Greetings from Purgatory Chasm

We had rain forecast on Tuesday, but it only rained for a few minutes and it was 70 degrees. Unfortunately our neighborhood management sent us a note saying that bird feeders are only permitted for hummingbirds from April through October, so I took down the feeder I just put up yesterday and hung the liquid feeders instead. Some of the loose seed fell out, so we were visited by chipmunks to gather them, which makes me happy. 

I had a computer project to do which took up most of the afternoon, then Paul came home and we took a walk to see the bunnies and hear the frogs before dinner. Two people couldn't come to my DS9 group, so the rest of us chatted, then I watched the two new Daredevil episodes with Cheryl. Here are some photos from Purgatory Chasm, along with the warning signs about ice on the rocks and the dangers of sliding on Slant Rock:

Greetings from River Bend Farm

Paul went into work in Boston on Monday, and I did a bunch of household stuff -- put up the bird feeder, went through the remaining art boxes and hung up some prints though I can't find the Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover I went looking for, did laundry, took a walk to the wetlands where the spring peepers have a lot to say. It was a three-bunny day -- we've seen as many as five. 

After dinner we watched the season finale of Paradise, which did a lot of little things I really appreciated and one big thing that feels potentially shark-jumping to me but we'll see where they go with it next season. Then we watched some more of The Forsyte Saga, in which I still can't warm up to any of the characters, especially not the main ones. The River Bend Farm visitor center, also a canal museum:

Greetings from the Blackstone Heritage Corridor

On Sunday I had coffee and grilled cheese with my friend Elizabeth, whom I haven't seen in person since the late 1990s! We met at a restaurant in Whitinsville in a former mill, with a waterfall behind it and several parks nearby. She suggested that we might like to see River Bend Farm, so we went there after we ate, and it has a nice local history museum as well as a towpath between the canal and river that reminded me a bit of Great Falls. 

It was gorgeous weather, so we also went to nearby Purgatory Chasm, which we last visited with Paul's brother, also in the late '90s. There were warning signs everywhere that the chasm was closed because of ice on the rocks, which we could see from the overlooks, though a lot of visitors were not obeying the signs. We settled for walking to the Slanted Rock and the rock formations we could see from the bridges above.

 

We stopped at Shaw's on the way home for food for the week and I spent the late afternoon doing various chores while watching the end of the Orioles victory, UConn's last-moment win over Duke, and the start of the Mariners game. We also watched the start of The Forsyte Saga, and I have to admit that I don't like it better than The Forsytes despite liking some of the actors; it's so hard to warm to any of the characters, even the women.

Greetings from Natick

Very quick post after watching Nuremberg, which is excellent and also a lot to take in. Russell Crowe is by far the most charismatic performer, which, considering that he's playing Goring, makes for a lot of yelling at the screen, but the screenplay at least is fair to history and the courtroom scenes are well done. I'm really aggravated that none of the actors got Oscar nominations. 

We had a really nice day otherwise: we needed to do some shopping in Natick, so asked son's sister-in-law if we could come visit her and her baby whom we hadn't met yet. The other sisters and their husbands came over and we all hung out for a while, then we went to the Wild Birds Unlimited and to Natick Mall, where I argued successfully to skip the Cheesecake Factory and bring home Cava.

Greetings from Newton Square

Another quick post while watching the end of The Forsytes, mostly because it's only six episodes and I'd already watched three before deciding it was only worth finishing for completists (surely they aren't making another season of this -- I believe Netflix has The Forsyte Saga from the aughts and will see if the older one aggravates me less). 

I had a fairly quiet Friday -- it was much colder than Thursday, I walked fewer miles, and apart from getting boxes picked up, I mostly caught up on uploading photos, computer work, and the first episode of the new season of For All Mankind which is always excellent. Some of the architecture of the Newton Square-Piedmont neighborhoods downtown from yesterday:

Greetings from Newton Hill

Rushing because my chat group went late and now we're watching The Pitt, but I had a nice day -- Paul had an optometrist appointment downtown, so while he was seeing the eye doctor, I walked to Newton Hill and Elm Park, which has both a big wooded hill and a large pond with two walking bridges. So I got to see geese, ducks, and a bunch of small birds and squirrels, then I walked the other way past churches, the Peace Park, and three different ethnic food markets to Cool Licks ice cream storefront, so I walked back to Eyes on Worcester eating mint soft serve. I missed the Orioles season opener, but they won, so it's all good! 

Greetings from the Bookseller

I did a bunch of chores on Wednesday morning, then we had lunch and I chatted with my high school friends. It was a nice nearly-50-degree afternoon, and when we took a walk, we could hear spring peepers in the water around the glacial erratic in the middle of our neighborhood. Then I watched the coronation episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power with Cel and Laurie. 

It was semifinals night on The Masked Singer, so we're at the point where all the performances are really good. Afterward we put on the first episode of the second season of Daredevil: Born Again, which is just not my kind of superhero show, and now we're watching the start of The Forsytes and I feel like I should just watch the older version. The printer at Old Sturbridge Village:

Greetings from Mill No. 3

Tuesday was Paul's birthday, though it was a fairly quiet one since we celebrated with local family on Sunday. I spent the morning doing laundry and hanging up art in the second bedroom and hallway -- which required opening yet more boxes in the garage, though I did find one that I thought had been misplaced. We had lunch together and watched a bit of baseball in the afternoon, then took a walk in lovely weather and saw three bunnies. 

Paul wanted Uno Pizzeria for dinner because it had been years since we had it, so we got it delivered and it was excellent. My DS9 group had several people who couldn't stay long, so the five of us just chatted for an hour, and later we talked to Daniel in Seattle and caught up on his work and travels with dogs. Around that, we watched some Artful Dodger, which has been great this season. Decorations from Mill No. 3's greenhouse and plant store: