March, 30,2014

And it is still snowing.  It was supposed to rain.

Nicky wanted me to post this

Twins, taken by Maya

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Ashwani!

Weekend

this came out of our flushing bucket.

We just came back from Saugerties. Pictures on flickr. We had running water for a day. last night the pipes froze so we had none this morning. We only had heat in the living room, so we all slept there, Medieval style. We met with the demolition and foundation guy today and the lady who is helping do the construction, Benjamin our architect was also there. The house is coming down next week and it will take a week to demolish. Maya, Guy and the girls came to visit on Saturday and my friend Jessica and her daughter, Grace, came on Sunday.

College Update: Spring (technically) Edition

  Hello all! I know it has been awhile and I apologize. I know you guys are probably all like "Oh my god, what is Jo up to?" Well, I will answer you question. Pretty much the same stuff that I posted in the last post. It's still winter here, which sucks rather a lot. It's not so cold that I have to wear two pairs of pants anymore, but I certainly wouldn't venture out without my mittens and a scarf. Schools good. I'm taking these mini vet school classes at the vet school here. They don't count for anything, but they are fun and we can converse with vet school students. There are only 4 classes in total. Each week we have two lecturers. So far we've had lectures on radiology, which is more interesting than you would think, neuroscience, milk fever, wildlife rehabilitation and 2 labs. The labs were really fun. In the first one, we looked at anatomy, there was some hands on stuff. In the second one, we looked at parasites. That was less present, mostly he kept saying things about how you might find tapeworms inching across your pillow, if you sleep with your dogs. I actually managed to keep our free snack, that they provided, down. He even brought some for us to look at, up close and personal.
   I went to see the Lego Movie. It was really good and funny. I thought it would be weird to watch because they're legos, but it wasn't.
  I only have about 2 weeks left of classes and then exams. Only one per week, which isn't too shabby. I also signed up for the MCAT, so that'll be oodles of fun. Not stressful or intimidating at all. I feel really good about it. Can't wait...I was hoping that a positive attitude about it would make me feel better, it didn't. I signed up for my courses for next semester. I'm taking companion animal genetics, cell bio, applied animal behavior, pet nutrition and another immunology course. Heather is also taking that course, so that'll be fun. We haven't had a class together since fall of last year,  I think.
  My laptop is dying, so I'm gonna wrap this up. I got nothing else.

College tour

Brown University
Originally uploaded by sarapicassa

Chiara and I spent the last few days on a college tour with some of her class mates. It was fun, we started off early Monday morning, went to Quinnipiac in CT, fallowing with Trinity. We then drove to Providence for the night. The next day we toured RISD and Brown.

Snow

more on flickr

York 5

Yesterday we went on the walls to the Merchant Adventurer's hall, ate idli and dosa, the Indian spice store, M&S, and Hannah's place.

The York walls have long sections still in place. They are medieval. The views are great of people's backyards. And the city. The merchants adventurers were those that adventured their money rather than their persons. It's a timber building from the mid 14th century! The ceilings were like a cathedral, except low and in wood.

We stumbled across a Goan place for lunch. Hannah had idli, and I had dosa. The dosa and filling were really good, the sambar was adequate, and the chutney was bad. I'd go back there if given the choice.

We went to Rafi's Spice Box to get supplies. You can buy Indian spices by the spoonful.  I realize just now that I forgot to add the fresh coriander I bought. Hannah got mango pulp there, too. We went to Marks& Spencer to get the grocery and wine in a bag. I made Chloe, beans, and cauliflower. It was pretty good, and Hannah's friends were happy about it. 

I see that autocorrect never had chole.

