Gypsy Roses

Scott and I went to my boss's party Wednesday night. It took forever to come up with these costumes because I wanted to be clever, but it just kept getting later and later....so funny enough, this is what we had to work with, organically. Are we gypsies at heart? I loved putting eye liner on Scott and he is wearing the earrings that he always asked me if he could have in highschool. Bet you didn't know his ears were pierced!!

Champs again

Boston Red Sox sweep the Colorado Rockies!! They were on fire the last two series....unstoppable. I wish that the final game could have been here, but Bean Town celebrated anyway last night. There will be lots of fanfare this week!

a musical date

Scott and I went to see Boston Conservatory's West Side Story, a 50th anniversary commemoration. Leonard Bernstein's daughter is coming to give a lecture this weekend! The head of my department, Neil Donohoe directed it and one of the choreographers, Stephen Reed, has multiple credits on Broadway and worked extensively with Tim Robbins, the original director of the 1961 film version, before he died. It was a terrific collaboration. Never have I seen such an energetic and fresh rendition. What fun...

Sweet Teaspoon, So Long

On October 24, 2002, my mom gave me a book called Their Mysterious Ways, Amazing Stories About God's Animals and Us. In the front of it she wrote: "Jayme, I shall never forget, as long as I live, your expression of love for me and deep caring for my little T-spoon as you knelt in our yard (in 1999) and prayed for God to give you your faith as you had when just a child. Then you asked for our bird back and you set out to find him."

Sometimes, I think back to that summer he flew away and simply CANNOT believe he was restored to us again--yet I was the one who believed I would find him and then I did! So where has this kind of faith gone, anyway?

This poem was in that book she gave me five years ago....

(For Teaspoon

June 1991 - Oct 2007)

A lovely, lilting melody

enchanted me

as I walked along the lane.

Stretching on tiptoe,

encircling the tree,

I tried to see the tiny songster.

Sunshine splashed gold

upon my face.

Shadows danced

with the breeze.

And though thick foliage

hid the little bird,

it could not hide his song.

There is a veil that

separates us, too,

since you have gone.

But, unlike that little unseen bird,

I still can hear

your song.

~Mary Alice Baumgardner

34 years ago...

...Two became one...

1 Corinthians 13:1-13
If I speak in the tongues of men and angels,
but have not love,
I have become sounding brass or a tinkling symbol.

And if I have prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains,
but have not love, I am nothing.

And if I dole out all my goods, and
if I deliver my body that I may boast
but have not love, nothing I am profited.

Love is long suffering,
love is kind,
it is not jealous,
love does not boast,
it is not inflated.

It is not discourteous,
it is not selfish,
it is not irritable,
it does not enumerate the evil.
It does not rejoice over the wrong, but rejoices in the truth


It covers all things,
it has faith for all things,
it hopes in all things,
it endures in all things.

Love never falls in ruins;
but whether prophecies, they will be abolished; or
tongues, they will cease; or
knowledge, it will be superseded.

For we know in part and we prophecy in part.

But when the perfect comes, the imperfect will be superseded.

When I was an infant,
I spoke as an infant,
I reckoned as an infant;

when I became [an adult],
I abolished the things of the infant.

For now we see through a mirror in an enigma, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know as also I was fully known.

But now remains
faith, hope, love,

these three;

but the greatest of these is love

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Happy Birthday Brother!

Wish I could've been there for your surprise party! I hope that you are feeling loved and blessed beyond measure as we celebrate your life today. Hugs and kisses!

Time after Time

I have my sister's blog on for the music it plays, as I often do and when it came to Norah Jones' version of Time after Time, it struck me anew and I got out my guitar to play around with it. I really need to get lessons...I love folk music more and more and really want to learn how to play.

Golden Ticket

Hey Peeps, I got my ticket home for THANKSGIVING!!! I fly in on JetBlue Tuesday, November 20 into Chicago, hang out there for a few hours with some good friends and get home in time for some good R & R and then Food Preparation Wednesday with my girls! I can't believe it! I wish it were possible for Scott to come too. What a sweetheart to send me without him...

She's crazy...

My Dolly, she sits in the corner like that.

I never can tell what the poor girl is at.
Maybe she's crazy,

Or thinks that I'm lazy,

For not whining too, at the crocophantgnat.

Strawberry Jam

I found a berry sale at Whole Foods and since I didn't get a chance to make jam this summer, I bought a couple pounds and Scott and I made jam tonight! I bought much more than I needed, so we have a lot for our freezer and friends and maybe even some for strawberry shortcake!! I can't believe I get to make these summertime favorites at the end of October...

