Volunteering

 I have never been one for volunteering. This is probably based off of my one horrific experience doing mandatory volunteer work in a senior living home where a lady yelled at me for not picking up an imaginary object she had dropped on the floor. I never went back and the volunteer coordinator signed my and my friend's forms because she felt bad. True story.

My friend Katie, however, is avidly involved in volunteerism and persuaded me to come with her on a volunteering adventure in our town.

We volunteered with the Prison Book Program, which operates in a fairly historically significant church in Quincy: United First Parish Church. For those of you not familiar with the area, This is the church that both John Adams and John Quincy Adams attended. They are both interred at the church, which is a national historical landmark. Below is a picture of said church. But I digress....

I arrived early, which I feel the need to note in this blog because I am NEVER on time for things, let alone early ;) Once Katie and I had met up, we headed in through the basement entrance of the church. I was expecting a few lockers full of books and a scale, but this operation was actually fairly sizable with roughly 20 people by the time things were in full swing.

The organization sends books to prisoners in 48 states. They are unable to service California and Texas because the prisons are just too big for the small operation to handle. After we sorted a shopping bag full of mail to weed out those states, we were taken to the book room to "pick".

I did not have the forethought to take a photo of the book room, so here is a photo that I have borrowed from the internet :) The book room is the size of a large closet and smells like a library (which i love!). It's 95% wall-to-wall books with a scale and computer tucked away in the corner. We were instructed to take letters from a certain place on the shelf, read the requests, check the prison's restrictions (i.e. "3 book maximum", "no violence", etc) and then fill the orders as best we could.

The requests...and the restrictions ran the gambit. Most prisoners request dictionaries to help with their vocabulary. In fact, I learned that it is the most common request and one that the program has trouble keeping up the supply for. Some requests were incredibly specific with some prisoners even going as far as to put ISBN numbers. I personally had two highlights:

• One man wrote how much he loved Stephen King and would do anything to read one of his books. Being a Stephen King fangirl myself, I spent about 10 minutes on that one letter trying to find a Stephen King book. I found one tucked away in the corner and shipped it off to him

• One inmate wrote a four page letter requesting a specific Spanish verb book. They wrote how that they would be joining the workforce in the next few year after getting out and know how important it is to be bi-lingual so they were teaching themselves in prison.  They even wrote examples of how it would help them in everyday society. Unfortunately, the spanish dictionaries were in even shorter supply. So I was a little crestfallen not to be able to help someone trying to better themselves. I put the letter in a "dictionary requested" box. 
•  Five minutes passed before the volunteer organizer coincidentally found the exact verb book that the prisoner had requested (it had been return to sender)! I grabbed the letter out of the pile and triumphantly placed it in the bin to be packed.

After around 90 minutes, I was starving and a little claustrophobic (there were up to 10 people picking at one point in the closet sized room) so we left.

I will definitely be going back again! :) 
          

Coffee Detox

Anyone who knows me knows that I love live for coffee. Some (including me) might even say that I am quite dependent on it. I once stopped drinking coffee cold turkey for five days and thought my brain was trying to crawl out of my skull through my eyeballs.

So, now I am trying to do this in order to prepare for a necessary upcoming medical procedure. The difference is that, this time I will be doing it s-l-o-w-l-y!

Saturday I started step one: downgrade from a Venti (26 oz cup) to a Grande (16 oz). I did this over the weekend to ensure I wouldn't be debilitated by a migraine in the middle of the week. Surprisingly? not that bad. Felt a tiny bit sluggish this morning, but not too bad.

Step two is on my calendar for July 11th: downgrade from a Grande (16 oz) to a Tall (12 oz).

Step three will probably either consist of ordering a tall and then pouring it out slowly every few weeks, or going to "half caff". Even the idea breaks my heart a little, but it's necessary.

Hopefully my decaffeination nation plan will work!

Bunker Hill Day

Bunker Hill Monument

One of my most favorite days of the year recently passed: Bunker Hill Day! Allow me to start with some background information (courtesy of Wikipedia):


The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775, mostly on and around Breed's Hill, during the Siege of Boston early in the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after the adjacent Bunker Hill, which was peripherally involved in the battle and was the original objective of both colonial and British troops, and is occasionally referred to as the "Battle of Breed's Hill."

Bunker Hill Day, observed every June 17, is a legal holiday in Suffolk County, Massachusetts (which includes the city of Boston) However, the state's FY2011 budget requires all state and municipal offices in Suffolk County be open on Bunker Hill Day and Evacuation Day. State institutions in Massachusetts (such as public institutions of higher) located in Boston also celebrate the holiday.

That's the official, historical aspect of Bunker Hill Day. Now that THAT'S over with: from this blogger's point of view? It's an amazing day in which to hang out with my family (and drink in public). it's a predominantly IRISH celebration, as most of Charlestown's inhabitants are of Irish descent.

The day always starts with the commute and the finding of a parking spot. A challenge on a NORMAL day, but a near impossibility on Parade Day.

Upon arrival and once the beers are placed in the cooler, there is the unveiling of the Bunker Hill Day decorations that my aunt does a spectacular job on every year (as pictured below).

Bunker Hill decorations (w/ my little cousin sneaking snacks)

Once the snacks and preliminary beers have both been consumed and pleasantries exchanged (usually in this order), there is the great procession up the hill towards the parade route. Admittedly, I was participating a little too much in the "celebratory" portion of the festivities (pictured below), so I didn't take as many pictures as usual. Please enjoy some photos I took mixed in with photos from the internet :)

with my "parade cup" in hand

The USS Constitution (ak Old Ironsides) is a Charlestown Landmark

Once the parade concludes, more eating takes place (which I failed to take photos of...I swear I will get better at this!).

One incredibly cool thing that I learned this year about Bunker Hill Day's past came courtesy of my uncle. It's no secret that Bunker Hill Day is a MAJOR place for politicians to come shake hands and plead for votes with the crowd. However, what I nevert know was that the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, actually began his campaign for his US Congressional seat AT The Bunker Hill Day parade in 1946!

JFK campaigns at the Parade in 1946!

I cannot wait until next year! :)

Butterfly PB & J

I will preface the following blog with a disclaimer: I am not a fan of intruding on someone's specialty. I have two friends with superb blogs about food. In fact, you should check them out here and here.

Having said that, one of my co-workers is about to leave our office after almost three years of working here. We are doing a potluck lunch today in honor of her departure, whereupon we will wish her well, feed her massive amounts of mismatched noms and give her gifts in preparation for her next life stage.

My initial potluck contribution was going to be lasagna, as it is well received at every potluck I bring it to. However, New England has been usually hot and steamy the past few weeks. Compounded by the fact that I live in a second floor, 2 bedroom apartment that only has two pathetic window A/Cs.... let's just say that turning on the oven was NOT an option.

So, I turned to Google! I looked for simple summer items and came across this cute little dish: PB & J Blossom Sandwiches.  I decided they would be a cute and simple snack to bring, requiring little time and no heat!

The ingredients were the easy part. Finding a cookie cutter on short notice? Near impossible! So, I turned to my sad collection of cookies cutters to try and find something summery These were my options:

Two butterfly cutters that I received at a friend's wedding shower a few years ago. While the one on the right was adorable and looked super cute, it made the world's tiniest PB & J. So I went with this less petite one, pictured above on the left.


Here's a picture of the work in progress. I used grape jelly:

Finished product on display at potluck: