I won! I won!

I thought I was going out with a friend from CA tonight, but plans changed. So, I went out anyway to the big annual bike benefit at Redbones (BBQ joint near us with free bike valet!). I people-watched the bike geeks and bike punks, and various gangs of riders amazed that I didn't see anyone I knew. I then realized I'm a lot older than half the people I was watching. I bought myself six raffle tickets for $10. I won myself a set of Velocity 700c bike wheels with snappy black spokes that must be worth a few hundred dollars. I ended up out in a pub with a friend and got given free cake. It was a pretty good night.

So, biker friends...these wheels. Can I put them on basically anything that takes skinny tires? Like can I make myself some spiffy bike with just some old ten speed frame now? Or do these wheels deserve better? I could always sell them. . . but we only just met!

Boston Globe Article

Today I had an article in The Boston Sunday Globe. I have written for a bunch of magazines, a gazillion web sites, published a column for years, written for TV, radio, catalogs, and published a book. This, however, was the newspaper I grew up knowing as THE paper. As a kid it was the Globe that I lay open on the gold shag rug in the living room to read "the funnies" side by side with my brother and dog. And, this is the first thing I've published since Lyra was born.

So, I was excited. This morning I decided it would give me a thrill to take a paper out of a city newspaper box and open it to see my byline. Glenn, and I each held one of Lyra's hands and we toddled a couple of blocks away on a gorgeous spring day to the nearest box. I put in the quarters, glenn pulled out a camera. I pulled and pulled. I put in more quarters. I got the quarters back and tried again. No dice. That damn box would not open no matter what we did. At least it gave me back the quarters.

Anyway, here it is online, where no quarters are necessary.

If you like, you can add on the funny last line I originally wrote for the article that was cut: "And visiting the Athenaeum was always morally acceptable."

(And yeah, I got some print copies later from the drug store. Had to read the funnies, after all.)

Carnivorous!

Noticed some pitcher plants in the woods today. I love plants and trees with such obvious adaptations.

If you're not familiar with these plants, they grow in boggy areas and attract insects who then slip slide into the tube and are eaten. Yum!

One Year

Last year a PERSON came out of me. I still haven't gotten over how weird that is, or how wildly amazing she is. I've had some intense days in my life, but for sure this day last year was the most mind-blowing one of all time. May she keep her jolly disposition and continue to bring light into the world. I am grateful for every day of her life.