Making my 1st bunny cake. Thanks, Ladydoc, for gifting me the joy! I’m psyched it came out looking so well!
Currently reading: Molly by Blake Butler,
Month: March 2024
The Start of Something New
Yesterday I tagged along and helped moved stuff for LD and her colleagues from one office to another and also helped get rid of a bunch of stuff. Very exciting to see the new space! I didn’t realize it at the time but later on in the day I had noticed that it really tuckered me out! Got some lunch later from the Cod Squad which was very tasty.
Rainy Good Friday Things
Picked up some groceries this morning for this Easter Sunday. Watched an intern of LD’s from back in day defend her dissertation. She’s now a doctor! So proud! What a major accomplishment, especially considering all the environmental factors over the years to get it done. Bravo D!
Gametime: Dungeon Heart. I’m currently at the time of this posting stuck on level 15.
Not the Greatest Message, Right?
Me and the Bunny outside Woody’s Liquors Store in Somerville a couple of years ago. Such an “Old Somerville” thing to do!
Something to keep the kids busy while the parent(s) stocked up. 
We’re on the hunt for some old vintage board games, so if you have any, let me know!
My knees have been acting up again, joy of joys.
Currently reading: Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up. I find myself not agreeing with this author in the book at all for the most part, but was curious to see another perspective.
No Respect Teacher Stories
So every now and then, this 5th grade teacher comes and talks to me about what’s going on, and you wouldn’t believe the stories she tells about what the students are up to these days. Actually, the parents are far worse. For example, this story was said to me a few days ago when we were chatting. A father came into the school to talk about his child or something and had to wait in the secretary’s office. I missed this section of the narrative but somehow the secretary (a woman) was not in her office at the time.
This father got the nerve to go into her office, and get on the intercom. He says over the intercom, “School sucks, Celtics rule!” Now, the staff at the school are wondering what the hell was that – they don’t have a male secretary at the office and certainly should not be on the intercom, so they’re understandable freaking out. Plus such a nice message to give out to the students, right? Eventually they catch up to this guy and he says “he couldn’t help himself..” Really? After that incident he got a disinvite from the school so he cannot go in there anymore. Then he gets on social media and says how bad the security is in the school.
She also mentioned that her girlfriend, who used to work at this school but is now in Stoughton, relates the tale of one of her students, a second grader, who literally defaecated on her desk. A second grader!
No respect these days. I don’t know how these teachers do it.
Beach Ready and Dollhouses
I’m ready for those warmer weather beach outings now! This picture I took a little while back makes me yearn for those days right now, but I know they’re coming. Just have to be a bit more patient.
Today’s brief adventure was checking out a dollhouse in Wellesley that I found for LD (it’s amazing what you can find on Facebook Marketplace, I do like to look over the listings) to perhaps buy for her new office location. This thing was quite large yet nice and not flashy, and it came with the prettiest furnishings. She fell in love with it right away, and it’s now part of the family! Then we took a little side trip to see something macabre, which I’ll tell more about later.
Later on in the afternoon I ran a couple of errands, put in a Powerball ticket (had to try, right?) ate some more lemon orzo soup that we made again last night and updated this page with this latest entry.
Currently Reading: The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology. Getting all science-y with this read!
Happiness is a Warm Puppy Part Two
Before we went on today’s adventure I wanted to see if what I saw when I dropped the food off the other day was indeed true. I saw a sign out in front of the church that said “Drive By Palms on Sunday.” So we drove over to the church and there really was a lady handing out palms. So I pulled up and asked for some and the woman was gracious enough to ask how many I wanted. I said three, mostly getting these for my mom. So we ended up getting four and I’ll be giving them to my mom when I see her again later in the week.
The main adventure today though was taking a trip up north to see our friends and their dog Mollie again for a hang out. So we spent a wonderful afternoon getting lunch, talking, telling stories, learning some new things, and laughing. Mollie’s now about twice the size I saw her last but still full of super energy.
All in all, a pretty good day.
Rainy Saturday Memorial Time
Yesterday we attended a celebration ceremony for LD’s former landlady’s husband who recently passed away.
The service was held at a charming little church in town, and afterwards we were all welcomed to a local restaurant for lunch and to chat with the family, etc.
It was a good time, albeit a little hectic. After that, we pretty much slept all day on the couch. As I previously stated, the weather was quite wet and cold.
I ended up taking several naps, something I rarely, if ever do. It was that type of day.
Spring is Springing!
Spring!
I went ahead this morning to a church that’s located in town and delivered some food that we had around over to the local food pantry. Hopefully it’ll will go to some people in need. I haven’t been able to update much this week because my stomach was upset, mostly due to what I think must have been something I ate. It wasn’t too bad, just one of those things that has to work it’s way through the system. I appear to be pretty good now though, so that’s a relief.
Chimney Restoration Day
Chimney fix day! The guy came to fix the chimney this morning, which we found out he wanted to come last night so it was pretty sudden, but it would be good to get that out of the way. It’s the same little old Italian man that was used to do all the kitchen backsplash last year during the remodel. He’s very good. We get kind of nervous that this older guy is going to climb the ladder and do the work, but he did it with aplomb and has lots of experience. It’s pays to know good people!
He came with another old guy this time so they could work in tandem. They basically had to take down a bit from the top down to the roof line essentially and then recement the brickwork and build it back up. The final part was putting a cap on the top. Strangely it never seemed to have a cap or if it did it disappeared before we got here.
