Party Thanks and Lost & Found
Thank you to everyone who attended Hot Foods and made it such a great fun and tasty event! Thank you to everyone who brought food and drink to share, helped with supply replenishment and trash & recycling, and shuttled people who needed rides. Special thanks to Sarah, Emily and James for setup help before the party.

The chili recipe is available - ask and I'll send it to you.

Lost & Found:
You're all getting much better at not leaving stuff here. We do have a hat mystery though, with a hat lost and a hat found.
Lost - Tibetan hat with ear flaps, striped pink, blue, green.
Found - Woolen hat with ear flaps, patterned black, white, gray.
If you're missing any serving containers, let us know.

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Scott & Rachel’s Parties – How To Get Invited!
1. We’ve changed our parties to be an invited event, though with the intent to invite as widely as is practical. If you wish to be on this list, please let us know your preferred email address. If you have a partner or other significant person who should also be on this list, please send us their email address. If you're already seeing our invites, there's no need to do anything here.

2. Here’s the link to our party rules & policies:

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Party Thanks and Lost & Found and the Party Invite List
Thank you to all the old friends and new who were here to give Summer a proper sendoff! Thank you to everyone who brought tasty food and drink. Thank you to the people who helped with setup and teardown, including Lori, Susan, Eyal, Sandy, Talia, James, Dave, Mxss Ripley, Ria, Boy A, Boy 1, Musicmaker, Nick, Gabriel, Gregorian, and Tommy. Thank you to Alex for bricks and for shuttle runs to Oak Grove. Thank you to Crash for running shabu-shabu, and to Bridget, Larry, and Abby for running the grills. You all made it a fantastic party. If I've forgotten anyone here, let me know and I'll add your names to the list.

Lost & Found:
Rectangular food storage container, clear body & green top
Child's bathing trunks & shirt, blue, initialed PT on the tags
Child's bathing cap, blue, labeled Water Gear
Child's swim goggles, blue, Speedo

Please contact us to arrange getting your stuff back, If you believe that you left something here but it's not on the list, let us know and we'll look for it.

If you're not receiving our party invites and wish to. or if there's someone you think we should add to the invite list, please email us.

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Open Pool Today!
It's hot - come over and jump in our pool!

We're opening the pool to our friends today - feel free to come over and cool off. We'll be in and out during the day and evening, so the house may not be accessible all the time. (The garage makes a fine if somewhat warm changing room.)

Please read and follow our party rules & policies section on pool use:

The most important point is safety - make sure that children are only inside the pool area while an adult is right in there to watch them.

Enjoy and cool off!

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Party Thanks, Lost & Found, and the Party Invite List
It was an excellent welcoming of Summer - thanks to all who attended!

Thank you to everyone who came and made the party. Thank you to everyone who helped with setup, cleaned, put up signs, brought tasty food and drink, grilled, shuttled people to & from Oak Grove, replenished supplies, hauled trash and recycling, cleaned up afterwards, and did all the things that help keep the party running smoothly. Thank you to the performers and to the people who provided music.

Special thanks to Crash for the Shabu Shabu by grillside. We may have a new party tradition here!

Lost & Found: (one item only!)
Towel, multicolored

Please email us so we can reunite you with your towel. If you're missing anything from the party, please let us know and we'll search for it.

The Party Invite List:
If you're not receiving our party invites and wish to. or if there's someone you think we should add to the invite list, please email us.

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More Lost & Found items from Hot Foods
In addition to the Lost & Found list before, we also have a square metal baking pan.

Also - one attendee is missing a glass disk which was the bottom of her cake pan. If you accidentally took it home, please let me know so we can get it returned to her.

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Happy Birthday Jacob
Happy 30th birthday to Jacob!

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This Year's Chili
( The 2016 chili recipeCollapse )

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Party Thanks and Lost & Found
Thanks to all who attended Hot Foods, and particularly to those who brought tasty things, helped with setup and cleanup, wrangled kids, etc.

The Lost & Found list has two items - a child's pink jacket labeled Monster High, and a purple Hot Wheels Camaro. Contact me to arrange return.

And if you're not receiving our party invites and wish to, please email me.

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Scott & Rachel’s Parties – How To Get Invited!
1. We’ve changed our parties to be an invited event, though with the intent to invite as widely as is practical. If you wish to be on this list, please let us know your preferred email address. If you have a partner or other significant person who should also be on this list, please send us their email address. If you're already seeing our invites, there's no need to do anything here.

2. Here’s the link to our party rules & policies:

Comments will be screened.

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Party Thanks, Lost & Found, and the Party Invite List
It was a long hot Summer but we've seen it off in style and now Autumn winds are moving in.

Thank You:
Thank you to everyone who came and made the party. Thank you to everyone who helped with setup, cleaned, put up signs, brought tasty food and drink, grilled, shuttled people to & from Oak Grove, replenished supplies, hauled trash and recycling, cleaned up afterwards, and did all the things that help keep the party running smoothly. Thank you to the fire and LED light performers, and to the people who provided music, both electronic and acoustic. Thank you to the people who did the late-night super quick move of party stuff indoors when the rain started.

Lost & Found:
Towel, orange
Towel, green pears design
Tote bag, orange, WBGH
Tote bag, blue, Whole Foods
Plastic spoon, black

Please email us so we can reunite you with your stuff. If you're missing anything from the party, please let us know and we'll search for it.

The Party Invite List:
If you're not receiving our party invites and wish to. or if there's someone you think we should add to the invite list, please email us.

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My work, floating above the Earth


The Mini Hugo Rocket is a half-scale, machined and polished aluminum version of the rocket from the Hugo trophy. This miniature version was commissioned by Sasquan, the 2015 Worldcon, to be taken into space and displayed as shown aboard the International Space Station. The astronaut who carried it into space and took this photo is Kjell Lindgren.