York 4

Today we went to the Yorkshire museum, Faifax House, Clifford's Tower, and the York Castle Museum.
I enjoyed the Viking and medieval finds at the museum. Hardly any had dates on them. People seemed to just toss beautiful solid gold pendants into nearby fields as they fled from place to place.  There is a really beautiful Viking helmet as well, and a lot of fan merchandise from the coronation of Richard III. There was also a natural history section with a dodo skeleton.
The Fairfax House in Georgian. It only took us half an hour to see it all in spite of the efforts of a plethora of volunteer docents. They had a nice collection of grandfather clocks.
Then we had lunch at Betty's tea room. For this we actually stood in line outside! It turned out to be worth it. I had rarebit, and Hannah had a tower of little sandwiches, scones, and tarts. We met one of her professors. She said to me, shaking me warmly by the hand, "You must be so proud." I am, certainly.
Clifford's tower is from the 11th century and has a great view. It was also covered in daffodils at the base. Have I mentioned that the weather is fantastic? To the point where the sunshine is harming some of my photographs.
The Castle museum was big fun. Imagine the third floor at the RMSC times 100. Hannah's writing a paper for her museum class about ambient sounds, so she had to go back and add a section, because they had used them so well.  At one point I kept looking over my shoulder for the horse-drawn cart that I kept hearing behind me. There were also interesting records of a typical week's worth of deaths in Victorian days. Besides childbirth and smallpox, there was dropsy and inflammation of the abdomen. And there was an extensive dungeon.
Hannah went back to write, and I went to photograph the magnificent towers of the minster in the late afternoon light. Then I stayed for evensong. It featured the girls' choir. They sang Pergolisi's Stabat Mater.  They weren't at all cute--they are little professionals. The lesson was the tower of Babel in which god punishes humanity for their hubris in uniting to raise up a magnificent tower.  Ha ha!

York 3

Today we went to the minster, lunch, and the Jorvik Viking center. Sorry, centre. The minster is very beautiful, and we spent a long time there. Since there is a major renovation of one of the main windows, there is an exhibit showing how the glass is being restored. That was really interesting, because the actual windows are at eye level. I never saw it up close before. Also, there is a great exhibit in the basement showing the Roman ruins underneath.

Richard II at the minster

Viking drinking horn

Jorvik was good, too. The little ride seemed like it would be cheesy, but they've done a great job, and it's kind of  creepy instead. My favorite part was the skeletons. They had arrows showing all the wounds.
I'm watching a show about poorly trained ordinary dogs doing tricks. Indy the black lab has fetched a tennis ball in a pool.

Minster from the street

Constantine

Museum gardens

Museum gardens

The weather has been unreal. About sixty and sunny. The daffodils are out.  The B&B is very nice; perfect breakfast, but I'm not sure about it for your April trip, because the stairs are high, narrow, not very even, and carpeted. But the location, hosts, and food might be worth it.
Hannah and I are thinking of a Tapas place for dinner.

Now Indy is finding tennis balls in piles of leaves.

York Post 2

I got to York yesterday evening just as dark was falling, so everything had that lovely yellow glow. What a beautiful city! I walked by the river to the B&B, then over to Hannah's place. She's fine. We went to dinner, and I had a "cellar cooled" pint, which of course means, "unrefridgerated". It was good though. I was in bed by 8:30. I think I watched a show about canal boat touring for a while, but it may have been a dream, because it starred Sibyl Faulty, but much older. Her husband (also very familiar) was driving, so Sybil had to operate the manual locks.

River Ouse in front of the B & B.

York Trip Post 1

An ambitious title, right?
I am in the airport executive lounge in sunny, warm Dublin. I am working hard to consume the GBP 25 I paid to be here. Since there is a comfy chair in front of a big window, total quiet serenity, and I have to be here at least three hours, I only have to eat 15 pounds worth.  How much is a pat of fresh Irish butter?

Beautiful frosty morning @ -2

Noah came to the lake with me!   A 'road trip' coming home via Shelar Road (?), Pumpkin Hill,  the village of Barre.  This is what the lake looked like. 

Snow has drifted to the deck, I opted not to go in the house, but Noah did.  He said no animal activity.  That is good.

The craters and the ice is spectacular.  There also appears to be a lot of ice floating in the lake.

Thanks Noah, that was fun.

Felix Results

We are currently projecting that with a likely 24 points, Grandma will be this year's Buster winner. Congrats, Grandma. I also wanted Nebraska to do well.

Results to come, but Aunt Sara will most likely win the Felix.

[Edit:] Aunt Sara definitely wins with a total of 214 points out of a total of 249 or something like that. Congrats Aunt Sara!

Grandma ended up with 39 points.

If anyone is interested in looking at the spreadsheet I made, I'm very proud of it.

Also, Steve McQueen is black? And didn't die in the 80's? Goodnight, everyone.