It's cold. Really.

Christmas '10

	Presents under the tree... these are all Ben's.
	Christmas dinner.

Pearl Harbor

Excellent memorial and museum - like the opening chapter of a WWII history tour, for which we'd already seen the conclusion at the Peace Museum in Hiroshima.

Aloha Pacifichem

Best way to unwind after a long domestic flight.

R&B: Stop by for dinner sometime

A truck full of furniture-shaped gifts to fill our empty rooms.

Our new cherry dining from table from Pete's parents and Room & Board.

First snow

A fantastic first snow fall of ~5 inches to kick off the weekend.

Lady & Mo

	Lady thinks she can sneak up onto the couch because she's camouflaged.
	Mo is totally hypnotised after having her belly rubbed.

Thanksgiving

A full house for Thanksgiving, with Pete's dad, Mike, Suzanne, 3 little people and 2 furry four-legged people here to visit (where visit means help on house projects).

Turkey: perfectly golden brown courtesy of its cheesecloth blanket.

Happy Anniversary

31 years

Sticks and stones

Mantle decor

Cutting in

More than half the painting is complete. I cut in. Pete rolls out. This is Corn Husk Green in the loft area.

Halloween

Happy Halloween - our first with real live trick or treaters.

Insert Fireplace Insert

So the house came with a fireplace but the chimney sweep informed us that we needed to line the flue before lighting up.... So we installed a new flue AND a new fireplace. It's an energy efficient insert - so we qualify for a tax rebate :) . It took quite a search to find one that would fit into our mantle (but not in a log cabin) - european of course.

Lounging around

Found a furniture bargain, at the Chiasso clearance sale, to help fill our empty rooms. We're tempting fate a little with the pale shade, but that's what Scotchguard is for. We scored a couch big enough for 4+ people, a matching chair, a slat bench/coffee table, light fixture and cool photo frame.

Xtals

We're getting so efficient at preparing samples we can make 2 different ones at the same time.

Mini MUMs for sale

Mums. Now on sale at your local ace hardware. Comes in a convenient travel size. Nothing compared to the real thing though.

Star Washer

Our new, super energy efficient washing machine. Apparently its going to cost us $11 per year to keep our clothes clean.... based on eight(!!!) loads per week (who does 8 loads?). At that rate we would be washing multiple times between wears - or going through multiple costume changes per day. I'm guessing that it will be closer to a handful of quarters for us.

Painted

Ocean pearl and Restful

Color conundrums

Wallpaper is evil

Our wallpaper was possessed - with layers of old newspaper, embossed wood veneer and paper overlay. The exorcism was a multi-day affair.

Only small patches of wall were left unscathed (the brown bits). Everything else needed skim coating.

95 yrs old

95 years of living leaves lots of bumps and scraps in the plaster and many layers of ugly paint on the walls.

We're smoothing things out before hitting it with a coat of paint.

A place of one's own

It's all ours.

Sold!

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Hi lobster! Nice to eat you

Larson's fish market: The best value seafood on MV.

Vacationing with the First Family

Back on the Vineyard. This time we're hanging with the Obamas.

No close up photos though.

A Harpoon Sampling

Harpoon Brewery. The best free beer tasting in Boston and very conveniently located near the conference center. Even the little lady, marking the entrance to the bathrooms was joining in the fun.

Trident Bookshop

Best breakfast in Boston.

Lemon ricotta stuffed french toast. It was goooood.

Non-nano nanoparticle@ACS

A cold one.

A glass so frosty that you could fingerprint our waitress.

The Barking Trap

At the Barking Crab they "don't quote wait times", but will let you know that you are the 18th group of monkeys in line for a table. The tourism factor has increased significantly since we last dined here, no doubt due to the many favorable write ups in guide books . Themed T-shirts, shot glasses, and stickers are available for purchase while you wait, wait and wait for a table.
Steamed appetizers were perhaps the culinary highlight of the meal, but the most memorable moment came courtesy of Mark wrestling his lobster out of its shell. Priceless... And well worth the wait.

The Last Rent Cheque

.... next stop mortgage-town.

Lucky 13 Beer

Scaring away Fri-13th blues with a friendly beer tasting.

Some people left with six-packs. Mark went for the full carry-on size, hereafter known as the Mark-pack.

Kevin & Lisa

Kevin and Lisa agreed to feed the mosquitoes while I played with my camera. They may have been motivated by their need for a family portrait for Kevin's mum's birthday (rather than a desire to be a good officemate or a willingness to nourish the local insect population). Happy Birthday Gram Beyer!

Dog pillow dog

A westbound wagon delivered Mike, Suz, Maddy, Loudon, Marisol, Lady and Matisse to our front door. Its almost like the circus coming to town: animals that perform tricks, kids with frozen treats hanging off your arms, and endless entertainment. It was great seeing you guys!

Say Churros!

From XOCO, the most recent addition to the Frontera family. The tortas (sandwiches) are very tasty, particularly the one that is not available "to go" (because it is too messy aka fun).

The Purple Pig

Post-conferencing dinner at the Purple Pig, a Mag Mile eatery which promotes snout-to-tail dining. We started near the snout with pig's ears (fried beyond recognition) and proceeded to the braised pigtail via the pate-ed pig's liver - both yum. Vegetarians need not attend.

ACA, Chicago

Downtown on a misty Sunday morning for some crystallography. I must like xtals a lot to get up this early.

Pin Attack

Another arts & crafts session involving cable rewiring - enough already.

Le bicycle rouge

Faux french is really starting to catch on.

Hooked on Hot dogs

Travel is really just an culinary adventure. After a few days on the docks at Oak Bluffs, Po Po is now hooked - hooked on hot dogs. Dingy dogs, with their Kosher dogs and fresh relish, are not only tasty but a surprisingly affordable snack in the middle of Tourist central.

Chappy

4th trip to MV, but a first for Chappaquidick. A certain Kennedy senator could have avoided a big scandal if only he had heeded this sign.

Black dog first

4th vineyard vacation, 1st black dog t-shirt

History by the pound

A perfect gift for the person who has everything.