Category: Scenic Photography

Enjoying a Deep Tissue Massage to Work the Kinks Out

Posted on by Markman
Orange Double Tiger Lily in bloom

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.

The Beautiful Moves in Curves

Posted on by Markman
Soft curves, warming shades, organic contours.

Been pretty busy getting down to the last of the kitchen remodel. It’s almost done and looks spectacular! I’ll post a before and after when it’s all done. I think you’ll be amazed by the transformation. I know I was! LD worked hard to get it just right and it shows.

The various lilies in the garden are just now beginning to bloom. Since they were all planted at various dates and in various places, I never really understood how many distinct varieties we actually have. Now that they all appear at the same time, the variety excites me, plus they are so cool to look at.

One benefit of remodeling the kitchen is that I’ve developed some grill master skills. I suppose it’s accurate to say that practice makes perfect. When it’s extremely hot outside or the weather is simply not cooperating, it’s not really that much fun, but then we’ll either have some leftovers or possibly some takeout, but overall, I’m becoming somewhat of a little chef.

Nature’s Own Little Fireworks Display in the Garden

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Pretty low key July 4th here today. Glad I got to do all I wanted to do yesterday. I think everyone had a pretty good time. The rain does make for good flower photos though! I noticed these little babies growing over in the corner of the yard and needed to take a closer look. I like how they had all arranged themselves around like they are. I also made a bunch of progress on my reading. The garden is looking spectacular all around. My folks were impressed with our green thumb! We’ve created quite the lush oasis around here! Thankfully by supper time the rains had stopped and I was able to get out there and grill some stuff up.

Of Beautiful Bike Rides and Feline Shots

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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.

First Fire Lily of the Season

Posted on by Markman

I was really excited to see this fire lily open up after the rains last night. I love the fire lilies that we have and am always so glad when they decide to show their colors for us. They don’t last too long so we have to catch them when we can. This little guy seemed to bloom a bit early, but I’ll take it!

I want to try Starry soda and some Warheads Sour soda based off the candy, which sounds really disgusting and probably is, but I think I want to try it anyway, at least the Green Apple and Watermelon flavors.

This afternoon was spent checking out paint colors, determining what handles to have for the cabinets, and a bunch of other things that I won;t bore you with at the moment.

Century Old Lilies Bring the Fire!

Posted on by Markman
100 year old bulbs came to life

After work today I decided to do some long overdue work in the garden, especially during a lull when the breeze was blowing and the day felt cool to me, so I thought it would be a good time to get to it. I basically used six mulch bags to surround the bases of all these lilies. Something LD’s been wanting me to do for a while now. It was on my to do list and I finally got it done. These particular lilies were gifted to us from one of LD’s pool buddies who also is in charge of the town’s garden club. Anyways, these lilies are , like, a century old! Nice to see they still have that fire. I hope I still have that kind of fire if I can make it to a century old!

The electrician came by today. We needed to move a couple of the outlets around to accommodate the new countertops in the bar-top area, I was afraid we were going to lose them but he managed to figure out a way to get most of them newly situated.

Love from Boston

Posted on by Markman
Show me you live in New England without telling me you live in New England.

Here’s a picture I took during one of my various photo expeditions throughout the city of Boston. I like this one. It’s got Long Wharf, the Constitution floating out in the harbor, and a couple enjoying the sights.

I went and took a drive down this afternoon and picked up the specific backsplash tile that the kitchen will be having over in Rockland. The regular place where you would pick it up normally is currently within the midst of it’s own renovation so I had to go to the warehouse that they use to get the goods. Pretty straightforward. Moved up to the loading gate and got my grubby little hands on all the boxes and got them in the SUV and took them home. All in all, roundtrip that whole adventure only took about 45 minutes.

I then went ahead and mowed the front lawn. I need to go out and get some more gasoline for the mower so I can do the back still.

Location, Location, Location

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Latest Work: One of my latest Cape shots has been put up for purchase. I think the notebook would be really cool. The metal print large would look pretty sick too.

Spent the morning weeding out the prarie area a bit, ans then added mulch to the central lily area in the middle of the back yard. I want to do more but then it got a little too warm out for me, so I’m going to wait until later this afternoon once it cools down a bit to maybe try to finish some of the things that I started. I don’t want to overdo it.

