My family always had poppyseed cake during Easter (and most other holidays, and even non-holidays, because we love poppyseed baked goods). Today my friends held a "Friendster" to celebrate the holiday/Alex and his band leaving for a month-long record release tour on Tuesday. I like the loaves better, which is what the recipe calls for, but the muffins came out alright. Kara and Alex made chicken, roasted carrots, ham, and salad, Chris made veggies and rice, and Molly provided the bubbly. I'm stuffed now.

Good luck to Kal Marks on their tour!

Molly, Alex, Kara, Chris, and I after "friendster" dinner. Chris and I each have a cold so we look like mannequins.

I started this painting back in June, and just finished it last week.  A couple hours ago it was sent on its way and I miss it already!  I'm holding off on posting pictures until early October when it has been delivered safe to its new home. Until then, this is a sneak peek!

One fun part of this painting was building a floating frame for the first time.  It took a lot of planning and patience, and Nate's carpentry skills.

In other news, this past week I did a lot of Boston things.  I went to see my friends in the band Bonfire Blue play at Northeastern on Thursday, and added to my growing list of MLB stadium visits with a game at Fenway on Saturday.  Unfortunately we picked the one night that they lost against the Jays, but ballpark food is always tasty and it was bizarrely entertaining to see the fans sing "Sweet Adeline". Other stadiums I've visited thus far: the NY Mets multiple times - both Citi Field and Shea Stadium, the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards, the Toronto Blue Jays at SkyDome [now the Rogers Center], and the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.

On Sunday, I revisited some of my favorite paintings at the MFA and saw lots of others I had never seen before. (L-R):
detail of "Mrs. Charles Inches (Louise Pomeroy)", John Singer Sargent, 1887
detail of "The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit", John Singer Sargent, 1882
"Wreck of the 'Ancon' in Loring Bay, Alaska", Albert Bierstadt, 1889.
"Marina Grande near Sorrento", Sanford Robinson Gifford, 1857

Saturday morning, we went to the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Watertown, where we did an entertaining audio tour.  The sound of a galloping horse was the prompt to move onto the next stop.  We saw a very moving funeral march with brass musicians and white hankies flying.  My favorite part of the visit was running into a timid turkey who let me take his picture while he scrounged around for food.  Another highlight was climbing Washington Tower at the top of the hill and seeing Boston from a distance.  Who needs Duck Tours when you have cemeteries?

On the bottom right are some of Nate's latest ceramics, Including a bean pot for a co worker, and several mugs.

Officially can no longer relate as literally to Taylor Swift's "22".  So far, the day has been sweet.  Completed my French Harry Potter book collection with the last four (just finished reading the first three, so just in time), got a volume of all of Jane Austen's novels, and a cookbook from the vegetarian Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca.  Also, treats galore.  Chocolate, pumpkin butter, and Cider Mill doughnuts. Mmmmmmm. Thanks to all the well-wishers!

My friend Chris Conway and his band Bonfire Blue just put out a new album, and we collaborated to design the band's site banner and album cover.  We went with the first and last images shown above, but I included some other cover possibilities that were in the mix.  Follow this link to listen to "Lacrim Flood" when you have a quiet moment: http://bonfireblue.bandcamp.com/album/lacrim-flood