My own little take on the Mamas and the Papas hit. These marigolds just keep on blooming over on the side of the house towards to entrance-way. Today was kind of a blah day, maybe cause it’s Monday, maybe because things are sort of crap at the moment, I don’t know – just wasn’t feeling it today. It wasn’t all a waste though, did get a new printer set up, and got a couple of errands done. Grilled some plant based burgers and corn…that’s about it. Nothing earth shattering today.
Here’s a picture of two egrets from the other day. I took a lot of shots but here’s one for now.
Here I am visiting a little library on the Lexington/Lincoln line. We happened to be in the area this afternoon to visit an acquaintance for a quick socially distant get together and decided to check this out on the way back. What’s neat about this one is the cat is supposedly animated when you open and close the doors. It didn’t happen for me but maybe it needs to be dark out or something. Anyways, this place was cool because it looked like they also had this killer tree house and erecting another building on the property to match the current house. You have to see it in person to really appreciate it.
Got a fun TBT for you all tonight. Here is an article of my grandfather when he was young and the star of the East Cambridge Lucy Recs (Lusitania club). A “popular idol!” I miss you Grandpa!
He was quite the star back in day I’m told. If he was playing nowadays he’d be making big money as a professional, but back in those days there wasn’t any money in it and they just played for the sport of it and for their heritage. They didn’t have pads in those days either – I remember looking at his legs and they were all banged up from years of playing and getting kicked in the shins. This game must have been from the mid-1930s sometime. I wonder if they won the championship that year (probably not). I tried googling it but haven’t found it thus far. I just love the writing in this article – it has a certain kind of flair to me.
Spent the afternoon down at the beach house, partly to get the other chair to match the other one we have and left down there and partly to get some swim time and good conversation in. It was a little chilly but we persevered. LD swam a little bit, our host kayaked, and I brought my inner tube floatie and just floated around in the water. Some pics may be forthcoming but I also might just keep them in my private library of shots. We did get to see some White Egrets and Little Egrets that I may put up. Got to love living close to the ocean – I couldn’t live anyplace not near it.
It’s the time of day when the sky looks like it has been spray-painted by a graffiti artist.
More later…
The story behind the photo: Back in 2014 took a trip to a place just out of Princeton, NJ called Grounds for Sculpture which has all these various famous artworks recreated as giant statues around the grounds. This one of American Gothic is right outside of the place. I’ll post more from the trip over the coming weeks, such as a famous WWII photo, Marilyn Monroe’s Seven Year Itch, the Mona Lisa, and a bunch of other ones. This was right in my wheelhouse, so to speak. Quite the roadside attraction.
Off to go renew my driver’s license today. I believe I have all the documents required to get my Real ID. I could’ve waited but I figure, eh, why not just get it out of the way. I’m a AAA member so I’m going to a AAA branch to get it done, way way better then waiting at the RMV. This time around you had to make an appointment and the wait is 2 weeks out or so. Well, my time is now arriving so here goes! I’ll let you know how I did when I get back and the whole process and stuff.
I’ve been closely following the Tufts reopening plan developments in my hometown, the campus itself is not far from my family’s home. Lots of residents in the area have serious concerns about their plans on how they would contain the students and their possible behaviors. Personally I don’t see how it’ll last more than a couple weeks maximum before changes happen, if it even gets that far. We’ll see.
Update! I’m back from the AAA but I didn’t get a chance to renew. I had everything but the bills I decided to bring with my info were not within 60 days. It would have been nice to know that ahead of time! It’s my own fault I suppose, when I got all my docs together I just chose the ones I had on hand at the time. So, basically I have to make another appointment. No big deal. I already made an appointment online – you have to keep clicking to try to get in and get a time but I just got one. Two more weeks and I get to this all over again – hopefully next time everything will be in order! What a pain in the ass.
In my down time I’ve taken to re-reading a book I purchased ten or so years ago entitles The Pyramids: The Mystery, Culture, and Science of Egypt’s Great Monuments, I forgot how good this book actually is! The author describes not just the big 3 pyramids, but all of them, along with their significance in religion, science and culture of the time they were built. Really fascinating stuff, but I’m into that. I’ve chosen to reread it mostly because I’m out of new stuff to read at the moment.
The story behind the photo: You may see this picture up top of sailing to Whaleback Light on NECN. I’m honored that they choose to highlight so many of my shots! Well, anything to get the word out helps I suppose! This particular shot was actually taken by me from land zoomed in. I saw this sailboat in the water and in the distance Whaleback Light so I tried to juxtapose the two and this is what I came up with. I also lightened it up considerably from the original snap. I find I prefer ship or boat scenes surrounded by white – just a preference of mine. I wished that the boat would have its blue sails unfurled as that would have looked great, but it was just not to be. Also, I love lighthouses and learning about their history and their keepers and Whaleback Light has a great one.
“The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.”
The Puffin is by far my favorite bird. I just find them fascinating. They are so small and they live in such a harsh environment for most of their lives up in the cold arctic waters. Little fighters.
Just updated the site to the latest version of the software. Most of the changes won’t be noticeable to viewers except one. Images will now wait to load until they’re just about to scroll into view. The technical term is ‘lazy loading.’ Seems legit so far, if anything seems wonky please let me know.
Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning how to kayak in the rain.
Nothing like the serenity of being in a kayak on a quiet day.
Spent the afternoon at Revere Beach today and met one of LD’s colleague/friend Diane. Went down toward one of the ends and it wasn’t all that busy at all. It was really quite enjoyable. Maybe it’s me, and I don’t think you would think this either, but having airplanes fly over your head and you play and splash in the water is actually pretty damn cool!
In the evening I grilled up some chicken and more shrimp and some zucchini that we had growing. Doing a ton load of grilling this summer. We’ve been getting boxes from Imperfect Foods, which is basically just overstock or possibly some food that doesn’t look perfect but I got to be honest – I can’t tell the difference and most of the stuff looks and tastes fine, pretty good actually. The veggies are huge too.
More on today’s adventure to come… stay tuned!
“Today’s goals: Coffee and kindness. Maybe two coffees, and then kindness.”
Nanea Hoffman
Mornings are the best time of day – don’t you think. At least I do. It’s by far my favorite part of the day, especially on weekends and in the summer.
I like the quietness, with only the birds singing and the early morning breezes rustling the delicate leaves on the trees. The day isn’t hot yet, the sun still managing to rise up into the sky, all the while watching the silent cottontails sitting still and occasionally nibbling on the dewy grass. Sometimes I’ll use the time to read some chapters of whatever book I want to get into at the time. Other times, it’s spent doing a crossword puzzle, the ink from my pen spilling and spelling out the letters into the blank boxes. My coffee cup steaming next to me.
I spent the afternoon reading and finished the book I’ve been reading, Motherless Brooklyn (the second half is a totally different story than the movie version , really a different story totally. Almost like the movie melded parts of the novel and The Power Broker of which none of that is in the novel. Totally different stories and characters that have no relation to each other! So if you’ve seen the movie, read the book – the story is different.) Now I’m looking for new reading material. Any suggestions – non-fiction only please.
Tonight I grilled up some shrimp, salmon, carrots, and a yellow zucchini squash. Something simple. A nice relaxing and lazy kind of a day.
I swam in the ocean. I ate steak. The sun was warm. I went on a 3 mile walk. The sea breeze was invigorating. I got presents. We talked of things. We got one of the two chairs back. It was great.
Heading down to the south shore to pick up the Adirondack chairs we got last week and for a little get together. More later…
Saw this little guy on a hike a couple of weeks ago and he was singing up a storm. Seemed pretty friendly too! I think it’s a Song Sparrow. Did you know that they learn to sing by imitating their fathers? And that by the time a young male is a few months old, will have formed the basis for his own courtship tune? I believe that is what I was hearing from this little guy!
This morning I went ahead and cooked up a new dish for us to have a little brunch: Charred Tomato and Ricotta, with roasted walnuts, some minced herbs, and topped with a balsamic glaze, all resting on top of toasted sourdough bread. Have to say, it wasn’t bad!
I’m currently reading Motherless Brooklyn. Come to find out LD had it on her bookshelf from way back! I really like it. It’s different then the movie in so far as I love the way it delves into the mind of the main character and his Tourette’s Syndrome. Also the time period is the 1980s whereas the movie is the 1950s. Also, I’ve yet to see the Power Broker in the novel. Perhaps that was only in the movie? Either way, this book is really great, two thumbs up from me. The movie could never solve the most common problem with any adaptation: The internal cannot be made external.
