Category: Selfie Love

A Dunk in the Pool Weekend

Posted on by Markman

Saturday we took the oppourtunity to join some freinds for some much needed pool time. My first of this year. I’m sure there’ll be others as the months progress. We also got to watch their cute dog for a while when they had to step out for a bit over an hour. I will say, they got this new pool float which was the balls! So comfy. Here’s some pics of my lounging in it!

Funny thing happened on the way to the pool. LD had a craving for a bagel, so I swung by a shop across town to grab one. While I was waiting, these two women came in and tried to order a baker’s dozen, but they wanted almost all of one flavor. The employee behind the counter actually told them no and insisted they mix it up so there’d be enough for other people later on. They got into a whole back-and-forth about it, and eventually, the women just walked out. Honestly, it was pretty weird—I get wanting to save some for other customers, but why turn away a sale when you’re not even planning on baking more? Seemed like a strange move. What do you think?

Sunday was basically a day of more yard work and getting things ready for a guest coming soon for a visit. I mowed the lawns and LD did some more planting in to the new planter after I measures and cut a liner and some other stuff for the bottom. Always more to do though. Oh and we plan on going to NYC to see Mariska Hargaity on Broadway!

An Afternoon Along the Blackstone River

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Took an afternoon ride out to Lincoln, Rhode Island hyesterday to pick up a raised planter LD found over on the marketplace so she can plant some more things. After getting the pickup we drove over to a nearby state park in the area. Pretty scenic location actually with what looks to be a very nice bike path that parallels the Blackstone River. Then we jaunted over to a nearby restauarant for lunch. Also checked out what apparently used to be a former monastary in the area. You click the pics below if you want more caption details.

Currently Watching: An oldie but a goodie! Homicide: Life on the Streets Seasons 1 and 2

Oh! I almost forgot another thing that happened yesterday1 LD finally sold her old car, to the next door neighbor no less!

The Day a Capybara Climbed on Me (Best Day Ever?)

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Started the day by pickinng up some “walking onions” plant that a woman was giving away in the town next door. I had never heard of these things before. A quick Google search lead me to the following description: “Instead of flowers, this plant produces topsets, a cluster of bulbils, at the top of the stalk where the flowers and seeds would normally be. The stalks eventually flop over from the weight of the bulbils (if not harvested) and replant themselves, thus beginning their “walk” across the ground.” Pretty cool! But the real treat of the day would come in the afternoon, as a trip down to the southern part of the state had finally arrived! Yes, it’s happened again for me, Capy Time!

Anytime you get to hang out with capybaras is a really good day. As a bonus we also got to hang with some baby goats and snuggle them. It was a great day, weather wise and animal encounter wise for sure. Amazing access to these amazing anaimals. So grateful for the oppurtunity. One capy even decided to climb on top of me, which I was not expecting at all, but I’ll take it! Afterwards we got an early seafood dinner at a place called Turks down the street. What a picture perfect day! Smiles all around!

107 Years in Inman Square: A Farewell to S&S

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Cambridge’s S&S Deli is set to close in June, wrapping up a 107-year run in Inman Square, the owner confirmed. The family-run counter at 1334 Cambridge St. has been a neighborhood staple since 1919, feeding students, neighbors and commuters across generations. Growing up I went here a bunch of times with my family and then later a bunch of times with LD, who also visited a bunch of times back in her grad school days. We came to say our last goodbyes and have a good meal.

We actally started out the day getting some plants from the town’s garden club – a yearly tradition that we do. I’m a little excitied about the Lamb’s Ear plant – such a cool little specimen! We also spent time getting LD car some regular maintenance. Everything today kind of took way longer than it should have, but in a round about way worked out perfectly. Strange indeed.

Art on the Go: The Best Kind of Vending Machine

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Had a dentist appoint at Earth-1 today and when it was done I had about a half hour or so to check out these aer machines over at Bow Markwt that I was curious about because I’d been seeing things about them, mostly the art print one. The photo booth there looks pretty cool but kind of expensive if you ask me. Maybe thst’s what those things go for nowadays, I’m not sure? Anyways it’s basically an old vending machine that the artist put her prints in, little shots around Boston basically. This thing has been making the rounds appearing for a time at Porter Square Bookstore and Cantab Lounge and Brookline Booksmith. I just was curious to see what it was all about. And yes, I did buy a couple of prints.

