosses to keep the ghouls off your back (tho I'm not sure what to do about those pesky bugs!).

Today has been more aboot studying and doing a few finishing touches on things in the house. Its also been pretty cloudy, so it feels like a sleepy Sunday, custom-made for sipping coffee and snacking on nutella (which reminds me, I'm kinda hungry!). Kaister & Country Mouse return at the end of the week, so I have a few more days to clean out the beer bottles, empty keggers, and nacho chips :-)

Tuesday Night Ride and This and That...

Tomorrow Kai and I head to the GWN for a visit with Grandad (its his birthday tomorrow!) and the Jones family reunion (my mom's maiden name) where some of her 10 siblings and their offspring and the offspring of those offspring and so on will get together for 3 days of fun in the sun (hopefully) on Wasaga Beach. The last time we did this was in 2002 and we met in Wales (I won't even attempt to spell the town where we stayed!) I am excited but very apprehensive about my first flight with Kai without his Daddy's capable assistance!

So tonight the packing is almost finished and Buns is in the washing machine (we had to sneak in to get her out while Kai is asleep and we'll have to sneak her back in there, all nice and fresh and smelling like a daisy before he wakes up!) It is amazing how black a stuffed rabbit can get in just a few days. She seems to spend a good part of her day with her head in Kai's mouth. What an existence! 

In other news, my application to practice as a professional psychologist in Massachusetts was finally accepted today!!!! It has been a long road to get this far, full of headaches and way too much paperwork. So the next step is to write yet another exam, and then I can practice independently in this state. Good news for me indeed!

Now, the Tuesday night ride part! Well, in addition to enjoying some nice road riding since we got here, I have found myself a mountain biking partner and a regular Tuesday night ride! It has been a long time since I've been part of a regular weeknight riding routine. There was Tuesday night at the dump in Victoria with Graham and Blackie et al, then there was the Dead Goat road hammerfest in Calgary. Something about Tuesday night and riding just seems to go together. I've been riding with Barb and her four legged buddy Sprocket for 3 weeks now. Barb knows the trails at Great Brook Farm like the back of her hand so she has been a great tour guide. She is trying to talk me into trying downhilling but I think she'll have to keep trying...

Great Brook is turning out to be a great place to ride. There are no big hills, neither steep nor long, but that just seems to be the nature of the gentle rolling terrain around here. There are plenty of technical challenges. There are lots and lots and lots of roots, tons of baby heads and lots of much larger rocks too. What the trails lack in elevation they make up for in twists and turns. I even have a well placed bruise on my left hip, courtesy of last night's ride. I used to have a perma-bruise in this location when I was riding in Victoria so I felt a little nostalgic when I saw it there last night. There is a certain obstacle known as the "Rock Wall" that had my number last night. I didn't try it at all the first night out (exercising some IQ points), I cleaned it last week and just couldn't do it last night. I tried 5 times, that means 5 not so graceful dismounts with my bike teetering on its chainring and me wobbling on top trying to figure out how to get off with the ground seeming too far away and the rocks below me looking pretty sharp. I think I got off easy with just one bruise. I'll be skipping next week's ride but will be back to face off against the Rock Wall again when I get back! Maybe I should borrow Barb's helmet cam to record either my success or failure for a blog viewing. 

The blog might be a little quiet for the next few days, unless Greg gets inspired to write or to avoid his homework while Kai and I are away! A bientot!

Boston...Finally!

Well after being in Massachusetts for 2 months, I finally made it in to Boston (actually twice in 3 days!) I went in on Friday to visit Melony and tiny baby Naomi (see last post) and then again this morning. The whole Fennell family went down to Cambridge today (known as Boston's "Left Bank" b/c it is on the left side of the Charles River) to finally check out MIT and see where Greg expands his horizons everyday. We didn't have as much time as we hoped b/c Kai decided to sleep in this morning (7:15 am) so our tour of Harvard Square was a drive by blur but it looks like a vibrant, fun and happening place so we'll definitely be back.

We visited Greg's favorite spots on the MIT campus - the student center where they sell triple chocolate chip cookies, and his office where he stores shoes, water bottles, books, towels, and of course, bib shorts ;-). I got a feeling my husband is "that messy guy." ( I should have taken a photo :-)

We thought Kai might be a bit bored with our choice of activities for the morning but au contraire, he had a fabulous time. He loved all the walking he got to do, particularly down a long hallway at MIT, aptly named the Infinite Hallway. MIT also has lots and lots of stairs so our little stair master got lots of exercise.

Here are a few photos of MIT and environs:

Pretty Buildings


Not so pretty buildings


Kai and Daddy checking out the Charles River.

The littlest student.


Mommy and Kai

New Life

There has really been some fertility dust sprinkled in the last year and we have a number of friends expecting over the next few months. A friend of Greg's from Pearl Harbor and his wife and two boys moved here to Massachusetts around the same time we did and Wes is in Greg's class at MIT. Wes' wife Melony was due to have their third baby on September 21. Last week a routine ultrasound revealed some problems so Melony was hospitalized. Because Baby was not doing as well as the doc's hoped, she was delivered on Tuesday afternoon by C-section. I believe Melony was 30 weeks along.

Little Naomi AnnMarie is about 3.5 lbs (docs can't get an exact weight at the moment) and is in stable condition in the NICU at a major Boston hospital. Her future is uncertain at the moment as doctor's try to figure out what caused the problems in utero that lead to her early delivery. The family are obviously relieved that she is getting excellent care but nervous about what each new moment may bring. Naomi's older brothers, Frasher (3) and Cason (17 months) are anxiously waiting to meet their new baby sister.

Melony and her family are spiritual people so please say a prayer for them. If praying is not your thing, please send all of the positive healing and growing energy you can muster for this little baby girl. If you've read "Eat, Pray, Love" you might even believe in what can be accomplished when people put their power of mind and heart together.

Mahalo nui loa,

Louise & Greg

Spirit Squirrel!!

(from Greg:) BC (British Columbia, not Before Christ), there's occasionally a sighting of  a 'spirit bear', a black bear that's all white.  Not to be confused with a polar bear, which is often seen w/ a Coke can during the Winter Olympics on TV, a spirit bear is a very rare sight (I've seen one picture) and a personal sighting is quite a spiritual event for most people (and perhaps quite frightful, as its typically 1000's of miles from the nearest post-bear-mauling emergency room).

 Yesterday on my morning bike ride, I saw the slightly-less-famous-but-no-less-spiritual Spirit Squirrel.  It wasn't albino (its eyes were black) and it wasn't any sort of Polar Squirrel (no Coke can that I could see) so it was definitely a Spirit Squirrel.  Unfortunately, I was in a rush to get to work so I could ferry some fellow students back to get some portraits taken, but I did receive a Holy Tail Swish that filled my day with peace and serenity (which was quite helpful while navigating the Bostonian streets with a 15 passenger van).

In other rodent news, I saw a little field mouse in our kitchen last night.  Ironically for a couple that constantly refers to each other as "Mouse", we're not too keen with "cohabitating with a REAL mouse", in Louise's words.   Before heading to sleep, I put out a non-lethal trap laced with peanut butter and wheat crackers.  Its a similar design to what worked in my home growing up - the mouse nibbles on the food, which triggers the trap door to slam shut and the mouse awaits its fate (which for us will probably mean releasing it into the retirement community across the street - they could use the excitement).  This morning, the trap was empty so I put it in the garage (I had seen another mouse, perhaps the same one, there when we moved in).   Unfortunately, Chippy (our neighborly chipmunk) was too tempted by the treats and got caught during the day!   We let Chippy out with our apologies and will try to catch the non-human Mouse again tonight.  Wish us luck!!

Back at school (we've moved on to non-rodent things now), I'm finally done w/ the Math review course that has eaten up most of my time so far.  I got a 'B', which is quite good enough for me, especially considering its been over 14 years since I've seen a lot of this stuff!  Now there's a little more time to focus on setting up the rest of the house and learning some of the other courses that I'll presumably be seeing more of in my remaining time here.

Sounds like Kai is awake now so we're off to get a new bank account and hang oot.  Aloha!!

Photos from today's ride

By popular request, I took my camera along for today's ride and took a few shots of the scenery and quiet NE roads that we've had the pleasure of riding.





This is the Concord River. It is really close to our place so we're hoping to get out and kayak or canoe one of these summer evenings. 



This is Fern's. It is obviously a popular resting place for the cycling crowd. I stopped in today and sampled their apple croissant and had a short sit in one of their porch rocking chairs.

This is one of the marshland areas that I saw along my ride. 

As I was riding home through Bedford I snapped a shot of one of the churches. The area in front is the Town Common where evening concerts and other events are held in the summer. We are looking forward to "Bedford Day" on September 20!

Bunny Love

As new parents, we heard about "loveys" (a term kind of like onesie, that means nothing to you until you have to buy one). Well, Kai has had a lovey since he was newborn: a blue lion, named creatively - Blue Lion. Blue Lion plays a tune and has given Kai comfort for a long time. But, what he had going on for Blue Lion was just puppy love. Enter Bunny, the real thing. I tossed her in Kai's crib many months back; I can't remember exactly when but Kai was probably around 6 months or so. And there she has remained, largely ignored until recently. Then all of a sudden Bunny (or Buns or Bun Bun) became Kai's main lovey. Kai has a funny way of showing his love. He has a tendency to hold Buns precipitously over the toilet bowl and so far, I have managed to get there in time before Buns takes a swim. Check out this video of Kai being entertained by Buns on the change table.