Had a nice time yesterday at our yearly little Friendsgiving get together. The food and company were superb. Good friends are where it’s at. Consider this our proof of life after today’s food coma.
Now today is the day to just sit back and relax and begin thinking about the actual Thanksgiving Day festivities planned!
We had some friends over Saturday night and ended up actually playing some board games, Golden Girls Clue and Sorry. Ended up being pretty fun. For some unknown reason the GG version of Clue seemed unnecessarily complicated. Perhaps because the directions were not well written at all and in some instances didn’t not seem to make any sense. We trudges on and got the hang on it eventually and we learned that Stan stole the cheesecake in Blanche’s Bedroom absconding with it in Sophia’s purse. Hardly ever play board games anymore these days. LD won at Sorry and they won at Clue. Yes, I did not win any games. It was a good night for that kind of activity though because it was a rainy dreary day.
On Sunday I went solo to check out the Somerstreets Monster Mash. Basically just a thing were everyone gets dressed up and there’s vendors, artisans, musicians, etc. Like a street fair basically.
The utility guys are out front of the house this morning, tearing up the lawn and jackhammering the street out in front. Joy of joys.
Been watching old shows lately since nothing’s really on anymore. Kicking it with some classic NYPD Blue. Remember that show? I also am a little proud of myself after making a nice shrimp succotash gemelli for dinner and it came out pretty good!
Yesterday was a cooking day! We were on fire, in the morning cooking up all those apples – an apple crisp and some apple bread. In the afternoon we went to check out some of the recent arrivals at the sanctuary. Plus we had some canned corn and cat stuff we wanted to get over to them for some time now. In the evening we made a chicken dish and turkey meatballs.
The new paint on the adjoining kitchen room looks beautiful! The second coat will go on today and then it should be all done!
Gametime: Katti
Yesterday morning I went out and did some yard work on the other side of the house. Apparently I discovered another one of those vine-like invasive rose-like tendril plants and had a nice little home for itself so I got the pruners and went to town cutting all the arms down the base of the stalk. This was an offshoot of that giant rose that I spent two days over last month cutting down that monstrosity, so I was glad to get to this one before it got unmanageable. That reminds me that I need to cut the dahlias and bring them in and put them in a vase. Soon I’ll need to dig up their tubers for winter storage.
In the afternoon LD wanted to take a trip to get some apples so we went to Stow and other surrounding areas for a drive. We ended up getting two bags of apples – we didn’t pick, just bought, and plan to bake some today in something. Also got some cider donuts and hot cider. We visited a couple of places and they were packed solid with people. We ended up at a little place that was quieter off the beaten track and got our donuts and cider there, but we did get the apples at Honeypot Hill.
The room directly abutting the kitchen is finally getting painted to match the adjoining kitchen, using the same colors as the kitchen walls so it will match nicely.
It’s scary season, or just about. The cat and I are in charge of ourselves for a few days as LD hangs out with her friend down by the southern coast. We did have a nice get together the day her plane landed. We cooked dinner together, made a really good potato gratin actually, and hung out by the firepit (this was on Thursday). But now they’re away so it’s all about getting lit and eating sh*t! (not really). I’m really digging this new watch – it’s amazing at how powerful it is. Now I can never go back.
Took a trip to Rexhame Beach yesterday, it was kinda crazy how warm it actually was outside so we wanted to get some sun and fresh sea air. The hurricane was long gone and it pretty much missed us entirely but the waves were still a bit high, though nothing like the day before.
One the way home LD treated us to some Gerard’s turkey sandwich dinners. Yum! Then I watched her at the pool at the gym because she wanted to get some swim time in. They had just finished putting the pool cover over the rooftop in preparation for the colder weather. It basically is like a big tent.
For dinner I grilled up some burgers and a squash that we grew. We learned of a new way to prepare the squash on the grill. Basically just cut it in half lengthwise and grill it flat side down until down. Lot less prep than slicing it into rounds and putting in foil.
In the evening I painted one of my fingernails on each hand. Why? Just to be a little artsy I guess. Keep people thinking. We’ll see if it stays around but in a weird way, I am kind of liking it – it’s so not generally me.
I want to get through a bunch of stuff this week in anticipation of a house guest coming next week for a few days, I definitely want to get more wood for the firepit, do some mowing and some landscaping. I want to try to tackle taking down at least some of this weird rose bushy tree like thing that used to be nice but has overtaken too much and needs to go. I also need to buy some goggles and gloves as I want to tackle refilling the backup battery for the sump pump in the basement. Safety first!
I was able to get all the yard work done today, in the heat of the day even! It was hot but maybe I just got used to it, I didn’t have any problem. I also grilled up some burgers and chicken right after (this was probably around 3 in the afternoon). I also got a bunch of things done around the house so it was a productive laborious labor day for me! Actually it serves me right for being such a beach bum yesterday.
This picture is one that I took from Gloucester’s Parade of Sail festivities in the harbor which happens every Labor Day Weekend.
Currently reading: The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession.
Currently Watching: Dark Side of the Ring. On Vice. I was never into professional wrestling but watching what became of it’s stars is pretty tragic and yet fascinating to hear.
Attending our first ever Bat Mitzvah. Let me tell you, our friends know how to throw a party! From the signature cocktails to all the custom everything! The service was wonderful as well. More as they come out.
Watched a documentary about the Sara Lawrence College Cult on Hulu last night. That was some crazy stuff. Just so mind boggling that people can control others in such a way. It’s three episodes long at the 1st one takes a little while to get interesting but then it’s quite the ride.
I wanted to try out a recipe I saw in a magazine that seemed pretty easy so tonight I gave it a shot. It’s basically a chicken with apples mix so nothing too earth shattering. As usual we had to replace an ingredient or two with something else because we were out of a particular item at this time but the replacements worked fine.
We took an afternoon trip down to beautiful Bristol RI and I got to have a nice lunch by the water. We saw some herons and egrets too. I ended up getting a Del’s Lemonade Cucumber Spritz with Vodka and a nice Seafood Linguine. I would recommend this place called the Beach House. I found my dish to be super delicious.
The before heading back we took a detour to stop by Like No Udder down in Providence to get some ice cream and slush goodies.
I also got some cool books, and a neat bamboo cutting board that includes different mats for cutting different types of foods on top of it, which will replace the current cutting board I’ve been using for a long time now.
Been kind of a busy and yet relaxing weekend. We had some folks over on Saturday and I got to ride in their new electric luxury BMW. That thing was pretty crazy with the way the instrument panel is and all the geeky electronic stuff. Sunday was a day of relaxing, grilling and using the firepit to read by.
Enjoy another pic of Nauset Light! It’s National Lighthouse Day afterall!
I finally got to use the new kitchen and cook my first meal since it’s been over a month. Been trying to keep the countertops clear of things and everything nice and neat. Just did a simple shrimp and rice dish. I’ll be cooking up a ricotta stuffed meatloaf dish tonight. Get to break in some new kitchen pots and pans and baking sheets, etc. Hopefully I haven’t been making too much of a mess and horrifying LD – lol). I shot a new video of the finished kitchen but I’m not sure if I’ll just leave it in production for our personal use.
I did hit the center of town late this afternoon for the National Night Out, where you get to meet the local police and all. I ate two slices of pizza and got the see the newest recruit to the force, a puppy named Sally. I knew a lot of the officers there since I work along side them these days. Looked like a very nice time. (Confession: It’s true, I mostly went for the free pizza).
I noticed the mourning doves next door must have had their babies. I saw one hanging with it’s mother in the nest, although by this point it looks about half the size of the parent and is fully formed and all that. Coloring looks like the juveniles we saw before. I’m not sure if these birds use the same nest over and over but it appears that this couple does.
Currently reading: The Royal Art of Poison: Filthy Palaces, Fatal Cosmetics, Deadly Medicine, and Murder Most Foul.
Forgot to mention my new water shoes! I purchased them back last September but finally had a chance to try them out at the beach yesterday. They are amazing! Anyways if you’re interested, search amazon for the Zhuanglin Men’s Quick Drying Aqua Water Shoes.
Today was a little more low key. Mostly just a trip out to Wellfleet for lunch and then back here for pool time. I overdid it a little bit at the beach yesterday but then again, it WAS one of the best days of my life EVER. I do feel somewhat drained however.
After the pool we headed to Crosby for a sunset (or what was left of it that we could see – just a sliver through the clouds). Wrap up with a trip to the Sparrow for my go to Nectar of the Gods drink, the hot choc with soy milk. I did p[ick up a book from a little library there but I don’t know if I’ll read it. Basically a bunch of short moral stories. I’ll list the title here later as it’s in the car right now and I don’t remember the title offhand.
Update: The title is The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories and it’s over 800 pages, although the stories themselves only appear to be a page or two generally.
That’s pretty much what I’m feeling right now. I did head back to Earth-1 on Monday Night to do my work shift on Tuesday morning but by the afternoon I was back. I grilled some burgers with the charcoal grill, we swam and swam. Harding’s Beach on Wednesday afternoon was particularly awesome. The water was warm, the waves were high, and I was having a blast. I think we all ended up staying there from like 1:30 to 6:30.
Although the sunsets so far have been a bit on the cloudy side, minus those amazing shots I got from Rock Harbor earlier in the week. The weather down here has simply been spectacular this week. I think it’s the best it’s ever been for us.