I spent some time with LD down at the gym, watching her do her amazing swim routines. It was quite the beautiful day for being in the pool for sure.

Below is a shot from Nubble I discovered I took from last year. Figured I’d share it because it looks kinda cool.

Sunfire Nights

Posted on by Markman

Yeah! The sink is back up and running. Most of the morning was spent dealing with all that stuff. Even got a new disposal out of the deal. As usual there were a few snags here and there but everything was figured out. In the meantime, enjoy these two pics I’ve taken. I may end up doing something special with the bottom shot, if there’s sufficient interest in it.

Serenity Now!

Posted on by Markman

Well, I forgot to mention yesterday another thing going on over at Earth-1. Contractors are ripping down the old industrial laundry building behind my mom’s house. What a giant mess that is! They’re making space for, what else, some new condos. I saw the skeleton of the stairway exposed that led from the front door up to the old iron pressers on the 2nd floor. I remember going up and down those stairs many, many times when I was a wee lad bringing those ironed shirts down from there and across the street to the dry cleaning operation, which is now gone and also replaced by a condo. Interestingly as a side note, before it was a dry cleaner building, it used to be a Dairy Queen and I can remember being 4, 5, or 7 and my aunt coming over and giving me a dollar to go get an ice cream from there back in the day. Eventually the prices started the climb and I’d still get the dollar, but my aunt didn’t seem to realize that a buck didn’t buy as much as it used to. I appreciated the gesture though!

Some of the tiger lilies are staring to bloom in the garden, What an explosion of color! I need to do some more weeding around that area though. It’s on my to-do list! Also can hear another baby hawk squawking all day long again! You might remember from last year, all the adventures I had in dealing with those creatures!

Busy day at the mansion here today. The new countertops are installed and what a day it was seeing how the process goes. They look super awesome and they even got the muted veins to match the slabs where they cut Amazing. It’s really going to look sick once the backsplash tiles LD selected go in. Anyways, every day it’s something happening! The plumber is set to come tomorrow to get the new sink up and running and get the dishwasher all back online and integrated into the new cabinetry.

Biking the New GLX Community Path Extension

Posted on by Markman
Looking down the hill
Approaching under McGrath
Just outside Union Square
East Somerville Stop

One of the things I had a chance to do today over at Earth-1 was checking out the newly finished GLX bike path extension. I got to say they did a really nice job. The original path literally end right at my mom’s house. Then they extended it a couple of blocks, and it sat that way for years. Finally after a decade or so, the added this pathway that goes all the way down to Lechmere now. It basically runs through Somerville Junction Park, under McGrath Highway, and along the south side of the rail corridor to Cambridge Crossing, following the path of the Green Line tracks. I didn’t follow it all the way to the end but most of it. I must be a little out of shape because I was winded at points! One thing to be aware is that there are a few paths that are kind of hilly, mostly while approaching the new High School and by the Industrial Park. It really is a nice direct route and I can say getting from one end of town to the other by bike would literally take minutes.

Happy First Day of Summah!

Posted on by Markman
Happy Summah (Boston pronunciation of summer) Solstice

Today was a busy day, and this entire week has been quite busy. I went and brought back every countertop sample we had looked at to the various outlets that deal with that sort of thing. Surprisingly, the actual countertops will be installed on Friday. Now that’s service! It helps to know people and have connections, for sure! The new ceiling fan is installed, and the dishwasher is almost ready to use, thanks to the electrician who visited today. There was a slight blip when he had to cut some power and the internet went out but it was back up fairly quickly. Just unfortunate timing for some of us. The new cabinets look great with the crown molding covering their tops. Since the job began, I have been snapping a few photos every day so that we can track its development. What a fantastic transformation this is becoming!

I went ahead and replaced one the outdoor lights by the door since it hadn’t lit up in while. At first we thought it might be an electrical issue, but a new bulb appears to have solved the problem. I also planted some potatoes in a raised bed, an experiment for now.

Additionally, today marks the official beginning of summer, my favorite season of all! I mean, how else could I get such amazing images from the Cape, like this one I’ve added here, without the arrival of summer? Pluses: beach, no jackets, late sunsets. Minuses: bugs, sunburn, annoying next door neighbors kids’ pool parties.

Currently Watching: Crack Addicts. A show about people visiting this chiropractor and she cracks their backs and such. The sound though! urgg!

Progress Big Time

Posted on by Markman
Too much noise!
Hosta Paradise
Back Yard Views

Things were flying by this afternoon. The cabinets should be all done and installed by tomorrow! The countertop has been picked out and the template will be created real soon now. The new fan and silverware have been ordered. The cleaning lady took all the stuff that I was going to have to find a way to get rid of so that saved me a huge chunk of work and it’ll go to a good cause with folks who will make good use out of the stuff we don’t need anymore, so its wins all around!

Currently Reading: A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome.

Catching Up Time!

Posted on by Markman

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.

Gardening on the Patio

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Our little container garden on the patio is progressing well. It’s incredibly relaxing to just rest there in the morning with a cup of tea or coffee as the day begins. In order to make things appear attractive, LD does a great job of arranging, mixing, and matching various species. I certainly think so. Are there any of you who enjoy gardening? Hit me up. Additionally, the other day we went and bought our yearly fuchsia. Instead of the normal purple color scheme, we chose pink and white this time. I think it provides a nice contrast.

Still making do without a kitchen. I’ve been manning the grill and so far so good. Although truth be told I can’t wait until everything is done and we can live normally again!

Next book that I’m Currently Reading (thanks Libby!): Down the Rabbit Hole by Holly Madison. Currently Listening: the new tracks off the upcoming Extreme album. Got to say they sound pretty good! Did you know their lead guitarist is Portuguese? Plus he’s a guitar god. I’ve liked and followed them since their early days in Boston but lost interest in them after the 3rd album. This new one sounds really good though! Currently Watching: The Curious Case of Natalia Grace on ID.

Happy Unofficial Start of Summer!

Posted on by Markman
Happy Start of Summer

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.

Gardening and Chill

Posted on by Markman
Flowers don’t tell, they show.

We got our hands dirty today and got a bunch of gardening underway today. I topped off the raised boxes with some new soil and planted some squashes while LD did a bunch of container gardening. I hit over to the local deli and got lunch for us and we sat in the nice sun out back. It was nice to be able to get to relax a bit after such a hectic and partially stressful week.

We spent a bit of the afternoon cleaning out the last of the cabinets and clearing the countertops in preparation for the demolition which is now supposed to start on Thursday! I think we did a real good job getting everything ready to go considering everything that’s been happening. We will be ready to rock!

Paying It Forward

Posted on by Markman
Good memories and to making a lot more

I went off to the local food pantry and dropped off a bunch of items this morning. While there I also happened to pick up a lily plant to replace the one that I supposedly killed over the winter this year, although on my defense I did keep it alive for a couple of years longer than otherwise and I did try to revive it. Anyways I thought it a nice gesture to replace it for LD and also as a coming home gift that she can replant on Sunday if she so wishes. I’ll try to take better care of this one!

I do enjoy all the memories we create together. We’ve seen a lot and hope to see much more and continue to enrich eachother!

The power went out here for a couple of hours in the late afternoon which was super annoying btw.

Dance with All Your Beauty

Posted on by Markman
Be like a peacock and dance with all your beauty.

I’m dedicating this post to LD, who’s going through a procedure this week. I hope everything goes well. I’ve been visiting her throughout and helping as much as I can. I have a dinner function to attend tonight though so I had to leave early today in order to make that commitment, which maybe I should have cancelled but it’s a once-a-year thing celebrating the team so I decided to go, with her blessing of course. I’ll be right back to it tomorrow.

Purple Skies for Sunset

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Been kind of busy over the last couple of days so updates here have been a little slim. Bit if you’re interested in what’s been happening here’s areal quick rundown. Hosting a BBQ over the weekend, getting plants from a farm for the containers and the gardening, getting some free flowers from a MD day promotion at Lowe’s, hanging out with my mom and sis on MD and watching the Celtics put the smack down on the Sixers in a Game 7 extravaganza!

We’ve been watching a Baltimore Oriole flying around here lately. We think it might have made a nest in a tree in the back yard, which I find pretty cool.

Currently Reading: Another one on the docket! Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues.