Had a nice get together Saturday night in Concord celebrating our friends who recently got married so Sunday was pretty much a chill day and clean up the house a little and binge some shows. Here’s a shot I took from the other day of some young people taking a picture in the public garden.
Discovered this year’s Fleurs de Villes installation at the Pru and it’s a must-see! Made entirely out of real flowers. Fleurs de Villes combines the love of flowers, local design talent, and bespoke, utterly unique displays, for experiential events like none other. Which one catches your eye?
In other minor things that have been keeping me occupied as of late:
Gametime: Proton Path. You know I love these sorts of puzzle games.
Currently reading: The Cars: Let the Stories Be Told by Bill Janovitz. The back story behind the classic Boston band.
As I went to get gas this morning and stopped at a red light with some other cars, I noticed this car on the other side doing what must have been at least 70, swerve crazily to avoid the cars on the other side of the street stopped at the light, blast through the light and veering pretty much out of control. This was also right in front of the police station, so I know they were on it and they have cams everywhere, especially at that section of road. It was pure luck that it didn’t strike any cars or pedestrians at the moment including mine or smashing other cars into mine! This was super scary but it happened so fast. It sped along somehow zigzagging down to a rotary that’s a bit further down the road. I was sure that a crash was inevitable. Lo and behold I saw on the news a little later that there was a fatality, probably the driver of that vehicle. It’s shut down that stretch of Route 1 in both directions this morning. Then I had a few thoughts. First of all, thankfully more people were not hurt or killed as that would be a must likely outcome on the time of day (kids walking to school!) If a person was hit I would be pretty sure they would be instantly killed. My other thought was I saw someone was driving that car and they were alive and then literally seconds later they were dead. In just a matter of seconds our worlds changed. Crazy to think of it that way. 🙏
Yesterday morning we took a jaunt out to our friends’ studio in Needham, namely Blue Lotus Healing Arts, who were celebrating their 10 year anniversary! They’ve built an amazing place that adds beautiful energy to the town of Needham. Visit for acupuncture, yoga, massage, mat Pilates, and other holistic modalities! Tell them I sent ya!
Finally got a chance to visit Mrs Skipper troll in East Providence, Rhode Island. Thomas Dambo constructs his trolls from recycled wood with the goal of encouraging people to explore nature and value the environment. Many of the trolls’ narratives and expressions, often with a humorous twist, incorporate an environmental message. After that we grabbed lunch at a random place on our journey that we happened to be near called Rosa’s Tavern and it was actually very good! I got a chicken parm sammie and LD got this very good tasting seafood pot dish. Finished up with a quick jaunt over to Like No Udder for some ice cream and hot chocolate. I also scored a free rubber duck in pirate attire there, which was kind of cool.
Currently Reading: Face with Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji by Keith Houston
An updated shot from last year around this time. I believe I took this from along the Indian Ridge Path if you want to visit the same vantage point.
Go slow, my life, go slow. Let me enjoy the beauty of silence, serenity, and solitude
I crossed over into a dimensional portal and got to take a selfie with some of the heroes of that world.
Obelisks below, sky above.
Yesterday we got to hang out with some goats with our friends who live up in Georgetown. We got to dress them up in costumes, which was not that easy! Naturally I had to be the Goatfather. It really is a pretty cool feeling to hang out with these animals, and the babies are so warm and snuggly. Studies have shown that goats can distinguish human facial expressions and prefer to interact with humans who appear to be happy so they are pretty emotionally intelligent animals. A cat names Penny also appeared to be pretty attached to me, which was cool. After the mingle we went over to our friends’ house and hung out for a while and had lunch. Sat outside for a bit on the patio, it was pretty nice outside in the sun.
Currently Reading: Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty by Kaila Yu.
Well, we braved the weather and made it to the shore. There were areas of the shore that did flood, but thankfully not at all where we were. The weather wasn’t the greatest but we did get to see the power of nature. The waves were huge but the wind was the real nasty. Didn’t stay on the beach long because the sand would whip into your face like little stabbing needles. Glad we went though! I got to hang out with my four pawed friend Charlie, he is like the sweetest doggo.
What would I tell my younger self? I feel for me it would be to figure out what’s important in life. and just let myself be, everything happens in good time.
Yesterday was an action packed day, from doing to usual day to day, to getting a rental car, to decorating a hotel room for a friend who is visiting Massachusetts, (Salem actually, uhmm that’s so nuts this time of year) it was pretty busy. I think the hotel decorating was probably the most stressful as we ran into a bunch of issues with the front desk (and it’s a place we would never ever stay at in our lives, just saying) but we got it done and hopefully the recipient was pretty surprised to see the room all decked out. Stupid of us not to get a picture of the stuff but we were pretty cramped for time.
