Greetings from Broad Meadow Brook

It was chilly Friday morning, so much so that Katniss curled up in the Hobbit bed for a while. I did some cleaning up of my social media accounts, read some more King Rat, ate half a bagel, and watched the France-Norway World Cup game being played in Boston. 

In the late afternoon we went out to a hardware store to get gardening shears, then to nearby Siam 9 for curry, drunken noodles, and Thai basil tofu. We stopped at Shaw's on the way home, then took a walk to look for evening bunnies (saw at least six) and the snapping turtle. 

We caught most of the Orioles win over the Nationals, then we watched Sugar, which I wish had more old-movie cuts but is really well done, and Star City, one of the darkest hours of television I've ever seen. Flora and fauna at Mass Audubon's Broad Meadow Brook Wildlife Sanctuary:

Greetings from the Blackstone Canal

I had a quiet Wednesday apart from on my computer -- talked to two of my high school friends early in the afternoon and watched the last episode of the first season of Good Omens with Cel and Laurie late in the afternoon. I also folded laundry, did a bunch of freecycling (including the storm door that we got for free from the same group -- it was too small for our doorway, sigh), and did a bunch of reading. 

When Paul got home, we took a walk and saw three baby bunnies plus we finally got a glimpse of a snapping turtle in one of the neighborhood ponds, though he dove too quickly for me to get a photo. We spent some of the evening watching the beginning of the third season of Discovery before the late Orioles-Mariners game, which is ongoing. Animals and wildlife we saw by the Blackstone Canal and River: 

Greetings from the Arnold Arboretum

Quick post after late Thursday night chat! My day was quiet, rainy, we both worked on our computers while watching the Orioles doubleheader (awesome first game with two grand slams, second game started with Orioles losing 5-0 and did not get better). We took a walk, talked to neighbors, saw four bunnies, and caught up on Ghosts before I got on chat. Here are some of the birds we saw at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston last weekend:

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 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 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 the Thaw

I'm not used to my new Wednesday schedule! I sorted my bookcase ornaments in the morning, then chatted with my high school friends after lunch instead of before. Then I organized the empty boxes in the garage because someone was coming to freecycle a bunch of them, sorted out the large mirror and photo boxes, hung up a few photos in the living room and hallway, and watched the start of the second season of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power with Kristen and Laurie. 

It wasn't as warm as it had been on Tuesday, but we walked through the neighborhood amidst melting snow. Now we can see that we have a bunny who lives or at least hangs out under our front steps! We ate leftover Indian food from the Bollywood Grill for dinner, saw The Masked Singer (finally the part of the season where it's all people who can sing), and now we're watching the back half of Bookish, which has been excellent. Winter animals from Old Sturbridge Village: