Fall 2024

We've had so much fun this fall. The big kids are together at BLS, and sometimes they even leave the house together and silently ignore each other on the subway. Helen has Mr. Amara for third grade, and it was a joyous first day of school all around.

 

My first day back co-teaching with Ashley and Maria again was also lovely!

 

Robert's mother, Grandma Judy, came to visit in September and we had some nice family time together.

 

The Autumn moon festival in Chinatown was a sticky hot September day, but we enjoyed dim sum and bubble tea and festivities.

 

Helen, Marcus, and I rode in the Bikes Not Bombs Bikeathon. Helen did fabulously!

 

Emily, Lyla, and Caleb came up from New Jersey to spend a too-short weekend with us, and the big girls hit up some thrift shops while I took the little kids to an underattended "Preparedness Festival." They got to eat free Nigerian food, play in a bouncy house, talk to fire fighters and fire cadets gender ratios, tell some motorcycle staties how they would never ever ever try out their motorcycle, practice bandaging fake wounds, get some fantastic face-painting done, and then play lawn games with the fire fighters.

 

Samantha is practicing her face-painting skills too (I did a terrible butterfly on her and she showed me how it was done, masterfully giving me a monarch butterfly face), in anticipation of going on the job market as a children's birthday party entertainer. Meanwhile Marcus has been spending lots of afternoons, evenings, and even weekends with friends, practicing his cooking skills.

 

With Sarah, Sean, and Evie, and Samantha's friend Clare, we all took the new Green Line Extension to the Fluff Festival in Somerville--and decided Somerville is way too trendy and crowded for us these days!

 

Then Evie and Helen got to go camping in the living room. It was going to be backyard camping, since Sarah and Sean were in Alaska and missed out on our big summer camping trip, but the steady rain from noon to midnight Saturday to Sunday convinced us to move the camping indoors.

Still, Samantha and Clare (who spent the night in beds, not the tent) kept up the tradition of big kids making breakfast, and produced pancakes four ways, along with campfire grilled sausages and kooky camping coffee from a tube.

 

Helen's dance classes started up again for the fall at Tony Williams--she's got ballet and hip hop on Tuesdays, Irish step on Wednesdays, folklorico on Fridays, and a rehearsal for the Urban Nutcracker (after her first audition experience, complete with numbers pinned to her chest and with callbacks) on the weekend.

 

Bob and I attended Choir Choir Choir at the Wilbur Theatre to sing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," among other songs.

 

We've had other days/nights out too, including to the Vegan Food Festival at Reggie Lewis, to Jesus Christ Superstar at Boston Conservatory, and to &Juliet at the Opera House (to say Helen was a fan is the biggest understatement).

 

Marcus is still doing ultimate frisbee, and Samantha Girl Scouts.

 

We took Afghan friends apple picking, and Samantha escorted little girls through a corn maze. There were a lot of discussions about which orchard, pricing, experience, etc. etc., but it ended up being an absolutely perfect apple-picking day--not too hot, not too muddy, enough activities for everyone, and plenty of cider and donuts at the end for a double birthday celebration (for friends turning 2 and 5).

 

Helen has given impromptu concerts for my mother on assorted weekend visits

and actual concerts too, with her chorus singing at Opening Our Doors on a super misty Indigenous People's Day.

 

Marcus is learning to drive! He did a two-weekend classroom session with Brookline Driving School, telling some wild stories about his rather colorful instructor, and now is racking up the instructor-led and parent-led hours of practice before he can take his road test in April.

 

Helen is loving her folklorico class, and they performed and participated in the ceremony at a Dia de los Muertos event at Spontaneous Celebrations. Marcus and some of his classmates from AP Spanish showed up for extra credit, actually, too.

 

We went to Fall o'Ween at the Boston Common--sisters pushed sisters on the glowing swings--and the next day Robert took big kids to a bunch of haunted houses up on the Charlestown/Somerville border.

 

Robert's and Samantha's flower-printing class wound down, and Samantha has almost finished a gorgeous quilt with squares she made all summer long.

 

We went with friends (four families together) to the Zoo Lights event at the Franklin Park Zoo.

 

October brought carved pumpkins and forest fire smoke from Salem hovering over the city, as we remained in an intense drought.

 

I chaperoned 140 seventh graders on a trip to House of Blues and Clemente Park, and got to chat with Samantha's science teacher and with a couple nice parents.

 

New green line trains (to be put in service perhaps in 2026 or even after) were happily sitting under a tent on City Hall Plaza for people to give feedback on. Here, have a free donut and tell us if you think the seats are too short...

 

On Halloween proper, the kids gathered at our house with friends and we all went out trick or treating, first up our block, then down Green and along Centre streets, and then to Dunster and the surrounding roads. We had Lenore from a webcomic, the goddess Athena with her owl of wisdom, a suffragist (let's say not one of the really racist ones), two sort-of college students, a witch, and the god Poseidon.

 

Samantha had to make a temple for Latin class, and her assigned deity was Venus. (Marcus: "i've never spent that much effort on any school project in my life, Samantha. Wow.")

 

Our basement is getting ripped up! The laundry room will be relocated into the boiler room, and the old laundry room will become an extra bathroom. Right now it's still hanging out with a giant hole, but oh well, it will get finished eventually.

 

Meanwhile, somehow it's November already and holiday preparations are underway! Helen made holiday cards for veterans, and obviously one would draw an ube boba drink, or a Christmas-frosted donut, in these cards, and Helen and Marcus picked out a small tree for my mother.

 

One-point perspective drawing, and the newly-red-haired artist:

 

We went to the Spartan kids' race in Fenway Park, with Helen, Evie, and Yousra climbing over walls, running up and down stadium stairs, and generally having a blast. I was thrilled because we got to walk (or run, as you prefer) along a new multiuse path in the Fenway on our way there, and everyone enjoyed the Cheesecake Factory for brunch afterward and then a playground stop.

 

So whew, there we are--happy early Thanksgiving! We have had a lot to be thankful for, family and friends are amazing, the Orange Line is speedy again, and basically we manage to keep busy and stay happy.

 

Go back to web essays.
robertandchristina.com was made with a Mac.
© 2024 C&R Enterprises
Email christina@robertandchristina.com or robert@robertandchristina.com
Created: 11/12/24. Last Modified: 11/12/24.