dancerjodi (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dancerjodi) wrote2013-05-16 11:25 am
dancerjodi) wrote2013-05-16 11:25 am
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Such a gorgeous day! I am enjoying spring and loving wearing dresses to work again.
It has been a tough couple of weeks. Mina is teething and fighting a cold (they seem to go hand in hand) and her sleeping has been bad. So ours has too. Not a lot of fun. Still, she is fun and sweet and it is fascinating to watch her grow. Each day she has more new words coming out of her mouth. I've lost count!
Waltham's Steampunk city was this past weekend and we bought weekend buttons, going down Saturday and Sunday for a bit. I love that the http://www.crmi.org/ and the city is getting a boost from the steampunk thing. It is not my thing, but I love it as I tend to love or be fascinated with any kind of subculture. Seeing folks waking around in great clothes, corsets and some silly props all weekend is like going to a sci-fi convention, only it is in my hood. I love also watching the locals and their reactions to it. Mina loved the music and bellydance and crowds. I hope it can continue to expand. It would be nice to see it back in the Watch Factory, and closing part of Moody for it though disruptive may be a neat thing to try also.
Things are ramping up at the studio for our recital (Saturday of Father's Day weekend). This year it is at yet another new venue, the Emerson Umbrella theater in Concord. I've been in the building before (my first bellydance class was there years ago) but never seen the theater. They are a green venue, and we will get fined if we bring any non-reuseable bottles in there. A neat concept. Going to San Francisco and seeing folks with no plastic bags, lots of compost/recycle bins everywhere, no styrofoam. Boston has a long way to go! It was inspirational at least for us to try and make changes in our personal lives.
The landscaper we found from S&A came out last night to look at our yard and price out the work. We have an odd lot, in that we are downtown, on top of our neighbors but still have a yard! We have a small, paved patio area behind our house, and a decent sized yard on the side of it (all fenced in). It is a total mess. 2 huge tress, lots of weeds (vinca), random plantings. Super bumpy - rot or old tree roots or animal holes or who knows what under the grass. We are starting from scratch: ripping it all out, leveling it off and planting new. Our front "yard" is small - awkward to mow since it is inside of a stone border (right now there are plants and mulch). When we bought the house it was COVERED with random bushes and flowers. I joke that they closed their eyes, threw the plants and they landed where they did. We have been in this house since 2004 and each year pulled a bit out. I want us to finally, once and for all get some purposeful planting in there. It is full sun, most of the day, so things that will get fried aren't great there. We have some thinking to do. Given shade, we can't use sod. Grass isn't good to plant until August when the weeds won't be doing much else. They could dig/level now and we'd be left with flat dirt until August, but it would allow us to plant ourselves on the border beds and Mina would actually be able to walk around without falling. Or we wait for it all to be done in August, and we don't plant anything this year, and can't let Mina run around. We are going to go with the rip it out/dirt plan. We need some tree work too: the dead dagoba tree in the back has to go. The huge maple with the swing needs to be cut down so we get some more sun in the yard. And we need to figure out what/where/how to plant in the front, and around the new, cleared perimeters. Seed would go down on the side yard for grass in August, and it would get a crab grass treatment. Next spring we would do a big lawn service to get it all going well. Lots of boring stuff I'm not excited about, but should finally get done so that we can actually have fun with our yard.
Pics from our property:
Front yard: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/8161019245/in/set-72157611219069237
Dagoba tree: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/3111201492/in/set-72157611219069237
Back patio: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/3110369203/in/set-72157611219069237
Part of our side yard with the swing tree (and Terry): http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/3200035412/in/set-72157612613895008
At some point we will re-side the house and need a lot of paving/stone work done (driveway, patio). One thing at a time. It is nice that our projects now tend to be the picky/small things OR the really big save for a long time but not an emergency to fix now things. We will also be working on getting our front porch more Mina-safe now that she's mobile. I miss spending time out there, but right now there is unattached screen (we don't want to lose our cats), exposed pointy bits and exterior (lead) paint exposed due to some broken siding. Soon, soon!
