2006 was a year of change and evolution. Phil turned 30. Josh went from being a 1st year professor ("tadpole") to a 2nd ("guppy"). Phil quit her organizer job, considered many careers, and found one (Program Director at City Year) that is the hardest thing she's ever done but awfully rewarding. We moved from the country back to (the outskirts of) the city and started a new coop. We went on our last trip to Mexico (for a while) and our 1st trip to Africa. Josh joined a band and went on tour for the summer. And we got to experience our 1st spring & summer in Massachusetts.
(Click on the pictures if you want to see them more blown up.)
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Last winter we only got a few snowstorms. But there was lots of frozen mud and plenty of logs! |
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| To amuse ourselves in the dead of winter and make new friends, we went on a double date with Justine D. and John N. to the National Plastics Museum. We decided the Plastics Hall of Fame would be better as an interactive exhibit. How lucky the tags attach with velcro! | |
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| Jenn G., her giant belly, and Kevin B. came to visit. We sat around in the sunroom and played D'Orqestra greatest hits. Our version of Ederlezi has become a minor internet sensation! | When Jill J. and Guy A. came to visit we cleaned the house. We're so lucky our vacuum has a shag setting! | |
| All winter long we loved having our hot tub and sharing it with friends like Jonah G. |
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Phil designed and built us a fabulous new bed. Finally we're off the floor and can retire the futon frame Josh got in high school. | |
| Rachel K., Erica T., and Phil had their 13th reunion. Can you believe we met at freshman orientation?! | |
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The wood kept piling up! We weren't sure if our landlord ever sold any, or just collected it. Here's the 2005 batch meeting the 2006 batch. | |
| When it started to warm up, we were excited to be outside. The bicycle trip was not so successful (see broken wrist), but the wading trips were just fine. This pond was right behind our house! | |
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Eric F. and Shakti R. became some of our best new buddies (and now housemates!) In spring, we had a sushi picnic on the front lawn. |
| It's been so nice living near Josh's family. More Klezmer tunes and Philip Roth books courtesy of Ray R.! | |
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Lots of out-of-town friends came in for Phil's 30th birthday party. What celebration is complete without some New Games? |
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| For Phil's 30th birthday, Josh took her on a SURPRISE trip to Mexico. (Our 3rd time in 3 years.) From Baja, we took a ferry across the Sea of Cortez and got on a train headed towards Chihuahua. We got the best gorditas ever and ate them in the dining car! | We rode bikes next to giant stone mushrooms | and swam in a hot geothermal waterfall. |
| In June, Charlie P. moved out of 1350 E. Roberta Ave. It was sad to say goodbye to Waukesha, but he and Pamela L. have a lovely new home outside Milwaukee. |
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We planted our first ever garden. We loved watching the plants grow up and squishing the dirt with our bare feet. | |
| Nik P., Sara T., and their bump took us on an overnight sailing trip to Woods Hole. |
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For July 4th we went to Firefly-- New England's version of Burning Man-- in Northern Vermont. Due to unusually heavy rainfall, the de-facto theme of this year's festival was mud. Josh was the first to revert back to his primeval mud-wallowing state. Phil experienced multiple personality disorder as she wandered her way into somebody's panoramic photo. See how many of her you can spot. |
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| Josh toured around with his new band, Roots Nation, all summer long with his Trusty Roadie never far behind. One of our highlights was playing the Vermont Reggae Festival at sunset. | Phil finally learned how to hula hoop!!! | On our way home we stopped at Bread and Puppet to see a circus and check out their barn full of old puppets. |
| In September, Charles Ira turned 60. Pamela L. flew us in to celebrate. There's finally room for a pool table in the basement. | |
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We had an incredibly bountiful first basil harvest! | |
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Josh collaborated with Marilyn F. to make the Sound Parasites-- talking, wearable robots. We presented our research at PURE, a biomedically themed art show in Boston. Yes, that's our colleague Steve H. behind the mask. |
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In October, we moved back to the city and started Malverna Brown, our new coop, with Eric F., Shakti R., and Jonah G. Our latest experiment in radical community building revolves around yummy yummy food and lots of music, art, and belly dancing. |
| In December, we finally made it back to the motherland-- Africa!! We started off with a week in Morocco where we visited Roman ruins and sampled the varied wares for sale in Fez's medina. |
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| Then, it was off to Mali where we were inspired by the amazing architecture and the people's conviviality. | ||
| What a year!!! Can't believe it's already April. Only 8 more months until we have to start working on the 2007 edition. Until next time!! |