The Boston Red Sox...

...Just won the American League pennant and are heading to the WORLD SERIES!!! They won the first game and lost the next three. Then unbelievably, they won the last three. The Indians were only able to score five runs in the last 30 innings of the series...

Boston is about to get crazy, as the first game is in town this coming Wednesday night! Wow, I don't mean to boast, but we had a world series team when we were in Chicago with the White Sox and now one with Boston's Red Sox...Woo-Hoo!!!

Apple Picking!

Scott and I went with our neighbors, Brad and Olga, to a small town about 45 minutes away, called Harvard, to go apple picking! I have never been. We got there late afternoon as the sun was just slipping down...What a beautiful orchard. We watched them make apple cider for about 15 minutes and then got to taste it right after it was squeezed--no preservatives or pasteurizing! YUM!

I am going to make apple sauce, apple butter, apple crisp, apple pie, apple jelly, apple fritters, apple cider, apple bread and taffy apples!! Yesssss....

Tomorrow

- Make up Voice lesson 9:00
- Speech class 9:30 - 11:30
- Repertoire coaching 12:00
- Final Showing of "I'm Not That Girl" 12:30
- Acting 1:30 - 2:50
- Farmer's Market at Copley 3:00 - 4:45
- Jazz 5:00 - 6:20

This weekend, I have to work on my scene from 1776, write a paper about Jews in Medival Society for Cultural Perspectives, and write a personal, spontaneous monologue based on a true story for Acting. Start memorizing Julia's speech in Two Gents from Verona, work two shifts at Starbucks and hopefully go apple picking! Whew!

88

Harriett, my Harriett, how can it be that 88 years ago today you were born, dear? And why is it that your last birthday, 71, is the only one I paid attention to as a kid? How is it that that last celebration of your life was already 17 years ago, yet I remember it like it was yesterday, when I was a mere child? A child. Why did you have to leave me before I could truly know you? I miss our adult relationship. I miss you. I dream about you. I love you, Granma. With all my heart. Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Little Noah!!

Six years old, are you kidding me?? Oh, Noah, how I wish I could've helped you celebrate this exciting day. I love you with all my heart!!

Tuscan Tomato Soup

Today was Columbus Day and to our delight, I did not have classes and Scott did not have to work! WOW. We slept in, had coffee and left over apple pie and since it is such a cold fall day, I pulled out the William Sonoma Soup Cook Book Scott's Grandma gave us a few years ago. I stumbled across this recipe and decided to make it since we have an abundance of fresh tomotoes and basil...

Simple, but DELICIOUS.

A Touch of Home

Scott's Mom and Grandma came to visit this past weekend! It took me an hour and a half to get to the airport because the blue line was down, so we got in late, with just enough time for some decaf mochas and chatting until 2am...

Thursday, we had the day together, since I decided to skip Cultural Perspectives and Ballet was cancelled and Scott took off work. We took the bus down to Coolidge Corner in Brookline and went to a French Creperie for a delicious brunch.


Then we got on the green line to down town and went on the famous Duck Tours

Afterwards, we showed them Copley Square, Newberry Street, the beautiful Boston Public Garden
and a lot of points of interest on the Freedom Trail and Washington Street (where we got Italian sausages and fresh, squeezed lemonades),
as well as Boston Harbor just as twilight was setting in.

We ended up at a great little Italian restaurant that evening in the North End, called Bella Vista and enjoyed some primavera antipasta, manicotti and fettucine della bolognese, as well as some incredible pastries from the famous Mike's Pastries also found in Little Italy.

Friday, I had to go to class and Scott to work, so we set Mom and Grandma loose for some shopping at Quincy Market, Fanueil Hall and the Haymarket. I was able to get out of the second half of my classes and met them down at Copley for my favorite Farmer's Market. We had fun buying corn on the cob, apples, flowers and fudge.
Back at home, we put together a delicious light summer dinner of grilled zucchini, squash, mushrooms, a yellow pepper and tomato from our garden, corn on the cob and bread and olive oil. YUM!

Saturday morning, Scott and I woke up to the house filled with the smell of baking apple pie in our oven!! I felt like a kid waking up to a mother's loving care.

After breakfast, we took a leisurely walk in our park and then relaxed in our backyard.

Grandma and Mom enjoyed Scott's hammock and Dolly enjoyed her favorite game--attacking the water out of the garden hose. She is hilarious to watch. It was difficult to say goodbye on Saturday afternoon--so soon after they arrived!

Our House