On the Road Again

Hello from the road! I'm in Boston for work. I came out on Saturday to see my sister - we had a good time! Today, in discussing tomorrow's schedule, we realized I didn't allow myself enough time to fininsh my training session and get to the airport. The training sessions here are going really well, and we don't want to reschedule the last session and lose momentum. It's been a while since I traveled through an airport of any real size, so, on the advice of my team, I changed my flight home. Since I haven't blogged since the last time I was on the road, I figured it was probably time to check in!

Steph and I ran through Target on Sunday, picking up a few things for my stay in town, and some stuff for Steph's house. I ended up at a different Target last night with some of the team from work, picking up a couple more things for the trip (and a book to read on the plane home). Good Old Target!

Other Boston Observations:

• The local newscasters don't have the local accent!
• The 99 Restaurant has pretty good food!
• There are more hills here than I expected (not sure why...)

That's it for now!

The Midwest Hurricane

This past Sunday, the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through our area. Between about noon and 3pm, the wind was whipping around like crazy - 70+ mph...it was still a Tropical Storm! But by 3:30, the wind died down, the leaves settled, and we came out to assess the damage.

We never lost power at the house, but my inlaws did, and are still out of power. Most of the rest of the city is also out of power, so school is cancelled, street lights are out, stores aren't open...

And I'm getting this all second hand. I'm out of town!

When I left for the airport on Sunday, I got an idea of how much of a mess Ike left behind - a HUGE tree had fallen across a road outside our neighborhood, all the traffic lights were out on the way to the interstate, leaves and limbs all over. I believe some areas are getting their power back, but the schools have been closed all week. I was at the airport when I saw the message from school that said they didn't have any power. As it turns out, this may actually be working out better for my husband, in that his sister is also out of school, and has been watching our girls at her house all this week. So, he doesn't have to drive all the way through town to drop off and pick up the girls.

Having deserted my husband and children at home in this mess, I'm anxious to see what state everything is in when I get home. I'm thankful that we have power at the house, and that everyone is safe and sound, even if they are having to hang out in the dark. ;-)

Fall is on the way

You would think I could tell this just by looking at the calendar. Well, yes, the calendar is a helpful indicator, but being that the weather is what we normally associate with Fall, the weather lately is also indicating that Fall is coming. And in my area, Fall is marked with rain just as much as cool, crisp air, the need for long sleeves in the evenings, and earlier sunsets. We were out at a friends' house last night, and sat on the porch after dinner, enjoying the lack of humidity, and after about an hour, I realized I needed some sleeves. Aah, Fall.



So, anyway, back to our First Fall-ish Friday. The morning was foggy, but warm (so Summer isn't giving up the ghost just yet!). The whole day was gray and drizzly, but not enough to warrant an umbrella, just like you were walking through a mister. All day. Not the formula for a Good Hair Day.

As I drove to work, the fog had settled in just at the tops of the buildings downtown. Since I've been carrying my new pocket-sized camera just about everywhere, I thought I'd try to capture the fog. Don't tell Mom...I was driving while I was taking these pictures. Isn't that the point of a point-and-shoot camera? It only takes one hand? Well, anyway, I'm sure if I'd pulled over and stood at the side of the road, these pictures would've turned out better (and the camera wouldn't be focused on the raindrops on the windshield). But, I didn't sit and review all the pictures while I was snapping away. I was totally focused on the traffic. Totally.

At some point, I guess I realized my camera was focusing on the raindrops on the windshield. I hit a traffic backup, and tried to capitalize on the artsiness while crawling along at 10 mph. Kinda cool.




For someone that's used to taking pictures of kids and people and using them to tell a story, I'm not sure what I'll do with these rainy pictures of my commute. Other than to share them on my blog! ;-)