Thanks Raw_Boston for featuring some of my work!
Category: Everyday Life
A Case of the Mondays
For the start of the week I finally decided to swap in some new hydroponics. The lettuces we had growing there were mostly used up by now, from me either eating them or giving away some of the leaves for a friend’s Guinea Pig pets. So this time around I’m mostly going with herbs such as chives, mint, parsley, lemon basil and oregano. Also had an extra spot so I stuck in a mini cherry tomato. If it all goes to plan they should start sprouting in a bout a week or so. I find that herbs and lettuce do the best in this little hydroponic garden of ours.
Been trying a new meal kit delivery service but so far this one hasn’t been impressive. It seems like they are all kind of the same after a while. They generally start out good but sooner or later, something goes awry with the shipping or you just get bored with the choices. I did learn how to cook a bunch of things though so it has been somewhat educational for me and given me skills that I can use to cook up own own creations or even just recreate some recipes that they’ve shown me in the past.
Would like to try to get through a bunch of little things tonight. Work is changing their communication systems over to Google from Zimbra so I need to go through some setup and change a couple of passwords and such for that to work. Set up 2FA, all that fun stuff. I’ve been putting it off because I had changing settings but if I don’t do it by early October I won’t be able to log in. Speaking of work, they’re also changing up their CPR scheduling so we all have to take that again in a month or so even though we just had it a few months ago but that’s cool.
I caught some of some local documentary yesterday entitled Chet’s Last Call which was about a Boston dive club just above another dive bar called the Penalty Box where Mafia guys hung out across from the Boston Garden in the 80s that hosted local bands. It was sort of a dedication to the bar’s owner, named Chet, who gave a lot of these groups a chance. This was 20 years before I had gotten interested in the local scene so most of this was before my time but some famous type groups who did play there were the Beastie Boys, Hüsker Dü, Bim Skala Bim and the Mighty Bosstones. It was sort of interesting, it definitely was a very different time. Anyways it got me in a Boston remembrance state of mind so I’m reposting this photo from Beacon Hill. I also spent some time at the gym to watch LD do her swimming thing. She invited me to see her do her thing so I obliged. She’s doing great and loves it so much. I found my old ‘All the Feels’ shirt so I wore that trying to make a statement.
Which brings to mind my next point. Is this blog getting stale? Feel like I really haven’t put up any interesting content in a while.
Went (Yacht Club) Clubbing
Earlier in the day started watching an old movie that was on cable called The Three Faces of Eve (1957). You’ve probably heard of it. I thought it was going to be hokey but I found myself actually enjoying watching it. By early afternoon LD was jonesing to get in some beach time so we headed over to Rexhame for a few. It was actually pretty busy and a lot warmer there than we expected. After a few hours of relaxation there we grabbed a late lunch over at Snug Harbor and ate it while watching the sights along the Duxbury Yacht Club.
You Can Feel The Fall Crispness in the Air
I can definitely feel the autumn coming in the air as I head out there in the early mornings. Feels good though. The new bathroom is coming along really nice – I am actually impressed at how it all came together so quickly. There’s still more to do aesthetically but basically it’s ready to go for the most part. In the early evening we tried a Greek place I’ve been wanting to try for a while for some take out. It was actually pretty good, but the service could have been better.
A Reverence for the Schooners
The schooner has served as the iconic representation of Cape Ann’s seafaring history for more than three centuries. These sailing boats are quick and skillful, capturing the interest of both tourists and locals. On a schooner, sailing is thrilling! Its power and splendor are unmatched by any other kind of watercraft. When you board a schooner, it’s impossible not to feel a strong connection to the countless brave fishermen who risked it along the eastern shores!
What did you do today?
Love for Schooners
A pretty good Saturday as far as Saturdays go. I saw a coffee table on someone’s curb in the neighboring town in the morning that they were trying to get rid of (the wonders of the Internet to get the word out). I recall my mother stating she was searching for a coffee table for her outdoor back deck, and I believe this one will work out rather well. Therefore, we went and picked it up. I’ll deliver it there on Tuesday and see if she digs it. This one is a little bit smaller and nicer than the free one I gave her the last time, which is fine but in retrospect is just a little bit too big for the space. I think she will like it.
I grilled a bunch of salmon and corn in the afternoon for this picnic that our other friend couple had invited us to. It took place in Milton at Houghton’s Pond. Thought we’d give it a go even though we weren’t sure whether we’d be all that into it, but actually once we got there and started hanging out it was actually a rather enjoyable and fun time! So, glad we went. As we were leaving we came upon these two super cute dogs and petted them. There were a bunch of dogs there all day and all were very cute, such as Spaniels, long haired Dachshunds, and a bunch of other dogs that all have very short legs!
Today’s photo is from the Gloucester Schooner fest from a few years back. It’s that time of year again, and so looking at this has inspired me to go check it out again this year, tomorrow in fact. I’m going to try to get some good shots by climbing up on some high rocks so wish me luck and hope I don’t break anything!
Think I might try to watch that new Elvis movie tonight on HBO Max. I’m not a huge Elvis fan but I’ve heard it was a pretty good movie, so maybe. Can only watch so many Dateline reruns.
In Search of New Water Shoes
Since going to the beach as much as we have this year, it’s becoming time for me to invest in a good pair of water shoes. For the last couple of years I’ve been wearing this pair that I got from ocean State Job Lot but the soles aren’t very thick. Better than nothing but I need something more, especially when it comes to walking on rocks that you can’t see beneath the surface of the water. I’ve been eyeing the Zhuanglin Men’s Quick Drying Aqua Water Shoes. I think I’m probably going to buy those in lime green color.
I ended up mowing the lawn today, not so much because it needed it, it didn’t since it hasn’t rained enough in forever, but to clean it up a little bit as some leaves have started falling off the trees and also to drown out the noise of all these little kids yelling and screaming next door as the neighbor was having another pool party. Not sure why they need to be screaming all the time – can’t you all just splash and have fun without screaming?
Been Making New Additions
There hasn’t been too much updating lately partly because it’s been busy here getting a new bathroom put in the basement/man cave part of the house(!) Also been working on getting the new appliances for the kitchen finally and working on some upcoming tasks for a major party blowout coming up. More updates on these exciting subjects as the month of September rolls on through.
We did find some time this afternoon to spend a little bit of time at the beach. Although the water was a little bit chilly it wasn’t too bad once you were in. Unfortunely we didn’t stay as long as we would have liked because these annoying flies kept trying to bite our legs, even though we doused in bug spray, the little bastards! I got a bunch of little itches on me but thankfully the itch is starting to fade away on them already, but it was really annoying trying to deal with it there.
For dinner tonight a cooked up some Burundi along with some lemon infused potatoes and side of Greek salad. Now that’s not something I make/eat everyday!
Love Waking Up to Early Morning Sunsets
High point today was watching LD work on her swimming strokes over at the pool at the gym, doing laps and such. She’s become quite the expert! So proud of her! Enjoy this lighthouse pic of the Nauset that I took a little while back as the sun was starting to rise in the early hours of the morning.
Sugary Saturday
Went down to a place that had a bunch of food trucks today. One was a soda truck and I got a drink called the Unicorn, which was basically Sprite, watermelon, strawberry, cherry, blood orange all topped with whipped cream and candy pieces and it was really good. We also got fries from a different food truck that specialized in various mixtures. I got one with Crispy Chicken, Buffalo Sauce, Blue Cheese Dressing and Blue Cheese Crumbles. It was good. We went with another couple that we’ve done a bunch of things with before. After all that ( we ended being there for a couple hours when all was said and done) we did a little looking around for a couple of new kitchen appliances.
“Udderly” Fun
Hibiscus 🌺 slush with vanilla ice cream on top…YES! 🍦 Plus the Fox Point neighborhood is sooo cute! Yes, LD wanted to do a quick trip to Providence RI to check out this dairy free ice cream and bakery type place. Truly delicious, and truly 100% vegan ice cream shop. You can’t tell the difference that there’s no dairy, at least I couldn’t! The nice part is that we were able to get down there, do the stuff, and get back just in time as the skies were starting to darken and the rainstorm was about to occur. The timing of everything could not have been more perfect.
A Couple of Rainy Day Activities
Going through some of my archives and I came across this picture I took of the Castle Hill Lighthouse in Newport, RI that I thought was pretty cool so I thought I’d post it up and see what folks think of it.
Heading over to the supermarket this morning I noticed some chips that I had seen mentioned on the Phantom Gourmet the other day in my channel surfing. They are Lays chips but with flavors taken from other snacks, such as Lays chips with cool ranch Doritos flavor, and one with Cheetos. I picked up those two. They also have Funyuns and Fritos flavors but I didn’t see those. These are supposedly only available for a limited time. I’ve thus far tried the Doritos flavored and it’s pretty good, especially if you like cool ranch flavor.
Like I mentioned in the previous post I started reading a book about the two kids really (at the time) who created Doom and basically started the first player shooter sensation. It’s a pretty amazing read and I highly recommend it. It came out in 2003 so it’s not pricey. Having lived through and experienced many of the same things at the time growing up that these kids did made me really soak up this book. Brought back memories in the 80s of buying computer magazines at the time that had program code in it’s pages that you’d have to type in in order to play the games. And of course, I’d always make a typo somewhere so it wouldn’t work and I’d have to painstakingly try to find where it was, and the code was always a confusing mess of letters and numbers. Anyone remember that? I had totally forgotten all about doing that back in the day!
A Case of the Mondays
The picture says it all. More later? Since today was a rainy day finally I got off to finishing The Gift of Rumi: Experiencing the Wisdom of the Sufi Master. Now I’m off to read Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture so as you can see my reading tastes are quite varied!
Night Grilling, Women’s Basketball, and a Date with Mr. Do
Had some friends over for a BBQ cookout last night. We decided to do kabobs with some shrimp, chicken, and veggies. LD had forgot actually how much work it is to prepare all the food and our guests arrived a little bit early but it was all good as they helped out and everything actually came out really good. I was a little bit nervous trying to get the timing of everything right, but it all went swimmingly. Maybe I’m really getting the hang of this style of cooking! Ended it all off with a chat around the firepit.
Today I planned to really take it easy. Watched the Dallas Wings (a WNBA team) this afternoon as they’re in the playoffs and the mother of one of the star players is actually LD’s trainer, so we’re rooting for her. They forced a game 3 this afternoon over Connecticut and I like to root for the underdog so that was neat to see. It’s pretty cool that they even got this far and that we know someone connected to that organization. They’re playing on national television this afternoon for God’s sake! Next game is on Wednesday to see if they can advance to the 2nd round. Wishing them luck!
Gametime: Lately I’ve rediscovered an arcade classic from my youth. Mr. Do! It’s like Dig Dug only harder. You have to collect all the cherries while avoiding enemies. You have a ball you can toss to knock enemies out and get bonuses but while the ball is out of your hands you’re vulnerable. Just like in the arcade I can never seem to get past level 5. I think I might have had this for my Colecovision console back in the 80s along with another classic, Ladybug. Both were designed by the same man.
Buzzards Bay Part 2
Went down for another trip to hang out on Buzzard’s Bay this afternoon. The water in the background of these shots is where we swam, I’m calling that Part 1. Had some nice subs for lunch and some good conversation and like I said, a bit of a swim, although the water did seem a bit cooler today than last time. I’m glad we went because even though all the weather reporters said we’d mostly get rain, it appeared to be no rain and all and the sun even stayed out for us, so that was a win.
My Only Tax Free Weekend Purchase
This weekend was the weekend that the state of Massachusetts decided to hold it’s sales tax free weekend, so people generally use it to buy up some things to take advantage of the savings. I could have went with a new sound bar that I’ve been eying, or this moon globe lamp that I thought looked really cool, or the beach cart that I think would be useful. For me though, my only purchase was going down to the Home Depot to buy a new Carbon Monoxide detector, and that was only because last night the old one started chirping (had to first figure out which machine was making the noise, très annoying!!) and it said it had basically reached the end of it’s life. Not so exciting, huh? Strangely the store wasn’t as busy as I thought it would be. Perhaps I just happened to be there at the right time, around four o’clock in the afternoon. I did also try looking for some furnace filters to have a little bit of a stockpile on hand but they never have the size that the one we have uses, so I struck out there. Is the tax-free weekend even really worth it that much? Maybe a little bit, but I don’t think it’s really all that big a deal, especially since it’s capped at $2500 and can’t be used on the certain items that really would make a big difference.
Calling to Me (Sun’s Out, Hot Dog Buns Out)
Firstly, here’s another pic of the Nubble from earlier in the week. A classic Lighthouse destination and one of our favorites.
Saw this hot fog food truck was around that I wanted to try. Ended up going with one that had grilled corn, queso cotija, crema mexicana, with some chili lime salt on top, and it was pretty good! Then it was off to Wellesley for a mail pickup where I ended up eating some cod. Guess I was a little hungry this afternoon!
I also spent a bunch of time nodding off in my gravity chair out on the back deck in the sun. Totally relaxing!
Finished the day off with a night by the fire pit. Ah! Finally ended out the evening by watching the documentary “I Just Killed My Dad” on Netflix.
Plug 🔌 time: Smooth Sailing now available for purchase. Wouldn’t it look so nice on your wall?
Buzzing Around on Buzzard’s Bay
Got to hang out in Fairhaven with friends yesterday and pretty much made a day of it, swimming in Buzzard’s Bay, having tacos for lunch, and a great dinner outside as the sun started to set and a beautiful full moon rose.
Good hang and good food with good friends, you can’t ask for anything more. Thanks for having us!
Birthday Shenanigans in a Treehouse
Too many things to say about my birthday getaway right now. But the highlights were hanging in an Airbnb in Dover NH that had an actual treehouse overlooking the scenic Piscataqua River, watching baby robins being fed by their mother in another tree in the back yard, getting clean in the shower that had two showerheads almost opposite each other which was really cool, grabbing burgers at the BRGR Bar in downtown Portsmouth, getting some shots over at the Nubble, hanging out and swimming at Long Sands beach, eating clams at Bob’s, and getting a gravity chair that I wanted and a book about Rumi that I also wanted to read! It was really hot outside but it is Leo Season as they say! Naturally I must thank LD for making my birthday amazing and every day, as always!
I’ll need to expand upon this at a later date, but all in all, totally amazing!
Love to Sail
Went to a farm today, picked up some fresh produce to cook on the grill tonight. Ended up taking a nap in the afternoon, for some reason I felt tired and the map for an hour really helped pick me up. Dinner ended up being excellent though: salmon, corn, carrots, and a delicious peach and nectarine salad. Top it all off with this shot of a sailboat moored in Cape Cod bay at sunset. Perfection. Ended up watching a documentary on Netflix called The Girl in the Picture. My heart aches for that girl.
Friday Frolics For New Kicks
Watched this documentary last night which was about the debacle that was Woodstock ’99. Crazy crazy! This afternoon LD and I went down to the New Balance Factory Outlet and bought matching sneakers. She thought it a little ridiculous but I think it’s cute. Maybe we’ll both wear them at the same time! Haha!
Here’s a flashback photo of me visiting one of my favorite places along the eastern seaboard, Pemaquid Point in Maine.
Running with the Sunset 🏃♀️
Spent the day at the beach today. It was, in a word, glorious! One cool thing was watching all the piping plovers run along the shore. They are so small little creatures, but they can run on those little legs of theirs pretty fast. Anyways, by the end of the day for whatever reason (perhaps it was the sea, the sun, lunch, and eating a huge lobster roll) we were pretty zonked. I mean, I could not keep my eyes open. When we went to bed we slept the whole night solidly.
Backstroking Into the Week Like…
Here’s a pic from the Chatham Fish Pier. Now this is a working pier so during the day they really don’t want you hanging around here because the fisherman are trying to do work, bringing in their haul and all that jazz, and there are signs all over to that effect. However, if you go, like after 5 pm, you can just go into the lot and take a look around. This is a great place to see seals for free. Since this is where the fisherman unload their stuff these guys think they may get a free meal out of it, and a lot of times some of them will just be milling around hoping for some grub. Naturally you can’t find them, that would be a bad idea, both because it’s not good for them and also that they could bite you. Anyways while we were there these three seals were swimming around and this particular one seemed to be having fun literally swimming on his back just breaking the water line. He was putting on a little free show for us! So, if you don’t want to pay for a seal tour and hope to get a glimpse of these guys just head down to this pier. Sooner or later you’re bound to see them!
Hiking the Coastal Trail to a Scene of Beautiful Paradise
What did we do this morning? After a quick dip in the pool, we went over and hiked the Eddy Trail, probably one of our favorite locations to hike of all time. As an added treat they had the story of The Lorax all laid out along the trail, a page or two every so often along the way. The finale (well, really the half way point since you have to walk back) is ending up upon the cliff face. It just so happened to be high tide, so we got to see various boats floating along the flats. We even got to see a baby bunny along the trail. Of course it was scared but very cute as we said hello and went on our way.
Currently Reading: From a little library in Chatham by the lighthouse: Hell’s Half-Acre: The Untold Story of the Benders, a Serial Killer Family on the American Frontier. I think I might have heard bits of this story before but not really sure. You can look it up on Wikipedia, talk about a strange family.
In case you missed it, I decided to add my shot Where Time Has No Meaning to the shop as well. A nice relaxing Cape scene I think I captured pretty well.