They had a pretty cool layout there and included this very Zen looking area. There’s just too much for me to process right now so here’s just a few pics from today.
“Seaweed just went up my nose!” is a quote I overheard today from some kid playing in the seaweed at West Dennis Beach. I can honestly say that that is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone say that, so me being me, I had to make a mental note of it and share that with you all. So to recap today we slept in, then pretty much headed down to the beach and spent a good chunk of time there. I finally got to try out the Beau Jarden cart we got last fall and it worked flawlessly. So much easier to cart all our stuff around in. Anyways, I went in the water, LD went in a couple of times, and then I dried out in the sun and it pretty much wiped me out when we were done. I was so tired. But I rallied after some time to rest up and then we headed out to see a sunset. We chose Rock Harbor and this is one of the shots that I took tonight. This time I decided to walk further down along the marshy area then I have in the past. I covered myself up appropriately so that I wouldn’t get eaten by any bugs too badly and that was a smart move by me. This isn’t my first rodeo! What’s really cool about this pic is how the sun’s reflection kind of forms the shape of a heart! Then we went for ice cream and I got a burger. Now I’m uploading this to the website and going to chill the rest of the night.
I also wanted to mentioned that I learned today of some sad news. One of our favorite goats at the Sanctuary we visit recently passed away. This goat was special in that he was the goat that had been there the longest, 16 or years, and he was always such a sweetheart to us. He loved to be brushed too. RIP Eustis. We love you.
I had a deep tissue massage today and it was one of the best I’ve ever had. I am so totally relaxed from it. Props out to Rebecca for treating me so greatly. I went with the deep tissue this time because I felt I needed it and it had been quite a while.
Other things I managed to get around to today were: I returned some grout that I had purchased in error a few weeks back to the Home Depot and used the refund to get a Jersey Mike’s for lunch, handed a donation benefit to a visiting African pastor (long story), I mailed an RSVP letter indicating that we will be attending a ceremony later this year, I changed the air purifier filters, I purchased gas, I went to the bank, I played the Powerball, and I cleared out the basement/gameroom of most of the kitchen things. It was nice to be able to get access to the air hockey table and arcade Ms. Pac machine. I fired them both up to make sure they still worked. The Ms. Pac is the real deal from the 80s, that takes quarters, not a reproduction. Nice to see that even though I was rusty I can still score over 100,000 points. Now, except for a few minor finishing touches, the kitchen is fully functional! Yay!
While walking around the garden, I saw several double tiger lilies blooming beside the ordinary ones. That caught me off guard! I don’t recall adding those. Anyways, I had to take a picture of one!
I decided to grill tonight even though it was pretty warm out. Another night of burgers.
Today was the day of the BBQ that I had been hoping for since early in the year! The weather was a bit overcast but that’s alright by me, as long as it didn’t pour on us it would be fine. In fact, maybe it would even keep down the heat of the day, although it was pretty muggy out. At least the plants are all loving this kind of weather – they are growing like gangbusters. As the festivities went on though the sun came out and stayed out. It ended up being a successful outing! I was a master at grilling dogs, burgs, salmon, corn, and veggies. Did a quick fire pit, admired the garden and relaxed in the sun and for dessert….
Here are the treats we made last night for today’s BBQ. Aren’t they cute?! They are little grills with food on them! It’s actually just Little Bites for the grill, some food coloring to get the grill lines and Mike and Ike candies for the meats and vegetables. The legs are lollipop sticks. Let me tell, these were not that easy to make, but they sure were a huge hit and totally worth it!
Thanks for the share Boston.com! I didn’t even know about this until after I got out of the home improvement store with a gallon of paint and 29 kitchen knobs!
Quite the day. Busy busy busy. It all started off with an old colleague of LD’s coming for a quick visit to consult about a few things. I didn’t really hang with them because I went to get a bunch of items for the BBQ tomorrow. Speaking of BBQ’s we got invited to a little one over at LD’s old landlady so we spent some time over there and had a late lunch. We even got to see LD’s old apartment which was currently empty so it was like a little trip down memory lane for me.
After that in the late afternoon LD got tickets to a live play in Brooklyn written by a person she knows so to support it we could watch it through a virtual stream through her phone and then we casted it to the television in real time. This play wasn’t as good as the last one I saw but still impressive in it’s own way.
Then we worked until the early hours of the night making some of tomorrow’s delights. At the conclusion of the BBQ, we’re going to surprise everyone with some delicious, adorable tiny sweets, but I won’t post images of them until then because I don’t want to ruin the surprise. I’m planning to go pick up my mom and hopefully my little sis around 11. I need to make a trip to the home improvement store before then and get some paint for the kitchen. Yes, finally a color has been decided upon!
Currently Reading: Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting. It’s from the author of Sill Alice, which was another book that I read a couple of years ago. I think they even made a movie out of that one.
Since I was going to Earth-1 today for a visit and to help my mom bring one of her cats to the vet for his yearly physical, I figured I’d take the bike again but and check out the GLX path but this time follow it to the end. It basically ends at Lechmere but connects to North Point so getting to the Museum of Science, or TD Garden, the North End, etc. is super easy and one straight shot. Seriously, this is pretty cool. Naturally I had to get a shot of myself by the Zakim Bridge. The park actually goes underneath the bridge so it’s pretty freaky to be under something that so many cars use. (I-93) Plus the Charles River is right there. I must say that everyone involved did a really nice job tying everything together.
Anyways while I was doing that, my mom had a dr. appt but I was done and waiting for her by the time she got back. She wanted to run a couple of errands so I took her around to do those. I got some gas for my car. A bunch of little odds and end things.
The contractors demolishing the old laundry building out back are almost done it looks like. They’ve been using a backhoe to scoop up all the debris and place them into giant dumpsters. It’s all open now, which seems kind of weird being able to see the houses across the way that were blocked by the building before. It won’t last though as new buildings will go up to take it’s place.
By around 2 o’clock it was time to take Hardy to the vet. His brother Laurel will probably be going in a couple of weeks but today was Hardy’s turn. Just the usual exam, he was due for his rabies shot and got his nails cut while there. He wasn’t a happy camper while he was there but he mostly behaved himself and got a clean bill of health.
Finally after all that and he was returned to his abode I decided to take one more short bike ride over to just outside Harvard Square because I wanted to take a picture of this church that has all these really neat looking wildflowers growing out in front. So I banged that out as well.
Heading back to Earth-2 LD was kind enough to order us up some Greek food takeout, which I picked up on the way back from the ‘Ville. I did end up grilling some chicken afterwards though because it needed to be done and we can eat it tomorrow. I’m planning on having my mom and sis over for a BBQ day here on Monday so I’m getting pretty excited about that. I hope the weather will be alright.
Today I was jonesin for a little bit of Kelly’s Roast Beef out in Revere Beach, so LD was kind enough to get us there today. I also wore my Carson sweatshirt which was a gift from last year but I wear it only on special occasions because it is so special. It’s actually a hoodie, with the face of Carson on the front and the text “Carson’s Dad” all hand stitched from a photo that LD sent to a woman in the Ukraine who made it. Truly a one of a kind! It took a long time to arrive but I’m amazed it came at all seeing as there is a war going on over there! I enjoyed my roast beef sandwich loaded with cheese and sauce, but I did switch hoodies when it came to eat on the beach because I would not want to get the Carson hoodie damaged in any way!
The other night we had some friends over for an impromptu BBQ and fire pit night. We ended up just getting takeout from a great Greek food place in town and then did the S’mores thing. It was supposed to happen on Saturday but the weather looked to be crappy so it all got moved up to Friday night and it was wonderful. We did need all of Saturday to basically recuperate from it all though. Being social can take a lot out of a person!
LD got these cool little firefly lights for the garden that are solar powered. They’re cute, purely decorative but I’m mentioning them because they’re pretty neat and it’s fun to look out the window when it’s dark out and see them lit up.
Currently Reading: Once Upon a Prime: The Wondrous Connections Between Mathematics and Literature.
Been a little busy working my shifts and all so that’s why I haven’t had much time to post lately but I still wanted to get up some shots that I had taken. My heart health must be really good now with all this exercise I’ve been getting. In the meantime I’ve taken to grilling as much as I can. Salmon, burgers, dawgs, corn, vegetables, etc. etc. I can’t wait until this kitchen remodel is done! However, I will say, it has really made us think and stretch out what we have.
Isn’t this photo pretty cool. I happened to take it on a very windy day down at Nauset Beach in Orleans, which is a part of Cape Cod, if you didn’t know. I’ve had this one sitting around for a while but finally decided to share it up. Those waves were really big that day. Probably can’t see from the photo but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were over at least 10′ tall that day if not more.
Hope everyone is having a Great Memorial Day Holiday. We’ve been having quite the time. You never realize how great a kitchen sink is until you don’t have one! We’ve been making do with my grilling and sometimes some takeout though so it’s all good. Things are moving right along on that front and proceeding quickly. Working on the ceiling right now. Backsplash has been picked out – a nice blue colored hexagonal pattern that we think will look really great against the new white cabinets.
Also been sprucing up the patios with various plants that have been purchased. Looks really nice. I’m back to my daily routine of watering everything in the late afternoon. Supposed to hit the old landlady’s place for a BBQ she invited us to today, so maybe we’ll do that after checking out some more plants at the nursery.
