Washington Avenue Extension

On Vox: What to do about WashAveX

The title of my blogs (Ultra and Classic) comes from the street our house is located on, Washington Avenue Extension.  I came up with the name when I built my first website for our wedding, which we hosted in the backyard.  I didn't really care for the name, but it was short and referenced the place, so I went with it.  Two years later when I started blogging in 2005 I re-registered the URL and it has worked out well for us.

But now we're selling the house. 

Is it odd to name your blog after a place that is no longer yours?  Should the WashAveX™ brand be carried forward?  Are these important questions to anyone but me?

We haven't sold the house yet, and I don't know when it will actually happen.  But in the meantime I am experimenting with a new blog (WashAveX Refugee) and I plan to fully phase out Classic (not because of the name change, but because it is expensive for no good reason....Typepad is too focused on small business).

While we are very happy about our plans to sell the house, and we know it is the right move for us, we didn't always plan it this way.  For example, in August of 2003, on the day we were married, we buried a time capsule full of items brought by our wedding guests.  The capsules (we had to use two to fit everything) would be opened on our five year anniversary.  Per Rick's instructions, we had to bury the capsules five feet down, below the frost line.  At my bachelor party I had 12 drunk guys labor all day digging that hole.  As a side note, when you ask your friends to dig a deep hole, you quickly find out which ones have bad backs and which ones brought a really nice shirt that day.

With winter coming on we didn't want to get caught selling the house with our capsules buried beneath impenetrable frozen ground, so on Saturday, Jason and I decided to try and dig them up.

The time capsule recovery team gets to work

Jason is a good digger, and we made fast progress.  It wasn't long before we came across the first artifact from the dig.

Bury the Yankees

It took me a little while to recollect why a Yankees cap was in the hole, sitting on top of the first capsule.  I think we had decided to bury the Yankees, and I'm proud that we did over the last four years.

It took about 8 hours of drunken labor to create the hole, but the recovery took about an hour.  Having the  largest  rocks already excavated was a big help.  At last Jason stood triumphant above the hole.

Time capsules recovered!

We didn't open the capsules.  We still plan to wait until our five year anniversary to do that, so in the meantime we stored them in a safe spot.  The last thing we did before returning the dirt to the hole was to rebury that Yankees cap.  We don't want their luck to change.

Originally posted on palmer.vox.com

Happy 6 Month Birthday Little Boy!

Happy faces on a sad day

Laurie's maternity leave ended today and this morning Carson, Jason, and I walked her to the T-stop.

Five Gifts

Clementine of "A Life in Two Keys" has offered up the following on her website:

"By the end of the calendar year, I will send a tangible, physical gift to each of the first five people to comment here. The catch? Each person must make the same offer on her/his blog."

As I took her up on her offer (and am quite curious to see what she sends), I am making the same offer here on washavex.

On Vox: Arthur the Absurd

I've always wanted to star in a theater of the absurd, and I got my chance today at the Boston Children's Museum.

Arthur the Absurd

Starring:  Kaja, Grace, Jason, Carson, and introducing the Dad

Produced by Laurie

Directed by Godot

Absurdist TV

Originally posted on palmer.vox.com

Halloween at the Cantwells

Jen and Jim Cantwell invited us to their annual Halloween party again this year.  Last year, costumes accessorized with all manner of weapons were what the cool kids were wearing.  I'm happy to report that this year, while no overriding trend was identifiable, there were far fewer swords, guns, machetes, rifles, lasers and axes.

Carson had little choice in what costume he would wear; we jammed him into the chili pepper costume Janine had given to us when Jason's first Halloween rolled around.  When Jason, who is a bit more lithe than Carson, wore it, the tail of the pepper hung down with much material to spare.  With Carson donning it, it was less chili pepper and more stuffed pepper.  As Jen observed, it was almost like Carson was in a red mermaid (make that merman) costume.  It couldn't have been comfortable.

Jen and Carson:

Jason too had little choice in what costume he would wear, but given his enthusiasm over "Curious George" we decided a monkey costume would suit him.  It turns out, he loved the costume....he just didn't like actually wearing it.  Thanks to Harry Potter (aka Chris Cantwell), though, Jason was wrestled into the costume twice during the course of the evening and had his first trick or treating experience in the Cantwells' neighborhood. 

Jason the fleeting monkey:

We realized that age two might be a little young to introduce a child to this activity when Jason walked right in the front door at the first house he visited.  It is clear to us that Jason would move in with strangers without hesitation.  Jason's age also means that he really doesn't understand that he scored a bunch of candy.  He actually doesn't really understand candy period as he has only had some once or twice before.  So, the winners on this evening turned out to be me and Rob--both in forcing our kids to wear silly costumes and coming away with a bucket of candy.

Thanks Cantwells!