Hometown, CT

I am back at my parents' house in CT, where I grew up from the age of 1. I found some photos of my class from nursery school (Mother Goose, classes 82-84) and can still recognize some of the kids, though many faces look unfamiliar and some names escape me. I was thinking about scanning them in and putting them on facebook, my new procrastination method. I didn't think I'd join til the end of the year, but got sucked in while I was in Seattle. Christina has uploaded some of our travel pictures there instead of Picasa, including an Eating Album. I had too many to fit on Facebook (plus, I still like Picasa better for photo sharing), and responded to her album with my own: My Eating Album. I'm not sure what the criteria is - is it only photos with mid-eating action shots? I ended up choosing photos that were within 3 seconds of eating, with a couple exceptions.

Speaking of eating, my time in CT has been mostly about eating. We went to our favorite Chinese restaurant with some friends of my parents and enjoyed some Peking Duck and other goodies. This is the best place to go within an hour's drive for Beijing kao-ya: Beijing Garden Restaurant in Farmington. I've also had some fan-tuans, zong-zi's, watermelon and loads of blueberries. I'm getting my fill both at the farm and at home. We pick and eat as many as we can at Dzen's, the old farm around the corner on Barber Hill Rd. Apparently, there is some strife among the Dzen extended family and another member of the family has opened a competing blueberry farm on the same road. Don't be fooled! His bushes are still young - best to go to the established farm. The blueberries are plentiful - big, sweet and delicious. Note to Theresa - this is how blueberry picking is meant to be - the rows are well spaced, the blueberries so big they're weighing down the branches, and so numerous you can stand in one spot for 20 minutes and fill up a whole tray! Oh, and a note to Christina - this is how cheap it's supposed to be - $1.50 a pound, and that's not counting the breakfast buffet of blueberries you can eat while picking. Chewy - you're really missing out, but don't worry, I'm eating extra for you : )

My nieces and nephew are all a little bigger and a little older. Hugh's legs are noticeably longer and I don't think it will be long before he is taller than Charlotte, who is 2 years older than him. Charlotte speaks more and is better behaved - she is often sharing things with me, which is a nice change from the constant hitting she used to do. Maddie is slowly being indoctrinated with my American accent and getting rid of her British one that she picked up from her friends. I talked to her on the phone last week and didn't even recognize her voice the accent was so thick. Pretty soon, she'll be saying mountain like 'mow-in" and button like "buh-in". Gone with her T's!