Another beautiful sunset over from my time at Madaket Beach in Nantucket this year.
We have another fun outing planned for today so I’ll update when I have the chance! Enjoy your Fourth everyone!
Author: Markman
The Good, the Happy and the Sad
The Good:
The Happy:
Alright, tonight I’m going to attempt to make some linguine with zoodles that I’ll create myself and throw it together with some shrimp. The recipe called for scallops, but we don’t have any, hence the substitution.
Anyone want to guess how this is going to turn out?
I took another picture of the fire lilies out front surrounded by the hydrangeas. What do you think of this version? I played around with the tone I bit more in this one.
and the Sad:
I learned last week that a work colleague of mine passed away. It’s so weird when you hear things like that. That makes three now of people I used to work with for years (well over a decade, almost two), now just gone. We all started at ADL together and worked on projects for a decade until we got bought out by another company and we spent a good decade and a half there – before they laid us off. I lasted at the company a few years longer than he did. The business was changing and we were all aging out I suppose. Apparently it happened over a month ago, but I just found out about this a few days ago. The leukemia finally caught up to him. He beat it once. I wonder if he got it to his being exposed to toxic chemicals during his deployment to Iraq in Gulf War? We’ll never know for sure.
Two of the three—including the one who just passed—and I used to play Quake ][ deathmatches on the company network after hours. It was just the three of us. We logged many hours together playing that game. Sometimes I think back to those times and reminisce. I thought we would get together and play again someday for old times sake, however remote it seemed, but that’s never going to happen now.
Rest in peace, “Helmet.”
Felt Some Love at Sankaty Light
Here’s a shot I took of the Sankaty Head Lighthouse while I was in Nantucket. I had never been to this lighthouse before so it was a treat to finally go visit it! Thanks to our hosts once again for the opportunity!
I grilled up some marinated chicken we had in the freezer downstairs and we then brought it over to LD’s old landlady and hung out there with her a bit and had a nice lunch. Now we need to meal plan for the upcoming week, this time we’re going to get the ingredients ourselves and put together some meals using recipes from a book for a change. So is the plan.
Currently Watching: Six Schizophrenic Brothers (2024). I had actually read the book about a few years ago and found it to be quite the story. We plowed through the four episodes last night.
In Search Of That Girl, You Know the One…
While we down on the island with our most generous hosts we got to talking about how LD and I met and there was talk of a poem I had written at the time that she really liked. (I was some emo back then!) I finally dug it up and here it is in all it’s glory. Tell me what you think of it.
That Girl, you know the one, the one that makes you better, makes your friends jealous and your parents scared.
That knows who she is, who she was, but hasn't planned out who she'll become.
That challenges you, tests you, competes with you, all while standing by your side.
That can cheer you up with only a phone call or a smile, that's intriguing but never impossible to figure out.
That knows what she likes, but is still learning what she loves.
That isn't afraid of commitment, but holds onto her individuality.
That doesn't feel she has to say she loves you, only prove it.
Whose sense of adventure is never lost, even if its just during a trip to the grocery store.
That sees a little humor in everything, and points it out even when it isn't PC.
You know, that girl.
I'm looking for her.
Well, the good news is that I finally found her!
The pic above is one I took this morning after noticing that the fire lilies are starting to bloom. This is probably my favorite of all the various lilies we have growing. This morning I went to the gym with LD and decided to just sit in the hot tub the whole time and relax. It was a great morning for it but it’s made me sleepy most of the day and I don’t feel motivated to do the things that I thought I would get done today. Well, there’s always tomorrow, think I’ll just lay low today.
Garden Roundup
Summer is my favorite time of year! There are so many garden flowers in bloom, and it really shows the benefits of the hard work that was put into the garden. One of my favorite things to do is to go outside and admire the garden flowers. I just cut up a watermelon and picked some of our growing lettuce, I think I’ll make a nice salad with it tonight.
