Tuesday, December 30, 2008

New Years Eve

We don't know what we will be doing tomorrow evening. It's the first year without kids, since both boys are invited to parties, and therefore we want to do something special. Perhaps we will go to the Boston Pops, if we still get tickets...

But regardless, where we will end up celebrating the start of a new year,
I wish everyone happiness, health and prosperity in 2009.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Winter walk at Horn Pond

One of the best things which happened this year was a walk with a friend around Horn Pond in Woburn, MA. Until my friend showed me this beautiful recreation area, I had no idea that it even exists - although we are living only about two miles away and this now for almost ten years!
Since this day in summer, my husband and I have walked the paths which lead around Horn Pond many times. To the holidays, we had friends from Wilmington visiting us, and we spent an afternoon enjoying the tranquility of a winter day at Horn Pond:






Wednesday, December 24, 2008

For the Holidays

I'm wishing everyone happy holidays. Those, who celebrate Christmas, like us (in Austria we celebrate and exchange presents on Christmas eve)



And to those, who are in the midst of Hanukkah/ Chanukah (how is it really spelled?), enjoy the festival of lights. And lastly, let the spirit of Kwanzaa stay with you through the year.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Sunshine Again

I'm still amazed how quickly the weather is changing here. Yesterday grey sky and hours of snowfall, today bright sunshine, blue sky and a white winter wonderland:




Sunday, December 21, 2008

Winter Night


Too much of a good thing

I enjoy having white christmas - but what's too much, is too much. It's snowing, and snowing, and snowing and no end in sight. We got one foot of snow on Friday, a few inches yesterday and at least another foot today.

For my sons however, this means good business. Neighbors are already calling. They want them to come to their houses for snow shoveling.



Friday, December 19, 2008

Diverted to Bangor

It's snowing - about 5 inches in just a few hours. My husband didn't make it back from San Diego in time before Logan airport was closing. Their flight got diverted to Bangor, Maine.

At least, the passengers were allowed to leave the plane. It didn't look like this at the beginning. The crew told the passengers that they would try to go to Boston in a few hours. Until then all passengers had to remain in the airplane. Later this changed and passengers could leave.

My husband and his colleague decided to drive home from Bangor. It's a four hours ride in good conditions - only the conditions are not good right now. They have already rented a car and are now looking for a hotel for the night.

Again, I'm experiencing that weather impacts the daily life here much more than we are used to it from Europe. It's only five inches of snow, and the schools closed early, and we have a snow emergency ....

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Getting ready

...for the next big storm. While here in Massachusetts thousands of people are still without power one week after the big ice storm last Thursday/Friday, we are getting ready for a new winter storm. According to the forecast, about a foot of snow within a few hours with wind and blizzard like conditions can be expected. School will end tomorrow already at 11:15 am, so that the kids can get home safely.

My husband is currently in San Diego and was supposed to fly back tomorrow. He is now trying to get a flight tonight because Logan airport will probably be closed tomorrow if the weather gets as bad as forecasted. Unfortunately, many other people had the same idea and he doesn't know yet whether he can reschedule. If not, he may be stuck in Houston for many hours. I keep my fingers crossed that he can get a flight tonight.

The weather today was just beautiful - the calm before the storm. This morning I enjoyed watching a spectacular sunrise over the lake in our neighborhood:

Friday, December 12, 2008

State of emergency

Even after 10 years living in Massachusetts, I'm still surprised about the weather extremes. One day (Tuesday), temps are in the low 30s, next day close to 60. Now, a ferocious winter storm with heavy rain, ice and sleet, lasting all yesterday until this morning, left 350 000 Massachusetts customers without electricity. Our governor declared therefore a statewide emergency. Downed tree limbs are blocking roads and caused severe damages to roofs and cars. View the Slideshow on WHDH.com

Monday, December 8, 2008

Christmas tree farm and first snow

It was snowing yesterday - the first snow of the year. We had planned to go to a Christmas tree farm with a nice farm store and trails for hiking and the snow made the trip just perfect.







Our trip was to Brooksby Farm in Peabody, MA. Click here to find other Christmas tree farms nationwide:
http://www.christmas-tree.com/
http://pickyourownchristmastree.org/

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Birthday cake

My husband had birthday yesterday, and this time I didn't have to bake a cake. My younger son brought from school a great looking and very delicious cake, baked by fellow students at his vocational school.




The students at Minuteman Regional High School in Lexington, MA entertain as part of their job training a restaurant, bakery,auto body shop, beauty salon, bank, gift store and flower shop. Next week, they will start selling Christmas trees, wreaths, garlands, poinsettias, and table arrangements. (Minuteman.org)

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

20 years...and engagement rings

and still together.




My husband and I, we had yesterday our 20th anniversary. Since I had to work late because of my evening class, we postponed the "real celebration" to Saturday when we will see the theatre play "Rock'n Roll" by Tom Stoppard.

Fittingly to the topic marriage, I read today an article in our newspaper about legal issues concerning engagement rings. The article was about the question "who gets the ring if the wedding is canceled?" I found this article very interesting because I'm used to a different custom:

Men in Austria or Germany normally don't buy expensive diamond rings for the engagement. The custom is that the future husband and wife put at their engagement the wedding bands on, but on the left ring finger. A married couple wears the wedding band on the right finger.

Well, since things are different here and some men apparently spend a fortune for 'The Ring', the legal question seems appropriate.

The article explained that the regulations are state law. In Massachusetts and in many other states, if the wedding is canceled the ring has to be returned to the giver.

Like always, there are exceptions to the rule. The ex-fiancee may for example be able to keep the ring if the day of the proposal coincided with her birthday or Christmas. Then she can argue it was a personal gift.

Another exception could be extremely bad behavior of the former groom: Cheating or domestic abuse might give her the better cards for keeping the ring should it come to legal proceedings in court.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Fingerprinting and Black Friday

My younger son had today a fingerprinting appointment. When he first got his green card five years ago, he was too young for fingerprinting. At age 14, he is required to get a new card with his fingerprint. The fee this time was only $ 80, a bargain compared to the original green card costs.

My older son decided to participate at the Black Friday doorbuster game this year. He and his friend went at midnight to a big electronic store that was scheduled to open at 5 am. The store had announced to hand out tickets for the doorbusters at 3 am. When my son and his friends arrived at midnight there was already a long line.

He told us today, they had fun waiting there despite the cold because people were just talking to each other, joking around and were having a good time. At 4 am, employees of the store finally came out to distribute those tickets for the doorbuster sales. Only the first hundred in line got tickets. Each person could have up to 10.

The boys, unfamiliar with the game, were among the lucky 100 but only took two tickets. Later they learned that people were bidding for those tickets. They for example hold a ticket for a $ 500 laptop and someone offered them $ 50 if they would give it to him. Had they known, the two could have made a ton of money by just selling the tickets. Nevertheless, they are happy with what they bought and think, it was worth it to wait in line all night long.

They want to do it next year again, but after hearing what happened today I'm worried. In NY state, a Walmart worker died as 2000 people stormed into the store after door opening at 5 am. According to the news, people were even upset when they were told they would have to leave the store and couldn't continue shopping because they had crushed the worker in the stampede. I'm speechless.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Thanksgiving without a family to visit

There are certain holidays or traditions that serve as reminders that we are immigrants without extended family in this country. Thanksgiving is such a holiday.

My Tuesday college classes had already low attendance because my students were traveling to their families. Many of our neighbors are preparing big family gatherings.

For us, however, Thanksgiving is not such a big day: First, we didn't grow up with the tradition. In Austria, we don't celebrate this holiday. And secondly, we don't have family here. It's just the four of us, but no grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, nephews or nieces. The separation from the extended family is occasionally quite difficult for our sons. They deeply miss their grandparents and cousins at birthday parties and at christmans.

With regard to Thanksgiving, we try to make the best of it: We will meet for dinner with a German family and another German friend. We do this now for three years and it becomes our own little tradition. This year, dinner will be at the other family's house. There will be of course stuffed turkey, but with a mix of German, Austrian and American fixings: yams, red cabbage, and potato dumplings.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Cold Snap

Last weekend, we had incredibly cold weather; way too cold for November in Boston. Nevertheless, we wanted to get out of the house and make a walk around a lake in our neighborhood. Our boys weren't enthusiastic at first , but changed their opinion when friends of them joined us. So we managed to have some fun despite the bitter wind and freezing temperatures.



Today, it felt almost balmy outside though the temps were just in the forties. I'm not ready yet for winter and dread the long months ahead.

Friday, November 14, 2008

House Break-in

My next door neighbor had an unpleasant surprise yesterday upon returning from an overseas trip: Someone had burglarized her house. All of her gold jewelry was gone, only a few silver rings and necklaces were left.

She came right away to my house, in tears and afraid to stay alone in her house. Her husband was on his way back from a business trip and was expected later in the evening.

Together, we walked thru her house to see whether more was stolen than just the jewelry from the bedroom. Luckily,the burglars seemed to have been in a hurry to get out of the house again because they left behind a big and heavy shovel. So nothing else was stolen, but we wondered for what they would have needed the shovel.

We then called police. The officers investigated and took photographs, though they didn't give my neighbor much hope that she would see her jewelry again.

My neighbor is heartbroken, particularly because one of the stolen pieces is her engagement ring, which is a family heirloom. It was originally made as engagement ring for her husband's grandmother.

Worrisome is that one of the police officers told us about a sharp increase of break-ins in our Boston suburb. According to him, it's because of the bad economy and he predicted, we will see more crime like that in the future as the recession continues. His advice: Get a security alarm system. A simple one with window and door contacts will already do, which will sound an alarm if someone tries to move or break a window.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Fall Foliage Photo on CNN travel

I learned today that one of my fall foliage photos from our Labor day trip to NH was included in a photo report on CNN.com/ travel. (Last picture in 4th row). I feel honored (and I admit: I'm a little proud on myself. After all, I'm just an enthusiastic amateur photographer)

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Credit Card Management 101

The other day, I heard in the news that the average American household owns 10 credit cards and owes more than $ 10 000 to credit card companies. Now, many lenders are pulling back by curtailing credit card offers and credit lines. At the same time, lenders are also increasing the APR of many credit cards. The APR of one of our cards for example was recently increased to 28 %! If we had debt on this card, it would be extremely tough to pay it off.

Lenders are pulling back because they fear that more people will default on their loans. In the first half of 2008, they had to write off about $ 21 billion in bad credit card loans.

Texas public accountants now offer 5 tips for consumer squeezed by credit crunch:

Tip No. 1: Check your credit limit (because it may have been lowered recently).
Tip No. 2: Call your credit card issuer and negotiate for lower rates.
Tip No. 3: Read the fine print on future offers.
Tip No. 4: Consider using year-end bonuses and holiday gift money to pay down credit card balances.
Tip No. 5: Stick to your holiday shopping list and pay for gifts with cash.

Read more details

If you want a crash course in Credit Card 101, read the Federal Reserve information on Credit Cards

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Income tax, marijuana and greyhounds II

MA's Governor Deval Patrick is happy with the outcome of Tuesday's election. Not only because of Obama. Patrick has another reason to celebrate: The majority of voters rejected an initiative to abolish state income tax. At stake has been 40 % of the state's income.

Personally, I'm glad that the voice of reason was stronger than the love for the own (filled) wallet. Hospitals, bridges, highways, schools - their construction and maintenance are expensive and how else are we going to pay for it if not with taxes?

The other two ballot questions in MA were approved: Voters were in favor of decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana and they voted for the ban of dog racing. The four greyhound tracks must close by 2010.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Election: Many happy faces in MA

"I'm great. I feel so light. The election was just what I needed", said my neighbor this morning when we met. Like her, many people here in Massachusetts feel as if with Obama's election a burden was lifted off their shoulders.

We spent the election night at a neighbor's house. They had prepared for a big party with tons of food and decorated the room with a life-size cut-out Obama. About 40 people came, ate, drank, watched TV and cheered loudly anytime there were good news for the Obama campaign. The last seconds before the California polls closed at 11 pm east coast time were counted down as if we had New Years eve. And there it was: the CNN headline that Obama was elected president. At the party, all hell broke out: I never have experienced anything like that before. People cheered, hugged each other, laughed, cried, and our host filled dozens of glasses with champagne... I was surprised about the intensity of the emotions. Normally, people here in MA are a bit stiff and restrained (like we northern Europeans), but yesterday evening was totally different.

Today, in an Austrian newspaper, I read already about concerns some Europeans have. Many people in Europe watched Obama's speech yesterday evening and how he fired up the crowd in Chicago. The concern now is that people may expect too much of him. One comment was: "He is not Messiah, just a human being".

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Halloween


My neighbors are ready for Halloween. Many houses are decorated, occasionally with a certain overlap with politics:


Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Income tax, marijuana and greyhounds

What do have income tax, marijuana and greyhounds in common? All three are topics of ballot questions in Massachusetts at the election next week.

I'm particularly curious whether MA voters will vote in favor of eliminating the 5.3%income tax. This would wipe out 40 % of the state budget and I can't imagine how MA then will pay for police officers, firefighters, teachers, social services, health care......On the long run, if approved, I expect property taxes and sales taxes to go up.

Ballot question 2 is about decriminalizing marijuana possession: If approved by voters and then also put into law, a person stopped by police with one ounce or less of marijuana will face only civil penalties instead of criminal penalties. It would be then more like a traffic ticket and nothing will show up on the criminal record.

And with the third question, MA voters get the opportunity to ban greyhound races. This was tried twice before but always defeated.

If the polls are right, there will be a NO to question 1 and a YES to question 2. Question 3 is too close to call.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Farmers Market

Today, I was at the Farmers Market in our town. It was a little sad, because the cold temperatures today reminded me that the weekly Farmers Market will soon be over. The farmers only come from June to end of October.

I love going to the Farmers Market. It's a bit like my former life in good ol' Europe.

In addition, the products are locally grown and much fresher than in supermarkets. One can also get a greater variety of fruit and veggies.




For example apples: It's almost impossible to find Spencer, Brock, Shamrock, Northern Spy, Melrose or Russet apples in a supermarket these days. It's just MacIntosh, Macoun, or Mutsu. Not even Baldwin apples are easy to find.

The only downside of the Farmers market in our town: The prices are considerably higher than in local supermarkets. That is different to what I'm used to. In Austria, buying directly from farmers also means saving money.

Well, nevertheless, I stocked up on apples, red cabbage, onions and leeks to fill the storage bins in our basement. Next week, I will buy more apples, pears and cabbage and then we will be all set for the long winter.

To find farmers markets in your state, go to Farmersmarket.com

Monday, October 20, 2008

Sad day for Red Sox nation

Today was a sad day for Red Sox fans. Their beloved team had lost yesterday night the final game against Tampa Bay and the American League Champion title goes this year to the Rays.

I'm still not used to the extent to which people here root for their team, whether it's Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins or Celtics. Yes, we do have team sport in Europe, too and yes, people root for their local soccer team. Still, it's different.

Here in Massachusetts, most people seem to own something Red Sox and/ or Patriots related and they even wear their jerseys or t-shirts to their workplace and to college. During play-off-season almost all of my students, whether young or middle-aged, male or female, displayed proudly their Red Sox loyalty. (Now, after the defeat, I'm curious how many students will wear Red Sox stuff tomorrow in class.)

But to get the real feel for true Red Sox fans, one need to be among them when the team plays; either at Fenway, the Sox's ballpark or in one of the sport bars around Fenway. My husband and I went Saturday night for the first time to such a bar. The team played game 6 of the play-off series against the Rays in Florida and the Rays were leading 3:2.

First, we were surprised about the long lines at the entrance of most sport bars. For us, it was way too cold to wait for an hour outside in line, hoping that enough people would leave so that we could get in. Close to giving up, we finally found a bar a bit further away from Fenway. No lines, inside however already crowded. The game had already started and loud cheers greeted us. Beckett had just struck someone out.

Watching a game among 200 hundred excited, loudly cheering and beer drinking fans is totally different than watching it at home. For me - here comes the true psychologist- observing the crowd was more interesting than the game. Some seemed to be oblivious to their surroundings, and others used the occasion to meet other people (favorably someone of the opposite gender).It was a fun experience for us and we had a good evening.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Fall Foliage Trip/ New Hampshire

Last weekend, we went leaf peeping in New Hampshire. It was a gorgeous day and hundreds of people had the same idea. We still enjoyed the trip to Kancamagus highway and Flume gorge. Originally we had planned to stay for one night in a motel, however everything was sold out. Columbus day weekend seems not to be a good time for sponaneuos ideas....

If you want to go on a fall foliage trip, check the weather.com website for the best places.





