Holiday at the Monico House

My grandparents, after nearly 30 years living up the hill in Windsor, Mass., finally decided to move down into the valley, to a two-bedroom apartment in a senior complex in Lenox.

The official move isn't for another week, but for the Memorial Day holiday my mother's brother and sister were visiting, a rare occasion to get three of the four Monico siblings together. We drove up from New Haven and had lunch with them.

Maybe someday we'll be able to coordinate a visit with the fourth sibling, Pete. Until then, this photo will have to suffice: Me, Liz (with Chick), Mom, Grandma, Jeff, Grandpa and Laurie. Oh, and Mom's dog, Jetta.

Goodbye, Mr. Trek

In the back of my mind, I sorta knew this day would come. Figured I wouldn't last forever in the Northeast without confronting the awful realization that my bike had been stolen.

I travel barely a mile to and from the train station to get to work. The bike has been a convenient way to get there and back without troubling Liz for a ride or paying for a taxi. But the bike rack is out in the open, rather exposed. I thought my cable lock would be enough. Instead, I returned to New Haven one night last week and found the bike gone. The only trace left was the little velcro strip used to secure the cable together.

It was a great bike, a hand-me-down from Keith that I adopted as my own. A couple of years ago, I sunk maybe $200 bucks into fixing it up, new handlebar tape, spiffy new tires, clean gears. It looked sharp, and I felt proud to ride it.

Maybe a bit too proud. If I had bought a second bike, one that looked like trash, I could have rode that to the train station and locked it up with no fear of anyone ever ripping it off. But the sharp-looking Trek was a thief magnet, I guess, locked up next to all those other, beat-up bicycles. Some guy with boltcutters or equivalent firepower make quick work of my lock and left me scratching my head and cursing, forced to catch a miserable cab ride home.

I'm still debating what to do about my bike-less state. Invest in a snazzy new bike? Get a broken-down workhorse to get me by? Take up walking instead? To be continued...

READ MORE about the bike's history and what it meant to Keith on Keith's Wausau Daily Herald Blog.

Car Seat Now Included

Eight Wheels of Power

Look out world, here we come! And many thanks to the folks who gave us Target gift cards at the baby shower, as your generosity has made possible this purchase of full-throttle, baby-moving muscle. Vrooom!

Mazey

Mazey has taken a liking to TV. Last night, we were watching a Discovery Channel program on Yellowstone, and she sat there watching the animals move across the screen. She seemed to like the wolves best. At one point, she even started to paw at the screen.

I've only seen her do this once before when I was watching a program on Animal Planet about cats. She obviously saw another cat on the screen, but she didn't hiss --- just stared in wonder.

Here she is watching the Discovery Channel:

Big Belly

Here's a photo of me taken today, May 4. I'm about 28 weeks pregnant.