Visiting the Nantucket Serengeti
There’s this preservation area on the island which looks amazingly like an African Serengeti plain. It’s so strange to see such an ecology as that on a New England island!
Yesterday I noticed one of my car tires would keep looking low so I figured it might have a slow leak. I took it to my guy over at Earth-1 since I was heading there for the day anyway and they discovered that there was a nail in it, which they happily fixed up for me, so that was good. I ended up taking my mom to Revere Beach for an hour or so because I felt she might like to get out of the house and get some fresh air. She wanted me to ride her over to Wellington Circle for something and since the beach wasn’t too far from there I suggested we hang there for a bit. I think she had a good time so that was nice as well.
Walking the Sconset Bluff Trail
You will love the Sconset Bluff Walk. This trail is truly loaded with beautiful views. It makes me so happy I got to walk along it! The experience is constantly changing. One minute you’re walking through a quiet neighborhood, the next you’re passing through a yard and the next you’re walking under a canopy of trees. Flowers, birds, pathways to the water, and places to stop and take in the scenery are in abundance. This walk can be quick or long, depending on how much time you have. It’s a great place for a leisurely stroll or a more invigorating hike. Either way, you’re sure to enjoy the stunning views. I sure did!
I have to also express my gratitude to our wonderful hosts who were so kind to invite us to spend a few days with them on this beautiful island. They were so kind and generous with their time and hospitality, and I really appreciate it. We thoroughly enjoyed the beach, seeing the sights, and all the great meals and places we got to see like the Brotherhood and Millie’s and Claudette’s. I hope we can repay the favor one day.
The Rose Covered Cottages of Nantucket
I’m so grateful for the opportunity to visit the rose-covered cottages in Nantucket. The winding lanes and idyllic scenery transport you to a simpler time. Each cottage has its own unique blend of architecture and blooming roses, which make it a one-of-a-kind experience. The smell of roses and salty sea breeze (and it was pretty breezy at times!) is a relaxing combination that invites visitors to immerse themselves in the serene beauty of Siasconset. It was a perfect place to slow down and enjoy the beauty of nature. I’ve got a lot more to say about the trip over the next few, but there’s a ton of things I have to get done around home first, so stay tuned!
Carson’s Vet Day
Yesterday we had to take the cat to the vet. It’s always a big production to get him down there because we have to use guile and trickery to get him into a position where I can grab him by the scruff of the neck and then quickly dump him into the carrier. Then driving him down there is an ordeal because of this pitiful wail that he does the whole ride there. I feel bad that I have to trick him this way but I said to myself that I just needed to grit my teeth and get through it. I’m happy to say that he got his shots and a clean bill of health from the doctor and that he was very brave and so well behaved that they were able to get everything done and even got his nails clipped. So that was great but it did take a little bit out of us.
However later in the afternoon a collogue of LD’s swung by and hung out with us for a couple of hours on the back patio and we talked and had a lovely lunch outside which was fun. We even lit a fire for an hour or so which used the remainder of the wood I had and just as it had finished burning for the most part it started to rain but by that point it was pretty much time to end anyway so it worked out beautifully. I will say that was a quick 5 or so hours though, it went by so fast. Also there were a multitude of bunnies playing in the backyard during all of this.
It’s Hydrangea SZN
The Hydrangeas are killing it this year! They’re all big, healthy, and blooming better than ever, even the ones that never flowered in the past. Obviously something about the environment has changed this season for them since we don’t ever really do anything to them, they just do what they do on their own!
Our Guest Has Gone Home
That was a busy few days with the guest visiting and staying for a while. We got to do a lot of fun stuff while she was here. LD is an excellent host, and I’m delighted she got to spend time with her childhood pal. They visited the beach several times, we watched the Brats show on the Brat Pack, practiced Pig Yoga together, grilled a dinner one night and made two big batches of the lemon soup for the landlady down the street, (yes, our guest helped out!) and had brunch at a 60s-inspired diner. Even Carson got used to her being around after a while.
The girls went to see a sunset and capybaras yesterday (I’m a little jealous that I wasn’t able to go due to other commitments, but judging from the hundreds of photos they took, it looked like a great time. Perhaps I can return there for my birthday!) Anyways while they were doing that I was hamming and hawing it up watching the Celtics win the championship. So sweet!
Now maybe a couple of days of normalcy during this heat wave we are currently having before the next adventure!
Dining to the 60s
Currently Reading: Entrances and Exits by Michael Richards. (review).
Piggy Yoga is Now a Thing
So much fun! I was surprised at how fun it actually was! Then it was an afternoon by the pool, a night of grilling and doing a fire pit. Beautiful day!
Gametime: Tongue Tied. Help the frog reach the stars! Pretty cool game.
Currently Watching: Brats. A doc about the Brat Pack of the 80s headed by one of them.
Preparing for Adventure
Above is another one of my photos that I had lying around and decided to post up.
So, between work today, I managed to do some stuff around the house. The new network is up and running, and all the cameras are connected, once I had noticed that they were still looking for the old network and basically wouldn’t work. The set-top box is running Android TV, which works perfectly with the new TV remote and Google Assistant. It’s such a relief to have everything set up and working properly. I still want to play around a little bit with using my voice to control it. i know it’s nothing new but since the old box didn’t support it we never had those features.
The guy who was due to install the railings to the front steps finally showed up today, too, and got started putting up the new rails on the new steps. It was a bit of a surprise since I wasn’t expecting him, well I was, but a head’s up once in a while would have been nice. They didn’t take long to install, and I have to say, I think they really look great! The new rails are much safer than the old ones, and they also add a nice touch of style to the front of the house.
Overall, it was a productive day. Work on the garden and other areas around here continue apace. We’d like to get everything in order for when our guest arrives to hang out for a few days with us. There’s going to be a bunch of hopefully fun adventures lined up!
And now for something totally bananas! I used A.I to create a song in a bout a minute. Check it out.
When in Jersey…
Just got back from a weekend in New Jersey. It was LD’s college reunion so we attended. She got to get together with some old freinds, some she hadn’t seen in quite some time.
It was a fun outing. The weather was nice. Before the actual dinner they had a mass at the connected chapel to the college. What a beautiful chapel, I had never actually been inside before. Picture doesn’t really do it justice. You have to be in there and admire the high ceilings and stained glass and sculptures. Excellent attention to detail. We then took a little tour of the campus and the girls reminisced of their times there. It was cool to hear the stories.
The actual event itself wasn’t run too well, too many little things for listing now, but one funny story is this woman who joined our table and I guess was part of their class except she was like not a regular student, more like a weekend college kind of thing. She kept getting in all the pictures and interrupting but I suppose just wanted to be a part of the festivities. She said she was some sort of couples counselor but when you pressed her on certain things, it just sounded weird and off. There’s a lot more, like the time I handed her a photo prop that had the word Princess on it and she looked at me like I had three heads. (she had said her name was Princess, like I said, a bit strange). Anyways there’s way more to be said about these various encounters but better to tell it in person.
We had pizza at a local place by a train station and got to hang out with another friend who decided to come down and meet us, which was nice. We stayed at The Madison, a place we used to stay at often before the pandemic (since the pandemic we never use hotel rooms anymore, mostly Airbnb’s now) but for this particular trip is was convenient. Except the place is kind of going downhill, which is sad. I mean, it always had it’s foibles but now with it being sold to some company and not run by a family anymore, you can tell the difference. The food’s not the same, the service is definitely not the same, they even removed the pool to build another space for weddings (since that’s it’s main gig these days) and having a pool was one of the main reasons for choosing that place – for us. We didn’t check the reviews beforehand because we thought it would be like it always was. Won’t be making that mistake again!