Visiting The Hidden Temple of Mystical Realism

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This building draws much attention on the street, with its facade which has been made to be reminiscent of an Incan ruin, with a large stone face above the doorway and colorful bull on the door. The museum is not open to the public, but the artists offer tours by appointment and open their doors for various concerts and the annual Somerville Open Studios. Those lucky few granted access to the space are treated to a one-of-a-kind experience.

Using a style the artists call “Mystical Realism,” the walls and ceilings are covered with fresco-like paintings and mythological themes, creating a stained glass effect. The focal point, the building’s great hall, is filled with fresco-like paintings of Russian mythological and religious icons. Saturated oil colors were used for the tiger and bull totems, birds, druids, and mermaids.

It’s a pretty wild place to visit. Every wall of every room is covered in images like this. Some areas naturally were off limits to the general public but I can imagine them all being so ornately decorated. Once again, you can only visit it during the Open Studios weekend or sometimes they have yoga classes and performances and such in the main room. Pretty cool.

From Mary Jane to ROM: Reflections on a Comic Collection

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One od the things about today was it was Free Comic Book Day and although I haven’t partaken if it in a few years, today I did take a trip to the local comic shop. I used to really be into comics although I stopped collecting just before the pandemic and didn’t take it back up. I believe in my collection I have some good pieces, some worth some substantial money, but how can one part with it? I really do need to inventory them someday and get a feel for the value. I know I definitely have some major Spiderman keys like the first appearances of Mary Jane, Hobgoblin, and Punisher to name a few and those are worth something. Peep the shirt I’m wearing, ROM Spaceknoght, one of my facvorite characters from the 80s. If you know, you know. I do have every issue of that.

Meeting the Princess of the Naked I

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Meeting the Princess!

How did a debutante from Lake Forest, Illinois, end up in Boston’s notorious “Combat Zone” and become its most famous stripper? What led her to convert to Islam and get engaged to Cat Stevens? And how did she end up traveling and performing with Andy Kaufman and hosting a radio show for the sexually bewildered opposite Dr. Ruth? In 1977, an eighteen-year-old Lucy Johnson stripped out of her bellbottoms and Birkenstocks and was crowned the feature attraction at the Naked i Cabaret. Local and national media took note of her toney background and, for the next eleven years, she strutted her way into Beantown history as the “Socialite Stripper.” In Princess Cheyenne, Lucy recounts her wild life both in and out of the Naked i. Smart and uproarious, this is the untold story of a legendary performer whose stage name is synonymous with “The Zone,” Boston’s most mythical district, and a fount of nostalgia and wonder to this day.

Currently Reading: The Monsters We Make: Murder, Obsession, and the Rise of Criminal Profiling

Sips, Sweets, and Seaside Strolls in Kennebunkport

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Day trip to Kennebunkport! Drover around and visited some sights in Dock Square and Cape Porpoise. Ended up grabbing some sandwiches at Cape Porpoise actually, I bought a little bunny keychain for LD that she had her eyes on. I had to get my drink fix on at Mornings in Paris – a nice café we always visit when we’re in the area. Also spent some time along the beach at Goose Rocks and met two cute little French bulldogs named Leo and Gus. It was just a nice afternoon to stroll around and check out some things. Also visited Stonewall Kitchen and Yummies for our candy fixes. Some places we thought about going to but will have to wait for another time are St. Ann’s Church and On the Maine in Ogunquit.

Doing a quick look at the gardens here I can see that the Clematis, Phlox, Tulips, Hyacinth and Vinca are all starting to bloom. Well, not the clematis but it is starting to climb it’s vine tendrils on things. I do need to cut down some things and we need to purchase some more plants, maybe sometime over the next few days. getting to be that time of year again! Also the grass is starting to grow like nuts! The witch hazel is also starting to finally bud which is good because it was a bit iffy there for a while. I guess I might have somewhat of a green thumb after all!

Five Steps at a Time: A Day Spent with Lenny

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We found out we can visit and interact with Capybaras again so naturally we immediately signed up. I was very excited! Heading down there the middle of next month for that!