Just spent the morning with a hatchet hewing down all the fallen tree limbs and bagged them up for disposal tomorrow. Good little workout! (must have been how Carrie Nation felt back in the day – the inspiration for this blog name!) I’m not against alcohol (in moderation of course), I had just happened to be reading a biography of the woman at the time I decided to start the website and I couldn’t think of any other name at the time. Plus the thought of a bible-thumping, 6 foot tall old lady all dressed in black coming in with a hatchet smashing things must have been quite a sight. Anyways everything’s back to the way it was pre-storm.
More info later tonight. I’m off to Brighton for an adventure…
Meanwhile here’s a history of the cute little cottages shown above. I’ve shot them before but for this one I decided to go around the back of them, which I think is an angel that is not seen too often (at least I’ve never seen it). All 22 beachfront cottages are 420 square feet, with two bedrooms, a small kitchen, and a living space with windows facing the water. The cottages are numbers 1 – 12 and 14 – 23 along the beach – no unlucky 13 among them. I want to stay in one someday! (although it might be a little cramped!)
I’m back! Took a jaunt over to the New Balance Factory putlet and got a new pair of much needed sneaks.
Looks like I’m going to have to do some yard cleanup around here tomorrow. Some tree limbs are down and I’ll need to chop them up and put them together so the town can take the yard debris in a couple days. Luckily I had spent time earlier securing most of the little things that could blow away. So far, so good. Keeping fingers crossed for the rest of the night. I was getting really nervous when a gust of 75 mph winds came thru and one of the tress in the yard was really swaying but thankfully it didn’t last very long.
Had a great relaxing Sunday. Went down to the Fairhaven beach house again and swam in the bay at low tide this time. I find it so much better, you avoid all the rocks at the shoreline and once past that it’s smooth sailing all the way out with a perfect slow incline and you can go out quite a ways before you’re up to your neck – similar to Skaket but not as flat as that. Plus there were some waves which was awesome. Not enough yo bowl you over or anything, but felt just right to me. The best part though is that no one else is there so it’s like you have to whole ocean to yourself. Truly magical and feel so blessed and lucky to have the opportunity be able to experience it. Beautiful this time of year with all the hibiscus plants everywhere in full bloom also. Our friend has done a really spectacular job with her property and deserves full props.
Afterwards we went to the Adirondack chair place and ended up getting two cute teal ones that they just happened to be on sale and wanted to get rid of. We left them at the beach house since they wouldn’t fit in the car as it currently is so we’ll have to go back to pick them up, which is perfect, because that means we’ll get to go down there again! Hehehe!
We had a couple of Little Libraries while in the area. I didn’t fins anything good but I was able to unload just about all the remainder of the books we wanted to get rid of. We left a couple of locations still on the list for next time to check out.
Coming home we were wiped out, after swimming and being in the sun all day (it was only supposed to be a morning stay, but as usual, time flew and didn’t leave until late afternoon/early evening). I cooked up some Juicy Lucy Cheddar burgers for LD and I as she was too tired so I took the lead on this one. I daresay I did pretty good on this one! To finish out the night I watched two new episodes of Autopsy.
I think tonight I’m going to have to bring some stuff in from the back deck for safekeeping. We have a storm coming our way and I don’t want anything that could fly away, flying away in the winds. Oh, and I lied about making those cocktails, the last two days I was going to but ended up just being too tired, shooting for tonight though!
Still in a Cape Cod mood so tonight I’m brewing up some Pineapple Coolers. I think the little guy above might approve. Here’s the recipe:
Combine all in a blender and blend until smooth. Add more ice for thicker frozen cocktail. More mixture into glasses and garnish with a pineapple round, lime wedge, and sprig of mint.
We got a lot of things today! Got rid of a lot of old books that were on the bookcase in the den and deposited them in a couple of Little Libraries about town, moved the new freezer into the unfinished part of the basement (after cleaning it up and making some room/neater) and other miscellaneous things. Planning to cook some steaks on the grill for tonight’s dinner after which I will imbibe on the Pineapple Coolers.
Figured now was a good time to (re)introduce myself since I’ve gotten some new followers over the last few weeks, so here’s ten random facts about me!
Well that’s just ten. Tell me something about yourself you’d be willing to share.
