For the Ladies...

Next time any of my female relatives come to visit Boston, there is a place we must visit: the Eveden factory store in Dedham, MA. They sell bras. The brands they carry go as small as 28D and as large as 50N, so there's something for almost everyone.

I read a recommendation for this store a few weeks ago and took a field trip. The nice ladies confirmed the size I had measured at home, and then they brought me every bra in the store that came in my size. I bought four that day, then went back a week later when they had a flash sale and bought one more. My purchases included a Freya sports bra, a Freya full coverage bra, two Fantasie padded plunge bras, and a Wacoal strapless bra. My favorites by far are the two Freya bras. They are not fancy, but they are so comfortable!

Because it is a factory store, they get more colors and prints than neutrals, and they are generally a season behind the current collections. They get one of each size, so I can't simply go back and buy more of the two bras I love most. However, also because it is a factory store, the prices are good; the most expensive bras are $39.99, most are $29.99, and my two Freyas were both less than that. The store is close enough that I will go whenever they e-mail to say they have new stuff - I would like one or two more to get me through the average laundry cycle.

Here are some things I learned about bras:

• Buy a bra so it fits snugly on the loosest set of hooks. As it stretches over time, you will be able to tighten it so the band is supportive.
• Don't wear the same bra two days in a row - they need time un-stretch between wearings if you want them to last, so alternate at least two during the week.
• Wash bras in lingerie bags on the gentlest cycle, or hand-wash them. Dry them flat or hang from the middle (gore), not the straps.
• Store bras nested together in a drawer, but don't fold the bra in half at the gore and turn one cup inside out to fit inside the other.
• Apparently it's very common for women in the US to wear bras that are too large in the band and too small in the cup.

If you want to take a look at the Eveden brands, you can see them online here: www.eveden.com
Then, plan a trip to Boston, and we can go shopping! (You can probably find these brands at high-end lingerie stores, but they will be upwards of $70 each.)

If you want to measure yourself, this guide has a reputation for being the best on the internet. It was created by a guy who wanted his wife to have a bra that fit; he shared his methods. His language is frank, but his information is solid.

I am never going back to Victoria's Secret again.

Nemo: The Blizzard of 2013

Depending on which weather service you listened to, Nemo was either the impending "Snowpocalypse", or "The Blizzard of 2013." The governor ordered everyone but emergency personel off the roads by 4pm on Friday, with fines of up to $500 or one year in jail. The MBTA stopped all bus and train service at 3:30. Schools called off Friday before people went to be on Thursday.

We woke up Friday to … something less than flurries. The flakes steadily got larger, until midday when it was warm enough that wet freezing globs fell more like rain. By that point the ground was starting to cover. The wind came up and snow continued all afternoon. We went to bed Friday night with four to six inches on the ground.

Saturday morning, we found closer to 18 inches outside, with drifts reminiscent of Nebraska. Nothing house-height, mind you, but it's rare to get enough wind to really make drifts at all in Lexington. By the time the snow stopped around noon, two feet or more of snow covered out lawn.

So what did we do? Strapped on skis and snowshoes and went out to play, of course! The top layer was all light, fluffy stuff. I wore the snowshoes, and I sunk in probably three or four inches in the flat spots, or just an inch or two on the stiff drift ridges. Amanda followed on skis and said it was actually really great quality with just the little bit of packing in my tracks.

We eventually stopped to shovel. The plow came along later … and we went out to re-shovel to get the car out Sunday morning. Now I've just shoveled the front steps in case the mail service makes the rounds today. And, thanks to Amanda's prodding, I've taken some pictures. They're a bit dull because it's grey outside, and snowing again, but we hope they'll put everyone at ease.

These are the piles the plow left behind. That shovel is about four feet tall.

Ski and snowshoe tracks through the front and back yard.

The sidewalk (cleared by the city), and our stairs (cleared by Amanda and me).

And finally, the whole snowscape from the road. For us, it really wasn't too bad of a storm. The lights flickered once or twice, but we never actually lost power. We have no tree limbs down that we can see. No trouble with blocked vents. No food or water shortages. It was pretty much just a great excuse to stay home and relax for a weekend!

Update: Since I had an excuse to go out again (our landlord was cleaning off the roofs), I snapped a quick shot of our snowshoes in use. https://twitter.com/hobbyist/status/300999531154243586

What we did on Friday

Hi Everyone!

We took the morning off work on Friday morning to go to a Friends of the Library event at Wellesley. Madeleine Albright spoke about her new book, Prague Winter, and answered questions from the audience, and then we stood in line to have our copy signed. Bryan took a picture during the signing.

Madeleine Albright is incredibly eloquent and very funny. She told some great stories, and the depth of her knowledge is fascinating. She spoke without notes and gave very complete answers to some complicated questions from the audience. If you ever have the chance to hear her speak, I would recommend it!

Hope everyone is well!
Amanda & Bryan

We're home!

Just in case anyone was wondering, Bryan and Emily and I made it home safely, about an hour ago. We had smooth travels all the way.

How We Spent Our Sandy Vacation

Amanda and I traveled to Florida last weekend to attend a memorial service for my grandmother. The service was very nice, and we were able to spend time with family I haven't seen in several years. In fact, Amanda even met my uncle Bill and aunt Donna for the first time!

What we didn't realize until Thursday night was that Hurricane Sandy was planning an east coast visit the same weekend. We arrived in Florida on-time Friday evening, after most of the wind and rain (just a few gusts and one crazy pour). Saturday was grey and cool, but otherwise fine weather. Sunday, we woke up to an even lighter sky … but also a phone message from JetBlue informing us that our return flight to Boston had been cancelled.

We packed up an drove toward the airport anyway, holding on the phone in a queue estimated to be, "longer than 60 minutes." Halfway to Orlando, we even had to pull over at a McDonalds to recharge Amanda's phone. But 90 minutes later, we had our answer: we were stuck in Florida until Wednesday morning. Sandy was due to turn inland, and no airline wanted their planes sitting on runways in the predicted path.

After several minutes of freaking out about things we were meant to do at work at the start of the week, we calmed and started making more phone calls. Remarkably, the Holiday Inn was not yet full of other travelers. Extending the rental car was equally easy. So, we had lodging, and means to get to food/laundry/etc.

Now … what to do with ourselves for two and a half days?

Harry Potter at Universal Studios (album link)

Aha! The Harry Potter exhibit at Universal Studios! We've heard about it, why not? A replica of Hogsmead, Hogwarts castle, the Hogwarts Express, butter beer (good, like cream soda), pumpkin juice (a bit too sweet), Cornish pasties (really hit the spot) … we had a ball. Wizards in robes singing with frogs, Olivanders wand shop, and the animated pictures … wow.

So that entertained us for the rest of Sunday. Monday we had to be practical: laundry (since we had packed for a light two days), and a bit of shopping. We were also able to contact college friends we hadn't seen in years, and meet them for dinner.

Tuesday was a bit of a looming hole. Would we just sit around and read? More shopping? Then I remembered some of the signs we had seen along the highway…

Kennedy Space Center (album link)

Two nerds… Florida… Kennedy Space Center. It was awesome. We saw the amazingly large Vehicle Assembly Building, where the load rockets onto the mobile platform before wheeling them out to the launch pad. We saw the launch pad where all of the moon-landing missions left the Earth. We saw a Saturn V rocket, which is huge - the length of a football field, nose-to-tail. We experienced a simulated shuttle liftoff. And, the big highlight, we saw the shuttle Atlantis up-close, as it was undergoing its final preparations before being moved to its new home inside a brand new building at the visitors complex.

To cap it all off, the trip home was smooth and on-time. Apart from a few sticks in the driveway, the house looks untouched. We're not even sure we lost power. Quite the relief, after watching all the pictures of New York and New Jersey stream across the televisions in the airport.

So that's how we spent our Sandy Vacation.

Be sure to follow the links to the albums - there are larger versions of the pictures, and more!

Copenhagen!

It's time to tell you about our trip to Denmark!

A few general observations: Andrew and Emily got all the Danish genes - all the young Danes look so much like them! Everyone rides wonderful bikes in the lovely bike lanes. Copenhagen is very flat, so that makes it easy.

We left on Saturday night, September 8. We flew from Boston to Frankfurt, and then from Frankfurt to Copenhagen. We took a train from the airport to the central train station (about fifteen minutes), and then walked the remaining few blocks to our hotel. It was about about five o'clock on Sunday when we got there. We settled in, took a bit of a walk around the area (formerly the meat-packing district), and had some really delicious burgers for dinner at a place that was close to the hotel. We were pretty tired and went to bed fairly early.

Our hotel, the DGI-byens, is part of a sprawling complex that includes as well as a hotel a conference center, a sports center with several pools, gyms, workout facilities, and a climbing wall, and a bowling alley. Our room was very spare but actually much larger than we were anticipating, so that was nice. The ceiling was high, walls white and gray, floors wood, and very little furniture. Breakfast was included, so each morning we went across the courtyard to the restaurant in a building that must have once been a warehouse or factory (lots of exposed wood and metal beams) for a buffet of bread, meats, and cheese, as well as yogurt and toppings, soft-boiled eggs, and pastries. It was great. I possibly ate my weight in whole-grain bread spread with organic Danish butter.

We spent three days exploring the Copenhagen with our Copenhagen Cards. This seems to be common in European cities: you purchase a card at the tourism office, and it acts as a free pass for all the public transportation and gets you free or discounted entry to all the popular sites for the number of days you purchase.We visited Rosenborg Castle, which has both a glass room and a china room, and the Treasury, where we saw the crown jewels; the castle grounds are surrounded by a moat and are in the middle of a lovely park with sculpture installations. We also visited Amalienborg Palace; the one of four identical palaces (the royal family lives in the others) that's available for tours has rooms decorated to show the personalities and interests of the last several kings and queens, as well as a great collection of ball gowns belonging to the current ruler, Queen Margarethe II. The Amber Museum is a tiny place, with a collection of pieces of all types of amber on the two upper floors of a funny little historic building and a shop on the ground floor - it only took about twenty minutes to see everything, but it was a cute place.

Of course we went to Tivoli, the amusement park, several evenings, just to walk around and see the sights. One evening, there was a concert of fiddle music. We had ice cream with a marshmallow-like topping called "guff". We even had abelskiver there.

We climbed the nearly 300 steps to the top of the Radhus - the view is great, although it was rainy that day - and saw the astronomical clock that's also housed at the Radhus. We wandered through the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, a museum financed by the then-owner of the Carlsberg brewery; the collection is primarily sculpture, with a few paintings. We spent a rainy afternoon at the Danish Architecture Center where we learned about some interesting projects, and we went to the Danish Design Museum, which had an exhibit on new materials being used by designers, as well as a permanent exhibit of the history of Danish design.

Christiansborg Castle took half a day. It houses the government offices as well as all the royal reception rooms: a throne room, a formal dining room, a ballroom, a library, and beautiful art everywhere. It's like touring the White House, only not nearly so much security. You do have to wear shoe covers to protect the floors. The current Christiansborg is the fourth (?) castle to stand at that site; you can tour the ruins underneath to see the remains of the first several and learn about the fires that destroyed the more modern ones. We just stuck our heads inside the royal stables, but they seemed pretty impressive as well, and they do actually house horses.

We had an afternoon canal tour to see many of the major landmarks from the water, including the statue of the Little Mermaid. Although the boats are very flat, we still had to duck going under the bridges. Our last stop with the Copenhagen card was the Thorvaldsen Museum, which is mostly his sculptures from Greek and Roman mythology in a funky building: multiple stories built around a courtyard that houses Thorvaldsen's tomb.

We went several times to Magasin, a department store, to wander around and get our souvenirs. In Denmark, it is possible to buy a Le Creuset abelskiver pan. (Since I already have two, I didn't, but I was tempted.)

Bryan's conference went well, and I even got to see his presentation. In one of the albums below, you can see a picture of him just before he presented.

Food and drink:

• We had some traditional Danish food at Cafe Petersborg: hash for Bryan and meatballs for me. Very tasty; very filling.
• We ate a couple of different hotdogs from the vendors along the pedestrian shopping street;  interesting toppings, and one in a tube-shaped bun.
• We had our first smorrebrod, open-faced sandwiches, at the Magasin food court (good), and better ones later on at a cafe in Nyhavn.
• "Coffee and cake" is a common thing to see on a menu. Basically, it means that you get a dessert and a coffee drink for a set price. Excellent idea.
• We had a very expensive meal (ribs and beer, mostly) at a touristy place outside Tivoli, with several of Bryan's colleagues.
• We had another meal with a bunch of conference goers that was a buffet; I don't think anything was traditionally Danish, but it was all tasty.
• We had pizza from a little hole-in-the-wall shop, and shawarma from another.
• We had mussels at Nyhavn 37, and a starter with three kinds of herring.
• Beer in restaurants is mostly Carlsberg, Tuborg, or Jacobsen. These all come from the same brewery. They are generally light lagers, although we had a couple of darker ones.
• There was a great craft beer bar, Fermentations, a few blocks from our hotel, and we spent two evenings there enjoying the beer selection.
• Mikkeller, a Danish brewery whose beer we'd had before, also had a beer bar that we went to twice. Good stuff!
• Apparently Denmark has the highest rates of organic food consumption anywhere in the world. On our last night, we went to an organic restaurant near the hotel, BioMio, for an excellent meal.

We had one day when we tried to do several things and couldn't. We walked through a lovely park and saw the outside of Frederiksborg Castle, but it turns out it is a military training center, and the public aren't allowed inside. (The Frederiksborg Castle you can visit, we learned later, is in another city. Go figure.) And, sadly, the Royal Copenhagen factory no longer offers tours, although we did wander through the factory store. We did get to wander through the Assistens cemetery and see the grave of Hans Christian Andersen.

We also toured the Carlsberg Brewery. Much of the exhibit is about the family that started it, but we also saw lots of historical brewing equipment and a collection of over 20,000 unopened beer bottles, from almost everywhere in Europe, Asia, and Africa. And, more horses - they look like Clydesdales!

The highlight of the trip was Legoland. We got up early on Sunday morning, took a train to Vejle, and then a bus to Billund. Legoland was a short walk from the bus stop. The rides and and amusement stuff were cool, but the really impressive part is all the Lego models. There was a whole section of Star Wars models, as well as famous landmarks, European cityscapes - even the Nyhavn street in Copenhagen, where we could actually pick out the restaurant we'd been to the night before! We wandered around for hours, and we took more pictures at Legoland than anywhere else. We only went on rides when it got us a better view of Lego models. I think I dreamed in Legos that night!

Of course there are pictures:
Legoland
Motorcycles of Legoland
Everything Else

On the trip home, we took the train back to the airport and flew to Toronto where, we learned, you have to get your luggage and go through U.S. customs before your flight to the U.S. The timing was tight, and we ran to our gate, but we made it back home in the evening of September 19.

We spent our remaining four days before going back to work overcoming our jet lag.

Thanks to Emily for taking care of our house while we were gone!

It Works!

Here's the thousand-word summary:

That is to say, we've just returned from the new bike's first multi-day adventure. We took off right after work Thursday evening, and "slabbed it" down the interstate to Binghamton, NY. Friday, we spent the morning and early afternoon enjoying the twisty backroads of Pennsylvania. By Friday afternoon, the locals were warning us of a big storm coming in from Ohio, so we returned to the slab to reach Alexandria, VA by dinner time.

We spent Friday evening through Sunday morning with an ex-coworker and friend of mine named Rusty, and his lovely wife Alex. We ate delicious food, explored Washington, DC (including the International Spy Museum), and met up with college friends.

Sunday, we once again zipped down the interstate toward home, with a brief detour in New Jersey to have lunch with my aunt and uncle, Jan & Al. Should you ever need Korean food in Lyncroft, NJ, find Kimchi Shushi on Newman Springs Road.

The whole 1170-mile trip was great. The V-Strom is much more comfortable than the Bonneville was. The luggage works much better. Even the gas mileage was higher (~55mpg average). We also missed all but a dozen drops of that rain in Pennsylvania.

In short, this bike is going to see quite a few more happy miles in the coming years.

-Bryan

P.S. See, Jackie? Safety gear! We wear it.

The Post Amanda Thought I Was Writing Last Time

While I was excited to show you all my new bike last weekend, Amanda was excited to show you something else. Approximately 18 months after buying the first lumber, we're now sleeping in in our hand-made hard maple sleigh bed.

It's not my first piece of furniture, but it is, by far, the largest and most intricate to date. Despite some amateur imperfections (or are we calling those "artisanal qualities" these days?), I'm quite happy with how it turned out. It looks good, it sits straight, the matress fits, and it doesn't squeak!

The matress is supported by fifteen poplar slats, each 4 inches wide by 3/4 inches thick, with an inch of space between them. That is to say, there's no box spring. We bought the matress about a year ago, and we have used a futon frame (also a slatted frame), to support it since then. At "full" size, these slats seem to be fairly firm, but not hard. We like it.

The finish is a mixture of one part mineral oil to 4-5 parts beeswax, by volume. It's not a hard, take-a-beating kind of finish, and it will need to be reapplied from time to time, but we couldn't resist the beautiful natural color of the maple, the sweet honey smell, and the smooth matte texture. We don't expect it to need to withstand much more than our touch and the seasonal humidity change anyway. Rumor also has it that the finish and wood should change color with exposure to the sun as the years go by, which will add a great living element to a long-loved piece of furniture.

You may notice that there is no metal hardware visible. The headboard and footboard are mortise-and-tenon boxes around a floating plywood panel. Glue and a good fit is all that's holding them together.

Fear not, though, for I am not crazy enough to glue up a piece of furniture that cannot later be removed from a room. The side rails are attached to the headboard and footboard via bolts, but in a sneaky way. The bolts are recessed into the side rail from the inside. They protrude from the end of the side rail, and then pierce the headboard and footboard through a hole on each inner face. A square nut is captured in the tenon of the lower cross rail, to secure the end of the bolt. Wood pins also protrude from the end of the side rail, and slot into holes in the headboard and footboard, to prevent the side rail from spinning around the bolt.

Beyond connecting the headboard and footboard to each other, the side rail also holds the cleats, which support the slats for the matress. The cleats are attached with good, old-fashions glue-and-screws construction, to ensure they never pry themselves off.


The crest rails atop the headboard and footboard are defining features of the bed. The first question I'm always asked about them is, "Did you use a lathe?" While there was a point, early in the project, that I may have had access to a six-foot lathe, the answer is, no, I did not use a lathe. Instead, I used only my table saw, hand planes, and a pile of sandpaper.

After making mortises for the legs, and routing the groove for the face panel (much easier on a square surface), I simply cut the corners off to produce an octagonal prism. I then cut those corners off to produce a 16-sided prism. Using a plane, I shaved the tips of those sixteen corners, then progressed through several grits of sandpaper. Because I decided completion was better than perfection, the rails are not perfect cylinders, but they're close enough to please the eye and hand.

I would be remiss if I didn't also mention the extra hardware that consumed portions of the living room for several weeks. The face panels in the headboard and footboard are not flat, but instead have a gentle curve to match the profile of the leg. To force the panel to maintain this curve, instead of fighting against it, I built the panel from two sheets of 1/4-inch plywood, glued together and squeezed in a bending form.

I did nearly all of the work in my simple basement shop, except for the very first cuts. Most of the wood I bought for this project was surfaced on at most one side. The crest rails are actually two halves of one very thick beam. The early work of surfacing and major cutting, I did in the MIT Hobby Shop. It's a fantastic place that I never used as an undergrad, but I happily paid for a term of membership as an alumnus. Professional-grade jointer, planer, band saw, sander, etc. made the start of this project possible. It was also inspiring to see many undergrads taking advantage of what I had not, building everything from cabinetry to musical instruments.

I purchased the wood at The Woodery in Lunenberg, Mass. Despite having agreed to help a friend move, the operator of the yard stuck around an extra hour to help me sort through their stock to find exactly what I needed. With a great price to boot, I'll likely be headed back there for my next project.

What that next project may be, though, is up in the air. The next few months will likely be spent mostly on small projects that filled the queue while this bed filled the workshop. There are also holiday gifts to plan. After all of that, I'll begin to consider the next big things on Amanda's list.

Some kind of fowl

So I am out watering ( what else would I be doing?) the North Shade Garden, which isn't so shady anymore and I turn around to see this large bird walking down the center of the brick sidewalk by the front of my house ( the road side). I wish some woodsman or woodswomen were here that knows about fowl as I am darn sure this is not a song bird. It is now under my evergreens. Looking for water do you think? It heard my hose running and thought I was a babbling brook?

OK, I looked at pictures online and I think I have young female quail in my front yard. I hope it is still here tomorrow morning so Jeff can identify it before he goes to work. I am going out to look again. Perhaps it flew in seeking sanctuary...I hope the dog next door doesn't see it. 

This and That

I wish I could say that Jeff, Rachel and I have been doing something exciting this summer, but life is pretty predictable. Rachel is taking a CNA class at the campus. These last two weeks the class STARTS at 5:45am, I guess that is a change and challenge for a family who likes to sleep late. She is doing her clinical at All About Life nursing home here in FDL.

I have been doing a little sewing. My library knitting group ( we are up to 7 members now) have knit 158 toys and are still knitting away. A FDL group of doctors, nurses and dentists that will be going to Nicaragua in February, give the toys to comfort the children when they come to the free clinic. We sent knitted toys last year also and the Nicaraguan mom's asked for more toys to take home to children who didn't come to the clinic. So we are trying! I wish I knew what we could do for the mom's. Thinking. The knitting group member who put us in contact with this group is Marge Stuber's sister-in-law, Kathy. I have been in FDL for 26 years now but I am always still amazed when I know someone.    My book club is reading 1984. I didn't like it when I had to read it in high school and I don't like it any better now.

Jeff and I both are trying to deal with the drought. I feel so bad for farmers, landscapers and orchards. We took advantage of the wet spring to transplant quite a few perennials. Now we are just trying to keep them and everything else alive by hauling a 150 feet hose around watering. Actually I have 2 hoses, the long one and one 50 foot.   Trees that were planted 5 years ago are showing stress. We don't water the lawn-well, that is not really true, we don't water about 95% of the lawn.  I have one area in the shade I water a bit just to keep the dandelions and clover going as I have two baby rabbits in the yard and they like to eat the greens. The rest of the lawn is dead. The bunnies are controversial, so far they have been kind to our gardens but I have noticed one of them is taking a liking to my parsley plant!

Since Bryan shared a "helmet post" I thought I would share a couple photos of my brother. For his 70th birthday my niece and nephews got him a "ride along" at the race track. I already forgot the name of the track but I believe it was in Northern Illinois. All I know for sure is he got to go VERY FAST. 

Harold rode in this yellow car.

Harold getting his helmet adjusted.

Below, left to right -  Harold, Beth and Mark