In the early afternoon I went to Home Depot because I want to do some spring cleanup and maintenance around the house. New plastic gutter diverters, lawn bags for some leaves, zip ties to help tie the winter deer legs together (the parents appendages didn’t fare too well this winter – only the baby, as the parentified child, withstood the chaos!). I also want to do some pruning and removing of some unwanted plants.

In the late afternoon I decided to go with LD for her acupuncture appointment, Usually when I go I hang around the park and grab a slice of pizza or something and I wanted to spend some time outside because it was nice out. When we got there we learned that Lenny was visiting! Lenny is an 8 year old bulldog who has a bunch of age related problems but is such a sweetheart. He can’t see or hear well and his shoulder is probably arthritic but he is a joy to be around. Anyways they asked if I’d walk him and I gladly accepted. Lenny is basically just food motivated so to walk him he goes 5 steps then stops, needs a treat, then another five steps, another treat, ad infinitum. I was able to lead him with treats to get him to move. What would take a dog 2 minutes to walk a block takes ten with Len. But that’s ok, he’s my buddy. He is the first dog I really ever got to interact with and made me be more acceptable of dogs having been sort of scared of them most of my young life.

Nirvana and Goats Perfect Combo

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Started off the morning with a trip to Nirvana Tea House for some Belgium Waffles and delicious drinks. It’s owned by the folks who run the Unity Sanctuary now. Also as an aside, the carrot cake cupcakes are amazing. Not sure if that was only for Easter but hopefully not because they were so good,

Then it was a quick break before we were off to our next destination, baby goat snuggles!

And then finally off to an early dinner at the Noon Hill Grill, a restaurant that was on our way back. Haven’t been there in a while but it always was good and this time was no exception. Then we came home and vegged and watched our television shows. The day was a wonderful way to celebrate our anniversary.

Upgrading the site to a newer version PHP tonight. Wish me luck!

Sometimes We All Need a Little Hideaway

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This photo above is from a spot down in Orleans on the Cape that when I get the chance I like to escape from for a while. There’s a bunch of staircases like this one along Little Pleasant Bay.

Last night while watching the premiere of Real Housewives of Rhode Island (the jury is still out on to whether we’ll keep watching it) we noticed Carson going nutty in the sun room. At first we thought he fell but when I went out there I could see what he was watching on the deck. At first I thought it was another cat because when he sees on of these he gets a little ornery but when my eyes adjusted better to the darkness and I saw it’s face it was unmistakable. It was a big ass racoon!

Mr. History Post #16: EaRhart in Medford

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Mr. History Post 16: Social Work Pioneer! Before gaining fame as a pilot for being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, Amelia Earhart worked as a social worker at a settlement house in Boston. She educated adults and young girls, organized women’s clubs, and coached girls’ sports. Amelia Earhart advocated for gender equality before becoming a trailblazer as a woman in a male-dominated field, insisting on fair treatment for female pilots.

(Con) Fused Glass / Goodbye Suns

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We tried out our hands at working with glass last night. Originally we thought it was the blown glass class (which the place also does) but it ended up being the fused glass class. Still cool, but I did think we’d be turning our glass creations in the oven on a pole and all that. At first I was a little disappointed but I got over it pretty quick. Fused glass is basically you come up with a design and then cut and create your piece and stick it to the glass which then gets baked in the oven basically to set. I had a hard time coming up with a good concept for mine. I didn’t have much time to prepare and also this isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do, you seem to need a lot of patience. I need to work on myself more in that department! We’ll pick up out finished products next Saturday. It was cool that another of our couple friends was able to join us, they’re always fun! Afterwards we went out to dinner in town. The place is pretty cool though, I’d do it again – maybe next time the blown glass class! LOL!

That’s where I learn the Connecticut Sun were sold to a family in Houston Texas so after this upcoming season, they’ll be moving down there. Really stupid of the league to move them to a place where it failed before and there’s such a rabid fan base here already. We’ve seen it firsthand! Heartbreaking for Connecticut and all New England women’s sports fans. We could’ve had them at the Garden.(they always sell out there!)

St. Pats Week Festivities

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Shamrock Shales!
Shamrock Shakes
Dinner at Mary’s
Drinking the Green Potion at the show
Trying out the MetaQuest VR Headset
Huh!?

