Greetings from Gloucester Harbor

My Monday was all about unexciting things like laundry, bathroom cleaning, and working on a project with a friend, though the latter was fun and involved looking up a bunch of things from old movies. I also did a little organizing of bookshelves because I bought some awesome little shelf lantern lights. When Paul got home, we took a walk up toward the woods, and though it was a gorgeous cool afternoon, we only saw a few bunnies. 

We watched most of the Red Sox game, and although they didn't lead until the very end, they won their fourth straight and I got to see a Rutschman-Stowers reunion. Now we're watching the end of the second season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which isn't as great as it should be but is still enjoyable. Here are some of the sights around Gloucester, including the Gorton's fisherman, two lighthouses, and the site of the Massachusetts Bay Colony:

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 Salem Heritage Days

I thought about going into Boston with Paul on Friday, but there was rain in the forecast and I wasn't in the mood for being damp and chilly on the train ride home. So instead I did chores around here, including some work in the garage (one more box emptied; I found Paul's baby book and some guitar strings from many years ago). We talked to my parents and took a long walk when he got home. 

My evening consisted of baseball (the Orioles and Red Sox both won) and rewatching Strange New Worlds' "Level Five Transporter Accident" which just gets funnier on a rewatch. Then we watched this week's very dark Silo, and now we're watching Avatar: The Last Airbender because we only just realized the second season was out. Crafters at Salem Heritage Days a couple of weeks ago:

Greetings from the Mystic River

I had a pretty chatty Wednesday after a quiet morning mostly reading and fighting with antisemitic DSA morons online. After lunch I talked to Kay and Linda, then I did a bunch of filing, then I watched the second half of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim with Cel and Laurie. 

We ate dinner when the movie finished, so it was cool in the early evening when we took a walk. Then we watched most of the unfortunate Red Sox game before this week's Lucky (I love the scenes with her father, who deserves whatever happens) and more Kevin Can F*** Himself. Boats in Mystic:

Greetings from the Customs House

Friday was extremely hot and humid here. I didn't sleep well and woke up with a headache, so I was dragging all morning. I did some reading and watched a couple of Lestat fan vids, then after lunch I got a pair of boot stretchers delivered and spent an hour oiling and stretching my Renfaire boots. I also did some computer and photo stuff and went looking for a set of dice I had put away so safely I couldn't find them. We ate dinner early and took a walk when the temperature had dropped a very little, though it remained humid and didn't really become tolerable until after the huge thunderstorm we just had. 

I watched this week's Strange New Worlds with Cheryl -- okay, it's crack, but it's also pure joy with original series references everywhere (Tribbles! Mugato! "It's green!") and the most canonical Kirk/Spock scenes we've ever had in canon, with references to everything from "This Side of Paradise" to "The Naked Time" and that's not even including "Total Eclipse of the Heart" in the original Klingon. We saw the Orioles lose, then watched the season finale of Sugar -- best episode of the season -- and now this week's Silo. The Custom House, where Hawthorne worked, with old and new eagles, in Salem:

Greetings from North of Boston

I had a great maritime Saturday in Salem and Revere north of Boston, seeing ships and at the beach! The Salem Maritime National Historical Park was having its Heritage Days festival, with people demonstrating historic crafts like aspects of shipbuilding, lace-making, furniture carving, and traditional cooking, plus there was a band singing sea shanties and a Cardboard Boat Regatta which I'd thought meant people tossing models into the water but was actually cardboard boats crewed by several people in a race. 

There were food trucks (Paul got fried Twinkies) and since Salem's tall ship the Friendship is being restored, Pride of Baltimore II was visiting and letting people tour the deck. We had brought a picnic and ate it at a table behind the Custom House, which was also open for tours and had an actor dressed as Nathaniel Hawthorne talking about his work there. We got to see the scales and measuring equipment, the public stores for items no one could pay duties on, and the original wooden eagle that adorned the roof. 

Since we were in Salem, we also visited several of the witch shops -- lots of Tarot, crystals, herbs, crafts, and statues, though I didn't buy any -- and walked through the downtown before driving in the late afternoon to Revere Beach. The water was much warmer than I expected and there were clam shells, mussels, and some snails, plus many seagulls and a few pigeons looking for dinner. We were at the nearly empty north end of the beach and I got so much sand in my toes that I rode the rest of the way home barefoot.

 

We ate cheesesteaks for dinner and watched part of the terrible horrible Orioles game against the Phillies before giving up and putting on the start of the second season of A Good Girl's Guide To Murder, which is pretty well written and acted but very dark. And we discovered that the rain last week stained one of our windowsills, so we cleaned that up. Now I must sleep after a really nice day!

Greetings from the Spiderverse

Paul finished work at 2 on Friday so we could go see Spider-Man: Brand New Day at the Showcase Cinemas in Blackstone Valley. It was great; I really don't want to say too much because I walked in unspoiled for anything not in the trailer, not even via internet gossip, and I was really glad I didn't know where certain things were going apart from a couple of predictable things based on Things That Happen In Spider-Man Movies. I will say that the first hour in particular really reminded me of the Tobey Maguire movies in the best way. 

We decided to have dinner at Panera since it's in the same shopping center and we stopped in Barnes & Noble walking back to the car. Then we came home, watched most of the Orioles win over the Phillies, and and I watched The Devil Wears Prada 2 together on Disney+ (we'd seen it together in the theater but there's lots of fun stuff in it, particularly the music). Some more of the boats we saw at Mystic Seaport -- I can't wait to go back and see the rest during the Mystic Arts Festival in a couple of weeks!