Sometimes, the best plan is no plan at all. Today, I’m embracing the art of doing nothing. No deadlines, no rush, no stress. Just a day to unwind, relax, and recharge. Actually I still check the bunny occasionally. One did decide to stay for a bit longer. Seems like there’s always one lone straggler that takes a little longer to leave than it’s siblings. When I saw Carson sleeping back in his house and not watching anymore I knew the bunny had left. Now we have empty nest syndrome again after one day!
I awoke, to my utter surprise this morning, to notice that three baby bunnies had been born in the same old flowerpot that previous generations of buns had been born in, running around the deck, in between the various pots. I suppose we were first alerted to their presence when we realized that Carson never came up to the bed last night. He was watching the bunny action apparently. We put out some carrot strings in the afternoon and by early evening, they were eaten, most likely by the one bunny that is still hanging around, although after today, I would imagine it will be on it’s way to it’s life’s adventure.
Springtime in Boston
Yesterday I spent much of the day over at Earth-1, helping my mom out with various tasks that she needed down. She had a cataract operation last week and is progressing great. Probably going to have the other eye done in a couple of weeks as well. While I was there, one of her cats, Laurel, decided to wear his bowtie. I wish I could Carson to wear one but there’s no way that’s going to happen at this stage in the game.
After working my rounds today, I began starting to do a lot of cleanup on and in the gardens. Getting rid of old leaves, cleaning out the beds, checking on the flowers currently coming up and bulbs starting to emerge from the soil. Getting out the various hanging planter tools and preparing the decks. Cleaning out the firepit and buying a bunch of stuff to get the season started. This is a great time of year. Also, looks like the next door neighbors just opened their pool so get ready for their drunken late night loud parties again. Oh, and LD probably has a mild concussion. Great.
Currently Reading: The Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle. (review).
Well, yesterday was quite a day. It started off pretty good, having to take a trip out to Weymouth to pick up something and then since it was nice out, we decided to go by the Hingham Shipyards to get some fresh air. Ended up getting a lunch at Wahlburgers. It’s been literally years and years since we’ve been there. I think we might have went when they first opened. Guess it was a good time to go because the whole area was pretty quiet. We ended up getting chicken sandwiches. Came home, took a nap, and watched some television.
Toward late afternoon/early evening we did the cooking thing. Three meals all at once, which I don’t really like to do because I can get overwhelmed with too many things going on at once. We did the lemon chicken-orzo soup we love so much, along with another chicken dish and some blueberry/strawberry oatmeal for LD. Unfortunely while all this was going on, LD happened to bang her head on one of the open cabinet doors and since she’s on certain meds we felt it best to get checked out at the hospital, so off we went to the ER. Long story short, after all-told about four hours of mostly waiting (first in the ER lobby, and then mostly for the results of the scans to come back), her CT scans looked good, but still going to watch to make sure everything is alright. Coming back around 11 pm we had some soup and then went to bed. I guess I crashed our pretty fast since hospitals and worrying and everything that goes along with that makes me really anxious.
Never a dull moment! Although in the grand scheme of things,, everything went particularly well. However, I am instituting a new rule that no more than two meals will be made by us at a time and to maybe slow things down and not rush so much. We’ll try.
Remember a few days ago when I mentioned reading about a homicide in Wellesley that occurred almost 20 years ago? So, today we went on an outing to visit where important events from this case occurred. This all came about after someone very close to the case informed us that they were directly involved. I won’t tell who it is, but if you do enough Google searching, you might be able to figure it out. It’s strange to know someone who is literally 0 degrees away from the criminal. It must also be difficult to live in the aftermath of such a heinous crime.
Anyway, the primary area we explored was Morses Pond, which is where all of this happened all those years ago, as well as some other spots mentioned in the book. (I wish I could find the Dateline episode featuring this case S2, E14). We spent the day with our pals M&M who were also into checking out out the locales. It seems so wrong and yet sort of fascinating at the same time, actually locating places where things were left which ultimately led to the conviction.
I also needed to snap high-resolution images of LD’s new office for use on her website, so that was another reason to be in the area since the proximity to all this stuff is really close. Afterwards we all had a nice lunch at a place called The Local.