I drove over the a Home Depot in Mansfield this morning and picked up a small freezer that LD purchased for use as backup and will be stored in the basement. She wants to be prepared should things go south in the fall, but I suppose it’s good to have a backup anyway – just to have. It’s really hard to find these on sale, everyone has been scooping them up so a lot of the time they’re sold out.
I finally was able to set up a RMV license renewal time slot at the local AAA. They’ve been pretty booked 2 weeks out all through the summer but now I finally got a placement. Going to go ahead and get the REAL ID stuff done, even though I don’t anticipate flying or entering any federal buildings anytime soon. It would just be nice to get it out of the way I feel. I hope I have all the documents I will need, I think I do but I’m unsure if there are any forms that need to be filled out beforehand. I couldn’t find any on the RMV site. I suppose worst-case-scenario I can always just make another appointment, they’ve delayed the deadline for a while off.
I then went to the propane place and got the gas grill propane tank refilled, as we’ve been grilling quite a bit these days and the gas was dwindling down.
I was pleased to see that the hibiscus are starting to flower. I tried growing some last year but for whatever reason it didn’t survive so I’m hoping this guy does better overall. It’s some light purple variety which I thought was a little unique, they’re usually a darker purple or white from what I’ve seen.
I’ve seen Grace, the mother bunny out on the lawn tonight while I was grilling. I asked her where her baby might be, but no reply. Also what I thought was milkweed in the gardens is actually pokeweed so I’ll be removing those tomorrow – not the same thing.
A mother’s love is instinctual, unconditional, and forever.
The story behind the photo: Not sure if I ever posted this one before from a time I explored Monomoy Island off the coast of Chatham. Got really lucky to catch this scene! As the boat neared the spit I happened the catch this instant of a mom and her cub sharing a moment. It didn’t last long for sure. Just after this all these other seals showed up and alit on the spit as well and I’ve uploaded that picture previously. I actually have a lot of pics from that day, but this has to be one of the best, to my mind. I wish I had had a better camera when I took this but it still came out pretty good. Apparently foggy cloudy days might be the best time to see them? I don’t remember if the tide was coming in or out but as I recall this was quite a ways out from shore. I should see if I can dig out the GPS data I took that day.
It was very hot today, the car thermometer read 105 degrees at one point when I needed to run an errand this afternoon. Later in the evening, I spent a good 30-45 minutes watering all the various plants outside in the garden. Keeping up this stuff is a lot of work, but I find it rewarding.
“Sometimes even a thousand waves hitting the shore continuously one after the other also can’t erase few footprints on the seashore.”
Looks like the little bunny left as I no longer see him around. Sad. I did notice he ate all the Kale that was growing before he left, but I’m okay with that. That little growing body needs lots of Iron! Good luck little guy! Come visit once in a while!
Currently reading a book on Chatham by a native that lived his whole life there into his 80s. So interesting to read about how it looked to him as a boy and the retellings from his father and grandfather, and who related to them the times from their parents and grandparents. Amazing how much a place can change in a hundred years time or so. I bet a lot of it would be unrecognizable to those folks now – not sure if they would approve. I couldn’t add it to my Goodreads because it’s some local publication and isn’t in the database, although it does have an ISBN number.
All this beach time the last few days has made me want to paint a beach scene on a seashell. I will attempt to do that tomorrow. Maybe a coastal scene with a sailboat and lighthouse (if I can even fit that all on there and hope it doesn’t come out looking like ass). We’ll see. Got the idea from seeing some done by somebody on a revisit to the Eddy trail hike we did one more time yesterday, this time at low tide, so I could see the change over the flats. I’d have to say that it had become my favorite hiking trail on the Cape. Amazing how completely different a place can look – very unique place that only exists right there and no where else on the planet.
I want to make some Pineapple Cooler cocktails, I have all the ingredients except for coconut milk. Unrelated, I also need to find a place where I can buy some Chocolate Snakeweed that I want to plant in the garden as it’s a good at attracting pollinators. I’ve been uprooting the milkweed that has a tendency to grow around here but am thinking I might leave them alone this time as their blooms attract Monarch Butterflies supposedly.
I know this is sort of a rambling entry. Just trying to get some ideas down out of my head. Finally I’ve added the Linnell Landing shot at sunset to the store.