Monday, Memorial Day 2015

It's official: I am a true senior citizen because I ate dinner at 4 p.m. I had a very happy afternoon.  I went late to the Paradise City Arts Festival (Northampton, Mass.) because I knew I could only walk around so much.  I dutifully brought my $2 online discount ticket, but since I was so near the end, they only charged me $6! Hooray! (The normal price is $13 and would have been $11 with the coupon.)  Which is why later, as they closed, I ate dinner.  It was yummy Chinese food and mirabile dictu! it was discounted because they didn't want to bring it back to the store.

I had a lovely time wandering around in the 80-something degree weather.  Most of the art was inside at the Northampton Fairgrounds (right next to Sheldon Field), but the outdoor sculpture was outside.  Makes sense, huh?

So here are a few pictures to get your creative juices flowing.

(Below)

Metal masks -- she offered to let me try them on.  It didn't look like a good thing for me. Oh my goodness! Can you see the photog taking an unconscious selfie?

I loved the burnished base on the left. It was pieces, almost like uneven bricks and each had a textured pattern.

I left the woman's hand and foot in so you can see how freakin' big those ants are.  They had some even bigger bugs that I would not want on my lawn!

This eagle and tree were VERY impressive.  You can actually see through the tree -- this was a lot of welding!

This picture does not do Ms. Parent's work justice. The hydrangea are exquisite in person.

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On Saturday, I went to see Ex Machina at the movies.  I loved it.  It is a sci fi and, of course, deals with artificial intelligence.  But there are some interesting ethical and philosophical questions.  This is not to mention a killer ending! I highly recommend it (unless you can't stand sci fi).

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I made pulled pork in the crock pot overnight.  Bad move on my part: I used soy ginger marinade.  I didn't realize I was out of bbq sauce.  I did, however, rinse much of the sauce off the meat.  It's still pretty salty but I'll just have to drink a lot of water.

I've done two loads of laundry and I have a couple more to go. I did wash 8 million dishes ... I might put them away ... don't want to rush into anything.  Oh, right, have to vacuum. I try to start the week at work clean.  Ciao for now.

Sunday, May 10, 2015 Is Mothers' Day

But we celebrated yesterday! On Saturday, I drove to an air bnb on Joy St. on Beacon Hill in Boston which is around the corner from where Deb and Paul live.

Deb met me, helped get in and leave my suitcase.  Then we went to their Whole Foods and munched out for lunch.  The supermarket and a few other stores lot has a gate and a ticket, but Whole Foods validated the ticket.  Of course, we still ended up paying because we had spent more than an hour (Paul joined us later and we lingered).  After that, I got to see their lovely one bedroom penthouse apartment. They have a little balcony so this is where I took the views from their place.

After that, we were off to the nail place. Deb got lovely lavender nails and I got these toes. I was delighted to find out that Deb treated me!

Then it was off to The Catch of the Day, Harborside. Deb had hired a Uber Taxi and soon a sleek black Mercedes driven by a sleek well dressed black driver picked us up.

I was thrilled to be at the harbor and we sat on the open air patio with a light breeze.  There were no bugs, the temperature was perfect, in the 70s.  The seafood coupled with pasta was yummy.  Here are some views from our table.

Above and below, you see the famous net art.  It's the orangey color in the center.  This 2,000 pound installation is anchored on three buildings and is a one million dollar piece of art.  The reinforced ropes have been engineered to withstand gale force winds.

Yes, I know it's not the greatest picture.  You have to understand that I have a very simple, small camera and we were two to three blocks away.

After dinner, we walked to Emily's car which was parked in another county.  (It was a long walk for me after a long day -- remember I started with a two hour drive.)  Here are some of the sights going to the parking lot.

In the center, through the opening, you can see a construction site that Deb's firm is working on.  It's going to be a really big building.

After the girls dumped me off at the room, I read for a while and finally slept.  The bnb turned out to be a futon in a tiny below the street level apartment.  There was a window with blinds parallel to the bed.  Not only am I not used to city traffic and city noise, I'm not used to hearing footsteps and suitcase wheels so loud that they seem to be in the same room with me.  Normal conversation of people on the sidewalk sounded really loud.  It's certainly good to be home -- when all traffic (foot or auto) seemed to stop at 8:30 p.m. tonight.  There was one fellow bringing milk home using a skateboard, but he wasn't nearly as noisy as what I heard in Boston!

So this morning, as I waited for Deb to pick me up, I took some shots of Joy St.  I believe Beacon Hill in Boston is one of the oldest neighborhoods.  The brick sidewalks certainly look like it!

The dark part on the left is the first door (with a lock box) to where I stayed.  There was an inner door, also with a lock box.

This archway was in the middle of the street.  The flowering trees were nice.

For the life of me, I don't know why it says Belknap St. because I was standing on Joy St.  However, the Afro Am Museum was directly across the street where I rented the room.

After Deb picked me up, Paul made us a wonderful brunch and I headed home full and very happy.  Oh yes, I forgot these pictures:

Yes, my hair is curly with the water and wind.  That's o.k., I had such a wonderful time with my girls.  Thank you so much!

Stick a Fork in Me

I'm done.  It's 9:15 a.m. and I have spread three bags of mulch.  Am hot, sweaty, and ready for the showers.

I need pansies for the little bench-planter.

You can see my rusty lawn cart at the left.

The azalea has not fully opened, so it's not very impressive.

My neighbor has planted three forsythia (top r) for an incipient hedge.

More later. Lots to do.