Had a pretty good time last night. The movie was OK and all. Sony couldn't really follow the actual storyline since Disney owns most of the Marvel properties now, so they had to change things around a bit. Seemed to me to end up being much like a Godzilla type movie in the end. Afterwards however, I was able to bring home a big pumpkin that our friends grew and nicknamed Sean Connery. Why the name? It's a long story from the last time they visited us. Kind of an inside joke that others wouldn't understand.

Woke up this morning to the next door neighbor's kid screaming about something, don't know what exactly as I was too sleepy to actually raise my head to look out the window and see. Thankfully it was over in a couple of seconds, whatever it was. The project that they are making that I couldn't figure out what the hell it was at first is beginning to take the shape of some sort of patio with possibly a trellis overhang type of design. Not sure how great that'll be since I never saw them use any cement or mortar for anything. Just sand?

Going to see Venom tonight with a pal. Boyz night out. I also need to play some Mega Millions tickets just because and run to CVS to pick up some stuff for the Ladydoc.

Red Sox are going to the World Series again!

Spent last night watching the Celtics season opener and boy was I impressed. If they can all stay healthy this might just be the year! (Hopefully). Was nice to see Hayward also getting back into it after that horrendous injury last year.

Heron sighting, 10/14/18 - Foxboro, Ma

Well, it seems my wireless router finally crapped the bed. Everything seems to still work except for the fact that it doesn't send out wireless signals anymore. It is pretty old, probably is time for a new one. I'll try wiring it up tonight sometime if I have some time, but I'm probably just going to by a newer/better one soon. Worse case scenario I can always just use my cell as a mobile hotspot. It's my wireless printer that I use to print my photos on that I mostly use it for nowadays.

Update: I was able to connect to the net using a wired connection but the wireless isn't working for anything. SSID and Channel look fine. Guess it really did crap the bed. Weird how only that part would fail.

Started the day off with a sanctuary vist , think I was able to get some pretty good shots of some of the animals this time, afterwards did a little driving around to try to get some fall looking shots, and came across a place called the Big Apple to get some more apples. Cool thing about this place was that they actually had an apple conveyor belt thing (The Apple Grader) that you could watch to see how they sort all the apples after picking them all in the fields. Pretty big operation. We also had lunch at a place called the Purple Rooster which is this eclectic cafe that has vegan, vegetarian and gf options of everything. Also stopped along the road someplace for some shots and then out of the brush came a flying blue heron which was pretty cool. The rest of the day was basically just getting ready for the week doing food prep, mowing the lawn, reading the paper, etc.

I was watching this show on cable and the host visited this place in Salem Mass that serves, get this, a lobster martini. I'm thinking I'm going to need to plan a trip up there soon (although October is probably the real busy season there - witches and all) but I really want to try this out sometime. It showed this martini with this big lobster claw attached to the side - needless to say it looked rather different and yet cool.

I finally got around the replacing the lightbulbs in the front of house outside - I had noticed they weren't lighting anymore - just needed the bulbs replaced - looks good now! Felt there should be light there on the front steps since the kiddos trick or treating will be appearing no doubt in a few weeks.

Taken 9/22/18 in Kennebunk, Maine

I must admit, whenever I'm at some place I try to get a penny memento so I can have a little memory of it. Somehow or other I came across a website that list where all these machines actually are. Pretty cool!

PennyCollector. Here's a listing of all the ones in Massachusetts which sadly, I haven't been to many apparently! The last time I did this was a few weeks ago in Johnny Appleseed Country just before Alpaca Yoga! Heh!

I think I'm going to make a list of one's I'll need to get to and increase my paltry collection! Actually most of the ones I have are from other states.

September 2018 recap highlights: Hosted BBQ, Schooner Festival Gloucester, Newport RI visit, Tree guys, new washer&dryer installation, Winslow visit, Rockport overnight stay, Cliff House Maine overnight stay, GLX Meeting #2, name printed in Chinese on display, and finally doing yoga with Alpacas.

Meet Gourdon who I picked in a Jersey pumpkin patch on Saturday, and Lil' Gourdon, an almost exact lookalike but smaller, who was found at a Trader Joe's in Foxboro this afternoon! I had to get them together. Made an awesome apple sauce using the Instant Pot this afternoon with a bunch of apples we've gotten over in Appleseed Country and Jersey over the weekend. Really simple recipe and the Pot is really suited to this type of meal preparation. Two thumbs up, try it!

Long Valley, NJ 10/6/18

Back from a 24 hour jaunt through Jersey. Here's a shot of the pumpkin patch that we go to yearly to get some pumpkins off the vine. Actually, I got a gourd, whom I have named Gourdon. Also, if you're in the area I'm going to plug a deli called The Great Wazu - great sandwiches there that never disappoints.

Also, new book I just got to read: Hidden History of Boston by Dina Vargo. Looks really good - the stories you never hear about.

One of the late summer stragglers still blooming in the back yard.

Spend the afternoon, you can't take it with you.

Been a busy week for me, lots of meetings, plus for some reason my shoulder has been absolutely killing me. It was kinda messed up to begin with and then I must have slept on it wrong. The joys of growing older.

Alpaca Yoga. 'Nuff said! More later...

Alpaca Yoga was a lot of fun! It's over in Johnny Appleseed Country so it's a little bit of a haul but definitely worth it. You can't really see it from some of the pics I put up but these 'pacas aren't really afraid of people like most are, so as you're doing the routine they walk around you, chew grass around you, some have even come up and sniffed a person or two. To be honest I could care less about the yoga - it's more about the interaction with the animals, plus now who else can say they did yoga with alpacas? Before heading home we found an apple tree farm place called Sholan Farms and got some apples - we didn't feel like picking any, just bought a bunch already picked. Pretty busy as it's that time of year. I decided on getting some of the Liberty variety - I'd never heard of those but I do like them - a little bit tart. Think LD got fuji's and a mix of some others - she prefers her apples a little sweeter. After coming home and getting a bunch of stuff done we watched the premier of A Million Little Things, that show looks to be really intense.

Not sure how, but LD got advance pre-screening passes to see Venom this week. before it's available to the public. Psyched!

Here's one of the art guitars that are being displayed around town - sort of like that bunny thing Dedham did a couple of years back (though there's no topping those amazing artworks). I was unaware that one of the artists was Gary Cherone - best known as the singer for the rock band Extreme (also a brief stint in Van Halen but that turned out to be disastrous). I grabbed a pic of this one as I was running errands, which included getting gas for the lawn mower and checking a nearby yard sale for a little table, but I was unsuccessful in finding one suitable thus far. Anyways, I liked the message of this particular guitar. It spoke to me.

Since I was feeling so industrious, I also cleaned out the shed to get it ready for winter storage, mowed the lawn, laundered some bed sheets, and pulled out weeds out of some of the raised beds. I then went down to old mill in town that has a lot of vintage and antique shops and cleanouts trying to score a table and maybe hit it lucky, but the ones I saw were either too nice/expensive, or didn't fit the bill of exactly what I am trying to find.

Tomorrow it's off to try our hand at Alpaca Yoga (we've already done the baby goats, so we have to try something else!)

Long Wharf, Boston MA

Good day to get some things down around the house today. I also need to plant those lupine seeds I collected back over the summer. I'll probably do that tomorrow though along with some lawn/yard work I need to get caught up on. Also going to try to find a small side table for the laundry room at like a yard sale, or free if possible.

Game Time: Evil Goat. Liking it, currently stuck on Level 15 however. Update: I solved it!

It seems the catch of the day may be catching some sort of bug. I fell asleep last night at 7 pm of all things but it did seem to make me feel a bit better. Maybe something's going around because LD hasn't been feeling all the great either. It doesn't seem to be anything major, just enough to let you know something's going on. I suppose the wet, rainy, cold, overcast dreary weather we've been having lately isn't helping. Anyways, it reminded me of last winter when I decided to go to bed real early and I think it helped immensely in me not getting sick. Basically I just need to reboot myself.

That meeting last night was actually pretty interesting. I feel it was a really good to go to for information and folks had a lot of interesting ideas / concerns. One guy there went off on a completely different issue dealing with sanitation and kept getting louder and louder being tired of all the, and I quote "piss and shit" he says he basically has to walk through / clean up, etc. Wonder if they'll edit his commentary when it goes up on the web?

Bottom line is if you live/work in the area, it's going to be painful for the year or so. Many folks mentioned the stupid bump outs on my street that will no doubt cause issues. Apparently these things were supposed to be in years ago but for whatever reason got put in now at a most inopportune time with this bridge closure approaching in January. Many people also worry about the winter weather and how it will impact getting around. We'll see!

In the meantime, enjoy this nice sunrise picture from Rockport from a few weeks ago that we woke up for, enjoyed, and took in.

Oh, over the weekend we somehow had free HBO and someone suggested Hugh Jackman's The Great Showman which was loosely, and I mean loosely, based on PT Barnum. But it's a musical. We watched it, but thumbs down from us - kinda sucked, tunes were good I guess, not sure if they actually read up on the history of the man. I actually find I hate musical movies - I like the spoken dramatic parts, but then when they start singing it really turns me off. Not live plays mind you, just movies. Just doesn't do it for me.

I'm off to another Green Line Extension meeting tonight. Don;t expect to hear much different from the last meeting, but you never know.

At Bald Head Cliffs, York, Maine

Sunrise. Had to get up at 6:30 am for this!

Nice getaway up in Maine at the Cliff House. Later in Kennebunk even had a chance to meet up with an old colleague of LDs and her mom and got to chill out with them for a while - really nice to catch up. Beautiful day. We had a couple of nice meals (nice Italian dinner at Angelina's where we met a real interesting character from Sarasota, will have to relate the story sometime), breakfast at the Maine Diner), did a little shopping, etc. Good stuff.

Autumn in the air, Rockport MA 9/16/18

So yesterday the Somerville house basement flooded in the deluge, even with the sump pump going gangbusters. Once everything dried out, the hot water tank had to be re-lit and the furnace needed to dry out, but everything appears to be back up and running now, so no harm no foul. It's just a pain in the neck whenever that happens. It's mostly because the house sits in a valley between two hills and there a lot of impervious surfaces and the city infrastructure is pretty old and has a hard time keeping up if the rainwaters come down too fast. That's life though.

Fog burning off Thatcher Light, Rockport MA

Stay dry today peeps, as the remnants from what was hurricane Florence sends some rain our way. Todays pic is kinda how I feel today - in a fog, dreary, tired, and not wanting to do anything really. Lazy. For this pic I clambered up some rocks and saw the lighthouse in the distance and thought I would frame the shot as so. It was sunny out but foggy where the lighthouse was at the time - actually more of a haze and it wasn't the greatest part of the day to take shots due to the position of the sun, but I made it work.

View out the window, Rockport MA - 9/15/18

Part 1 of Ladydoc Appreciation Day was an overnight stay at a place in Rockport that I'd been wanting to try for a while. It was very relaxing. Oh, the night before we went out to the movies and didn't get home til pretty late so we were a little wiped. The movie itself was ok - to me it was pretty great for everything except toward the end when it got less mystery/thriller and more campy. Fun outing, nonetheless.

This morning we were up before the sun to get some sunrise shots along the coast where we stayed. After breakfast we hit a number of small coves all over Rockport to see what we could discover. I'll be processing some of the better pictures over time and will share them. We then had a nice lunch in G-Town, some beach time hanging on the sand and LD getting a dip in, and then it was finally back home to get back to the grind. I'm planning on grilling tonight (hamburgers came out really well - pat myself on the back), and then we'll do food prep for the week. The nice thing is though that toward to end of the week, it'll be time for LD Appreciation Day Part 2! Another coastal location, hopefully another relaxing, fun filled adventure.

On the negative side, I seem to have messed up my shoulder (tone of knots - I think that go back to the Schooner Event a few weeks ago) but perhaps a massage on Thursday night will fix it.

Light and shadow.

I'm over here watching over the tree guys finally address the two trees in the back yard that got damaged all the way back in March when we had those really bad storms. There's like 5 spidermen running around with ropes and ear protection! It's good to be finally getting this done before the next winter / bad weather event occurs around here. I also got around to hanging up the other stained glass piece in the sunroom. Now both pieces are hanging proudly.

Tonight we're off to see the movie A Simple Favor with our other couple friends. I know nothing about this movie other than it's supposed to be some sort of thriller.

While processing the above picture from the Schooner Festival a couple weeks ago, I ened up listening to the Cloak and Dagger soundtrack on Youtube - good music! Really adds to the show!

Took the car in for an oil change this morning, got done, took it back home, got on the bike, and pedaled into work today. Getting stuff done. There was a great house we rented in Nags Head, NC some years ago that I really liked - I hope it makes it okay through the hurricane. It would be a shame to see such a nice place get wasted. Also, the wild horses although I read that they have a way of surviving events like these.

Got a bunch done today, grocery shopping, food prep, even had an hour at the sanctuary, and generally just getting stuff done for the upcoming week. After supper, we can chill and await the Sunday Scaries!

Little heavy on the nautical shots lately? Well, I told you I did like them! This shot came out kinda cool. I like the tones in this - almost like a drawing but not. Helps that I just happened to be there when these items were there as well, so for me, it's part being in the right place at the right time, and then just touching up the tones that I find pleasing.

Schooner Festival, Gloucester MA 9/2/18

I've always had a thing for nautical. I like taking shots of boats and I like being near the ocean. I'm not sure where that comes from - maybe from growing up in the city and I like the change of scenery. Maybe because Boston is a port town and it's always been near. Definitely it's the smell of the ocean air that usually puts me to sleep after a while. Little known fact you might not know about me however, is that I never learned to swim. So I just wade around up to my chest. Anyways, these particular boats are really awesome looking - so sleek and from a when the only power was the wind. I personally like the way this shot came out - you should see the full size version - it's stunning to me! If you really look you notice things that you don't see at first - like the guy standing on the prow of the rightmost boat, and the fact that there are actually five schooners in this shot and not 2 (they are behind the two in front).

Ugh - finding it hard to get motivated today after having such a nice, relaxing long Labor Day Weekend. Actually, I have been able to get a few things done, so it's not a total waste. Just other places I'd rather be at the moment. I'm sure most of us feel that way, right?

We've discovered that doing food prep is much better when you have the jukebox on churning out the tunes.