Today was the last day of February interesting and sometimes confusing year. Overall, though for us, it was a good year. I guess it’s all about what you make of it.

We’ve really enjoyed the holidays this year.. especially having our boys with us.   We’ve had a lot of people in and out of the house.

Nothing says lots of company like having every spoon in the house be used.:-)

 

after a workout and short run, dianeand I headed tot he waterfront in Burlington to help with setup for fluffy.. we’ were performing from 2Pm until 10 PM.. .. thankfully it was a relatively warm and sunny day (in the 40’s which is crazy warmer this time of year)

It was great seeign Chris’s Champ he’d made for the burn. He made two of them forming a heart.. in reference to the need to bring people together after such a divided year. 

n there was fluffy .. all ready for setup . Setup went pretty smoothly with the number of folks there

the BTV fire department came for a look.. I guess they let we were kosher

PTZ news was there and interviewed chris, gabe and me about  hilight.. both of them did a great job talking about the champ burn !

by sunset the place was gettign pretty busy.. we had a series of DJ’s playing on Fluffy alternating with bands on the stage at the other end of the park

fluffy was looking good !

there was a guy blowing big bubbles in front of fluffy. 

Our cousins Jon and Jean showed up ! They just arrived here from Wisconsin. Jon has a one month residency at the Gund school on the topic of climate change as a healthcare issue. We’re looking forward to seeing them in some of the rest of their family over the next month!

We got to see Elliot, Leah, Gustav and Ezra !

I loved watching the crew  in the lights of the cloud and the fire roofer . took at those smiles !

we were smiling too !

Rachel and Jovian came by too !

Suze, HansMartaan Illya and Kim came by too.. Here I am showing Illya how the lights work

hen came the fireworks !

then came the Fire dancers and the Champ burn. I tired to get close, but  It was packed down there.. so I went back to watch from the bus. .. 

then Chris and Gabe came out and blew fire on the champ sculptures to light them. Here are the pics I got.. but there were Buch better ones from my cousin Jon that I can share

we shut down around 11 . we took down quickly.. and fluffy headed out with lights still on 

we drove up hoping to see our friends the Wormdogs playing at a bar in the north end.. .. the place was packed.. and there was a long line to get in.. it was so great to see them so popular.. it was almost as fun as getting to see them !

We went home tired and happy..and stayed up just long enough to take a bath and float into 2025

happy new year everyone.. 
lets make it an interesting one.. lets make it a fun and kind one too !

nite all, nite sam

-me

We dropped max off for his flight hime around 7:30 this morning. it’s been such a great visit with him. he is such a great mix of wonderfulness.. 

From there , DIane and I went to the place where Fluffy is being kept. It’s in the old Fitness Edge building in Williston. 

We put in about 2 and a half hours of prep for new years including winding a new stainless steel wool  halo for the poofer and getting the dance floor lights wired up given that we’re goign out with only one side clouded. Everyone is excited for Wednesday !

we had to head home bacuse my freind Suzanne and her family were in town and coming for dinner. 

As part of dinner, diane showed me the miracle of her cold frames.. despite -6 degree weather this week, the greens in cold frame are still doing great. She cut form fresh rosemary for the focaccia while I ate a tone of parsley.. I love parsley !!!!

Suzane, her husband HansMaaarten, their 9 year old son Illia and their friend Kim showed up around 6.   Suzanne is a a Prof at NYU (where My dad went to college ) > she a cognitive neuroscientist and performance artist.. Just my kinda people. HansMaarten is an architect, Ki is a Designer/Strategist at Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC.

They are all really smart and fun people Suze, Hans Maarten and Illia are Dutch and switch between languages magically. it was fun hearing their stories .. Kim is fascinating too. she soemtimes lives up here in Vermont , just up the road in Williston. We’d love to see her more when she’s up. Gabe came home .. Games a Cancer biologist.. and Kim is a strategist at the most prestigious cancer treatment and research center in the s.. or maybe in the world. THye had lots to talk about ! 

Suzanne and I worked with our friends Sean and Gregg on our freind Mike’s Xenbox project last year.   We had Miek and Bob Weir of ht e Grateful diad play music while we gathered EEG and other bometeric info from them  (see here ). the project is still moving ahead.. though slowly.. 

in that project I came to really respect Sze and her colleagues creativity and technical skills. It was so fun getting to host them  here !

We made home made pasta on the ‘guitar, diane made foccawsia and Kim amade soem delicious Eggplant parmigiana. It was so much fun spending tiem with them all. .!

I would love to find a way to work with Sue and her group on another project !.

ok. tomorrows new years ever. we hope to see size and family there tomorrow too !

nite all, nite sam

-me

 

It was actually, a very peaceful and quiet day, which was welcome after all the partying of the last couple of days. Both Max and Gabe were out seeing friends so Diane and I enjoyed hanging out the house. Both Gabe and Max went over to check in on Chris to see if there was anything they could do to help with the champ burn that’s going to be for New Year’s. On the way home Gabe picked up an order of delicious Indian food from our new favorite restaura of India corn. We had a delicious Indian feast and then just hung out together. Played some music and played video games. It was like old times…

Old times, but I don’t think I took any pictures that day that never happens!

I guess it really means we needed a quiet day like that 🙂

nite all, nite sam
-me

It wouldn’t be the chanukah  holidays without latkes. 

Another flashback moment this morning. I took Gabe up to to Bolton to ride the mountain with friends. just like we did hundreds of times when he was a kid

today was  our latke party.. we were thinking we would get about 25 folks. I think we got closer to 35. 
it was super fun..a nd the whole house smelt like yummy fried stuff.. This year we also tried a recipe that gabe had found. Pickle latkes..( it’s a real thing.. look it up !). we started cooking early so we could feed people as they came in

about 5 pm people started showing up. .. and started eating !

Mid way we gathered folks around to light the candles.. we had a few folks there who knew the prayer and sang with me. 

there was lots of playing with baby James

Kasey liked my spooky glasses

user nice getting to talk to everyone .. like these two 

Happy Hannukah everyone  !

may your hues smell like Al’s French Fries forever and ever Ah-men

nite all, nite sam

-me