Visit to Boston

En Garde!

In case you had not heard, poor Sara has been traveling tirelessly throughout the country on interviews at various colleges and universities. It has been stressful for Sara to have to travel so much (and for me and the dogs to be stuck at home without her!), but it is a testament to Sara's excellence in her field that so many schools are interested in her joining their faculty. And, of course, it is exciting for us to plan a major life-change in moving to a new city and taking on new academic positions. As the process is winding down I have joined Sara on a couple of visits, and one included a stop in Boston this past weekend. It was a very pleasant and informative trip, and as a great bonus we got to stay with our dear friends, Wendy and Erik Nelson. They were exceedingly gracious to lodge us at their beautiful home in Wellesley -- especially so close to the holidays! Definitely the highlight of our trip was sheltering ourselves in their cozy home from the blizzard that dumped a foot of snow on Boston while we were there. Wendy treated us to a lovely dinner including a spectacular homemade challah - which can be seen in the lower-right corner of the picture of Sara. (FYI, challah is a special braided bread eaten on Jewish holidays and the Sabbath. This was my first time eating it, and it was fantastic!)
The Nelson children - Rachel and Lauren - also entertained us with an impromptu concert of flute (Rachel) and violin (Lauren). Both played wonderfully before dissembling into a fencing demonstration using their instruments (shown above). This led into a full evening battle for intellectual and stochastic superiority in the ever-popular game of 'UNO'. Of course the adults were hapless when facing off against the prowess of the younger generation. Eventually, we just had to send the kids to bed so that the grown-ups could win a hand or two! And if all of this were not enough, Erik introduced us to the sublime (and intensely addictive) joy of "cup flipping". Haven't heard of it? Well, clearly you are behind the times, as this is all the rage in the most elite social circles! Check out the excitement in the following video...

Happy Holidays! -j