The next day he hit the town center and met up with two other friends from LD’s graduating class at a diner called The Nautilus. Another place that I probably hadn’t been to in over 10 years if not more. That was pretty much the same. Again, fun meeting them and listening to the stories. Then it was off to grab some Jersey Boy bagels for the road and head on back.
The Verizon guy finally came this morning and upgraded everything, including a new set top box, which is what started this whole rigmarole. But now we are blasting with giganet speeds so access quality should be really good now.
Currently Reading: Staying with the computer future for the moment: Quantum Supremacy (review).
A Wonderful Discovery of Birding
I just got around to trying this app called Merlin which identifies birds just by listening to them singing and tweeting. This thing is pretty sick and works awesome! The Merlin app is free from Cornell. It will record and identify birds by their calls in a matter of seconds. In under a minute, it could identify 6 different birds from the backyard!.I really like using the Sound ID function, just sitting out back with it listening and seeing the different bird species pop up that it identified. It also seems to do a great job of ignoring any background noise. How did I not know about this sooner?? Download it!
Fit Together Like a Jigsaw Puzzle
Finally got around to putting this together:
Currently Reading: Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans (review).
Let’s Make It a Beach Date!
We had a good day at the beach yesterday, meeting up with some friends. Good times. The weather was also amazing. I did not wade in the ocean, but everyone else did! We noticed a bunch of people playing what must be some new beach game. It looks like there’s a mini trampoline and you biunce a ball off of it to the other person. Never seen this before but a bunch of people had there own games set up which makes me thing maybe it’s the latest thing?
We all got a little sunshine. Afterwards, LD and I went to Green Harbor for some lobster rolls and clams; we were there, so why not? When we got home, I made some teriyaki rice with vegetables and we watched some more The Shield episodes.
This morning, I went to town to mow the lawns, and we jointly mulched several of the lily beds. Mulching appears to be an endless task. I also cleaned off the Adirondack chairs and patio table to remove the pollen that had accumulated. This gardening stuff is a lot of effort (granted, it’s a rather big back yard). It looks great when everything is finished. I feel fairly accomplished this morning, despite the fact that I’m little sore.
Beautiful Pool and Tiny Chairs
Yesterday afternoon was spent in Georgetown visiting our friends who just put in a truly gorgeous inground pool. We got in the water (a nice warm 77+ degrees) and even sat on these relaxing ledges that surround the pool in different areas. They need to finish all the hardscape around it, add the firepit, etc. but so far it is really sweet! I had a great time. We also got to hang out with their dog Molly again who just recently got spade so had to wear a donut around her head. She’s the cutest!
After that we got more mulch in the early evening and these plant holders that look exactly like the two blue Adirondack chairs that we have in the back. These are essentially miniature versions of those so they match great. Now it’s off to the beach to meet up with some other pals of ours. I also want to look at Hoka sneakers soon and see what the buzz is about as my cherished New Balance M880E10s aren’t being produced anymore. More later…
What Should Be Simple Becomes a Sisyphean Task
The cable set-top box failed yesterday, and it was a nightmare attempting to contact support with all of the automated prompts and live chat operators. It was difficult just to get someone to simply replace the box. What should have taken a few minutes if you could reach a human on the phone took more than two hours on the computer. Poor LD dealing with all that stuff, she has the patience of a saint but even this was getting to her, naturally so.
The box just keeps rebooting itself; I believe the hard disk within it ultimately failed, as it was quite old. It had started acting a bit wonky earlier in the day. Anyway, a guy will be out in about ten days to perform whatever they need to. In the interim, luckily, we can still use all of the TV applications and things; it’s just the cable that’s unavailable for now. Seriously thinking of ditching that whole thing but they don’t make it easy, plus it’s not as cost effective as it used to be to cut the cord and get all the stuff you want.
Anyways, after that cluster, LD had a now much-needed accupuncture appointment and I decided to tag along and hang out at a nearby park and waited and read while she was having the treatment. After a couple of hours there we came back and I fired up the grill to use up some chicken that had to be used in the next day or so or it would go bad. I ended up grilling some marinated chicken late last night. LD said it came out good, so there’s that!
Pet Peeve of the Week
Oh you know I’m getting one of these Deadpool & Wolverine popcorn buckets (YouTube link) when the movie hits this theatres this summer!
I like how without warning the town just decides to repave all the streets in our surrounding neighborhood and close them all off, with no communication about it, Just show up out of the blue and screw it all up. Getting in and out of here is a nightmare right now. Although I suppose once it’s done it’ll be nice. Just a little heads up once in a while would be greatly appreciated. I went to Somerville and hung out with these two guys yesterday.
I’m somehow down to the FINAL level(!) having finally solved all of the other ones of Cargo Lines, the game I mentioned an entry or two before. Pulling my hair out trying to solve this last one. This game is great! Oh, and my left knee appears to be bugging me again, think I’ll need to start wearing the brace again.
Currently Reading: The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels. (NYT Review here).
Just a Quick Little Recap for This Weekend Thus Far
Over the weekend, We dedicated a significant amount of time to taking care of various tasks and activities. We both started by tending to the garden, spending hours working on planting and mulching to ensure the plants thrived. LD was in particular beast mode today removing a bunch of weeds. We then made a trip to the Depot to pick up new string for the trimmers, the darn thing ran out on me as I was whacking away. Saturday evening, I prepared the grill for some steak tips and zucchini, providing a flavorful and satisfying dinner ( or so I hoped). The following day, we opted for a classic choice of turkey burgers something simple plus we had some on hand. With that we added some shucked corn on the cob, which we find comes out pretty nice on the grill. With leftover chicken on hand, we decided to make the now famous lemon orzo soup to avoid any waste and have something else to nosh on during the week ahead. We also brought some of the soup to LD’s previous landlady, who had recently been hospitalized, offering both nourishment and support during a challenging time. She should be coming home today so that’s good news. Amidst the planting and mulching and even a little bit of napping, I managed to make progress on reading some books that I had been meaning to finish, finding a moment of relaxation and fulfillment in the midst of a busy weekend. The only real bummer is having to attend a wake later this afternoon for a woman who was kind to us and helped us with our burgeoning green thumbs.
Currently Watching: The Shield, not your everyday cop show from the early aughts.
Getting Super Excited for the Start of Summer!
I mowed both the front and back lawns, (that back one is such a large area!), but kept the buttercup area in the middle of the lawn since it appears that a bunny has placed a nest right smack dab in the center of it. I don’t mow those down anyway until they’ve finished blooming. Looks sort of comical having a neat lawn and this outcrop of buttercups right smack dab in the middle of it.
On a sad note, the garden lady that helped us with many questions and gifted a bunch of her lilies over the years from her garden suddenly passed away this week, so we’ll go to the wake on Monday and LD will probably also attend the funeral on Tuesday. She was a wonderful woman to all who knew her and will be sorely missed. We were going to visit some pals down in Fairhaven that day, but decided to take a rain check to attend these services instead. We’ll also do some more garden cleanup around her lilies that are here to honor her and keep the memory alive.
I was going to fire up the grill tonight for the first time this season and do up some steak tips and zucchini but instead we decided on pizza and takeout. I’ll grill those things up tomorrow afternoon.
June is looking to be an extremely busy month with a lot of activities I’m really looking forward to. They’ll be some rather unusual new animal encounters, a couple of friendly visits from some folks we love, a new pool party invite, an island excursion, and a lot more. Can’t wait to experience them and share!
Serenity Now
Game Time: Cargo Lines. This game is actually pretty fun, I like using my brain to try and solve the puzzles. I’m on the red crated levels now and the difficulty has really ramped up!
Kind of a weird day today, thunderstorms, then sun, then rain, then hot sun. At least the good news is that I didn’t get too wet outside today.