getting ready to harvest OUR watermelons

i should say.... watermelon... we have one so far.   

and i should also say, it is not nearly ready for harvesting

that is a quarter in the background

we may have TWO more starting

yay

i am a slacker

i went next door, (with permission) last month to pick some lilacs

this is the wisteria that never bloomed while we were living there
stolen lilacs, the ones we transplanted didn't bloom, it may take a few years.  i think we should put in the lease, that i can pick lilacs every year.
lady slippers, i found 5 in the woods between the houses
i don't know why the first 2 lines are underlined and i can't fix it

monteray

we took a drive to monteray on saturday, to the aquarium...  along the way we passed this beach.

devin and aimee

heading into the imax 3d theater to see "sea monsters"

san francisco

last week we went to california to visit devin.  he met us in san francisco.  

this is the giant hill we drove up.  and the giant line of cars.....

cable car crossing the road....

and finally we made it to the top of lombard st...... the crookedest street in the world

and down we go
 

pretty day

what a day.... i took bryana to school today and some of the kids were wearing shorts and they smelled like coppertone when they walk by.

and this is alexia.... she has her ears pierced.  i thought i edited out the red eye...

signs of spring

well it IS the nearing the end of april and we should be seeing signs of spring....

these seedlings are way bigger now, they are almost ready for outside



bryana making chalk drawings in the driveway

here is dad, burning brush

FIRE!!!

yesterday afternoon, cheryl and i were going to do some errands.
we stopped at the bank drive up window and noticed a little old lady going into the post office, the post office is just behind the bank.
we also noticed that her car appeared to be on fire!!
it was smoking like mad and then she comes out of the post office and starts to GET INTO THE CAR!!!! which is smoking even more.
well we went right over and insisted that she just grab her purse and get into my car.
meanwhile, i am on the phone with 911. they are asking what kind of car, what color, etc.... and i am thinking... IT'S THE ONE ON FIRE.... you can't miss it..
at this point there are actual flames coming from under the hood.
so they finally get there and stop out on 6A, because, i forgot to mention, the big mail delivery truck had also had a accident with another car (no injuries). this happened first, it had nothing to do with the fire..
so anyway, the police have arrived to handle that situation and now the firemen are sitting there, probably thinking "what fire? just wait till we get a hold of that prankster who called", but thankfully... some guy gets out of his truck and starts yelling to them "THE FIRE IS OVER HERE... THE FIRE IS OVER HERE"
and yay, they put out the fire.... and this lady is sitting in my car saying, i need to get some things out of my car, my cell phone, groceries, clothes...
she had just come from a dog sitting job and had books and bags and suitcases. she was very calm during the whole thing... i mean her car was on fire!!
so once the fire was out, we gathered her things and took her home. it turns out she only lives a couple of streets away from us.
such excitement.
oh and then we did our errands.

cape cod times

January 27, 2008
TOKYO — Chieko Iguchi and Casey Bean, both of Kanazawa, were joined in marriage at the Marunouchi Building. A reception followed at the Monnalisa Restaurant, Francais.

The bride, daughter of Fukuo and Kazue Iguchi of Minami-uonuma City, Niigata, was given in marriage by her father, to the son of Douglas and Barbara Bean of West Barnstable.

The ring bearers were Ayumi and Suzune Shimada, nieces of the bride.

The bride, who is keeping her name, graduated from Muikamachi High School in Minami-uonuma City and from Chuo University in Tokyo.

The bridegroom is a 1996 graduate of Barnstable High School.

The couple each earned a master's degree in teaching English as a second language from St. Michael's College in Winooski, Vt., and are assistant professors at the Kanazawa Institute of Technology.

They are planning a springtime honeymoon in Europe and are residing in Kanazawa.

old rug

ok i found a couple of pictures of the braided rug in the living room.. doesn't the new one look nicer?

new rug

i have been wanting to get a new rug for the living room, almost since we moved last year. (i can't believe it's been a year already) i love the braided rug, but thought the room would look nicer with something different. i put the braided rug in the bedroom. it looks lovely there.

so this is the new rug, i got it from overstock.com. saved a bundle and i think it is very very nice. i was going to put in a picture of the room with the braided rug, but it seems i haven't got one. must have deleted it.

what do you think?? pretty??

japan

here is a link to some pictures of the trip to japan, only a couple of the wedding. i will work on getting the rest of the trip in order for your viewing pleasure

http://web.mac.com/barbarabean/iWeb/Site/japan.html

i think you'll need to type it all in.

hope it works!!

try this one

http://web.mac.com/barbarabean/iWeb/Site/the wedding.html

we're baaack

i left my camera in japan. casey is sending it to me, but until then i can't post any pictures. so sad.

we had a great time in japan. eating way too much food, but it was so yummy. i think a gained a hundred pounds.

the wedding was beautiful, the kareoke was lots of fun, i didn't sing and i cant get the "barbie girl" song out of my head. still.... it's been over a week..... a couple of casey's friends (males) sang it and it was a riot.

chieko's parents are lovely. they served us tea and lots of traditional japanese food. the most unusual, (to me anyway) was something that looked like custard, was the consistancy of custard, but it had shrimp and mushrooms in it. i am used to custard being sweet, desserty, so it seemed a little odd to me. and chrysanthemums, did i spell that right? unusual, but not unpleasant. a spicyish flavor. and so many other things, miso soup, fruit, vegetables, sweet bean desserty things, i cant remember if i took a picture of the food, but i am sure someone did.

jesse and devin spent the night at chieko's parents' and also had a traditional japanese breakfast, which chieko's mom had told them, she could guarantee would be good quality, but she could not guarantee they would like it. again, i cant remember exactly what they had, i think fish, rice..... devin told me chiekos mom also had yogurt and bananas on hand, which she always has when casey comes for a visit.

and it snowed in niigata, where chieko's parents live, while we were there.

i will wait for my camera to arrive so that i can have pictures to go with stories of our action packed days and nights.

packing

this is pile of stuff to be packed and taken to japan. it IS all going into that red suitcase, (not the chair). i am hoping there will still be room for my clothes.

jesse is a junior firefighter

and he looks kinda creepy. he is such a good sport to let me take goofy pictures of him. he knows they are going to be posted.

cheryl and i went to the dennis fire station to be tested as bone marrow donors, they were giving our firehats. got one for jesse.




there is ice on the bog this morning. it is mighty cold right now. and it was probably a little to dark for this picture, but what can i do???

harvest time

dad took a couple of pictures of the flooded bog. they harvested the cranberries yesterday. there is still a big truck parked across the street (full of cranberries), but all of the other equipment is gone.





now this is, what i thought, a very funny bumper sticker. ok ....now think about it. IT IS NOT A REFERENCE TO TOTO!!!!!!!



HELL....HELL....
going to hell in a handbasket
now laugh!
hahahahahah
hahahahahahha
ok

who is that ???

it's jesse..
and his lunch.
chicken on a bulky roll (again, he has requested tuna more often)
pickles
cucumbers with italian dressing
vanilla yogurt
boiled eggs (2)
pears
cheetos
doritos
chocolate covered cream puffs (4)
reese's peanut butter cups (last ones from halloween, now he must eat kit kats or plain hersheys)
water
orange gatorade

that's a lotta food

buy 3 get 9.....i said 9....free

guess what we are bringing to everyone in japan??




yup...sweatshirts (not made in the u.s.a....oops), but they say cape cod!!

november 6th

today in jesse's lunch box....barbecued chicken on a bulky roll, salad, grapes, vanilla yogurt, crackers and cheese, cheetos, chips, (he has requested more snacks, he has usually eaten most everything by lunchtime and has nothing for an afternoon snack), boiled egg, peanut butter cups, water and gatorade....oh and i added a banana after i took this picture.



a lovely square serving plate from sydenstricker for the in laws.



and a flower that mostly survived all the wind from noel

gramma got a flu shot

...and a fine bruise

after the storm

so here are some pictures taken this morning,
our driveway covered with leaves.



the screened porch (minus the screens) took the screens out so they wouldn't get damaged.. more leaves




poor little gnome with her foot broken off




and this is one of those windchimes made from silverware..



this is the knife from the windchime, at least in landed in the porch and didn't go flying around killing anyone. crazy stuff happens...watch csi

storm

i tried to to take some storm pictures..... but i am just no good. it was rainy and windy and it was just too icky (for me anyway) to be outside.
we did take a ride to sandy neck when the power went out (around 2:45)
you really cant see the water in the picture, but



look at me. this from just rolling down the window. sand in my hair, my eyes, not to mention the car.

babies, babies

4 baby showers since august... and 3 of them, within the last 6 weeks. only one baby so far though. a girl....kaela

this is one of the little sweaters i have been making and part of the blanky. i have run out of yarn for the second time since starting all these little projects. second time the yarn is not available locally since it has been discontinued. now i wait and wait for mr. u.p.s. to bring me more from the "knitting wharehouse", which, so far, has been able to send me what i need.