The Getting Clever Project

 It went as well as it could under the circumstances. My BIL Andrew said it really hadn't sunk in yet and remarked several time how quiet the house was without her. Her presence is everywhere. We took the dog  up to the park several times and I met some of his neighbors. That was nice. Mostly we didn't go out. But we did visit the University of Arizona bookstore. I got a nice book about cactus blooms. He got something for his car and we walked around the campus a little. It had the most amazing sundial I've ever seen. I managed not to cry in Andrew's presence but nearly lost it when he brought home her ashes. My youngest sister managed to join us for the last two days on her way home from a business trip. That was good.

Sister 9's birthday was yesterday. She hadn't been to the National Zoo in nearly nine years so that's where we went. They have a new Elephant House. It's much larger and they have an outdoor trail as well as an exercise yard. The weather was quite hot, so the elephants stayed in their house during the heat of the day. There's also a new Bird House. She really wanted to see the flamingos. They crack me up too - so flexible and perfectly balanced. We also saw emus, rhea, whooping cranes, and more rare birds.

My favorite at the Small Mammal House was the golden tamarin. Face like a lion, tail like a monkey, and cute as a button. No visit to the Zoo would be complete without seeing the pandas. Tian Tian was chowing down on bamboo while we were there. We wanted to see the little red panda that escaped last week, but he was still in seclusion.

My photos are here http://flic.kr/s/aHsjGH7oEn

All you wanted to know about Watertown!

"Watertown is a close in, older suburb of Boston/Cambridge. It has a large, long-established Armenian population. There are two large Armenian (Eastern Orthodox, I think) churches with their own schools there, and there is an Armenian elementary school here in Lexington, run by Armenian nuns. I am not aware of a large Russian population there or anywhere else, in terms of a community. In the 90s, and early 2000s, there was a modest influx to all the Boston suburbs of Russian families. The only ones I ever met (several families here in Lexington) were well educated and had left because of the chaos in Russia after the fall of the USSR.

Aside from the Armenian population, Watertown is kind of working/middle class, along with students and grad students. Rents are a little lower and there is convenient bus service into Cambridge/Boston. Also, great Middle Eastern food. It is not a town that is dangerous in any way, just a little gritty looking in parts. There are also some large, beautiful old Victorian houses there.

[I] have been to the area they are showing now, the Watertown mall, countless times. It is just a couple of miles from the WBZ-TV studios where I worked in the 80s and early 90s, and I still go over there sometimes, because for a while it was the closest Target and Best Buy!

It is about a half-hour to 40 minute drive from here. Sister #3 is much closer, only a mile or two away. [I] have talked to her and she is safe and watching TV at home. Niece and her night owl friends heard some of the explosions last night in the gunfight. She is a few miles away from that part of Watertown in North Cambridge."

We celebrated Sister #10's 50th birthday on Saturday. The thing is, she loves cake. Last March we celebrated another sister's birthday at a buffet. She started with four slices of cake and had salad for dessert (so to speak). So for this birthday, Sister #4 decided we would pander. We had Black Forest Cake, carrot cake, Red Velvet cake, German chocolate cupcakes, chocolate chocolate torte, cheesecake, and strawberry shortcake. Plus two fake cakes. And salads for after.

Blowing out the candles:


Sister #1 made it down from Massachusetts, so we had seven of the eight sisters, plus nieces, nephews and inlaws. A good group. Baby Chloe is in there. It's fun to see the next generation coming along.
( Guess which one is the birthday girl )

My week ended on a VERY high note. My nephew/godson and his GF had their baby girl! Mother and child are doing well. So far, I've only seen photos - I want to give mom a little chance to rest before every last one of the aunts descends on her. Baby is cute as can be of course. Sister is proud as can be. She is the first grandma of the siblings and felt a little tentative about it at first. None of my siblings had children until they were over 30 (what a bunch of late starters), but now they are making wistful noises at *their* children for the next generation.