The iconic swan boats of Boston start up another season tomorrow in the Public Garden. I didn’t get a chance this winter to check out the clown heads at Winteractive this time but maybe sometime in the summer I can check out these boats again.
Currently Reading: Welcome to the O.C.: The Oral History. Great television show from the 90s, especially the first few seasons. I only got to see the whole series a couple of years ago on streaming, having never watched it when it first came out.
Today, the mason, the small elderly Italian guy who built the chimney cap a few weeks ago, arrived and began removing the ancient concrete and brick stairs leading to the front entry of the house. It had all started to deteriorate a while ago, so it was time to have it redone. So, that’s what’s occurring this week. Also, the prior setup was not fully to code standards, so this new one will have better measurements, such as a landing that is the proper size rather than being too little, as it is now. The new brick and limestone landings should help improve visual appeal as well. This will be going on pretty much all week I would imagine.
Earlier today I went ahead and created that solar eclipse viewer out of a shoebox. Didn’t have the time or inclination to get the glasses. To be honest, I could sort of care less about the whole thing, but everyone else is into it, so I guessed that I would try to be as well. I personally felt pretty apathetic about it, to be honest. Maybe I’m weird. But then I got invited to see it with some friends who actually had some glasses so I, at first begrudgingly, went over there and watched it, and I do have to admit, that it was kind of cool, and then my mood changed. Plus being with good friends that make you laugh, really made it enjoyable. The box sucked, it was so much better with the glasses.
I also went ahead today and finally purchased some more storage space from Google. For the longest time I held out at the free 15 gigabytes but I got tired of having to erase stuff from the cloud to backup what I really wanted to backup so now 100 gigabits should hopefully last me for quite some time. Plus it comes with some other editing perks so I suppose it was worth it.
We had a “free” couple of days to stay at the Cape which we obtained last summer so we finally decided to use it up this weekend. So back down to Earth-3 we went. (Earth-3 being the place down the Cape that we regularly stay at – a time share that we have). So we arrived Friday night and we ended up using a gift certificate to a local restaurant that we’ve gone to a bunch of times and got rid of that. (The gift certificate was also a “freebie” since they messed up our later last time and this was the way amends were made). So that all worked out quite well.
Some other fun things we got to do on this mini-vacation was, as usual, our multiple visits to the Chocolate Sparrow, a place we love to get our treats from. We grabbed a brunch from a place called Grumpies and they weren’t grumpy at all. In fact, I’d say the food was actually really good. I would go back there. We got much needed massages from a lady we know down there who is amazing, and those felt really good. Late Saturday night LD got me a surprise experience, my first, being in a meditative salt cave. So that was pretty cool. The weather wasn’t all that great, a bit rainy at times and quite windy which made the air very cold, but nature is nature! We used the down time to catch up on some of our reading. Speaking of which, my next read is called A Murder in Wellesley: The Inside Story of an Ivy-League Doctor’s Double Life, His Slain Wife, and the Trial That Gripped the Nation mostly because we now know a person who was directly involved. And I mean, you can’t get any closer than this person was! More details to emerge as we delve into this case much deeper over the next few days.
In the beautiful journey of life that we’ve traveled together, every day with you feels like a cherished chapter of a fairy tale. As we celebrate another year of love and partnership, I am reminded of the countless moments that have made this adventure extraordinary. Our love has been the greatest gift, filling our days with joy, laughter, and an unwavering bond that grows stronger with each passing year. Happy anniversary, Ladydoc. Here’s to the countless tomorrows we’ll continue to write together, creating a story of enduring love that is more beautiful with every page turned.
Not the greatest day to be outside today but I persevered. We lucked out pretty good considering, never lost power, no flooded basement, etc. although the outdoor heater blowing over a couple of times bummed me out. Looks like the top is probably pretty warped now but I’ll check it out better when the weather brightens up and assess what happened.. Also the television guide on the Fios doesn’t seem to be populated, might have the reboot the box.
Currently Reading:Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne. So far into the third chapter and I’m liking it.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
One of LD’s Birthday gifts from yesterday. A 100 piece jigsaw puzzle of us!
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!
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
A 4 day old baby goat that had a lot to say!
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.
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.
