Library Ladies

In the course of attending Simmons I had the pleasure of meeting some fabulous future librarians. Last night 6 of us who recently completed our degrees got together for drinks at Cuchi Cuchi in Cambridge. We had a fabulous time talking about finishing classes, new jobs, potential jobs, and other non-library related topics. It was a nice chance for me to connect with these women as friends, but also at this point as colleagues. We are the next generation of the library profession and I'm excited to keep in touch with folks who I think will be movers and shakers in the years to come.

From L to R: Ashley, Me, Sylvie, Ann, Allison and Amy

Falcon Ridge 2008

On Saturday I had the chance to head out to Falcon Ridge Folk Fest for the weekend. It was a great time, especially on Saturday when I saw performances by Dar Williams, The Nields, Martin Sexton, Lindsay Mac, Patty Larkin, Vance Gilbert and many other musicians. It rained a little in the afternoon, and then again in the evening and then really rained overnight. Thankfully I was sleeping in a car, so that didn't matter too much. I stayed until Sunday afternoon. In the morning on Sunday they have the Gospel Morning Wake-Up Call which is one of my favorite parts of the weekend. Here are (a very pregnant) Nerissa and Katryna Nields at the Wake Up Call:


And here's a video of the crowd at the Main Stage during the Gospel Wake-Up Call:



I had the good fortune of being able to volunteer on the Lost and Found Crew again this year with the fabulous crew chiefs Ben and Lucinda. The Crew feels like family, even after just a couple hours. And it's so fun to be able to give people back what they lost. The highlights included returning $260 in cash that someone actually turned in, and having a little boy come running up to the table pointing at a little stuffed turtle and saying "Jack! Jack! I've been looking for you everywhere!" It was really heartwarming. Here's a photo of the whole Lost and Found Crew:


The whole Festival was kind of plagued with bad weather, but I was lucky to avoid most of it, including the disastrous hail storm that hit only about an hour after I left on Sunday. I'm glad I got out when I did.

Already looking forward to next year!

Brotherly Love

When I was visiting John and Jill earlier this month, I had the chance to play with the boys in the driveway, where Nathaniel showed me is two-wheeled bike riding and some skateboarding. Sebastian really liked setting up cones to ride his bike around, but Emerson liked taking his little obstacle course apart. I caught this funny video of that process:

Photos from Minnie!

Christa and I traveled together out to Minneapolis from July 18-22 to meet the amazing Zoe and hang out with Jerri and Mark. Jerri and Zoe picked us up at the train station near their house and as soon as we got home, I started taking photos and Zoe pretty much didn't get put down the entire weekend. Here she is waving Hi:


Even with a baby in tow, we managed to do so many fun things. I wouldn't expect anything less from Jerri, mom and hostess extraordinaire! Here she is with Zoe at Herkimer, a local brew-pub where a bunch of folks met up after the rained-out portion of Mark's birthday softball game:


On Monday we walked over to the Walker with high hopes of playing mini-golf at the artist-designed mini-golf installation, but it was closed. We did enjoy the walk and Christa and I got to explore the beautiful sculpture park while Jerri and Zoe rested on a nearby bench. It was a gorgeous afternoon. Here is one of the most famous sculptures, Spoonbridge and Cherry, with the skyline in the background:


This is a garden and trellis also in the sculpture park:


And Christa's eagle eyes spotted this little critter in the hedge. It's a 13-striped ground squirrel, also known as a gopher. Pretty cute!


Even after being pushed all over town, Zoe still had some giggles left in her. She really is quite the smiley baby:


Here they are, the Wagners Three, pretty much ready for bed after a fun day and fun weekend! It was so nice to get to meet Zoe at such a young age and to see Jerri and Mark in the roles of Mom and Dad. They're a great family and I can't wait to visit them again.

It's been a busy month

OK folks -

I know my last post was a month ago, but it's been a busy month. I've seen some great live performances (Josh Ritter and Eilen Jewell), have gotten to hang out and enjoy summer with many, many friends, I got to go to NJ and hang with my brother and sister-in-law and their 3 kids, I got to travel to Minneapolis with Christa to meet Jerri and Mark's new baby, Zoe, and while I was there I got an amazing phone call letting me know that I have a new job! My last day at Harvard will be August 20th and my first day as a Senior Image Cataloger with Princeton University's Department of Art and Archaeology will be September 2nd. This is a major life change for me as I will be uprooting my life here in Cambridge and am already actively looking for a place to live in Princeton. So if you're ever in the Princeton (or NYC or Philly) area after September, let me know. I'm excited to be only an hour from either city, and an hour from family (Mom and Dad in one direction, John & Jill and the kiddos in the other direction).

I'm looking forward to this new adventure and to getting the most out of my remaining time in the Boston area. I'll try to blog more often, but the next 5 weeks are gonna fly!

Meeting Monisha and Sonali

My dear friends Amanda and Milan welcomed their beautiful twin girls, Monisha and Sonali, into the world on June 15th. Quite the Father's Day gifts! I got to stop by this afternoon and meet the little darlings and congratulate the new parents on a job well done. The girls slept through most of the visit, but it was nice to catch up with Amanda and see her in Mommy mode. Here is a photo of the happy family:

Farm share cooking

This past Saturday I got my second dose of farm share. It included some broccoli, Swiss chard, salad greens, cabbage, turnips, spinach and tons of strawberries!

I did lots of cooking tonight. I made my first recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Chard with shallots and oranges. It was an interesting recipe, and I wasn't quite sure how it was going to turn out, but I had all of the ingredients, so I went for it, and I'm so glad I did! It turned out to be delicious. It basically involved caramelizing the shallots and oranges and then steaming the chard with it, adding a little vinegar and salt and pepper. It was really good.

Next I took the half head of cabbage and made some coleslaw from scratch. I also learned about salting the cabbage before making the slaw, thanks to Mr. Bittman. So I just put together some mayo, a little dijon mustard, carrots, salt and pepper. It's really tasty and I'm looking forward to having it with a veggie burger, maybe for dinner tomorrow.

And last but not least, I just had to use up all those strawberries! I ended up making enough strawberry shortcake to feed my roommates, too. I made the shortcakes from scratch (sort of, I used pancake baking mix). No one complained and all of us sat out on the back porch enjoying the summer evening and good food.

Earlier this afternoon I finished Studs Terkel's autobiography, Touch and Go. It was a great read and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys American history, biographies or things to do with Chicago. He's a remarkable man, a national treasure and I'm so happy he published this book. He has so many stories to tell, has done so many amazing things. As much as I enjoyed all of the stories in the book, I'm sure there are many more that haven't been told. I can only hope that my memory and wits are that sharp when I'm in my mid-90s. Truly amazing.