On the occasion of our Quebec City trip anniversary

It’s been a year since we took our belated mini-honeymoon to Quebec City, Quebec. Here are a number of videos from the trip.

Chi-town

In a few hours, I will be heading to the airport to fly to Chicago for a literacy conference. I won’t be a part of the conference, but rather helping sell books at an exhibit there. I did this back in November in Providence and it was a lot of fun.

I haven’t been in a plane in quite some time (can’t remember the last time), and so I have that anxiety that comes when air travel is not a habit. I am trying not to pack too much. For a few hours yesterday, I resigned myself to the fact that I couldn’t bring my camera. But, I decided to fuck it and bring it, because I really feel lost without it.

I just finished a book by John Robison, which was actually a gift I had given to Matthew for Christmas. I borrowed it from him after he quickly finished it post-Christmas. John Robison is the brother of Augusten Burroughs and lives in Amherst. He grew up in Shutesbury, just around the corner from where I work right now. The book is his first and it is about his life with Asperger’s. It’s a quick and engaging read; I highly recommend it. If you do get it, consider the hardcover edition. The paperback edition that I purchased removed expletives so that younger people could read it and learn about Asperger’s, or just growing up different (and all the bullying that comes with it).

Now I am between books and don’t know which one to start. I’m thinking that I’d like to switch to fiction, so I am considering Andre Dubus III’s latest The Garden of Last Days, which I received as a gift. I also received two nonfiction books that are en vogue right now–Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food. I heard about them at JBo’s tea party in December and put them on my Amazon list.

I also got Obama’s The Audacity of Hope, but I have already decided against reading it next. Something about reading Obama while in Chicago seems awfully cheesy.

I think I’ve settled on Ande Dubus III. I don’t know anything about the book. A perfect escape.

I won’t have any computer access for a few days as far as I know. Back on Friday night.

Jones Beach, Long Island, Thanksgiving 2008

Last year we were in Pennsylvania on Thanksgiving. This year we were on Long Island. On Thanksgiving morning, we took a stroll along the Jones Beach boardwalk, one of Matthew’s favorite places. More photos at Flickr.

providence

Sunday through Tuesday I was at a conference for literacy in Providence, Rhode Island. We had a booth and so I was going to help sell our books there. It’s my third week so I was a little nervous about being able to talk about the books. Although most people may have never heard of Pioneer Valley Books, we’re quite popular among literacy teachers. Our booth — it was actually more the size of six booths in the middle of the exhibit hall — was mobbed the first day of the conference. I was trained, but it was still difficult to jump in and pretend that I knew what I was talking about. By the second day, though, I was way more confident. I only got to check out one of the sessions, led by our company president. It was amazing to watch her talk about writing books for literacy. She showed videos of her working with three young children. It was quite a poignant moment for me to watch the children as they became readers. What a powerful–and empowering–thing it is to be able to read.

The hotel was attached to the conference center AND a huge mall, so I didn’t get out much during the three days. We did walk up to Federal Hill two nights in a row for delicious Italian dinners.

Heather took this photo me taking a photo of the view from the sixth floor of the Westin on our first day.

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Harrisburg got it right

The riverfront area in Downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, boasts several paths for walking and biking, lovely views of the river on one side and classic architecture on the other side. There is also an island with other outdoor activities available. You get to the island via a footbridge. I wish all cities with rivers were like this. I’m looking at you, Springfield.

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quebec city

Matthew and I took a much-needed mini-honeymoon to Quebec City last weekend. All of my photos, which are being continuously added by a handful each day — are available at flickr. We also took a bunch of flip videos, which are currently available on facebook only, but I’m going to maybe add them to flickr at some point. I have a ton of those, but have only uploaded two so far. The sucky thing about Flip Cams is that you can only use the internal editing software on a PC. And our PC at home is pretty crappy at this point (sorry Matt). If I have more time or inclination, I’ll take to editing the raw files on the Mac. Not sure it’s worth it, but you know, we’ll see.

martha’s vineyard

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travelin’

Amy and Scott are headed up nawth via East River in New York. I’m told this afternoon we should start to see NYC skyline on Scott’s boatcam. I’ll be watching obsessively.

Cold River

My ladies and I took a day trip up north to take a dip. Earlier in the week, I had scouted out a spot in the Cold River in Charlemont. As we pulled up to the area, Brittnie, yelled out, “they’re naked!”

We spent the early afternoon dipping in the cool water of a small river. Rapids sang above us while we waded and chatted and co-existed peacefully with the nudity.

Afterwards, we headed over to Shelburne Falls for an early dinner at the West End Pub.

I have such highs during the weekends that it’s hard to get motivated to get ready for work this morning.

where have you been?

These past couple of weeks have found me doing a bunch of things – getting ready for vacation, planting things in our front and back, celebrating someone’s birthday, working, taking photos, going to picnics, successfully not getting too many bug bites in the process, visiting family, watching what I eat. I promise to have something up here on this blog soon (besides this pathetic post).