Red Sox vs. Royals

Click for photos from May 30, 2010

Part of my birthday gift to Shawn was Red Sox tickets for the Sunday afternoon game of Memorial Day weekend.

The official photographer managed to find us again—they have a knack for that. They took two photos which are split across the gallery page—we’re in the last row, last photo on this page, and on the following page the first row, first photo.

Now lemme hear again some of that middle-of-the-eighth-inning sweet music to my ears—my favorite part of Fenway games.

Thank you, Boston fans, for the great sense of community at your ballpark.

James is a college graduate…

Click for photos from May 23, 2010

…and more birthday shenanigans with Shawn…

Happiness is a warm Tauntaun

James received his honors degree in Political Science and International Affairs from UNH, and then joined the throngs of jobless college graduates. Yee-ha.

We had a celebratory dinner at the Mile Away Restaurant in Milford, which always offers ample garden photography opportunities.

The day ended with cake and prezzies at Jim and Mary’s house, where Shawn was the recipient of his surprise birthday gift from them—a Star Wars Tauntaun sleeping bag.

You know the Tauntaun from Empire Strikes Back—Han Solo slices open the Tauntauns’ belly so that he can store a freezing Luke in its warm innards while they’re on the ice planet Hoth.

Here’s an awesome re-enactment.

And here’s the real deal, in a foreign language.

My favorite part of the sleeping bag is the interior design of intestines.

Shawn’s birthday

Click for photos from May 22, 2010

Shawn wanted to spend his 40th birthday visiting New Hampshire sites he’s always wanted to see.

NH Renaissance Faire in Kingston
This was a nice start to the day—smaller than King Richard’s Faire, yet still very much flavorful of an entertaining ren fair. The privateer gunpowder demonstration was a favorite for Shawn, followed by an archery demonstration by “Robin de Hood” who was highly skilled. And the pulled pork sandwich we had for lunch, slathered with BBQ sauce, was primo.

USS Albacore in Portsmouth
An amazing visit inside this dry-docked submarine. The universe provided us with an Albacore reunion on that day, and we got to talking to one of the veterans while touring the sub. He was a modest, humble man, but when asked about his service he was eager to share stories, much like my Dad. His name is Joe Denali and he was the first Quartermaster when the sub was commissioned in 1953. He served two years navigating as well as steering, and when I asked how hard it was to steer a submarine he told me it was like driving a car—the sub had power steering. We loved listening to his stories, especially his description of diving the sub at a 45 degree angle with everyone on deck hanging on for dear life. He also enjoyed telling us about his grandchildren. We thanked him for his service and he seemed pleased to have people interested in his life.

Fort Constitution in New Castle
Shawn has always been interested in this fort for this historic significance:
“It was on the eve of the revolution the fort played its most dramatic role in history. On December 13, 1774, Paul Revere rode from Boston with a message that the fort at Rhode Island had been dismantled and troops were coming to take over Fort William and Mary (as it was then known). The following day the drums beat to collect the Sons of Liberty, and 400 men from Portsmouth, Rye and New Castle raided the fort and removed 98 barrels of gun powder. The next night a small party led by John Sullivan carried off sixteen pieces of small cannon and military stores. This raid took place months before the incidents at Concord and Lexington, and was an important event in the chain of events leading to the revolution.” (From NHStateParks.com.)

Seacoast Science Center at Odiorne Point State Park
Blue lobster! Lionfish! Skates! Seahorses! Starfish! This hands-on science center is a hoot for all ages!

Then it was back to Portsmouth for Shawn’s favorite dinner at the Friendly Toast, followed by a downtown stroll, before stopping at Popovers on the Square and indulging in a chai latte for the birthday boy and hot cocoa for me. And after a great day it was time to head home.

Massabesic Audobon Center

Click for photos from May 16, 2010

This has been on my to-do list for a few years because it’s only ten minutes from where we live—I don’t know what took us so long to get around to it—Shawn suggested we use the gorgeous day of this past Sunday to visit—until we arrived there, we had no idea it had a beautiful trail out to Battery Point of Lake Massabesic.

Syttende Mai

Happy Norwegian Constitution Day once again. I was going to credit the photo above, but that guy really has it going on with his camera work, so instead of crediting I’ll send you all to his site where you can view his Oslo photos from 2007. The quality of his Oslo photos beats my Oslo photos by many miles, especially his Vigeland Park snaps. If I had lots of time on my hands I’d browse all his photography. We didn’t make it to NYC this weekend for the Brooklyn parade, so it’s been moved to our May 2011 calendar.

Our moment in time

This was our moment in time on Sunday, May 2, at 11:00 am. We hadn’t yet left that day for errands and weather enjoyment, so our moment in time took place at home.

Here is the Moment in Time globe that was unveiled on Tuesday. I still haven’t had time to browse it, and based on the stacks of global photos I don’t think anyone has that kind of time. I know I mistakenly mislabeled the photo before I clicked Send and I seem to recall that I accidentally chose the Community category—I hope mine didn’t get swallowed up by the technical problems they were having in the beginning that’s mentioned in the FAQs.

Update on 5/17/10: They’ve instituted a search box in the upper-right-hand corner of the interactive globe where you can search by the photographer’s name that was submitted with the photo. When I searched “Maggie” it retrieved two photos and neither was mine. So it seems my photo did get gobbled up by the technical problems early on.

Dover, NH

Maybe we'll move there. Click for photos from April 25, 2010.