The many old gravestones...

Studying the graveyard map...

At Harvard... we spent a fun afternoon wandering, browsing bookshops, and sitting in coffehouses. We had dinner at a wonderful Indian place in Cambridge called "Tanjore," which according to the Zagat guide is known for its "regional diversity."

We took a trip along the Cape Cod national seashore. We stopped at Marconi Beach to wander a bit.

Braden...

At the beach...

The lone photographic proof of the wonder that is the "Brazillian Grill" in Hyannis on Cape Cod. Braden and I can't decide if a franchise of this place in Wisconsin would go broke immediately or be a smashing success. You pay one price for a buffet of side dishes and unlimited meat. Men in Brazillian dress wander the restaurant, each one carrying a giant skewer/sword of some kind of spit-roasted meat (every kind of steak, prime rib, bacon-wrapped filet, several kinds of chicken, chicken hearts, bacon-wrapped chicken, salmon, and roasted pineapple). You tell them whether you want some, and they slice off some, which you grab with the above-shown tongs. They keep coming until you turn the card on your table from "green" to "red." We still haven't really recovered.

Happy Mother's Day!

In honor of Mother's Day (and because we were in need of pastry for Sunday morning), I made my first attempt at Grandma's butter horns and coffee cake. They came out great, except for a few misshapen ones, but they all tasted the same. (Not quite as good as Grandma's, but give me another 40 years...) And the upside of making them yourself is that you don't have to battle about 18 cousins for seconds :) .

Butter horns! (Eaten approximately 2 minutes later.)

Tsuki Retrospective

We've had Tsuki for exactly one year, today. To honor the occasion, we've recreated (sort of) some of the shots from that day. The rope toy is the same one... the dog has put on about 17 pounds. (No comment on the humans.)

Tsuki intently watching out the window.

Then...

Now...

Then...

Now...

Then...

Now...

Congratulations!

After four days of writing on comparative politics and international relations, and successfully orally defending said written material last Thursday, Braden has passed his comprehensive exams! And not just with a "pass", but with a "high pass." So after Monday, he will be done with his graduate coursework. (I, however, have another year left...). On to the dissertation!

In honor of his achievement, here is one of the first pictures I ever took of Braden... our "first date" hiking in Hemlock Draw, in January 2001.

So I was reading someone's blog today, and she'd posted pictures under the theme of "Way Back Wednesday." I was inspired to look at the oldest digital photos I have (from Christmas 2000, I believe), and this is a fun one. Meghan had left cookies out for Santa, and received this note (suspiciously similar to Josh's handwriting) with the paper plate: "Dear Meghan, Sorry about the plate. Blitzen was a little hungry. Love, Santa."