A little bit of color for what’s been a dreary week.
It’s been a pretty dreary week here in Boston. Just drizzly on and off for days, sort of mirroring feelings of late. Not a deluge but little pellets on and off enough to annoy oneself. I figure things have got to turn better eventually, and in truth, some things already have – so things aren’t as bleak or dramatic as I might make it seem. I’ve been having more anxious dreams as of late too, enough to wake me up in the middle of the night with a faster heart rate, but I calm myself down right after. Just have to take it slow, after all.
“Expect to have hope rekindled. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again.”
Sarah Ban Breathnach
I always did love that quote. So I’ll keep on reading and believing in it. It’s true. Just have to keep hanging in there, right? And if anyone wants to send along some good thoughts and mojo, that would also be appreciated as well!
Went to the Sanctuary today. Goats hung out with us which was fun. Sadly, the cat we had thoughts of adopting from there was adopted by someone else a few days ago. Maybe it’s for the best at this time though.
Afterwards hit up visit to Trader Joe’s in Foxborough (by where the Pats play) to get some groceries for the week. We’ve already cooked up some mushroom pizzas, ricotta bake, and some mustard glazed chicken.
What else? Watched the end of the Celtics game, flipping between that and Law & Order reruns on We TV. A typical low-key Sunday.
The above picture is one I took along Commonwealth Avenue in Boston a little while back. I always found the look of these two buildings rather cool. Come to find out, the “sisters” have an interesting back story! I still learn something new everyday!
Not the greatest week this week, but things appear to be looking up! Between spending a few days at the hospital visiting, losing an important piece of jewelry, and just being a stress bag all around. But like I said – things are looking up – found the jewelry this morning (my brain is just mush these days), and back home getting back to normalcy. Still have some worries – work sucks, and some major dental work most likely coming up again but c’est la vie.
Some gametime for fun that’s keeping me occupied at times:
Neon Dash – a platformer where you have to control a block over obstacles.
Just one chance – haven’t beaten this one yet. Thing is with this you only get one chance – if you die, you have to wait 24 hours to try again.
Conveyor mayhem – a puzzle game where you move crates onto their targets. Took me a few to beat all 22 levels.
Crazy Dungeon – not too hard, move your guy around the board but don’t get caught by the nasties.
Other minor things – updated to site to WP 5.3. Seems to have gone well, although I notice the photo captions aren’t centered? Strange. Update: Never mind, appears to actually be that way – there’s some CSS code that fixes it temporally which I’ve used on the last few posts. One of somewhat related note, I’ve had this domain since 2001 – today is the anniversary of when hatchetation.com first went live! It’s all grown up now. You can catch up some older versions of the site through snapshots in time at the Wayback Machine. I wish I could find the even earlier versions back from Geocities but I think it’s on some zipdisk that I can no longer read.
Going to roast some carrots this afternoon to bring over to some friends tonight who are hosting a get together, should be fun. Speaking of fun, check out this video of a fully restored first coin operated jukebox. Must be priceless! It doesn’t play records – it plays Edison cylinder rolls!
Yup. Went to the Sanctuary today for a little bit again. I happened upon this scene of a mother chicken tending to her chicks. I find it interesting that they are so different looking color wise. We also hung with a cat named Grayson, where there could be the possibility that we could have him, if we so wanted. He’s very sweet. We’ll see about logistics moving forward to see if it’s a real possibility. Then I had to get back for a work meeting that took and hour and a half.
Day 2 at the W. Yesterday we had lunch in Sandwich on the way down (one of our usual spots by the Canal). Soon enough we got to the place and checked in, had supper at a place called Pate’s that we like and they came through. The line was out the door upon opening – we never seen it so busy in the summer! Delicious meal, then we headed back and relaxed for the rest of the night.
Today after a restful night, we got room service which was nice. Hadn’t done that in a long time. Afterwards we went for a walk along the spit. Soon enough it was time to go. We didn’t head home right away though – we tried to hit some little library’s to see if we could score any good reading material. Came up empty this time, although I did find a book entitled Why Men Love Bitches. Senseless drivel? We hit a couple of beaches – they are pretty empty this time of year, but there’s something nice about the silence. We visited the wildlife area on South Chatham too but didn’t catch anything spectacular sadly. Of course we had to hit the Chocolate Sparrow for a quick lunch and some delicious drinks.
Although I had a good time I still feel bummed about a few other things going on. Hoping for the best, I know I’ll get through them. I also got a feeling that I’ve got a mad case of Seasonal Affective Disorder! This getting dark early sh*t sucks,
The day was filled with visits to doctors. Just trying to get a handle on what ails us. Hopefully the path ahead will be more promising than it has been lately. Anyways, the bulk of the day was just dealing with those appointments and then just chilling round the house after it was all said and done.
I also took some time to rake up and bag some more fallen leaves. Mostly from the front, but I don’t get every single little leaf – I think leaving some around is good for the critters and environment (that’s what I’ve read anyway) – just dealing with the majority of them, plus more will just fall anyway. I also cleared out the clogged sewer drain out front. You think the next door neighbors could do it at least once in 10 years? Jeezus . Also went ahead and finally pulled out all the wild tomato plants that had been growing around. That was starting to get a bit unwieldy and plus would never eat them anyway.
What else? Rotated a couple of records in the jukebox – every now and then need a change of pace. I have toyed with the idea of starting a collection of old jukeboxes but that’s not really feasible due to cost and storage, and they’re all heavy as hell – some of those old Wurlitzers and Seaburgs really are beauties. Just a fantasy.
The above shot is from a place in Braintree called Sunset Lake. I just happened to catch it at the right moment for the shot. I especially like the gazebo in the background.
Just upgraded the PHP version on the site – this is only a test for myself to make sure nothing broke. So far seems legit. Main benefits are its faster processing and better security – the usual stuff. In my spare time I’ve been watching how to repair jukeboxes of all things. i believe I can change the needle, adjust the tome arm, and some other various fixes, should they ever be needed! There’s just something cool about watching the mechanisms do their things – I don;t know – maybe I’m just old school. Here’s another pic from the cemetery from last week before more rain and wind really made them bare.
This shot of the lighthouse at Castle Hill in Newport, RI was from a getaway we had a few years ago. I’m putting it up now because I’ve planned another getaway coming up! It’s my usual appreciation getaway that I plan every year although this year it had to be postponed a couple of months due to other factors. This new one will be in a new location that I’ve never been so I’m looking forward to see how it all pans out.
Late this afternoon we went and saw Motherless Brooklyn, a movie starring and directed by Edward Norton – it was pretty good, and featured some big name actors like William DeFoe, Alec Baldwin, and Bruce Willis among others. I’d recommend it if you’re in the mood for a detective story and like some 1950s New York film noir. I had seen the previews and it looked interesting so I said let’s give it a go.
Earlier in the day we had created three dishes as part of lunch/dinner for tonight and also food-prep for the week (the usual routine):
Turkey Chili with Butternut Squash
Baked Scallops with a Parmesan crust; and
Turkey Spaghetti Squash Bake in peppers
The last one was to recreate with a different middle than the mac&cheese we went with last year around this time:
Stuffed peppers!
This morning I went to Home Depot to buy some more leaf bags and later raked up some more leaves. Good day to do some work around the house actually. Also been measuring the downstairs windows because we’re going with the same kinds of blinds that we have upstairs now – the Cordless Cellular Shades that are all the rage now. The windows down here are a lot larger so it’s more expensive but it’ll be worth it.
It’s not all fun and games though. Turning back the clock has made this day seem much longer which is great – but getting dark early is a bummer. I worry about LD, my mom, and a bunch of other things too as well these days.