Some stuff from the last week or so with more or less a “green” theme. Of course I had to get some vegan Shamrock Shakes down in Providence for LD and myself and to use the opportunity to show off my hat. Hanging out with dogs was cool and that MetaQuest was a fun distraction for a few minutes. While in Providence I noticed an ad for the play Next to Normal playing at a theater down there in the summer. I saw the play years ago in NYC with LD but I’d go see it again. I remember not really liking it because it felt too “real” but I do recall the music being very good. I’d probably appreciate the story more now then the person I was back then. I’ll try to update this post later with our “Mess Buckets!” Huh? You’ll see.

The mess!

As promised, the mess “bucket” from last night! What’s a MESS? It’s a mystery recipe, unique to Comella’s, made fresh every day. It’s a combination of pasta, cheese and sauce and it may contain bits of eggplant, lasagna, and shells!

Take it from me, it’s good!

Shrek The Musical: HS Edition – Professional!

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A pair of ogres
Beware of Ogres lurking about!
Mt. Tabor Pizza
Best pizza in town!

We went down to Jersey this weekend, mostly to see a HS play, Shrek: The Musical because LD’s niece does a lot of the makeup for the actors. I got to say from what I’ve seen she does a pretty amazing job. Actually I was impressed with just how professional this production was in total, from the orchestra, to the actors, and the props – the dragon was freakin amazing! Are all high school plays of this quality nowadays? Like I said, I was really impressed. I’ve never even seen the movie Shrek so it was all new to me. Finished it all out with a visit to Mt Tabor for the great pizza.

This AI Trek channel on YouTube is amazing! Check out the quality on The Prime Directive is to Dance, Red Shirt Romeo, and Assimilated: Seven of Nine. (my favorite, although all the videos are pretty sick!)

Baby Goats, Alpacas, Oh My!

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Oh forgot to mention! Went to Il Massimo last night to try out their Dine Out Boston Menu and it was really good, so props to them!

Hung out with some baby goats that we got to dress up in pjs yesterday and hung out with some of the other animals as well. This was a rescheduled meet since the original date got postponed because the weather was just too cold that day, so this actually worked out much better.

Business as Usual One Layer at a Time

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Hi folks! Haven’t been too many updates of late as there hasn’t been that much worthwhile to update with, but that should be changing as the weather is getting better and some hurdles are behind us. I have taken on caring for a neighbors dog now and again, so that’s new.

What a nerd.

This popped up in my head this morning and I can’t believe it’s been 30 years since this was taken! That’s me sitting at the computer during my days at Arthur D. Little doing AutoCAD work. I believe the image on the screen was the plume of contamination we were investigating at the time over at the Natick Army Labs. This was a promotional shot that the company wanted to do for some marketing or newsletter or some such.

Now that I think about it, ADL had their own photography lab people and would do all this stuff inhouse for their own newsletters that would go out to the employees. Who would ever do that! Of course that was before we got email and all that stuff. Memos would have to be written and printed and then someone from the mailroom would deliver the memo to our mailbox and then we would physically get it and work it out from there. They would reuse the same manila envelope but just cross off the previous office address and we’d write in the next space where we’d want it delivered to next. I had forgotten all this stuff but now it’s flooding back to me.

The white table like thing next to my right was the digitizing tablet. This big piece of tech that basically I could trace over hardcopies to get the images into a digital format that I could manipulate or use later. Generally a geologist would draw out what they needed on the hard copy, I would tape it to the tablet, calibrate the tablet, and then digitize the image they had drawn and get it into the computer. I must have drawn and created thousands of images in my time doing that kind of work. I would then save them as “Layers” which could be turned on and off on the figures to display different things, or to show change over time for instance. A lot of these finished drawings I would then print on a plotter, basically a giant printer. I must have printed thousands of plates that were 44″ x 34″. Then you had to physically cut the drawings to size with a razor and fold the maps to fit into pockets that would go into the reports. Everything was hard copy in those days!

Helping Support the Cause for DV

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Thank you Needham Police Department, Babson College, and Gabby Petito Foundation for raising awareness around the red flags of domestic abuse and how we can help survivors safely escape. What a powerful event. They had the parents of Gabby do a talk. We weren’t able to make it unfortunately but we were able to get some coins to help support the event and cause.