Greetings from the Blackstone River

Sunday was a gorgeous warm day. We thought about going to Sturbridge Village, which was having a battle reenactment, but after how far we drove Saturday, we decided to stay closer to home and went to several parks in Worcester -- first Blackstone Gateway, which has a new visitor center with a museum about local history and culture, plus a long boardwalk through the wetlands from which we saw frogs, turtles, ducks, a bunny, and the dreaded spotted lanternfly, then Worcester Common, which encloses City Hall, has a cemetery of patriots who died in the American Revolution, and features several war memorials plus a Celtic cross commemorating the Irish immigrants to the area. 

We stopped at Cool Licks for ice cream since we had to pass by it to go to Institute Park, where we knew there were a couple of swans but didn't realize that they also had two cygnets who came within a couple of feet of us in the water. We also saw the Canada geese we met as goslings a couple of months ago, a big flock of ducks, a couple more bunnies, and a great blue heron. We stopped at Shaw's on the way home for food for the week and got home for the end of the innings played in the terrible horrible Orioles game, plus the very end of the Mariners walk-off win. Now we're watching the end of this season of A Good Girl's Guide To Murder, which has a bit too much hysteria but remains interesting.

Greetings from the EcoTarium

I spent a lot of Monday in the garage doing things that included finding and unpacking the Doctor Seuss books and other children's classics, giving away more boxes to the ex of someone else from freecycle who picked up boxes -- they're moving into separate apartments, so they both need to pack -- realizing we have comic book series we thought we gave away, and consolidating son's artwork in one box so I could collapse the others. I still can't find my Lord of the Rings playing cards anywhere -- I packed them away too safely! 

We took a walk in the chilly neighborhood when Paul got home, saw several bunnies, made room for the Oxford English Dictionary and kids' books by moving some collectibles upstairs, rushed through some computer work, and eventually ate dinner. Now we're watching the men's NCAA basketball championship (rooting for Michigan for Big 10 pride and my nieces). From the EcoTarium's Secret World of Elephants exhibit, at which I learned how much water elephants drink in a day and that the National Zoo's Kandula used a tool to get to a treat:

Greetings from the Hills of Worcester

We spent a lovely day out in Worcester, starting at Bancroft Tower, a castle-like folly on top of Prospect Hill, where we saw crocuses blooming and had a lovely view of the city. Then we stopped at the UPS Store and visited the fabulous That's Entertainment -- comics, action figures, games, even some Tarot decks (I bought the Cosplay Cats), before Mia Cane's acai bowls for lunch. 

We stopped at the Worcester Public Library to get library cards on the way to the EcoTarium, the science and nature museum with local animals -- I got to meet an otter and a mountain lion, plus several turtles -- as well as a planetarium, life size dinosaur models, and currently an exhibit on elephants and their extinct relatives. There are hiking trails we enjoyed in lovely weather. 

When we got home, I went through a bunch of boxes looking for our Beanie Baby frogs for a seder with younger son tomorrow night. I did not find them, though I did find Space: 1999 comics, a bunch of Star Trek toys, and some other treasures I didn't know we still had -- plus Katniss snuck into the garage after me and had to be bribed out from under the car with Cheetos. 

After a dinner of fridge stuff, we watched Crime 101, which is very predictable but it's a lot of fun watching Chris Hemsworth and Halle Berry so I forgave the screenplay. Then we watched this week's For All Mankind, short and gripping, and now we're watching the season premiere of Your Friends and Neighbors, in which James Marsden gets to compete with Jon Hamm, which is delightful.

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 Olympia

Spent a lovely day in and around Olympia, starting at Wolf Haven International, where we met Daniel and Cahaya to visit the animals (we got to hear a couple of howls). Then we all drove to the Cascadia Grill (past a lovely No Kings protest) and met our friends Pam and Rick for lunch. I'd never seen the Washington Capitol, so I finally have, less than a week before moving out of the state.

 

I did a bit of packing when we got home and we watched both The Rip -- the Matt Damon-Ben Affleck cop movie, acting better than scripting but still pretty enjoyable -- and now we're watching The Ballad of Wallis Island, great in every way though it feels like the writer wanted to kidnap a British Mitch and Mickey from A Mighty Wind and this would be the result. Worth watching for the music alone!

Poem for Wednesday and Autumn Birds

Autumn Birds 

By John Clare 

The wild duck startles like a sudden thought,

And heron slow as if it might be caught.

The flopping crows on weary wings go by

And grey beard jackdaws noising as they fly.

The crowds of starnels whizz and hurry by,

And darken like a clod the evening sky.

The larks like thunder rise and suthy round,

Then drop and nestle in the stubble ground.

The wild swan hurries hight and noises loud

With white neck peering to the evening cloud.

The weary rooks to distant woods are gone.

With lengths of tail the magpie winnows on

To neighbouring tree, and leaves the distant crow

While small birds nestle in the edge below.

-------- 

Apart from being overcast all day, so yet again we couldn't see the northern lights, I had a nice Wednesday. All my high school friends made it to chat, and younger son's wife and one of her sisters (and many pets) visited as well, so that was a lovely morning, and after lunch, Kristen, Laurie, and I watched some more of the extended Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Paul and I walked to the beach so late in the afternoon that we got to see a beaver swimming around the beach. 

We had veggie burgers for dinner, watched the second episode of Pluribus -- engrossing but what I was expecting -- then saw Secrets of the Dead: Picturing Shakespeare on PBS, in which the science of examining the Wadlow painting is more interesting than the problem of proving the unprovable. Now we're watching Freakier Friday mostly for Jamie Lee Curtis, though first we watched the LEGO Frozen: Operation Puffins, which is a short delight. Waterfowl and other birds enjoying autumn:

Greetings from Evans Creek

Quick post, have been out trying to see the northern lights but unlike our family in New England and people posting all over the northeast, we had too much cloud cover for aurora colors. It's strange because we had a beautiful afternoon; my morning was chores and stuff, but we still had bagels for lunch, and it was a great day to be out walking on the beach and in the woods. My DS9 group watched "Armageddon Game", which I'd remembered being better than it was but it still had some nice Bashir/O'Brien moments. 

Afterward we had Taco Tuesday and finished Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (definitely not my favorite couple of hours, feeling ambivalent about watching The Return). Then we watched The Morning Show, which is finally bringing the season's storylines together; I've liked them individually, but it has all felt a little disjointed, and I'm amused that last season's villain is getting a quasi-redemption arc. Now we're watching the first episode of Pluribus, which is not what I was expecting! In the rainforest at Evans Creek: