Welcome Kashton!

Our new nephew made his appearance yesterday afternoon. Congrats to Megan, Matt, and Wyatt on their new family member! Here is baby Kashton with aunt Maggie. And again with Uncle Donny (it's obvious what kind of uncle he is, too).

More pictures from the yard

I hurried and took pictures the other day because I was afraid the storm this week would ruin the blossoms everywhere. This is the crabapple tree and the front of the house.



This tree is in the back yard. It wasn't blooming when we left on Friday so it was a nice surprise when we got back on Sunday from Anaheim.

Yankees 7, Angels 1

We went to Anaheim this last weekend to take in a Yankees game. Perfect weather, great game, as you can see by the score (it was the only one of the games the Yankees won all weekend). My family went to Angels games back in the day when we lived in Southern California -- the last time I was there was probably in 1994. It was interesting to come back and root for a different team. There were tons of other Yankee fans there. I think Don needs to buy me some fan gear if we make this an annual event.



Some additional stats. Don: Sun 2, Knees 0. He's the only person I know who hates sunscreen.

Pictures from our yard

I'm having lots of fun discovering plants in our yard. Sometimes I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking at, though.

These remind me of Texas bluebonnets:


Popcorn popping on the apricot tree:

My favorite are the violets growing next to the patio:

Easter egg hunt

Can you spot it? Look high!

We're homeowners!

We've been moved in for just over a week. Here are a few pictures of the new digs!

The front yard:The huge back yard:

Brrr, Boston in January

Last weekend we were in Boston for yet another library conference. When I wasn't in meetings, we walked the Boston Freedom Trail, which passes by historic places like the Old North Church and the Bunker Hill monument. We were fascinated by the old churches and burial grounds, and liked how compact and walkable Boston was.

We stayed an extra day on Monday and rented a car to explore New England. New England is kind of a novelty since, unlike the West, you can drive through multiple states in the course of a day. We drove up the Connecticut coast, then through Rhode Island, where we drove through Newport and stared at all the 19th-century "summer cottages" -- huge mansions built by rich industrialists like the Vanderbilts -- and up to Plymouth. Most everything was closed because it's off-season, but we were able to see Plymouth Rock and stand on the edge of the cold windy bay.

After Plymouth Don wanted to go eat real Maine lobster in Maine. So we drove another couple of hours to Portland in the dark. We found a nice seaside restaurant with the help of Aaron and his internet connection (thanks Aaron!), and this is the result: one happy diner and a bunch of steamed sea creatures (the lobster's name was Joleen). All this and we made it home by 11 p.m.

Don is now trying to talk me into getting a job back East. So please tell all your stockbroker and investment banking friends to help Harvard and Yale recoup their financial losses so they will start hiring again :).