Tag: happy

Welcome our new family member

After filling out many applications for many different dogs, Kelly and I were finally approved for adoption of a lovely little girl.

Everyone, meet The Baroness Nymeria Frieda von Hopkins-Michael. Her friends call her Nymeria. She is a short-haired dapple red boar mini-dachshund weighing about 8 pounds with startling blue eyes. She came from a rescue called Out of the Woods Rescue.

20200520_123451

Dash and Nymeria enjoy a sunbeam together in our kitchen near the door to the deck.

Like her dearly missed older sister, Thumbelina, she is a puppy mill rescue. Nymeria comes from Pennsylvania, in Amish country. She did not even have a name, just a tag that said “11”.

Nymeria enjoys some time in the big bed.

She was born in September 2016 so she is about 3 1/2 years old. So she is by far the baby of the household now, which is kind of ironic since she has had a litter of puppies every heat since she was able. This poor little girl lived in a rabbit hutch with a wire floor for pretty much her entire life, until she was rescued.

Nymeria working on her tan on the back porch.

Still, she seems to be in pretty good shape considering all she has been through. She has her appointment with our vet scheduled this next weekend, but her foster mom, Chrissy, and the good folks at Out of the Woods did an amazing job with her initial shots, her spay, and her dental in which she lost17 teeth!

They love spending time together. It really was love at first sight.

She is full of energy and has a great sense of curiosity. So far she gets along well with all the other animals. Just this weekend she touched noses with Violet, which was a huge and pleasant surprise. There were cats in her foster hom who she apparently ignored, but Violet was very concerned upon her arrival. But she doesn’t seem interested in chasing them, and so far she has only had a passing interest in them at all.

She and Dash LOVE to play together, and it’s great because now he will be worn out enough to go to bed without much fuss, the way he would after a long day of walking around at Brimfield.

She is named after Nymeria, one of the direwolves from ASOIAF/Game of Thrones, and after Frieda, a character from Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz.

The good folks at Out of the Woods Rescue sent us home with food, medicine, toys, and so much more. I can’t tell you how thankful we were for their treatment of our still scared but wonderful little girl. If you are so inclined, please celebrate with us by making a donation so they can continue their excellent work.

~Geoff & Kelly

The wondrous music of Game of Thrones

Back on March 6th, Kelly and I attended a very special sort of concert at the Garden.  As anyone who knows us reasonably well already knows, we are really big fans of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series and the TV show based on it, Game of Thrones.  Thanks to one of her coworkers, we got two tickets to the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience.  It was by far the most enjoyable concert experience I have ever had.  It was some three hours long, and I never got tired or bored.  It was simply amazing.

Continue reading “The wondrous music of Game of Thrones”

It’s my last show of 2016!

And thank goodness for it.

I like doing shows, don’t get me wrong, but I’m just glad that 2016 is almost over.  We can count it in days now, people.  So let’s celebrate with my last market of the year.  Somerville Local First is presenting their Holiday Marketplace on Sunday December 11th from 10am-4pm.

Continue reading “It’s my last show of 2016!”

2016 just can’t end fast enough

Well.  Where to begin.

Yes, 2016 has not been a great year for all sorts of reasons.  In that sense.  John Oliver is right  (see below, and definitely not safe for work).

We can’t wait for it to be over either.

Yes, there have been some good things that happened this year.  Kelly and I finally have a house of our own, and we love it.  Just this past weekend we put up our Christmas tree for the first time in several years.  I was smiling from ear to ear.  I just couldn’t help myself.  As silly as it might seem to some people, putting up the tree in our living room as we listened to Christmas music was one of the most serene and happy moments I have had in a long, long time.  It meant the world to me.

Also, there was the addition of little Violet to our family a few weeks after we moved to Winthrop, and we love her very much.  She is an absolutely sweet and affectionate little thing and we could not have hoped for a better addition to our little family.  She has found all sorts of little places around the house to sleep, and one of my favorite things to do around the new house is to find the new places where she has decided to sit and/or nap.

We spent our Thanksgiving day in New Hampshire at my sister Liz’s house, after picking up my Aunt Donna from her place (also in NH now) and heading over to have Thanksgiving as a late lunch.  And we had a pretty good time, all things considered.  Luckily, we managed to avoid all discussions of politics.

So yes, while I can’t avoid discussing politics forever, I am going to put off talking about it for a little because I wanted to end this post on a positive note. While I have much to see about current events I will still try to put up some more pictures of the new place, as well as some pictures of all of our furry “kids” together.  It is the season for that sort of thing.

Much love to all our family, friends and acquaintances.

-Geoff

Friday November 11th, 2016 7:00pm @BU CFA – A FREE Concert Featuring Me!

It’s that time of year again.  The When Patients Heal You concert is back.  Only this year we’ve moved out of the lecture hall at the BU Medical Center and we’re back at my alma mater, Boston University.  In fact, we’ll be performing in the concert hall where I did my undergraduate recital lo these many years ago.

patients-heal-you-2016-ad

 

It will be much like years past, all the performers will be neurology patients of Boston Medical Center and many of them will be epileptics like me.  We’ll all get to perform two pieces and probably bring the house down at the end with big sing a long with Denise at the keyboard.

There’s usually a reception afterward with tasty food and a chance to mingle with the performers and the medical staff who not only provide us with excellent care, they sometimes even perform with us.  Please join us on Friday night for a great concert and a lot of fun.  This is a free event.  Tell your friends.

~Kelly

So, we adopted a ninja

After losing Bucky back at the end of May, and then going through the insanity of buying a house and moving, Geoff and I talked about getting another cat.  It was especially evident that this was a good idea once we moved in here as this place has a lot of room and Scratch turned into a SUPER cling monster.  Yesterday, after searching on multiple websites here and there for a couple of weeks, we went to the MSPCA with a couple of kitties in mind as possible contenders.

Our only criteria was that the cat was female, not a kitten, had lived with other cats, and could get used to other cats.  We were not planning on getting a ninja in the bargain.

Presenting Dame Violet Crawley Hopkins-Michael, KBE*.

Continue reading “So, we adopted a ninja”

Moving- the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The extended radio silence around here has been due to several factors.  The major factor has been because Geoff and I spent the better part of this summer looking for and then buying a house.  (YAY HOUSE!!!!!)  Then we had to move.

We had to move ALL the stuff and things.  And ALL the books.  OMG.

Continue reading “Moving- the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”

Gratitude & Grief

Life is always a mixture of the bitter and the sweet, the dark and the light, the gratitude and grief.  I admit that I often focus on the bitter parts to the exclusion of all else.  That is in large part due to the fact that a large portion of my 20’s and almost all of my 30’s have been spent dealing with one crisis or another and, last year, dealing with death after death.  That, and the way that people treat you, tends to color one’s outlook on the world a bit.  Depression doesn’t help either.

That being said, this year is turning out to be one of the best in a long time.  Despite losing Bucky last week, things seem to be looking up for us.

Continue reading “Gratitude & Grief”

My favorite speech from the entire ASOIAF series might be coming to GoT!

I can’t believe I missed this.  This is what I get for not keeping up with everything being discussed on Winter is Coming.

Continue reading “My favorite speech from the entire ASOIAF series might be coming to GoT!”

I’m in Dallas. On purpose.

Most of you know that I stay out of warm climates whenever possible.  Therefore it seems utterly insane that I left Boston today, in the middle of a snowstorm (Ursula was her name) to fly to Dallas.  Intentionally.  Where it was 80 degrees.

This is what I missed out on.  Photo credit @jaaabeee

Continue reading “I’m in Dallas. On purpose.”