Thursday, October 16, 2008

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Where to find Pick-Your-Own Fruit

A few days ago, we visited again an orchard. Now it's high season for apples and pumpkins, but I wanted something else.


I was looking for fall raspberries and I didn't mind that it a takes awhile to pick three pounds. The weather was beautiful, I was with a friend and we enjoyed being outside:




To find a pick-your-own farm, I look for ads in my daily newspaper, or I ask the farmers at the weekly farmers market in my town for an address. Another option is of course the Internet.

Links for Massachusetts:
http://www.pickyourown.org/mass.htm
http://www.mass.gov/agr/massgrown/pick-your-own.htm
http://www.farmfresh.org/food/pickyourown.php?zip=01373

Nationwide:
http://www.lgyp.com/Pick-Your-Own-Farms-in-.htm
http://www.pickyourown.org/
http://www.state.nj.us/jerseyfresh/searches/pyo.htm

For Christmas trees:
http://pickyourownchristmastree.org/

Monday, September 29, 2008

When it rains, it pours!

True for our weekend: Not only that we had three days of heavy rain courtesy of Kyle, we also had other unfortunate situations to deal with:

1. RCN was down in our area; no TV, telephone or internet for more than 24 hours. And this on a rainy weekend where I had planned to write for my website (www.blog.coach4u.net).

2. In the general election in Austria this weekend, two far-right parties won about 30 % of the votes. Even though we are living here and not directly affected, we are concerned about the political development in Austria. People are angry in Austria: angry about high food prices, angry about the European Union, angry about local politics, angry about the general economic situation (where they point fingers to America and believe, it's all the fault of fraudulent American banks) and angry about the high number of immigrants (many muslims ) despite the also relatively high unemployment rate. And out of anger, they "punish" the ruling parties by voting for the far-right.

3. My husband locked the car keys inside the car. It happenend on Sunday afternoon at an Audobon sanctuary outside of Fitchburg, MA. We had planned to hike there, instead we spent almost tow hours waiting for the Triple A guy to find us in this remote location and open the door.

4. Today, Monday, my husband picked up a colleague, who had an accident over the weekend with his car and needed a ride. On their way to the office, also my husband got into an accident. A lady couldn't stop her car in time at a traffic light and hit my husband's car in the back. The braking system ruptured and our mechanic told us that the car is too old for a repair. We had just spend 500 bucks two days ago for new tires, oil change and other service work. As if this were not enough, it turned out that the lady lied about her insurance and now she is not picking up her phone.

As I said: When it rains, it pours!

Friday, September 26, 2008

In Food Heaven

Moving to a different country includes having to forgo some of your favorite food items. The bigger then is the joy if one finds unexpectedly something old familar.

I happened to have luck yesterday in an Asian grocery store. Not only could I stock up on my favorite staples,



I also found Maggi, a seasoning that is a "Must" for soups and stew in Germany and Austria. Even better, in addition, I discovered a special Dutch Gingerbread/cake (Honigkuchen) in the store, which I always had in my childhood in Germany. Oh boy, you can't imagine what memories are now flooding back - only good ones of course since they are about eating cake....

Monday, September 22, 2008

The benefit of laughter at the workplace

Employers, who encourage the use of humor at the workplace will probably have workers with higher job satisfaction and in consequence higher productivity. This is the result of an Australian psychological research study. Read more here

Shaving Cream Fight

This weekend, we celebrated town day in Arlington. While Saturday provided an opportunity for the businesses in our town to showcase their services,



Friday night was the highlight for our kids.

I don't know, who started the tradition, but for years now, several hundred youngsters meet on the night before town day on the athletic field in front of the Boys and Girls Club for a shaving cream fight. It's always a lot of fun:

Thursday, September 18, 2008

PYO-Season

It's again PYO-season in New England and recently I have been to an orchard with a few prunes trees for picking.


I was so happy because this is a rare treat in Massachusetts. In Austria we had about 15 prune trees in our garden and didn't know what to do with the hundreds of pounds of prunes every year aside from making our own "schnapps". Here, I'm paying $4/pound of prunes, if I find them in a store at all. I don't know why this is, because they are really easy to grow and the trees are not very sensitive to heat or cold.

I picked more than 10 lbs and first thing after coming home was for me to bake a delicious prune cake based on a traditional Austrian recipe: