Twelve years ago on twelfth day of the third month of the year I stepped off British Airways flight with two suitcases and an oversized carryon to be welcomed by my sister and cousin at Boston's Logan Airport. 

Wow! Twelve years! Twelve tumultuous and terrific years! This calls for a celebration of some sorts and a recap of some sorts too.....

Twelve highlights for the twelve years (no particular order, except perhaps the 12th is exactly where I want it)......

1. Completed Masters in Computer Science... resisted the urge to continue to do PhD.
2. Travelled more in the last twelve, than the previous twelve years. Mostly within US, Asia and one in Europe.
3. Held a job or two concurrently.
4. Gained weight... lost weight... and finally learned live a healthy lifestyle.
5. Made friends... lost friends... and finally learned to not get too close.
6. Owned a house and a terrifically growing yard with flowers, fruits, vegetables and herbs. Shared it with two cats (literally).
7. Killed one orchid... meticulously cared for seven others... and finally had three orchids rebloom.
8. Owned a car... had some mishaps... one warning ticket... and several scratches and one bump on the car.
9. Found a renewed passion for crafts like  knitting, crocheting, stain glass, board games, movies and wine.
10. Worked on varied technology platforms... and finally got sold on Microsoft technologies.
11. Invested in the market, rode the wave of a successful IPO and its subsequent bust.
12. and... finally... yes... lived my life my way!

As regards celebrations, I have not given it too much thought. But I am sure wine will be involved.

The gorgeous weather was begging for some outdoor activities. As I sat completing some work this morning, my mind kept wandering to the sunny outdoors. The fall in all its glory was beckoning me to abandon the tedium of work and enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

A phone call and couple of visits to the websites sealed the deal to go to Stow. Stow is a lovely, laidback, orchard country between Boston and Worcester. I shut down the idiot boxes (computer and tv), said goodbye to sleepy kitties, jumped into the car, and drove off into the colorful blaze of trees along route 117.

I planned to get to Carver Hill Orchard and wander around their apple trees and perhaps do some apple picking. There really was no agenda, except to get out and enjoy fall. Along the way I found there are five farmlands in and around Stow: Honey Pot Hill Orchards, Shelburne Farm, Derby Farms, and yet another (name escapes my feeble brain).

I got to Carver Hill Orchard around 2pm in the afternoon. The sun was bright and warm. Thankfully, I had my summer clothes on. Yep! Summer clothes at the end of October! Donning my straw hat, I tottered away to pick apples. It was fun to wander around apple trees with their arms dropping with the burden of many heavy, ripe, and red, apples. I think I wandered more than actually pick. In about an hour, I had picked 1 peck of apples (Red and Golden Delicious). When I started my wanderings, we had about 4-5 car loads people wandering around. By the time I was done, we had 10-15 car loads of people drive up and share the farm. I was happy to have picked when I did.

It was too early to head home, so, I decided to head to Shelburne Orchard. It was far busier than the previous farms I have ever been too. This farm had loads of kid friendly things to do, a huge apple picking farm, a large pumpkin picking farm, their own food counter dishing out warm donuts, caramel apples, their very own cider and cheddar cheese. The air was brimming with smells of apples, cinnamon, caramel, pumpkins, and hot cider. Ummmmm! Yum! I did wandered around amongst apple trees away from the maddening crowds, and found a little kitty! Goes to show, you never know whom you meet. Back from the wandering, I could resist 1/2 peck of McIntosh apples for sauce! Yummy!

I tried something new: Created a slideshow in Powerpoint 2007. If you don't have the new fangled Office 2007 then, click here for the PDF version.

{Edit: 10/24/2007} And trying something even newer FaceBook Album 10_21. Let me know if the link did not work or it worked and said "access denied" et. al.

Wandering around 35 acres of woodlands, lawns on a hot day with temperature climbing into mid 90 degrees, is a perfect afternoon. Thanks to my cousin's wife, who researched and pulled out the details for the same, we (the family) clambered into two cars, and drove over.

We spent sometime in the Museum, which in itself houses some really cool artistic works, from painting to photography of decayed flowers and from basket woven monstrosity to adventures of Spudnik, it was a fantastic display of art and science in creative harmony.

After a quick bite at the museum cafe, we headed out to wander in the woodlands. The sculptures were fantastic. Here are some that I really loved.

Gates to where?	35 acres and a pond too!
I don't think this was a sculpture, but looked to me like one.	Somebody forget their top hat?
Dead-men walking... (my favorite, love the pine cones)	Oh! Tunes!

It is great sometimes to take an early day off from work and spend some time at the Boston Symphony's  Chamber Orchestra. A friend from work and I decided to do precisely that on this perfect Friday afternoon.

The weather was warm and sunny with cool breeze. We left work just past one in the afternoon, rode the public transportation from Harvard to Symphony Hall. It has been indeed too long since I wandered around my ole' neck of the woods (I graduated from Northeastern University). The next hour  (hour and half) we ate some sweet and savory crumpets, sipped coffee, hob-nob-ed with some oldy-goldies in attendance and listened to Latin and Celtic combinations in Violin. What a perfect lazy afternoon.