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 Massachusetts

Quickie, Cheryl is here and we're watching Strange New Worlds after a crazy day during which she endured many, many hours of flight delays and rerouting (we were supposed to pick her up in Worcester, we picked her up in Boston). I have a family member out of state in the hospital, so that's upsetting, and I talked to several relatives in the morning before cleaning the bathrooms and doing laundry in preparation for guests. We picked up Thai food and ate it with Adam and Haley before heading to the airport. More tomorrow!

Greetings from the Blackstone River Greenway

Quick post after Thursday night chat -- only three of us were there but it was delightful as always. My Thursday was fairly uneventful and involved chores and some computer cleanup, plus some reading, then a walk in drizzle when Paul got home (his morning train broke down and it took him over four hours to get to work). 

We did get to watch "Level Five Transporter Accident" (this week's awesome puppet episode of Strange New Worlds, so much fun) and the new episode of Stuart Fails To Save the Universe (pretty hilarious and directed by Jonathan Frakes). Here's some Worcester history from the Blackstone River Greenway Visitor Center:

Greetings from Fireworks Night

I had a chatty online Wednesday -- talked to my high school friend group right after lunch, then watched the first half of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl with Cel and Laurie in the late afternoon. In between I did some chores and some writing, and afterward Paul and I took a walk and saw a tiny toad on the cul-de-sac with the pair of baby bunnies. 

We watched the season finale of Lucky, which was pretty satisfying; the women made good decisions and most of the men got what they deserved. It was a wild baseball day: the Red Sox lost to the Diamondbacks in extra innings, the Orioles were robbed of a home run by a bad call and lost to the Yankees, the Mariners came back from their worst-ever loss to beat the Brewers. 

Now we're watching Futurama; this week's episodes are "Our Flag Means Medical Coverage" which has pirates, yay, and next is "Lords of the Ring" which is a promising title. Here are some photos of the fireworks at Polar Park after the Woosox game last weekend; if I had known Mickey Gasper was going to play so well when he got to the majors, I'd have taken a picture of him!

Greetings from Fitchburg and Worcester

Sunday was another gorgeous day. Adam's brother-in-law Sagar, who is training for a marathon, wanted to run a 5K with his friends for his birthday, so we went over there to offer cheering and dog-walking, though Pepper only made it 1K before she had had enough so we went back to hang out with Hildy and Tom plus others who did not want to run a 5K. There were snacks and eventually pizza and cake, so it was a lovely morning. 

It was also Pokemon Community Day, so Paul and I went to the Fitchburg State campus and then Elm Park, where I caught a bunch of shiny Nickits and saw many geese and ducks. We got home in time for the end of the rain-delayed Red Sox game, then we ate dinner and watched the new Lanterns, which I liked but I'm hardly enough of a Green Lantern fan for my opinion to count. Now it's more of the Worcester-hating Kevin Can F Himself.

Greetings from Old Deerfield

I had a quiet Tuesday morning, then went with Paul to a doctor's appointment at UMass Medical Center so I could hang out and catch Pokemon in downtown Worcester while he was getting poked and prodded. It was a gorgeous not-too-hot day, so we also took a walk, and though we only saw a couple of bunnies, we got the full fountain rainbow. 

My DS9 group watched "Explorers" -- the one which not only introduces Leeta and Kasidy Yates (the latter not even by name yet) but has Jake writing, drunk O'Brien and Bashir singing "Jerusalem" while the latter is stewing over med school regrets whose origins we don't even know yet, and Dukat has to admit that Cardassia knew Bajor got to space first. 

We also watched some of the Red Sox loss to Toronto (Adley started and played fine, at least) and some of the Orioles win over the Twins, and our past hour has been more Kevin Can F*** Himself; I like the lesbian storyline, though I doubt Patty and Allison get to live happily ever after. Here is the Barbie exhibit at the Memorial Hall Museum in Old Deerfield:

Greetings from Yankee Candle Village

Monday was quiet around here, since I had to do all the chores that I didn't do over the weekend and Paul was working from home because the train line was under repair. I did laundry, uploaded all my weekend photos, got some writing done, took care of a bunch of computer stuff, and started reading The Beheading Game. We took a walk in the afternoon and saw six bunnies. 

The Red Sox (in Toronto) and Orioles (at home against the Twins with Dean Kremer) were playing at the same time so I was trying to keep up with both games, while making plans with Kate to go see the Sox play the Cubs next month together. Now watching more Kevin Can F*** Himself, which is well-directed and very dark. Here's Yankee Candle's headquarters yesterday and in 2004: