More Than One Misnomer

You know there's no Facebook in China and for that matter, no Twitter and well they all ride bikes and there's no foreign news...right? China, naturally is still closed to the "Western" ways of the world. And if you believed all of this, you couldn't be more wrong.

A Bit of Ingenuity

Some people just assume that women my age can't cook or that we do take away meals or some sort of nonsense. More and more I find that in my years spent living abroad I learned how to cook "outside of the box" because necessity is the mother of invention and induction.

Adjustment in Reverse

If there are some things that seem a given when moving to China you may not expect the same those same things as a given when returning to your home country.

You Think They Have Good Chinese Food Here?

There was what I can only imagine was a take out menu on the table this afternoon for a Chinese restaurant in town.  Being curious by nature I took a gander at it and decided that it was not Chinese food, more Asian food with variety of menu items from around Asia...so not Chinese food as advertised.  Okay no problem, I would find good Chinese food. 

Hey Beanpole...Listen Up!

The other day I sent my former boss and friend a link to a new app that alerts residents of Beijing to changes in air quality.  He wrote back "we are all gonna die" to which I replied "that's a guarantee" and then rambled on a bit about the trade-offs involved in living here where I can smell everything and living there where I can't smell anything, after all where ever it is you make your home their are positives and negatives.

Endless Summer

Some people might think the title here is going to be all about the glorious weather we have been lucky enough to enjoy for the past six days, but it's not.  While moving back to Boston was not a decision we made quickly the move itself, took place over the course of week give or take a day.

Surprises In Store

As we were leafing through the Sunday paper circulars this morning F announced loudly that she wanted all of the items in a particular section for her birthday (it's not until August).  Grammie pointed out that all the must haves this season were from Toys 'R Us to which F responded with surprise "you have that here too?"!

The 33rd County

If you've ever traveled to Ireland you know that being from Boston is like being part of a remote 33rd county.  Nearly everyone you meet has a story about Boston or a relative that has gone for a while and some for good.  This past weekend was tip of the hat or a tipping back of a pint to your own heritage or that of a friend.  After all, on St. Patrick's Day everyone is Irish.

One Less Car

For years...at least two, we haven't had a car.  There have been bikes, bike trailers, scooters, ebikes, a super subway and taxis if all else failed...but rarely a car...we didn't see the need. 

As American As Peanut Butter & Jelly

It occurred to me today for the first time in quite literally years that I was not going to be able to offer peanut butter & jelly in any fashion as K head off his first day of kindergarten. Which prompted the question: What can I send? 

Whole Lotta Hoopla

Seems there is a whole lot of hoopla about a toddler who had a um, meltdown on a flight from Turks & Caicos to the United States.  Apparently it was so bad they had to turn the plane around after it had pushed back from the gate...but how bad was it really?

Interesting Tidbit

One of the fun things about creating your own website is seeing who reads it, where they are from and how they get there.

Summer House Memories

Maybe you saw the news earlier.  An entire stretch of Humarock beach was destroyed by a wind-fueled house fire that ended with the total destruction of four houses.  House fires destroy properties and personal items but after the fires have been extinguished they will have taken much more.

Back To School

In the next week our family will have the ultimate moment in "back to school".  After about two weeks of collecting forms, signing paperwork and having medical checks we had all our ducks in a row so to speak and off I went to register K for kindergarten.