More photos here.

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Open Pool Today!
It's hot - come over and jump in our pool!

We're opening the pool to our friends today - feel free to come over and cool off. We'll be in and out during the day and evening, so the house may not be accessible all the time. (The garage makes a fine if somewhat warm changing room.)

Please read and follow our party rules & policies section on pool use. The most important point is safety - make sure that children are only inside the pool area while an adult is right in there to watch them.

Enjoy and cool off!

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Scott & Rachel’s Parties – How To Get Invited!
1. We’ve changed our parties to be an invited event, though with the intent to invite as widely as is practical. If you wish to be on this list, please let us know your preferred email address. If you have a partner or other significant person who should also be on this list, please send us their email address. If you're already seeing our invites, there's no need to do anything here.

2. Here’s the link to our party rules & policies:

Comments will be screened.

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Further to the previous post - drowning prevention
Everyone should read this article about drowning prevention. Thanks to ceo for the link, and thanks to thewronghands for persuading me to post this.

I've witnessed and known of several near-drownings. Fortunately, in each case the kid was rescued in time. Here's what they looked like:
1. A 13 year old girl took a bad dive off a dock, knocked the wind out of herself and was weakly struggling in the water, unable raise her arms or call for help.
2. A parent was "keeping an eye on" their toddler at a pool, and while they read a book, the toddler fell into the pool and sank to the bottom.
3. A toddler fell into a pool and went under, not making a sound.
4. A toddler fell into a pool and went under, not making a sound.
5. A toddler fell into a pool and went under, not making a sound.
6. A toddler fell into a pool and went under, not making a sound.
7. A 7 year old child was standing on the pool steps and slipped into the water next to the steps. They were unable to swim and were starting to go under when adults spotted them.

Drowning tends to be silent and fast. What the article says about how to spot drowning is critical knowledge, plus not taking your eyes off a small child who's near or in the water.

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Party Thanks, Lost & Found, Important Stuff, and The Party Invite List
Party Thanks:
It was a good party and the rain held off until the fire performances were done. After that, the tent canopies proved their worth.

Thank you to everyone who came and made the party. Extra thanks to everyone who helped with setup, cleaned, put up signs, set up the tents, brought tasty food and drink, grilled, shuttled people to & from Oak Grove, replenished supplies, hauled trash and recycling, cleaned up, took down the tents, and did all the things that help keep the party running smoothly.

Lost & Found:
Aside from a few items that people emailed us about and a couple items that we've already emailed the owners about, there's nothing found here. (This is a first!) If you're missing anything from the party, please let us know and we'll search for it.

Important Stuff:
Pool safety at our house includes an absolute requirement that a parent or other designated adult be in the pool area At All Times when your child is in the pool area. Please refer to our party document for the specifics: http://www.voluntarycomplexity.com/?page_id=153

We had a near-drowning of a young child at the party, where the parent was absent from the pool area. This cannot happen again. If maintaining our requested level of oversight is too difficult, please stay out of the pool area. Your presence in the pool area means In The Pool Area - not just outside the gate, not just out for a brief moment, not any sort of excuse. This incident was way too close for comfort and anyone not respecting this requirement may be asked to leave the party.

The Party Invite List:
If you're not receiving our party invites and wish to. please email me.

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Gabriel's College Graduation, May 30, 2015


Gabriel graduated from the University of Delaware on Saturday with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Art Conservation and Anthropology. We're quite proud of him.

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Scott & Rachel’s Parties – How To Get Invited!
1. We’ve changed our parties to be an invited event, though with the intent to invite as widely as is practical. If you wish to be on this list, please let us know your preferred email address. If you have a partner or other significant person who should also be on this list, please send us their email address. If you're already seeing our invites, there's no need to do anything here.

2. Here’s the link to our party rules & policies:

Comments will be screened.

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Yes Virginia, there is a same-day passport.
Jacob and Talia are involved in the art portion of the Build Peace conference, and both of them were set to fly to Cyprus on Sunday. Unfortunately, Talia had less than 3 months before her passport expired, and found out at the airline ticket counter that the site she'd purchased her flights from had neglected to screen for the passport expiration date. (No, I don't know what site it was but I intend to find out.) Fortunately the US Air ticket clerk was super helpful and was able to get her rebooked for a Monday late afternoon flight with 90% of the re-booking fee waived. That still left her needing to get a new passport in less than a day. And with Monday being a day where nothing was going to be normal in Boston.

Fortunately there was this blog entry on getting a same-day passport. And fortunately we live close enough to Portsmouth, NH. Boston has a passport center, but theirs wouldn't have been able to even see her until 1:30PM on Tuesday. Portsmouth's passport center was able to see her Monday morning (The appointment was made through their automated system on Sunday night) and for less than $200, process her passport renewal (same turnaround as a new passport in this case, but less expensive) in 5 hours. It should have been 3-4 hours but they were having hardware issues and had gotten a lot of desperate folks who couldn't deal with the Boston passport office delay. I can't say enough good things about the Portsmouth passport office - everyone there was incredibly helpful and went out of their way to be nice to a lot of very stressed people.

They had her paperwork sorted by 9:30AM and she had the new passport by 2:30PM. Then we drove through the torrential rain to Logan airport. So now Talia's on her way to Cyprus with her art project, which I'm sure she'll have online when it's all set up.

If you have a passport with only a few months left before it expires and plan to travel out of the US, check the State Department site for passport requirements for your destination.

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Thankfully, the end of an era
We just made the last college tuition payment. The last time roozle and I felt this way was after the last daycare payment.

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