Straddling Spring & Winter

I started walking in the mornings, which felt delightful, and then it got cold again and the contrast between my warm, snuggly bed and damp chilly wind outside was simply more than I could bear. The trouble with this time of year is that at first you’re so winter-acclimated that a sunny 30-degree day feels … [Read more…]

Social Media

I feel like social media has been a bit of a struggle lately. I am old enough to remember back when we had three to five TV channels, and most people watched the most popular shows or big broadcasts like the Super Bowl and the Olympics. And then things fractured more and more, first into … [Read more…]

Empty Nest, Again

Last weekend M flew out of Albany for her spring semester abroad in Santiago Chile. Actually, we had a bit of a scare when she first checked in at the airport. The service rep at the desk said, “I can’t issue your ticket.” She then explained that since it would be for more than 3 … [Read more…]

Eating Around Schenectady

After enjoying it for our first time last year, we hit the 2024 Schenectady Soup Stroll. This time we went with friends, which is absolutely a better option, because there is plenty of waiting in line, but that’s not a problem if you’re catching up and chatting. For the second year in a row, Simone’s … [Read more…]

Around the House

One of my Christmas gifts from Cute W was this extremely adorable miniature kit that makes a garden house designed to perch on your bookshelf and look adorable. It even lights up! I took this picture mid-assembly, because it was a lot of different little pieces. But it was absolutely very fun and relatively easy … [Read more…]

Re-Entry Followed By Another Escape

With snow looming, I have to share this very sad picture that I took after we returned from Mexico. I’d washed everyone’s swim suits and hung them out on the line to dry. Even though our trip to Mexico was a delight, we still managed to be fairly exhausted by the end of it. We’d … [Read more…]

Out of the Cold

It’s been a while since I’ve posted because I’ve been traveling to avoid our January in Upstate New York with not one, but TWO trips recently. First up: we took a family trip to the Out of the Blue Festival at the Moon Palace resort in Cancun. This was Cute W’s idea after we saw … [Read more…]

A Brazilian Supermarket (And Others!)

We’re actually pretty amazingly lucky with how many specialty ethnic markets we have around the Capital District. The one that we visit most frequently is La Mexicana Restaurant & Grocery on State Street. It is one of our go-to places for take-out and it’s where I go to pick up Crema Mexicana for our Mexican … [Read more…]

Merry Christmas!

We had an extremely relaxing Christmas. We didn’t travel anywhere and no relatives came to visit. What we DID have was all daughters home with us. As much as it’s great to see people, the process of coordinating travel plans and figuring out where to send gifts adds an extra layer of stress, and that’s … [Read more…]

Christmas 2023

We switched gears very quickly this year: in order to have at least one daughter available for our annual trip to the Christmas tree farm, we got our tree on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was bit of a rough time this year. We arrived at Bob’s Trees and immediately saw a gorgeous tree directly … [Read more…]