The whole impetus for getting this done in the first place is to stop the possibility of birds getting trapped in there and ending up getting trapped in the fireplace. It’s happened twice over the years, the last one being quite terrible and sad. Hopefully this will fix all of that and the bonus being we could actually start using the fireplace again, although someday might do an insert instead.
Sunday Irish Food
This morning I got up super early and headed down to the local famous bagel place in town because LD wanted some shamrock (green colored) bagels. I had to get there early because this place is also packed and the lines are crazy. Well, getting there at 7 am is the time to get there because even though there were people in there getting stuff, it wasn’t too crazy. Go around 10 am and you’ll be waiting in line for a good while.
At noon, we picked up a boiled dinner (a St. Patrick’s day tradition) from another local place that we used to frequent quite often. And we ended up eating it with the old land lady as a nice gesture, which she appreciated.
Baby Goats and Cambridge Bikes
Hanging out with these baby goats this afternoon at a place in Northborough, Massachusetts was simply, “Baaaaaaa-mazing!” The goat from the video below we were told was only 4 days old! He has quite a set of lungs on him! Another goat also got to biting my ear, which while kind of funny, also hurt a teeny bit! And then a third goat fell asleep in my arms- she was a sweetheart.
In the morning I headed out to Cambridge for a bike ride the city was running. Got to travel thru the city, mostly through Kendell Square, and down by Lechmere and M.I.T. As you can see from my stats it wasn’t a strenuous ride in the least, but it being my first ride of the season, my legs and back were a tiny bit sore after. There was no particular theme to this ride and the route had stretches that seemed a bit odd to me, like very narrow passageways which made all the bikes bunch up and the bottle necks. I did get to pass by where M.I.T. was showing off the the S.T.E.M. women orange statues which was something I had wanted to check out in the past. I might need to go down there at a later time to get a better look.
Quite the Handfuls
Yesterday, when sorting through some old stuff, I stumbled upon this Polaroid, which seems like it was taken a lifetime ago. This is from the early Aughts, I think. This picture has quite the backstory, but I’ll let the readers try to piece it together as an exercise. I’m going to have to make some time to look over my other photos from this chapter of my life. There must be a couple more just like this one.
Some things that I want to do coming up in Spring is maybe a mini-golf outing and also a glass blowing class with another couple friends of ours. If they bag though maybe we can go with any other of our friends that may be interested. I also still want to try that axe throwing thing, that’s been on my bucket list for a while now.
This afternoon while I was walking around the flower gardens today, I noticed the daffodils starting to blossom and the tulip leaves starting to emerge. I also observed a snowdrop that I planted a few years ago is now in bloom, a lone soldier braving the cold to reach the sun. I’ll need to do some spring cleaning, get rid of some leaves, and so on, but not yet. I was thinking tonight might be a nice night to light the firepit, but I’ll wait on that as well. It’s nice to know that I won’t have to wait too long to do these things, and maybe even get the grill out a bit early.
Today also happens to be Pi Day (you know, as in 3.14159…) Normally I would celebrate by eating a pizza pie but I’ll probably save that for tomorrow as today I plan on trying my hand at making a mushroom ravioli dish.
Windy Day Appointment
Had a dental appointment this morning so I went and got that out of the way. The typical 6-month checkup and I don’t have to go back until 6 months later so that’s all well and good. He did tell me to get some stuff for my gums which I guess have been inflamed lately so they called it in and I picked it up at the pharmacy a little while later. I’m pretty sure I’ve had this stuff before so it’s no big deal. Oh, I also discovered that the city of Cambridge is doing a bike ride this weekend so I might go ahead and do that, ahead of the usual May ride, depending on the weather and if I’m feeling it the day of. We’ll see.
Small Weekly Updates and Beach Waves
Went to Earth-1 to run some errands, visited my grandparent’s grave in Malden, had a treat at Kelly’s Roast Beef, visited LD’s old landlady who recently lost her husband who was a very nice man, celebrated LD’s birthday, and yeah, that’s about it.
We made a quick visit to the beach today since it was kind of nice out. When we arrived we were amazed at how active the waves were and the water itself was quite close to the entry points. We had never seen the water travel up that high before.
Today we plan on making the lemon soup again.
Currently reading: Gardening Can Be Murder: How Poisonous Poppies, Sinister Shovels, and Grim Gardens Have Inspired Mystery Writers and Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself by Hef’s last wife.
Happy Birthday LD!
Happy Birthday to the love of my life!
Through thick and thin, you’ve been my rock, my confidante, and the greatest adventure partner anyone could ask for.
You inspire me every single day with your compassion, empathy, and wit. Your laughter always melts my heart, and I wouldn’t trade our watching-tv-while-on-heating-pads-night talks and silly inside jokes for anything.
This year, I wish you the best and all you could want. I can’t wait to celebrate with you and make more unforgettable memories together.
Here’s to many more years of laughter, love, and growing stronger together.
With all my love,
Mark
Sparkle
Got to hang out with my friend Sparkle at the Sanctuary today. We went there after visiting LD’s old landlady whose husband recently passed away, so we were providing some support. I made some killer salmon and we brought bagels too and had a nice brunch visit.
Shadows and Light
I realize I haven’t updated in a while but that’s mostly because there’s nothing really to update with over the last week. It’s just been business as usual, but don’t worry, that’ll be changing soon.
Gametime: Space Expedition. This was really fun! Very well done! And also for the puzzle minded, Fixban. That game is not easy!