A freak weather pattern brought the Boston area its first snow in
mid-October. Here
is a 25-second video clip of the snow falling in the backyard.
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Or
if you would prefer to download a video file, right-click
this .wmv
file (3 MB) and select "Save Target As".
The same afternoon, the New England Patriots
were unfazed by the snowstorm and crushed the Tennessee Titans by a
score of 59 to 0. Note the "throwback" uniforms from the 1960s, worn to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the AFL.
Halloween 2009
This
is how we decorated the house for Halloween this year. The
weather was windy but very mild. We got 66
trick-or-treaters this year, which is above our average.
Click any picture for a larger image.
We carved two pumpkins as usual this year. The
"PumpkinMasters" pattern books (and associated carving tools) make this
very easy. Rather than cut the pattern out of the book, we
scan it into the computer and print out a copy. This keeps
the book intact for future use, and allows us to resize the pattern as
necessary to match the pumpkin's size. Brett carved this
pumpkin. The books have patterns of various difficulties, but
he always chooses an easy one!
We display the pumpkins from inside the house, to avoid any mischief
(not that we've ever experienced any). Diane carved this
pumpkin. The pumpkins got a lot of good comments
this year (many people didn't realize that we used patterns).
This picture was taken using the flash. The front porch is
new this year. Our old brick-and-concrete porch was crumbling
after too many harsh New England winters. The new porch is
constructed from three long granite blocks forming the steps, smaller
granite blocks forming the side walls, random fill and sand filling the
interior space above (and well below) the porch's concrete foundation,
and a nice inlaid bluestone pattern on top (obscured by the welcome
mat). The old porch rails were in good condition so we were
able to re-use them. We also re-used some of the original
fill found inside the old porch, including an intact cluster of
mortared bricks that according to our mason was likely
from a brick wall dating to the 1920's.
We didn't put out the decorative crows this year, because rain was
predicted for late evening.
A final view of the house. What is going on in the basement?
A picture of our Halloween candy bowl. The sad thing is, this
is the day after. We bought way too much candy!
Here is a 25-second video of our Flaming Skull halloween decoration.
It doesn't make any sound -- we just added that to the video
for extra spooky goodness.
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________________________________________________________________________________
Or
if you would prefer to download a video file, right-click
this .wmv
file (3 MB) and select "Save Target As".
