Greetings from Tougas in the Rain

My Wednesday was all pre-travel chores interspersed with a couple of online chats -- two of my high school friends in the early afternoon, and Cel and Laurie in the late afternoon, with the latter of whom I finished watching Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (hamster wheel!). 

The only other things I watched were sports around visiting with our cat-sitter, hunting down my travel chargers, and sorting my clothes. The football season has officially started but the Seahawks already have too many injuries! Animals and apples in the rain at Tougas Farm:

Greetings from Spencer

Quick post because after an early lunch and late-morning appointment for the new covid and flu shots, we went to the Spencer Fair for most of the day! We met cows and alpacas and saw chicks hatching, we watched a magic show, we ate healthy things like a fried snickers bar, fried mozzarella sticks, and ice cream, we saw bees making honey in a craft barn with pottery and crocheted clothing. 

We went to a two-hour concert by a local yacht rock group, Below Deck, at which I knew every word of every song (there was some Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston as well as "The Pina Colada Song" and "All Night Long"). We got home, had chicken soup for dinner, and watched the Red Sox beat the Orioles before the Silo season finale, and now we're watching this week's Dark Matter.

Greetings from Miss Worcester

We had rain all day Tuesday, but this was the least inconvenient of the days when Cheryl was here for rain. We went to the Miss Worcester diner for brunch because of the stuffed French toast, then we went to the farm at Green Hill Park, where we met a cat we hadn't seen before and saw most of the barnyard animals though the goats and peacocks were trying to hide from the weather. It really started coming down while we were there, so we swung by the Bancroft Tower, then came home. 

We watched the filmed production of Hadestown, which is excellent -- I knew the show's music but have never seen it staged, and the cast is terrific, as is the music. Afterward, we drove Cheryl to the airport, where apparently she had a weather delay but is now on her way home. My Trek group watched DS9's "Facets" -- Sisko! Curzon! Rom! -- and we've spent the rest of the evening watching both the disappointing Red Sox and Orioles games, though they both had great nights last night.

Greetings from Wor-ches-ter

We spent Sunday with my parents -- had bagels for brunch here, went to the Worcester Art Museum to see the American and European art and the armory collection, took a drive to Rota Spring Farm for ice cream, then went to Adam and Haley's house, where we hung out on their pretty patio and picked up Beyti's Mediterranean food for dinner. 

We'd hoped to see Isabel who was visiting Boston, but the timing didn't work out. We took my parents back to their hotel (they head home tomorrow) and now we're watching the end of the Mexico-England World Cup game after The Vampire Lestat. I may still be screaming about the latter tomorrow...both Reginas! Lestat/Louis! Lestat/Gabriella! Armand the 12-Step Failure!

Greetings from Hollis Hills

After two days of rain, Wednesday was a warm day. I did chores in the morning, then after lunch my usual chat with my high school friends got canceled because all the rest of them were busy with family stuff so I did some reading and wrote what was supposed to be a short Facebook post that turned into a longer blog rant. 

Kristen and Laurie and I watched some second season Good Omens, including the whole episode with Job and then Aziraphale thinking he's a fallen angel, which is my favorite of the whole series. Then we took a walk in the late afternoon and had frozen pizza for dinner during the unfortunate end of the Orioles game. 

We've been spending the evening watching the rest of the second season of The Agency, which has been excellent, although I wanted more Fassbender and Turner-Smith; the cast is all superb, it's surprisingly emotional for a spy story, there's no contemporary BS politics. From last weekend, animals and scenery at Hollis Hills Farms:

Greetings from Lake Quinsigamond

Sunday was surprisingly chilly for the last day in May and we had drizzle at times, but there are flowers blooming everywhere, so we went to Green Hill Park after an early lunch. The farm animals apparently like this weather because they were all active -- goats and sheep, pigs and alpacas, donkeys and ponies, chickens and ducks, bunnies, peacocks -- and we walked along the lake to the Vietnam Veterans memorial, which also has a pond with fountains surrounded by irises and rhododendrons. 

Then we drove to the shopping center with SuperCuts, where we got haircuts, and Trader Joe's, where we got Israeli feta and Bamba plus some other things. We also stopped at Shaw's for cat treats and a few staples. By then the Orioles had beaten the Blue Jays, so we watched the Mariners (who won in 10) around dinner. Then we saw this week's The Way Home around my latest guilty pleasure, Star Trek: Discovery, which Sonequa Martin-Green made me want to give another chance after Boston Blue.

Greetings from Phillipston

I spent the better part of Saturday at the Enchanted Orchard Renaissance Faire at Red Apple Farm, my first faire in New England and probably the chilliest one! I didn't even try to dress authentically, since my Hobbit cloak and felt hat are the warmest ones I have, but I got lots of compliments on the hat and it was the kind of faire that had fantasy pirates, Dnd tieflings, and at least one Power Ranger. 

My friend Meri met us at the gate after we took the bus from the parking lot and we went to see the farm animals before we walked through the fairy realm, visited the vendors, saw some armored combat, listened to several different Celtic groups and sea shanty pirate singers, and ate in the brew barn to get out of the drizzle. There was a Viking encampment and lots of pirates and teams of acrobats.

 

The only thing I bought at the faire was a crocheted snake. We had to drop some things off at Adam's house on the way home and ended up ordering Mediterranean food to eat with Adam, Haley, Sagar, and another friend of theirs (plus Pepper who demanded bites of cheese and the doggie donut we got her at the Red Apple Farm store along with apple cider donuts for the humans).