Spring has arrived. Soon, the plants my sister and brother are sending me for my birthday will start arriving and I'll be able to put the compost to good use. They are sending me 3 butterfly bushes, 3 red latham raspberry bushes, and 6 oriental poppies. I'm very excited about gardening this year.

I haven't done any gardening since I rented the house in Columbia, Missouri and grew carrots out back. It was a very small house with a small yard, but it was a house with a yard and it was $185/month. Wow, that price seems great now, I couldn't rent a room for that around here these days. It's a different season here, in more ways than just not being winter anymore.

I'm back in Boston. I had a great deal of fun with My sister, niece, brother-in-law, and mom. Maddie is a little ball of energy. Well, not little, she's quite big for a 7 year old. Smart and creative, but I just can't keep up with her.

The day I arrived, Thursday, we pretty much stayed around the house and relaxed. My mom had already been there for several days and was already settled in.

Friday, Christian stayed home while Maddie, Bridgette, my mom, and I went down to Georgetown. We hit Lush and Godiva and went to Dean & Deluca for lunch. While I've seen central meter machines in parking lots, I'd never seen a central machine for street parking before. I guess it is more efficient than having a separate parking meter for each spot, I'm just not used to it. The biggest disadvantage I see with the central machine system is that if it breaks down it disrupts the use of a number of parking spots at once.

Saturday we drove into Virginia through wine country and went to Linden Vineyards (nothing to do with Second Live). That was my favorite part of the trip down. Relaxing doesn't even begin to describe the place. Surrounded by rows of grapes and vine watching the clouds shadow-dance on the Blue Ridge Mountains. The cigar Christian gave me to smoke at the vineyard not only went perfectly with the cheese and wine, but also with the surrounding tranquility.

Sunday, I got up later than I had planned, but not so late that it caused any hassle in catching my flight. Upon leaving, Christian gave me some cigars, along with a 15-pack of Rocky Patel vintage 1992s, one of my favorites. My mom gave me a wonderful dragon cane when I arrived at the house and I was a bit worried about getting on the flight with 2 canes, but I didn't have any hassle and the return trip from Reagan National to Logan went smoothly.

I had hoped to get some good bird pictures, but unfortunately my birding camera is not working. I noticed it my first day there. It seems to be a connection problem with the battery prongs, which should be repairable. But, I was glad to see that Maddie loved birds and birdwatching despite her father's hatred of them.

I'm leaving for Washington tomorrow (well, actually Arlington, Virginia) to visit my sister, brother-in-law, and niece. My mom is already there and are visits have been planned to overlap. As some of you might know, I've been vegetarian for 14 years but have been considering eating seafood for some time. There is a good chance that on this trip I will actually take the plunge. The prospect of ending 14 years of vegetarianism is a bit daunting, and I would be limiting my meat intake to sea-fairing non-cephalopod exotherms. I've gone over it again and again for years in my head, working out the logistics of my personal moral code, and I think I'm okay with it.

Haven't given much of an update lately on what I've been up to.

The weekend before last my sister, Madeline, and Christian came up to visit. I met them downtown on Saturday and my sister took me to get my first ever professional manicure. I had a lot of fun and Maddie is a joy. She is so huge, though! I'd swear she was 10 or 11 if I didn't know she was 7.

Last weekend, invalid_userid came down for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows release. purpleglitter, invalid_userid waited in the long line in Harvard Square. Usually waiting in lines is boring, but with the crowd I had a great time. There were a couple profiteers who got in the front of the line and walked down it trying to sell their books for $50. I didn't see anyone buying, but I'm sure they found someone when they got near the end (which rumor had it was somewhere in Watertown). I was very excited to get merryperseis's register when I finally got my books, I had thought the odds of that rather slim.

zarthon took purpleglitter, invalid_userid and me out to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix the next day. Inevitably a lot of the book was left out, but I think enough critical stuff was missing that someone who hadn't read the books probably wouldn't be able to make much sense of it.

Sunday, we all went to the Museum of Science. The exhibits there have enough range to appeal to any level of scientific knowledge. We saw a demonstration of the still very functional original Van de Graaff generator built by Robert J. Van de Graaff in 1933, but my favorite part of the Museum of Science visit was the butterfly exhibit, where a large owl butterfly landed on my shoulder and sat there for a very long time just looking at me and occasionally stretching its wings. Looking into the butterfly's eyes made me regret all the nasty rhetoric I've spouted about exotherms.

Next weekend, our new landlord is coming to visit from California. She has not seen the building in over a year. I'm excited to meet her, she sounds awesome over the phone. She's trying to rent the unit next door, so if anyone is interested in a two-bedroom in Arlington, let me know.

At the end of next month, I will be heading down to see my sister in the Washington, D.C. area. My mom will be visiting there at the same time, so it should be a great trip.

This afternoon, I received my first package at my new residence. A housewarming gift from my sister. I hope I can keep good care of it, I've never had much of a green thumb.

My sister (ellynx), brother-in-law, and niece are in town this weekend and I got to spend quite a bit of time with them yesterday. When I got to their hotel room, Madeline gave me a star sticker decorate my cane with. It glitters with sticker glittery fabulousness.

We went to Chau Chow City for lunch and planned to go to the Boston Aquarium and this chocolate buffet, but the lines to get in were far too long at the aquarium and we got the time wrong for the chocolate buffet and missed it. However, I ended up walking around downtown Boston popping in and out of shops for most of the afternoon with my sister, which was definitely not a disappointment.

In the evening, my sister and I joined back with Christian and Maddie and met up with Christian's parents for dinner at Umbria. I didn't get to talk much with Christian's parents last time I met them, because the environment was very noisy. After dinner, Bridgette and I had some more time together and as always evening conversations with my family are filled with surprises.

I'm going to be landing in Saint Louis this Friday on a one-way airline ticket. It will be the first time my brother, my sister, my parents, and I will all be in the same place at the same time in over a decade. I'm looking very much forward to this.

Sunday, we will all be heading down for the day to Murphysboro, Illinois - where I was born - to see my family down there.

Sometime during my stay in Missouri I hope to see type_40.

I also want to find a way to get to Columbia, I haven't seen the town for a long while and I'd really like to meet up with ceruleanct11. However my tight budget and the infrequent bus schedule very well might thwart that endeavour.

I plan to go home via rail and/or bus, but that leg of the trip has not been fully set in place. I will definitely be stopping in Saint Thomas, Ontario on the way back to spend some time with goldmourn.

I'm also hoping to meet up with likeamermaid on my journey, but if that will occur is not certain as of yet.

While this isn't well planned out, I have a good feeling about it. I'm sure it will be an adventure at the very least.

I talked to my sister (ellynx) last night. Apparently Maddie has been very interested in the Baiji for about a year now, and even has a book on them. She's been very worried about them going extinct. My sister is going to have to find a way to tell her six year old daughter that they are most likely gone.

Maddie has told me about her worry that many of the ocean species that she wants to study will be gone. At six you want to tell her she's wrong, but she's right and she knows it. She's a smart kid. I wonder just how many more animals won't she have a chance see? How many more will be gone in just the next few years, especially as global warming kicks into an even higher gear? The world is changing very rapidly.

We did not venture out for most of my visit, however Friday we did go down to the capital. My sister (ellynx) gave me and Maddie a staff-led tour of the capital building. While we were were still limited to the public areas of the building, we didn't have to tag along with a tour group and were free to go at our own pace. A few of the statues in the statue gallery of the capital building surprised me, I was not expecting to see Robert E. Lee or Brigham Young.

After seeing the capital building, Christian picked us up and we all had tea at the Ritz Carlton in Pentagon City. I felt a little less Jack Dawson than I have in such settings in the past. The cakes, sandwiches and scones were delightful and the tea was great. Christian complained that the service was sub-par, however I did not notice that myself as I have no real idea of what par at the Ritz Carlton is. I enjoyed it nonetheless, and am glad I got to experience it.

After tea, we went back to the house where later in the evening Maddie made me a wonderful ice cream soup. It's been a long time since I've had ice cream soup, and I must say Maddie's was excellent.

Good morning.

