Category: Art

Put A Nickel in the Jukebox baby

Posted on by Markman

Happy National Jukebox Day!

There’s something undeniably captivating about jukeboxes. They’re more than just music machines; they’re portals to a bygone era, where the thrill of selecting a song and hearing it burst to life filled the air with excitement.

Owning a jukebox isn’t just about collecting a piece of history; it’s about curating a personal soundtrack. Each record, each artist, each memory – it all comes together to create a unique listening experience for us. It’s fun to go find these 45s at various places in our travels, although we haven’t done so lately.

Beyond their aesthetic appeal, jukeboxes offer a tangible connection to the past. They remind us of simpler times when music was shared and enjoyed together. That’s an important point for us. In a world dominated by digital streaming, there’s something truly special about holding a physical record and placing it on a turntable. It’s a tactile experience that can’t be replicated. Plus, vinyl sounds so much better as long as it isn’t scratched!

These Jukes can be pretty temperamental at times though. What can you expect with a mechanical machine with 700 parts!?

A Little Jersey Weekend Trip

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Hanging with Venom at Parsippany Hills High School, NJ

I’m back from a quick weekend trip to Jersey. Actually I came back alone since I have as stuff to address back here while as LD is going to spend a few more days there and come back by train on Wednesday when I’ll pick her up. Been trying to get a lot of stuff done and it’s been a lot of work. Stayed over at a cute little AirBnB nearby. Nothing to write home about and pretty small but gets the job done as it’s mostly just a place to crash for the nights, Anyways, we also got gifted a sweet rocking chair from a friend down there who wanted to part with it which I brought back and will use a lot I think.

This photo is from just outside Parsippany Hills High. We happened to be tooling around the area and noticed that all the spaces were painted different things by the students. I settled on getting this one with Venom from the Spiderman comics.

Currently Reading: Brothers by Alex Van Halen

Statuary of Mt. Auburn: An Education

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Alright, I couldn’t help myself. I decided to go back for the second part of this particular journey, this time focusing on the various statuary that I came across. Here’s a chosen few that I really liked. I’m especially fond of the ones that have the dogs in them. You can click on each one for a larger view. I’ve added my own commentary to a few of them. It’s been a educational experience for me to look up the many notable figures buried there and learn about their contributions to the world. Oh, and the grounds are absolutely gorgeous.

Look in the tomb
Not sure what this represents
Another view of the Mary Baker Eddy memorial
The Poet Longfellow
Patiently waiting for his owner
Universalist clergyman
Lawyer, Animal Rights Advocate, & Founder of the MSPCA
This guy was a teacher
Isabella Stewart Gardner Crypt
Psychologist behind the “Hierarchy of Needs”

Visiting the Fluers de Villes Artiste

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I braved the rains this morning and actually took the subway into Boston’s Back Bay this afternoon to check out the flower dresses. I hadn’t taken the subway since probably 2018. I did get to ride on one of the new red line trains which was pretty nice. I did it to check out the amazing Fleurs de Villes exhibition. Each floral installation this year is based off a famous work of art in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston collection. Swipe to see the different ones! Which one is your favorite? Thanks to Em who lived nearby and came out to meet up with me for taking my selfie!

Hanging It Up

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Currently Reading: The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI Ray Kurzweil

I went into the gym this morning that has an outside pool and large hot tub so I could use the hot tub. Ahh, that felt pretty good. It was a beautiful morning too so that adds a lot to it. Then it was off to Staples to return some Amazon things. They make the returns so easy now, just pop in and they scan a QR code and it’s done. Afterwards we headed to the office to hang up one of my photographic landscapes. This particular shot is a little old before I really knew how to shoot scenes better so there’s a newer shot that I want to do and hang, at least for myself. When I get around to having that done I’ll post that here as well. Finished off the afternoon with a short nap in my gravity chair on the deck (maybe that hot tub took more out of me than I thought!) and then some light grilling of burgers and salmon. A pretty standard Labor Day weekend thing to do.

Taking Down a Ton of Weeds

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I loaded up the lawnmower last night and trudged it over to Earth-1. My mom’s grass had become way overgrown and she only has that old dull pull kind the spins as you push it. It was actually my grandparents and I don’t think it’s ever worked well. Anyways, the mower fit in the back of my car and I got over there and mowed it all down, weeds and all. I was done in about five minutes, it’s not a huge area. Seemed like there were a lot of weeds. My mom was very happy that all the vegetation was now gone. In fact, after you could see the lawn area again I noticed a bunch of Wooly Bear caterpillars! They’re kind of cute. I left them to fend for themselves on the edges of the now shaved lawn area. Afterwards after a day of hanging out, I brought the mower back and got it back in the shed over here. Mission accomplished!

Doing the Ziptrip Thing and Minigolfing

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Woke up early this morning to check out the final Boston Fox25 News Ziptrip of the year. It ended up being over in the next town so I figured why not check it out. I got some free swag while I was there (I had gone one time before probably ten years or so ago – I actually got on tv that time and people watching in their homes actually recognized me!). It seemed a bit smaller this time. In all honesty once you get over the novelty of actually seeing the people in person that you see on tv every morning it’s a little boring. There’s a lot of just standing around as they just film in-between the news segments. One cool thing is they had all the ducks there. Scroll back in time if you want to see them all individually when we went to check them all out.

Now on to the main event of today!

One of our couple-friends were coming over today and I had suggested we do an activity. Originally I had wanted to do a glass blowing class but that sounded too expensive and somewhat of a time commitment (might still do it some other time though!) or axe throwing but one of our guests threw out his back a few weeks ago so that was out for now (still want to that that though too!) . Eventually just settled on playing a round of Minigolf. There’s a great course over in Dedham – supposed to be one of the best which is good because a lot of the mini golf courses around here are ass.

Finished off the day with a lead on three small Dedham pottery bunnies so we picked those up and then someone in town was getting rid of a bunch of their bearded irises so we went and picked those up and I’ll try dropping them in the ground tomorrow.

Trolls and Elephants and Fun, Oh My!

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For my Birthday yesterday I got to check out some amazing sights in the beautiful coastal areas of Rhode Island. First up, was a drive down to the charming community of Charleston, RI, a place we had never been. We were there to see the trolls Greta and Erik. There’s a bunch of these trolls up in Maine at the Botanical gardens, which I may get to check out and some point, but these two are newer and closer. I had a little bit of a hard time finding Greta, but LD, with her mazing tracking skills, was able to locate her pretty quickly. A nice woman who works at the senior center there nearby gave us some great tips on where to go and find them! (Each picture below is clickable to see a larger version).

Greta!
Erik
If you’re a troll park here

We were going to eat at a local place in Charleston but after a while that didn’t seem like the greatest idea so we headed over to Narraganset and ate at a place called The Coast Guard House, which amazing is literally right next to the Towers in a building that used to be a Coast Guard Life Saving Station back in the 1880s until the 1940s. The views there are amazing and the food was excellent, also the prices weren’t that bad! (I did get a little tipsy again on some drinks).

tipsy!

Then it was off the beautiful town of Newport to check out the installation of the elephant migration. We ended up going to the ones at Salve Regina University, although there’s some at the Breakers and a couple of other locations. The amount of detail on the elephants is truly amazing! We spent quite a bit of time there, plus it’s right along the cliff walk which is beautiful.

We finished off the day with a giant pizza! What a great day! Today I’m off to my very first ever reflexology appointment – we’ll see how that goes!

Oh, I almost forgot! I got some great gifts too! A Dunkins gift card from our friend Em, a foot massager, some capybara socks and a capybara shirt (I love capys!) , and some more fireflies to help light up the night in the back patio!

The Duck Hunt Was On!

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The Ladydoc had heard that there were painted ducks all around the town of Walpole, so we wanted to check them out. There were only five, so they were easy to find. Plus, they’re in different parts of town so it’s a great way to see some of Walpole. These ducks were designed and painted by a group of students from Walpole High, and they’re a fun way to celebrate the town’s 300th anniversary! The ducks names are Maggie, Lewey, Wally, Morgan, and Birdy. I never expected to be checking out ducks this afternoon but spontaneity can be fun!

Hanging with Maggie at the Aggie
Birdy
Wally
Morgan
Lewey

You can learn more about the ducks as well as some Google map links which I used to find these guys at this website.

Even though it rained later in the afternoon we went ahead and grilled some chicken, shrimp, and salmon. I dodged the raindrops as best I could!

Catching Summer Beginnings of August

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Enjoy another shot from our Cape trip above. Today in the late afternoon we hit Revere Beach because it was so hot out today. I even went into the water which even though I go to Revere quite a bit lately, I actually had not gone into the water there since I was a kid, if you can believe that! The water was a little on the cold side which I wasn’t expecting, but refreshing and cooled me down as I sat on the beach chair afterwards. Finally went to check out the sand castles there. The two that caught my eye were cat-inspired ones.

Made the Cover and Some Fun Stuff to Maybe Try

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A very rare collector’s edition with a print run of only….one issue? Just being silly. Anyways, onto today’s stuff. Also, I’ve been playing around with the fonts on the site, have you noticed? They may be changing again so just a head’s up.

I learned of some new places today that I might want to check out over the next few months. A bunch of them are over at Earth-1 in that Bow Market place, which unfortunately I find it very hard to park anywhere around there, but there’s a roast beef place and some pinball place there that I’d like to check out someday. Also over in Ball Square is some new Neapolitan pizza joint that looks pretty cool. Speaking of pizza there’s also a pizza cupcake place over at Legacy Place which I’ve been meaning to check out, to see what weirdness that is all about.

I’ve done baby goat yoga, alpaca yoga, piglet yoga, and now I heard there’s puppy yoga where the puppies are shelter pups which you could also adopt later. Might need to explore that one. I’ve also been meaning to do the free yoga class outside down at Assembly on Saturday mornings but never get around to it. Not that I’m really into yoga, just something to check out. Some other things that I’d like to do is check out the Elephant Migration statues down in Newport, RI, maybe some axe throwing over in Foxborough, Minigolf in Dedham with some pals. I looked into taking a glass blowing class here at Earth-2 which I thought would be fun to do with others as they show you have to make your own blown glass ornament, but it is a bit on the pricey side. There’s also an old style arcade in the area which might be fun to check out.

Visiting the Nantucket Serengeti

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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.

Just a Quick Little Recap for This Weekend Thus Far

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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.

Feeling High as Flying a Kite at Revere Beach

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We went today to go check out the 8th Annual Revere Beach Kite Festival. It looked like it rained a little bit, but mostly it was just overcast, and though it first it sounded like it might not have been the right decision to go, that changed as time went on, and it was actually a really fun time! And of course afterwards I had to gobble down a Kelly’s Roast Beef. I even got a gift for LD’s friend who’s coming to visit next month.

A video from last night’s Trixter show that we almost attended: YouTube link. Also some of the bikes at the ride yesterday looked pretty rad to me, including this Urban Arrow Bike, which costs an amazing 8,000 dollars. Personally, for me, I think I’d rather buy a car for that money.

Currently Reading: Another coming through my Libby app, Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture. (review here) I really got to get cranking on finishing these books before I have to return them!

Finding Sanctuary in a Change of Plans

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We were supposed to go to New Jersey this weekend, Teaneck to be precise, to see the band Trixter play at a place called the Debonair Music Hall, (we had the tickets and lodging all squared away beforehand) but with LD’s concussion healing and due to the lateness, stimuli and whatnot, decided to bag that for now and maybe go again at a later date. The time just didn’t seem right for right now.

Passing by this statue I had to photograph – I thought it looked really cool! (Sanctuary Theatre)

So instead, I went on the Cambridge City Spring bike ride! This particular ride’s theme was passing by all the locations and neighborhoods of the Cambridge African American History trail, stopping at two places, one being the boarding house that Harriet Jacobs ran for a while. While there I learned of her book written in 1861 and decided to add it to my reading list next.

Currently Reading: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs (1861).

Visiting an Inner Sanctum of the Mind!

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We started out the day actually going to a trainer space out in Weston to do a free weight strength training exercises with a trainer for a hour to help get a little bit in shape. We did squats, and dead lifts, curls, and all kinds of stretches. Not the worst way to spend a free hour in the morning. Then it was off to what I wanted to check out, this fine dandy of place, right in my hometown. It’s only open to the public once a year. It’s run by a couple who have transformed their house into this place. It’s quite a sight. The crown jewel of the house is surely its Grand Hall at the top of the staircases. Every inch of the walls and vaulted ceiling in the auditorium is intricately painted with bright colors featuring the artists’ interpretation of creation stories from different cultures. There are 57 murals of about 5,200 square feet in total.

(The last pic above is actually from Weston next to the town green where we worked out.)

After that we decided to try a place in the Ville that I had always heard great things about and since it was in the area we went to try it. A little place called Three Little Figs. It was good. Then we came home and bought some flowers to be planted soon as part of our gardening tasks.

Rainy Saturday Memorial Time

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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!

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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.

The Valentine’s Card

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I picked up this special card 8.5×11 card a little while ago and wrote things in the circles from Carson and I and then covered them up with scratch off stickers, so that when the circle is scratched the saying I wrote will be seen. Pretty neat, huh?

I also have a special unique thing planned for LD, but it isn’t quite ready yet, which is a shame, but I’m hoping it’ll come relatively soon and turns out extremely well.

The new couch got delivered this afternoon! Yay!! Great Laz-E-Boy store pickup. Just hope that Carson doesn’t take clawing to it. We’ll have to watch that.

Happy Galantines Day, Ladies!

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So much for a snow day! They really messed up on this one, a real blockbuster ended up being pretty much of a dud! Don’t get me wrong, I prefer to have little top no snow, and I appreciate the day off (I have to move my regular duties to this Friday) but it’s like I said before. The better the technology gets in weather predicting, the worse the forecasts are. Actually I don’t think it’s the tech, it’s the analysis of the models. Plus the media likes to hype stuff up ridiculous. I actually don’t really pay attention to them anymore to be honest. Rather just use my phone and see the day before what the day after will bring.

So what exactly is Galentine’s Day? The iconic celebration is an unofficial holiday that takes place on Feb. 13, the day before Valentine’s Day. Its entire premise is that women forget about any significant others for the day — and solely focus on celebrating the female friends in their lives. Contrary to the popular criticism that Galentine’s Day patronizes single women, the celebration is meant to be a day of empowerment, and a reminder for women to support and uplift one another. It’s about “ladies celebrating ladies,” as Poehler’s character, Leslie Knope, would put it.

This afternoon we made a lemon orzo chicken soup, and it came out really good. Today was the perfect afternoon to make a soup, in my opinion. I’ve already eaten three bowls of it and plan on having more of it tonight, that’s how much I liked how this one came out!