It's been pretty warm for winter lately, so when it snowed last weekend, the snow was wet and slushy and very sticky. Beautiful when it stuck to the trees. Here's the view from my deck.
And here's a pretty tree outside the PCAC (my building at school) after an earlier, lighter snow shower.
It wasn't until I moved to New England that I learned that there's more than one type of bowling. Candlepin bowling uses pins that are closer to cylindrical than "big-ball" bowling, and balls that are slightly larger than softballs. Andy, one of my fellow grad assistants, is really into bowling; he even works at the bowling alley. Unfortunately, it was pretty dark in the bowling alley, so you don't really get the full idea, but this is a picture of him.
And Ron and Casey with some candlepin balls. Or maybe imitating Mickey Mouse...
Hannah makes me laugh, basically on a daily basis. This is when I found her sitting in the hall waiting for her flute lesson to start. It looked like someone had pushed her down and thrown a flute on top of her. The pout-y face is just for effect. :)
Last weekend, I went to a chamber music recital, and at the reception, they served (among other things) eggs. Who cooks eggs for their recital reception? Apparently, the "UNH Chamber Winds." Ben did an "eggscelent" job. :)
Our student union is called the Memorial Union Building (MUB, for short), and I often eat lunch in the food court there with the band directors and some of the other graduate students after wind symphony rehearsals. On Wednesdays, they have a series called "WOW: What's On Wednesday." Last week, they had a steel drum band. It's hard to tell from the picture, but they're on the stage against the far wall.
My roommate Vanessa got dressed up to go out, and she was so cute that I had to take her picture. Then, of course, she put on her Madeleine hat (as in, from the children's books), so I made her pose again.
How to describe Gray... Just a generally good guy. Probably the most even-keel and logical person I've ever met. Here, he's exhibiting his mad recording skills as he records my recital. :)
Weeks Restaurant. I'm a fan. When my family came into town for my recital, we had Saturday breakfast there. Here you see Ben "assisting" Stacy with the Splenda for her coffee. I'm sure she was grateful. Weren't you, Stace?
In the spirit of this blog, Casey showed up at my office door on the Monday after my birthday, bearing gifts that you can only find in New Hampshire: a very tasty bottle of wine (that I did manage to wait to try until I got home), and some "creamed cheddar" which turned out to be very tasty as well, particularly on those little crackers. What a nice surprise for a Monday morning. Thanks Casey!
Although I'd eaten at Chipotle once before I moved to New Hampshire, I didn't realize how often I'd frequent it once I got here. Let's face it, carnitas fajita burrito with corn salsa, cheese, and sour cream? Pure heaven.
This here is my friend Casey. She's actually a very nice person if you can just get past the fact that she has a horrific skin condition that's unbearable to look at. As you can see here, she's trying, quite successfully, to cover it up. :P
Last year, I assisted Diane with the music theory class that I now teach myself. She lives in Swampscott, Mass. (sounds like a pleasant place, doesn't it? SWAMPscott...) and comes up to UNH to have lunch with Sara and me from time to time.
Two words: equine winterwear. Even the horses get cold here. I'm sure that this is a pretty common thing, but I never saw a horse wear a coat until I moved to New Hampshire.
Six grad students share our office: Sara, Andy, Brian, Adam, Sean, and me. It's not often that we're all in there. As you can see, it gets pretty crowded. And there isn't anything more to it than what you see here. Teeny room, three giant desks, three giant chairs, and a bookshelf. Good thing we all get along.
Casey and I decided to go to the Dairy Bar for lunch the other day - after it started to snow. And what do you get at the Dairy Bar? Ice cream, of course! Even if it's snowing. Because, in New Hampshire, the winter is too long to go without ice cream.
The UNH marching band is something else that makes me happy, but since they only meet during the Fall semester, I couldn't get a picture of them. Instead, here's a picture of the bag of truffles that they got me as an end-of-season gift. (And that I received on the first day of the Spring semester since I wasn't at the band banquet.)
Claire is my non-musical friend from the Graduate Student Organization. Some people go to graduate school with an assistantship. Claire has a fellowship from NASA. Maybe if I hang around her enough, some of her brain power will rub off...