I had a wonderful thanksgiving. In yesterday's post on thanks giving, I wrote about one aspect of thankfulness. However, there are many aspects of thankfulness and there is much I am thankful for. The following is an incomplete list:

I am thankful to have been able to spend a holiday with my sister, brother-in-law, and niece. I am thankful to be able to call them family. I am thankful for the rest of my family, both found and blood. I am thankful that I have a home to head to, and that when I get there I will not have to worry about having enough to eat. I am thankful that I can express my thanks online. I am thankful that, even if I have problems with it sometimes, I have access to medical care. I am thankful that I live in a place that I can leave my house anytime day or night and be relatively safe. I am thankful for the kisses I get from Skye. I am thankful for Spy Pond. And, I am thankful that I am not so bitter and jaded that I could not be thankful for the blessing I have received.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the United States.

Happy Thursday to everyone else.

I'm having a good visit. Maddie is a ball of energy, literally bouncing off the walls. She knocked on my door and got me up around 7:30am this morning showing me a clock that had been set to 9:30. Tricky, but I'm glad I'm up. I don't really like to sleep too late these days.

Dinner last night was good and I loved the port later in the evening. Christian is intelligent and charismatic, making conversation with him generally a pleasure. And, of course, it's always great to see Bridgette. She's made quite the life for herself and has not ceased to amaze me. I'm proud to call her sister.

A graphical representation of what you think your soul would look like if it were an existing entity around your house.



My sister (ellynx) got me this oil lamp so long ago that i do not remember precisely when anymore. It's quite fragile and has been a lot of places and seen a lot of things. Most objects I owned back when I got this have been lost to the wind and much sturdier things had crumbled. It's had it's share of close calls, but somehow the winds not yet been able to break it.

When I was little, we would visit my Aunt Leslie and Uncle Dizz. When we'd visit, I would always ride Thunder (the horse I'm riding in the picture below). They had another horse that they let us ride, but Thunder was my favorite

One time, my sister (ellynx) and I were riding Thunder bareback and she started to slip off. Panicking, she grabbed onto my shirt pulling me into the mud as well. But, when you fall off a horse it is best to get right back on. And that is just what we did.

I miss riding horses. I haven't done it in so long. Someday, maybe again.

My sister was in town this weekend. She arrived Friday, and quite late that evening we went out to Stanza, a cigar bar in the North End. Cigar bars are the only bars in Boston in which the patrons are still allowed to smoke, and there are only three of them. Christian, my brother-in-law, shared his staple brand of cigar with me, which I have already forgotten the name. That matters not, as he said he was planning on sending me more and I'll simply read the labels then.

purpleglitter and I spent much of the Saturday with my sister (ellynx), Christian, and my niece Maddy. At lunch we met Christian's parents, then the five of us sans Christian's folks went for a walk around Boston Commons.

I really adored Maddy. I haven't seen her in several years, and she's now six and much bigger than I remember her. She held my hand most of the time we were together and wow can she talk and talk and talk. She also has boundless energy, as a six year old should, and easily wore me out with her calvinball-style games in the park. She's quite bright and has a keen interest in oceanography, only she is worried about how much oceanlife will still be around when she is an adult. I hope her worries don't come to pass.

Later, my sister and I went shopping in Chinatown. She got me a nice silk dress and a silk robe. I'm very excited about them, and they are currently by far my finest articles of clothing.

My sister is everything I'd like to be. She has had her own share of problems; but she is generous, kind, intelligent, strong, beautiful, and successful. While I share some of those qualities to some extent, she not only embodies them all — she embodies them all with a style, boldness, take-no-shit attitude I could only hope for. My sister is one of the most amazing people I know.

My sister, ellynx, told me that she can both help me find a doctor that will take me seriously and help me pay for seeing that doctor if MassHealth and Medicare won't. Finding out why I'm having these "spells" will make my life a hell of a lot less scary. Not knowing is worse than anything it probably is, and definitely highly contributes to my current low mood directly and indirectly. I have many other pressing issues, but my "spells" keep me from addressing them efficiently. And because of that inefficiency, I get completely overwhelmed and then am not able to address the pressing matters at all. Then things deteriorate more and more, and then… well … here I am thinking about jumping in front of trains. While getting my neurological issues taken care of may not solve all of my other problems, it may at least put a damper on the current domino effect which is dominating my life. I need to come up for breath and this offer from my sister is completely out of the blue and has my head spinning. I didn't expect this tonight. In fact, after the day I've had, added to the last few weeks, I truly didn't expect to have an optimistic outlook again ever. Maybe things can work out. Maybe I wasn't able to jump for a reason.