The rental is pretty sweet though, one of those decked out Pallisades! Going on a road trip this weekend, really hope the coming storm doesn’t affect us too badly! 🤞
Here’s a shot from the church I like to shoot now and again before I go on those bike rides.
Here’s a page from our upcoming graphic novel!
Started out doing the Cambridge city bike ride but toward the end peeled off and went to the Charlestown Navy Yard to check out the massive Bridge of Happiness animal sculptures. Also got a chance to bike over the newly opened Bill Russell bridge to get there – very nicely done. I had never actually been inside the navy yard before. The USS Constitution was there but like I said, I was there to see the sculptures. I might check them out again sometime when I have more time and it’s not so crowded with families taking pictures with it. LOL. Pretty cool to see it in person, it’s pretty big.
Haven’t been much updating lately – busy busy, car shopping and a bunch of other things getting in the way.
Gametime: Wild Willy 2. If you liked Super Mario Brothers, you’ll like this with a Mickey Mouse theme.
Who wants a copy of this little doll of myself?
It’s been quite the busy week thus far, IYKYK. Tonight we were supposed to go to another outdoor movie on the rooftops in Cambridge with one of our couples friends but it looks like it’s going to be raining all day, so we’ll be nixing that. It’s ok though, I’m glad we went when we did last month. (Was that only a month ago?? It seems like so long!)
Possibly more later today as it goes along…
We checked out this little farm in Canton today, just to get out for a little bit. It’s good to because after this little outing LD car died on the road back and had to be towed to shop. Thankfully not too far from the house. More on that stuff tomorrow I guess. (Last pic is from yesterday, I just really liked it and forgot to add it to yesterday’s entry.) Anyways, these cider donuts are just too cute!
Both my knees were starting to feel a little sore today. Here we go again!
We checked out this year’s fluff fest over at Earth-1. It was it’s 20th anniversary and boy was it packed! We also brought along our friend Emily and her dog Pippa which was nice seeing as we haven’t seen her since March. We would have checked out more things but there were just too many people and some of the lines looked just way too long for us. That said, we able to score some fluff treats which were delicious including some Fluff croissant from Union Sq. Donuts and some cookies and fluff cannoli from some other vendors. Speaking of vendors, one of the ones there was the niece of one of LD’s best friends in life. I would have loved to try the product, but once again, the line was just too long. Man, they must have worked like crazy! After trudging through the festival we drove over to Revere Beach for a much more quiet hang and some sandwiches. The beach was a completely different vibe, very quiet and hardly anybody there which provided a nice balance to the day. It was also more Pippa and LD’s speed, LOL! We finally got back around dark and needed to decompress. In in all, we’re all glad we went though. It was a fun afternoon!
Currently Reading: Murder in the Dollhouse: The Jennifer Dulos Story. Another one that popped up on my Libby app. I remember seeing a Dateline about this story, but this book goes much more in-depth into the victim and her life, really tragic and sad.
Yesterday I finally took a ride down and got a chance to check out the Somerville Flea in Davis Sq. I hadn’t been to the square in ages and I’d never checked out the flea even though it’s been running for a few years now. It piqued my interest. I didn’t really think I’d find anything that I really wanted, and that was true, but it was interesting to check out the vendors and the crows. There were a lot of young college aged people buying things.
Then I took a ride over to Union Square to check out the Rock N Roll Yard sale. Nothing really grabbed me there either. I was maybe hoping to score some cool band tees or maybe some 45s for the juke but no such luck in finding anything good. I’m still glad I went though to check out those two events. Looks like the city was also gearing up for next weekend’s Fluff Fest. This will be it’s 20th year running. Should I check it out? I went for the first 2 or 3 years and that was it. Might be worth a revisit.
I found some pix I took why back in 2006 of the Fluffernutter gals!
Then back to Earth-2 to catch the Valkyries game. They were underdogs going into this one I had a feeling I knew what the outcome would be, Minnesota is just too strong. It’s not over yet (It’s a best of 3 in the 1st round) but you have to be realistic.
After that we went to the eyeglass store to finally pick out some new frames for LD. That did take a while! Chilled the rest of the night, little Emmy watching, little zoning out.
Will be trying to get another encounter with some new younger capybaras, probably sometime next month if we can swing it! Stay tuned!
Currently Reading: Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI.
Currently Watching: AKA Charlie Sheen on Netflix. It’s good!
The other day I noticed my key fob car lock buttons were starting to work not so good so I went ahead and ordered some new batteries yesterday and replaced them this afternoon. Now they work swell, I can be a good distance away and it registers whereas before I had to get real close for it to activate. That’s how I knew it was starting to give out. I remember replacing these maybe 3 or 4 years ago. It’s pretty easy.
