Greetings from Elm Park

It was raining when we got up on Sunday morning, so we had a slow morning reading, then we ate lunch and went to Elm Park to walk, see waterfowl and turtles, and do some Mewtwo and Mega raids for Pokemon Go Fest with the big local crowds that always gather there for Pokemon events. It drizzled a couple of times but was mostly a nice day, not too hot or cold, and after a couple of hours, we went to the nearby Tidepool Bookstore because it's nice to have an independent brick-and-mortar shop nearby! 

 

We came home late in the afternoon and took a walk around the neighborhood, then I took a shower and did a little organizing. We had French toast for dinner with veggie bacon, talked to my parents and kids on Google Meet, and saw the start of the Wisconsin-Notre Dame game. Then we watched this week's very well done Lanterns and now we're watching the start of Marble Hall Murders, the sequel to Magpie and Moonflower Murders, with a fun cast and split storyline with actors in dual roles.

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 the Cottage er Fenway

Quick post after extra-innings Red Sox victory over the Mariners at Fenway Park's Heated Rivalry night, which included game jerseys, exclusive drink cups currently selling for five times what we paid for them on eBay, author Rachel Reid throwing out the first pitch, and lots of awesome photo opportunities, plus all the usual joys of a Red Sox game (the Monster, enthusiastic fans even when losing, "Sweet Caroline" etc.). 

Before the game we went into Boston, rode the Swan Boats in Boston Public Garden, walked a bit past Boston Common, had a picnic on a bench in the park, then walked up Commonwealth Avenue to see the permanent statues and the temporary Great Elephant Migration display before we walked to Fenway Park and waited in line for over an hour with many delightful Heated Rivalry fans dressed for the occasion exchanging bracelets and cookies!

Greetings from Gloucester

We spent Saturday in Gloucester, about an hour and a half from Worcester, starting with a trip to Wingaersheek Beach at low tide so we could see the tidepools. They aren't as dramatic as the Alki Beach tidepools on the west coast -- no 10-inch sea stars -- but there are snails, barnacles, little swimming crabs and isopods, schools of fish, and many seagulls trying to eat all of the above, plus whatever they can beg or steal from people's lunches. It was overcast and cool; the water felt the same temperature as the air, and we could see the Annisquam Harbor Light. 

We brought a picnic for the beach (I had a young gull date while I ate), and after we finished, we drove to the Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial, where we met my friend Marty from high school, though we haven't seen each other since except on Facebook and in Pokemon Go (it was a raid day, but I only caught one remote Starmie). He took us on a walking tour of the western harbor to Stage Fort Park and Half Moon Beach, then we drove together to Eastern Point Lighthouse and walked out on the Dog Bar Breakwater, where we saw ducks, ships, and a grey seal. 

 

We stopped at Panera for dinner on the way home, arriving in time for the end of both the Orioles and Red Sox games which both ended with walk-off victories. We're watching another episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender while I upload photos and post this.

Greetings from Assumption

A lot of my Monday was typical (laundry and chores), but Paul and I got to have lunch with my friend Rachel, who was at a nearby college for a library conference. We went to the Miss Worcester Diner, originally built in the 1940s -- it's on the National Register of Historic Places -- with an enormous menu of stuffed French toast as well as a full menu of all-day breakfast items and lots of sandwiches and burgers for lunch. It was a fun place to eat and lots of fun to see Rachel in person for the first time in several years, though we chat often on Facebook! 

We took a neighborhood walk in the late afternoon, and after dinner we watched the episode of The Way Home that we skipped last night for The Vampire Lestat, which definitely feels like it's winding down in a timely manner. Now we're watching the new (and final) season of Grantchester, in which Alphy and Geordie aren't working together as much as I want but the stories have been pretty good so far. On the way back from Purgatory Chasm yesterday, we stopped at Assumption University to see the baby (now adolescent) goslings and ducklings:

Greetings from Franklin Park

I had a quiet Friday -- wanted to scan one thing, so figured it was as good a time as any to catch up on all the scanning since we moved here (some receipts, some cards, some old photos that turned up during packing). In the middle of this, I learned that Anthony Stewart Head had died, which I'm very sad about, and when I went to look for a photo of him from many years ago, I realized that I had never scanned any of the autographed photos I had saved back in the day when fan clubs were sending out autographed photos, so I scanned those, too. 

We took a long neighborhood walk when Paul got home (it was a four-bunny day, three of them together), then watched the Orioles' come-from-behind win around dinner. This is the last Friday for a while that's a busy TV night, but we watched the excellent season finale of Your Friends and Neighbors, the atrocious mid-season finale of Rivals (I think I'm done), the very good new episode of Star City, and episode 14 of Discovery (yep, still watching without Jason Isaacs). Some of the birds we met at the Franklin Park Zoo:

Greetings from Assumption

Tuesday felt like a Monday, but that was fine because it started with a trio of wild turkeys walking through our cul-de-sac and we saw them two other times -- once while driving back from picking up photos at CVS and bagels at the Bagel Inn, and again while taking a walk in the late afternoon by the pond near the woods. In between I talked to Chris in WA, did some reading and did some computer stuff. 

My DS9 group watched the still-terrible-but-never-boring "Fascination" and chatted a bunch. Afterward, since I had discovered that the final season of The Way Home was on Hallmark and I hadn't realized there were already six episodes, we watched a few of those (love the music, like the scenery, appreciate all the women, ignore the sillier parts of the plot). Duck and goose babies we met at Assumption University: