We had a beautiful picnic tonight at Castle Island in South Boston. We met our friends from Texas (The Steeds) there, and it was a great spot for the kids to run around and tire themselves out. There’s quite a bit of parking including lots of spots along the beach. There’s a take-out restaurant right next to the parking lot if you don’t feel like hauling a picnic along. The beach was full of hermit crabs but luckily we didn’t come home with any new pets…as far as I know. We didn’t tour Fort Independence this time, but the Castle Island Association does offer tours on weekend afternoons during the summer. The playground has been recently updated and the kids had a ton of fun playing there. There are plenty of picnic tables and grass…even though there were lots of people there it didn’t feel crowded. The planes flying low on their way into Logan were an excellent diversion, especially when it got dark and Adlani insisted that he saw an alien ship. Add in public restrooms conveniently located near (but not too near) the picnic tables and a gorgeous sunset…what could be better than that? We stayed until the kids’ injuries became too frequent and then called it a (wonderful) day. Even Ben, who had complained the entire trip there about the traffic, agreed that it was a great choice.

Last weekend on our way home from camp we saw a beautiful rainbow. It appeared as soon as we got on the highway and disappeared as we got off the exit at home. Aliya commented that maybe God let Bernie shake down some sprinkles to make the rainbow for us. On the way from Albany to camp with Ginny less than a week later there were 3 rainbow sightings. As it turns out there are many myths about rainbows and heaven, so maybe Aliya’s idea isn’t such a crazy one.

Here are some myths relating to rainbows: http://www.zianet.com/rainbow/frrelig.htm
Here are some gorgeous rainbow photos: http://www.missouriskies.org/rainbow/february_rainbow_2006.html
Here are some accounts of ADC’s (after-death communications), with rainbows being the second most common example (after butterflies): http://butterflywebsite.com/discover/bfliesandrainbows.cfm

Several years before my grandmother died, I wrote to her that I wanted her to try to send me a sign after her death. We never discussed it but during her funeral I was out in the vestibule with Aliya, who was about 19 months old. I looked out the front doors of the church and saw 3 signs directly across the street. The signs said, “OK Services”, “The Hairafter”, and “Family Fun Time.” I’ve always thought that was my sign from her…I could just picture her in the hereafter having fun with her family. I guess she thought the funeral service was just “ok”. 🙂 The day Bernie died I was laying in bed in our hotel room with my knees up, halfway between awake and asleep. I felt a hand on my knee and I heard Bernie say, “I love ya, kid.” It may have been a dream or my imagination, but I choose to believe it was Bernie telling me he loved me one last time.

Here are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs, The Rainbow Connection:

Why are there so many songs about rainbows
And what’s on the other side
Rainbows are visions, they’re only illusions
And rainbows have nothing to hide

I’ve heard it too many times to ignore it
There’s something that I’m supposed to be
Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me

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I spent 3 hours this afternoon getting rid of the piles and piles of paper in my office. We filled a huge dumpster and a gigantic recycling bin with stuff from our 5000 SF office space and it’s hard to tell that anything’s gone. Some of it was painful to let go of, so whenever someone hesitated (“Maybe someone could use this someday…”) we would yell out our new motto which is inappropriate for my younger blog readers, so don’t get me in trouble with your moms by repeating it. I went through at least 10 stacks of paper a foot high each, plus 3 big boxes which I had hidden under my desk during previous clean-ups, 20 rolls of blueprints, and other assorted junk. I hesitated over a whoopie cushion but Jeremy reminded me that it had been replaced with my remote-control fart machine (more about that in another post). I did save the Von Duprin glasses I’m sporting in the picture. If you’re not a hardware nerd you may not know that Von Duprin manufactures the Cadillac of panic hardware (the things you push on to open the door of the school). Apparently someone thought sunglasses with the Von Duprin logo would inspire customers to buy lots of panic hardware.
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The most amazing thing I found is my monthly budget from 1992…the good old days when life was simple…no mortgage, no day care, not even a room-mate. I actually budgeted for clothes ($200/month) and CD’s ($50/month)! I had a plan for paying off all of my debts with the next few paychecks, except my $2500 student loan. Times have changed.

Rent……………….$550
Student Loan……..$61
Phone………………$40
Electric…………….$50
Food………………$200
Credit Cards…….$200
Magazines………..$18
Gas Bill…………….$15
Haircut……………..$25
CD’s………………..$50
Clothes…………..$200
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Grand Total……..$1409
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Since I work in a male-dominated industry and some of the men I work with seem to have forgotten that I’m actually female, I have experienced some of their quirks from the perspective of a fly on the wall. Like the time one of my coworkers who shall go unamed lifted a cheek and ripped a big fart even though I was sitting at the next desk. One male behavior that has always amazed me is when they criticize random women on the street…”She could afford to skip a meal”…when they are in no position to be throwing stones, if you know what I mean.

This email struck a chord:

Have you ever been guilty of looking at others your own age and thinking, surely I can’t look that old? Well…you’ll love this one…

My name Alice Smith and I was sitting in the waiting room for my first appointment with a new dentist. I noticed his DDS diploma, which bore his full name.

Suddenly, I remembered a tall, handsome, dark-haired boy with the same name had been in my high school class some 30-odd years ago. Could he be the same guy that I had a secret crush on, way back then? Upon seeing him, however, I quickly discarded any such thought.

This balding, grey-haired man with the deeply lined face was way too old to have been my classmate. After he examined my teeth, I asked him if he had attended Morgan Park High School.

“Yes. Yes, I did. I’m a Mustang,” he gleamed with pride.

“When did you graduate?” I asked.

He answered, “In 1975. Why do you ask?”

“You were in my class!” I exclaimed.

He looked at me closely. Then that ugly, old, bald, wrinkled, fat assed, grey-haired, decrepit, son-of-a-bitch asked: “What did you teach?”
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