Monday some crews set up big white tents in the courtyard here near where I work in Technology Square, Cambridge. We received a company-wide email saying that these were set up for an MIT event. Sunday was graduation day for B.U. and Tufts, as we found out when we went on a walk to Tufts when my parents were visiting and ended up in a sea of graduates and their families. So I assumed that the MIT event was some sort of graduate school graduation that there wasn't room for on the main campus.
This morning, the event was in progress, but it didn't look like graduation. There was someone in uniform on a podium with a bunch of flags behind him. And there were signs all over for the "Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology". Yikes.
As if my work neighborhood weren't filled with enough scarey institutions (Transkaryotic Therapies Inc., Variagenics (whose logo is the name of the company with a double-helix being ripped apart to form the "V"), Draper Labs).
This ain't no foolin' around.
Lawn mowing (or not lawn mowing) has taken on a sort of symbolic significance in my life. Mom didn't want me to marry anyone who didn't mow lawns, and she wouldn't let me near a lawn mower (too dangerous, I guess). Well, now that we're moved into our new place, we have part ownership in both a small yard and a lawnmower--actually, a pushmower, a gas-powered mower, and a weed whacker. So, on Sunday we used all three. Yes, we mowed our own personal lawn. I did a little raking, too. It's rained a bit, so I shouldn't need to water the flowers yet. I'm thinking that perhaps the next outdoor tasks will be to trim some of the hedges, yank up some weeds and spent flowers, and clean off the porch. Domesticity!
As of last Thursday, Terri and I are homeowners. Woo hoo!
We've been spending most of the time since then painting 3 of the rooms. While signing all the papers made it legal, painting made me feel more like a homeowner. Maybe it had more properties of ritual (performing a series of proscribed steps in a certain order, a systematic derangement of the senses (paint fumes, unusual lighting, physical fatigue)). Maybe it's just that there's nobody else to do it now.
We officially move in Saturday.