I had to do my walk around the block this afternoon because my activity goals were low by being in CPR/Mental Health training all day. Geez, what a long day. Plus it didn’t help that it was freakin’ freezing in there. They can’t seem to control the HVAC well. That seems to be the case in every office I’ve ever worked in – have you noticed that? Like, what is the problem – it’s 2025 for G’s sake. We have the technology, don’t we? I’m almost to 8 straight weeks of hitting the goal daily, only a few more days to go to achieve another badge. Maybe after I get this one I won’t care anymore. Thing is once you miss it you have to start all over from 0 again. That would kind of suck after hitting 56 straight days but we’ll see. Sometimes it’s a struggle to go out and do it so it kind of forces me to get the goal, which I think is a good thing.
Gametime: Sokobos II. Neat concept!
Well, I got our Powerballs in for the night. We’ll see what happens, you never know. I’d be satisfied with one of the smaller prizes actually. Still playing around with AI imagery as you can tell. Watched the Conn. Sun game this afternoon against Phoenix and it was a real good one. The Suns won’t be in the playoffs this year but the rookies they have are pretty amazing. They need some time to mature. I think if they can keep them together the team could be a contender in a few. Really excited to see how the Valkyries do as well. Yeah, I’m into the W now.
Currently Reading: Say Anarcha: A Young Woman, a Devious Surgeon, and the Harrowing Birth of Modern Women’s Health by J.C. Hallman. Say Anarcha excavates history, deconstructing the biographical smoke screen of a surgeon who has falsely been enshrined as a medical pioneer and bringing forth a heroic Black woman to her rightful place at the center of the creation story of modern women’s health care. You can learn a little bit more here if your interested.
Got some good stuff to look forward to in the coming months. A preview of some: another movie hang on a rooftop with friends, another goat snuggling session, hanging out at a fair and hanging out with the stars from the 80s movie Stand By Me to just name a few. Looking good!
Currently Watched: Ruby & Jodi: A Cult of Sin and Influence. What a bunch of nuts!
You never know what you’re going to see in the back yard here. This morning we witnessed a little red fox in the yard. He quickly scurried out an opening in the fence though but it was still pretty cool to see. I finally got the remainder of the plants in the ground for the fall including a witch hazel that we had sitting around in a pot for a few months. Hopefully with a little TLC it will take and provide a nice addition.
Speaking of plants I think next year I’m going to focus almost exclusively on little flowers. Chamomile (we grew some this year), Alyssum, Lobelia (got some of those this year too), things of that nature. We’ll see!
Last Friday was a pretty day. Between doctor appointments, getting cookies at Tatte in Wellesley, getting a sticker to use the town dump, going into best Buy and getting a new tv and setting it up. (We went larger this time and one that utilizes a better display technology), and then prepping some food for the next day which was…
Saturday we had a couple of friends over for a BBQ. It was such a nice fun time! We need to hang out more often. Anyways, I grilled up some salmon and roasted veggies, nothing too crazy. Then I went and bought a subscription for the Ring doorbell.
Sunday. Had to go to Marshfield to get the lobster roll we love so much and they close after Labor Day for the season. When we got there, though, it was a little iffy to see if we’d even be able to get one because they were running out. It was getting really close! The cut-off line was fast approaching! It would suck to go all that way and miss out.
We just made the cut! Two people after us was the cutoff line! LITERALLY just made it!
. Then back to Wellesley to put together a bookshelf which took me about an hour or so.
Currently watching: Vatican Girl. A selection by our BBQ friends this weekend! Thanks L&D!
I definitely want to take a ride sometime down to Providence again to check out the new trolls. More specifically the one by the river holding a canoe over it’s head. Then maybe a trip to Charlestown to get a pic next to some statues of a hippo and a rabbit woman playing chess. I’m kind of weird that way.
I did enjoy going to out friends pool yesterday afternoon, and playing with their dog Mollie, I needed a bit of late summer relaxation after finding out my sister was in the hospital and I visited her in the morning before. Apparently it was some kind of anaphylactic shock by the appearance of things. More tests to determine, but she’s good and out of there now so that’s a relief.
Of course after all the hanging around my exercise goals for the day was low so I had to go around the block around here a few times last night to get my steps, activity minutes, and calorie burn set to meet my goal which I did in the darkness of the street lights. I never used to care about those things but I’m on a roll having met my goal everyday for close to 6 weeks now and I don’t want to stop.
The tv finally crapped out last night. I’ll need to buy a new one. It did appear to going on the fritz lately, So that’s on my docket to get over the next few.
More later today…
Currently Reading: The Secret Life of a Cemetery: The Wild Nature and Enchanting Lore of Père-Lachaise