Oh Canada!

I'm leaving in the morning for Prince Edward Island! Well... we'll actually spend most of tomorrow in Maine and arrive at PEI on Tuesday... my BiRtHdAy! Unfortunately... I just checked and my cell phone will charge me an outrageous amount to talk on it in Canada. :( So if you were planning on calling me for my birthday... wink, wink ;) I can receive texts for free or may have e-mail access. I'll be sure to post all about the trip on my return.

Blast from the Past Week

Thursday, I tried something new... Contra Dancing! My friend Charlotte had been a few times before in other places and found a dance in Concord, MA. She, Michelle and I headed out in our twirly skirts. I had such a good time! There is a caller who will tell you what steps to do until everyone gets the pattern down. You have a partner, but may end up dancing with every one in the line. It was incredible to see everyone moving independently, but fitting together and ending up in the right place. I got dizzy a few times from all the spinning, but I couldn't stop smiling. :)

Saturday, my friend Kelly planned a little excursion to a World War II Museum. She randomly found out about it in a book she read, but they have some amazing things... real things, not replicas... and they actually let you touch a lot of it. Some highlights: They had James Bondish spyware, similar to what I saw in the International Spy Museum in DC. England produced handbooks for the people, instructions about what to do during an air raid. One point said to stay put and not run or you would most certainly be shot. I rang an alert bell and cranked an air siren. I crawled under the huge tank so I could see what it looked like inside. All sides produced false propaganda... made to look like it came from the enemy. In the U.S., the propaganda against Germany focused on Hitler as the bad guy, while against Japan, the entire people were shown as faceless. There weren't as many Japanese people living in the United States. It seems like I've seen/read a lot about war lately. I can't imagine what a hard thing it would be to live through a war.

On Saturday, I also decided to finally give in and get my hair professionally colored. I have only done it once since being in Boston, because it costs so much more here.... like more than double. I wanted to try highlighting my hair, because I get bored always having it the same. It didn't look terrible, but turned a little too bronzy... and I was about to be in a lot of pictures in PEI and I didn't want to document my highlighting talents there. I am, alas, without highlights, though... couldn't bring myself to pay the extra money for them. It's alright, though, I like the color now, just a pretty dark brown.

Favorite Day of the Year

A co-worker recently asked me what my favorite holiday is. Now, most people usually love Christmas, Fourth of July, maybe Halloween... but my answer was... MY BIRTHDAY! I just love that I get to be special for a day. It always bummed me out in elementary school because I never got to bring treats like the other kids did for my birthday. I was a summer baby. Luckily, my fourth (and fifth) grade teacher, Miss Thompson, allowed the summer birthdays to celebrate their half-birthday! Finally, I was able to bring treats to school. Well, I figure, why stop at half-birthdays? I can remember my 1/4th and 3/4th birthdays... even 1/3rd and 2/3rd. Pretty much, on the 29th of each month... I figure out which "birthday" it is for me. :) On my mission, I was teased by my district for loving fractions because of this... but they were wrong. It was really all about my birthday. Well, maybe I do love fractions too because of my math teacher dad, but that's another story. I just wanted to let everyone know that today is my 51/52nd birthday! No, I have never actually celebrated anything other than my real birthday. But it is coming soon... hint... hint...

While out shopping for a friend's birthday last weekend, I came across these shoes and decided to give myself an early birthday present. Aren't they sexy? It's funny how you just have to walk differently when you're wearing shoes like this. It's also funny how I can barely make it through three hours of church in shoes like this. They came off right after I left the building.

Japanese Lantern Festival

When I first came to Boston last year, I was so excited to be here, that I tried to find something fun to do every night. I felt like I just had to get it all in. I think I was in vacation mode for the first few months... it hadn't really sunk in that I would be here a while and would have more opportunities to do every thing. Anyway, one thing that I did was go to a Japanese Lantern Festival with my brand new friend, Kristie (who is now such a good friend, so glad we met). Thursday we decided to make it a tradition and we went again. We arrived to hear the drums and music playing. We set to work to decorate our lantern, then waited for the sky to darken so we could light it. Dan placed it in the water for us, just as a snapping turtle swam by. All the lanterns floating on the pond are beautiful. There is something magical about fire, especially at twilight. I could sit and stare at it for hours. It was interesting that the lanterns stayed in patterns in the water, grouped together or in lines. Must have been the current from all the turtles. ;)

Did I mention that it was in a cemetery? The cemetery also has modern art sculptures scattered throughout. We had a much easier time finding these nightgowns this year than last year... when we didn't realize it probably wasn't so safe to be wandering around the cemetery... in the pitch dark... alone.... It's funny because they just suddenly jump out at you, like ghosts... Boo!
Hard to believe I've been here in Boston for over a year now. I must say that I'm doing much better getting around... I'm not completely reliant on my gps anymore. I even got to the cemetery and home without it. This may sound like a small feat, but only if you've never tried to drive in Boston before. :)

This Is My Country

Fourth of July Boston Style! The morning started off with a flag ceremony in front of City Hall. I love seeing the companies dressed in the colonial dress, with the musicians playing and shooting their rifles. We next headed to the Old State House where we heard a reading of the Declaration of Independence. It was read from the same balcony where it was first read to the people of Boston in 1776. I find it incredible to think about the ideals of our founding fathers. They were willing to face insurmountable odds in order to establish a country, a land that would give people the opportunity to be free and pursue happiness. I know that the Lord had a hand in preparing this nation as the birthplace of the restoration.
After hearing the Declaration we went to Fanieul Hall where we heard an oration by Craig Ferguson, host of the Late, Late Show. He is Scottish but recently became an American citizen. One thing he said that stood out to me was that as Americans, we may make lots and lots of mistakes, but we always do the right thing in the end. That afternoon we went to the North End and learned about the changing bells in the Old North Church. There is actually a lot of work that goes into making the beautiful music. They have to learn patterns and time the ringing just right.
That evening we watched the fireworks from Harvard Bridge. We heard the Boston Pops concert again as it was broadcast. Amy tried to teach me some Irish dance steps, and little did we know, but we entertained all those in the vicinity. We blushed just a little when they broke into applause. The fireworks were amazing! They had cool ones that had tons of little explosions allover the sky... some that had a balloon and floated slowly down... some that floated out and reminded me of Spirited Away... some that shot only up and fell down like rain... and all the classics too. It was sweet to celebrate the birth of America in the place where it all started.

Boston Pops

On Thursday, July 3rd we started off the Independence Day celebration by going to the rehearsal for the Boston Pops concert. You don't have to go early in the morning to get a seat and if you go on the fourth then you can't see the fireworks from there. We enjoyed a picnic for dinner and had good conversations with the Book of Questions. About half an hour before the concert was supposed to start, an announcement was made that the threatening thunderstorms that they predicted were going to hit us in about fifteen minutes. A few in our group decided to take the recommended shelter under a bridge, but the rest of us huddled around a tree with our umbrellas. Luckily, we came away mostly dry. The concert was able to start on time and was amazing. Amy was not aware that Rascall Flats would be performing and got very excited when they started playing. My favorites were the baseball sequence with the verses of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and a reading of "Casey at the Bat." I also enjoyed marching and waving flags during the patriotic sing-a-long and the Irish step dancers. God bless the USA!