monday mash up, May 21

Well, for starters, I'm sick. Again. I felt it coming on Friday afternoon, that little tickle that signals the begnining of something not good. By early afternoon, when I went to Sephora for a gift for a friend, I felt crummy enough that I didn't get anything for myself (now that's sick!). (But Marianne, I can't remember the name of that lipstick you showed me, so we really do need to go back!) By early Friday evening I had a fever. Now. This was an alarming development because a dear friend of mine was kicking off an amazing birthday weekend, and Friday's festivities were the only part I could join in on. I rallied, and it was so worth it. You can see the amazing birthday girl in the upper right hand corner (and those are empty Fireball shots in the upper left). 

On Saturday Neel had graduation at the medical school where he teaches while I ran Cal to his baseball game. I wanted to throw that photo of Neel in because I've never actually see him all robed up in his PhD garb with his mortar board and whatnot. Pretty cool huh? They had the graduation at the same place where our local hockey team plays, and our hockey team is in the playoffs this year...that means they had to build a floor and stage on top of the ice for graduation! Neel said it wasn't bad at first, but after two hours, the cold started to seep in a bit.

Callum went to a baseball game for our local minor league team with a friend on Saturday, and Neel and I went out to dinner. Nice. Let me tell you about Callum first. For those of you who don't know baseball, the minors are like off-Broadway. It's where you go before you become a star. It's also where you go when you've maybe been injured and need to get back to fighting form. So Cal and his buddy go to the game (it was also fireworks night), and turns out that the team our guys are playing has a big-league star playing with them while he rehabs from an injury. Kevin Youkilis. So not just a big-league player, but third baseman (Cal's position) for the Boston Red Sox (Cal plays for the Red Sox). A big-league star. I tried to think about an analogy for you non-baseball folk (I know you are legion.), and seeing Kevin Youkilis play third base in our sweet little ball park would be similar to having your community theatre put on Out of Africa for a month and having Robert Redford come in to play the lead for a weekend. Pretty cool.

Neel and I went to dinner where I had another Negroni, and we ordered too many tapas to eat (we managed) including, but not limited to tempura asparagus. Also cool.

Sunday was misty and cool. I worked and Cal studied for exams (three down, two to go) and Neel moved our raised beds for vegetables. I can watch the sun while I work, and they needed to be some place else. I think we'll all be happier. For the second year we have robins nesting in the eave of a balcony right outside our family room, and for the first time on Sunday we saw the babies. As Neel was digging, he'd find worms and leave them on the step under the nest for the birds and the papa robin would swoop down to snatch them up. We're trying to help out anyway we can. It takes a village.

We went to a rainy picnic at a colleague of Neel's and the kids always manage to have fun in the mist. It's Sunday night now as I write this, and another week is upon is. Cal has his sports physical at school tomorrow. Driving home the fact that he'll be in Middle School. Good for him. I've been thinking all weekend, in the back of my mind, about Theresa's post on Friday. I'm in, are you? Writing about what we fear...how hard can it be?!