It has been a tough couple of weeks. Mina is teething and fighting a cold (they seem to go hand in hand) and her sleeping has been bad. So ours has too. Not a lot of fun. Still, she is fun and sweet and it is fascinating to watch her grow. Each day she has more new words coming out of her mouth. I've lost count!
Waltham's Steampunk city was this past weekend and we bought weekend buttons, going down Saturday and Sunday for a bit. I love that the http://www.crmi.org/ and the city is getting a boost from the steampunk thing. It is not my thing, but I love it as I tend to love or be fascinated with any kind of subculture. Seeing folks waking around in great clothes, corsets and some silly props all weekend is like going to a sci-fi convention, only it is in my hood. I love also watching the locals and their reactions to it. Mina loved the music and bellydance and crowds. I hope it can continue to expand. It would be nice to see it back in the Watch Factory, and closing part of Moody for it though disruptive may be a neat thing to try also.
Things are ramping up at the studio for our recital (Saturday of Father's Day weekend). This year it is at yet another new venue, the Emerson Umbrella theater in Concord. I've been in the building before (my first bellydance class was there years ago) but never seen the theater. They are a green venue, and we will get fined if we bring any non-reuseable bottles in there. A neat concept. Going to San Francisco and seeing folks with no plastic bags, lots of compost/recycle bins everywhere, no styrofoam. Boston has a long way to go! It was inspirational at least for us to try and make changes in our personal lives.
The landscaper we found from S&A came out last night to look at our yard and price out the work. We have an odd lot, in that we are downtown, on top of our neighbors but still have a yard! We have a small, paved patio area behind our house, and a decent sized yard on the side of it (all fenced in). It is a total mess. 2 huge tress, lots of weeds (vinca), random plantings. Super bumpy - rot or old tree roots or animal holes or who knows what under the grass. We are starting from scratch: ripping it all out, leveling it off and planting new. Our front "yard" is small - awkward to mow since it is inside of a stone border (right now there are plants and mulch). When we bought the house it was COVERED with random bushes and flowers. I joke that they closed their eyes, threw the plants and they landed where they did. We have been in this house since 2004 and each year pulled a bit out. I want us to finally, once and for all get some purposeful planting in there. It is full sun, most of the day, so things that will get fried aren't great there. We have some thinking to do. Given shade, we can't use sod. Grass isn't good to plant until August when the weeds won't be doing much else. They could dig/level now and we'd be left with flat dirt until August, but it would allow us to plant ourselves on the border beds and Mina would actually be able to walk around without falling. Or we wait for it all to be done in August, and we don't plant anything this year, and can't let Mina run around. We are going to go with the rip it out/dirt plan. We need some tree work too: the dead dagoba tree in the back has to go. The huge maple with the swing needs to be cut down so we get some more sun in the yard. And we need to figure out what/where/how to plant in the front, and around the new, cleared perimeters. Seed would go down on the side yard for grass in August, and it would get a crab grass treatment. Next spring we would do a big lawn service to get it all going well. Lots of boring stuff I'm not excited about, but should finally get done so that we can actually have fun with our yard.
Pics from our property:
Front yard: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/8161019245/in/set-72157611219069237
Dagoba tree: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/3111201492/in/set-72157611219069237
Back patio: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/3110369203/in/set-72157611219069237
Part of our side yard with the swing tree (and Terry): http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/3200035412/in/set-72157612613895008
At some point we will re-side the house and need a lot of paving/stone work done (driveway, patio). One thing at a time. It is nice that our projects now tend to be the picky/small things OR the really big save for a long time but not an emergency to fix now things. We will also be working on getting our front porch more Mina-safe now that she's mobile. I miss spending time out there, but right now there is unattached screen (we don't want to lose our cats), exposed pointy bits and exterior (lead) paint exposed due to some broken siding. Soon, soon!
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