Greetings from That's Entertainment

Quick post because I just got off Zoom with my friends! Paul had to go to a work event in Leominster at lunchtime today, so I did my chores in the morning and went with him so I could go to Walmart next door. (I got three pairs of leggings, a blue dress, and a blouse on sale for $9, plus some foodstuffs.) It was a gorgeous day to walk, too. 

My afternoon wasn't exciting, and we spent the early part of the evening watching part of the disastrous Red Sox game against the Yankees, then the start of the NFL draft before I got on Thursday night chat. Here are some photos from the fabulous That's Entertainment, "New England's Pop Culture Emporium" in Worcester (there's also one in Fitchburg):

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.

Poem for Monday and Celtic Celebration

St. Patrick's Day 

By Jean Blewett 

There’s an Isle, a green Isle, set in the sea,

     Here’s to the Saint that blessed it!

And here’s to the billows wild and free

     That for centuries have caressed it!

Here’s to the day when the men that roam

     Send longing eyes o’er the water!

Here’s to the land that still spells home

     To each loyal son and daughter!

Here’s to old Ireland—fair, I ween,

     With the blue skies stretched above her!

Here’s to her shamrock warm and green,

     And here’s to the hearts that love her!

-------- 

I unpacked four boxes of science fiction books on Monday -- two with anthologies of year's best and award winners, one entirely my remaining Star Trek books, one graphic novels and comics collections -- plus what I think is the remaining box of children's books we saved, though we're not entirely sure what's in all the boxes the mitigation company packed after the flood (some very random combinations, some books badly smashed between others). It's weird having bookcases with gaps for books we're not even sure if we still own. 

We had snow flurries on and off all day, but nothing stuck to the roads, and it didn't stop us from taking a walk, nor did it stop the bunny from coming out to eat the neighbor's grass. We watched the new episode of Paradise -- so many amoral people! -- followed by last night's Watson -- can teenagers actually sue doctors for NOT having advised their parents to abort them? -- and now we're watching more Artful Dodger. At Old Sturbridge Village's Celtic Celebration, we saw music, needlework, smithing, cattle, and food:

Greetings from T-Mobile Park

Back from T-Mobile Park, where we had a fun evening with the exception of the fact that the Mariners lost 4-1 to the Tigers and frankly played badly all game! We had a quiet day beforehand, got a bunch of work done, then headed downtown in the middle of the afternoon because there was a J-Rod bobblehead giveaway and we wanted to make sure we were there early enough to get them. It meant we had to listen to the megaphone preacher in line for an hour, but at least the people around us were mocking him in entertaining ways. 

In addition to the bobbleheads, it was Peanuts Night at the park, where people with tickets in specific sections got Woodstock collectibles. We ate dinner at the ballpark (veggie burger for me, fish and chips for him, watching seagull coveting both) and mostly enjoyed the game, though there were admittedly some terrible fielding plays and the Mariners only got one hit. Not the most exciting game I've ever attended, but we came home with two collectibles each that are selling on eBay for twice what our tickets cost, which I'm going to call a win.

Greetings from Everett

We spent the morning watching the World Figure Skating Championships' free dance, which was glorious (happy for Chock/Bates and the top three were all lovely, but my favorite routines were the Spanish team skating to Dune and Carreira/Ponomarenko interpreting Carmen). Then we spent most of the afternoon in Snohomish County, parking by the waterfront to see the cherry blossoms and the boats before going to the Evergreen Arboretum, which has its Color Storm: Yarnbombing wrapping the trees among the daffodils. 

From there we drove to Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood, where we browsed a little in stores, particularly Kohl's, Box Lunch, and Phantom Zone Comics. Our reason for being there was that Paul had a coupon for a free slice of cake for his birthday from The Cheesecake Factory, so we ate dinner there before a big dessert. Eventually we got home and started watching Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, which has such superb acting and settings that I forgive it when it takes liberties with historical events and changes timelines.

Greetings from Everett and Edmonds

Very quickly -- we're watching the penultimate episode of Dune: Prophecy after a lovely afternoon and evening in Snohomish County. We started in Everett at the Funko HQ store, which has lots of holiday fannish decorations and mini LOTR figures, then at the Evergreen Arboretum's Wintertide Lights, a free display of trees, bushes, paths, and "water" covered in fairy lights among the statues always in the garden and gnomes placed for the season. 

Then we drove to Edmonds, whose main shopping area is also beautifully decorated for the season, where we met Daniel, Cahaya, Sally, and Bill for dinner at the excellent Fire & The Feast -- I had pear and gorgonzola pizza with hot cider, and we all shared bourbon chocolate mousse for dessert. We caught bits of the day's football games (KC beating Cleveland, Baltimore blowing out the Giants, Seattle losing and losing its quartersback).