We walked down and surprised Rachel and Fred this evening (because we can) and “made” them go out for ice cream. 
This is Coney Island in West Newton center — a fabulous name for an ice cream store if you ask me. The ice cream is good too.
September 3
I went and looked at ranges today — the 1983 builder’s special stove in our kitchen is just not gonna cut it.
From left to right, we have Fisher&Paykal, BlueStar, Bertazzoni, and DCS. Not shown off to the right were Thermador, Bosch, and Electrolux; Viking gets its own room. I will probably wind up with the BlueStar, which is the new company name for Garland, the brand we left behind in Southboro.
September 2
We had a fire drill today, our third one this summer.
Those are not my coworkers, just random building occupants.
September 1
September, and fall is in the air, or at least in the weather, which is bright and spectacularly clear. Here’s the view from my office window.
No, the photo’s not reversed.
August 31
We bought a rug for our front room off of CraigsList tonight. Its colors go remarkably well with the furniture that’s already in the room.
August 30
We upgraded Lis’s Mac Mini today. You can see them stacked, looking remarkably similar. Here the new one is sucking the files out of the old one.
The old G4 Mini is destined to become the main Parkercat.org server, where it should be faster than what’s there now and consume less power.
August 29
I am fixing some of the split stair treads on the stairs to the loft. It’s true what they say…
you can never be too rich, too thin, or have too many clamps. No really. If I had more clamps I’d be done by now.
August 28
The approaching storm (not tropical storm Dennis, but a front ahead of it) made for some impressive-looking weather over Boston Harbor.
August 27
Tonight’s dinner called for both of the following items. Fish sauce is one of those ingredients that sounds like it can’t possibly be good… and then you smell it and have no desire to have anything to do with it. But it does, in fact, taste good — even Lis’s sensitive palate would agree. 
In our house the Vietnamese hot sauce, however, is mine alone to enjoy.
August 26
I saw this hawk hanging out on a light post while I was sitting stuck in traffic. I could almost hear the thought process… “Can’t eat that, can’t eat that, can’t eat that…dammit!”