Greetings from Late Night

Quick post while watching Colbert's last-ever show (much respect to the Jimmys for going dark tonight so Stephen has all the attention). It was much cooler on Thursday, I had the windows open all day, and while doing some photo and computer work, I took YouTube's advice and listened to my entire Thor-Loki playlist before the Nationals-Mets game started. We took a walk before dinner -- we ordered vegan Chinese from King Chef, one of my favorites -- and saw eight bunnies, our one-day record in this neighborhood so far! And I had my Thursday chat group in the evening, so that was more fannish fun.

 

Before that, we watched Honey Don't!, which Netflix describes as a Comedy-Mystery. There's nothing in it that I'd describe as comedy; The Nice Guys, which starts with a murder and features a lot of broken bones and dead bodies, is a SoCal neo-noir black comedy laugh fest by comparison -- Chris Evans being very over the top and nearly naked is the only really fun part, though Aubrey Plaza and Margaret Qualley's performances are good. It's like they decided that because they stuck to a lot of noir tropes it meant they could borrow a lot of porny lesbian tropes without actual characterization.

Greetings from WPI

We did a bunch of household chores on Saturday morning, then ate bagels and went to WPI and Institute Park across the road that separates them. The park has goslings, turtles, squirrels, and at least one bunny (signs say that it also has foxes, coyotes, frogs, and the occasional skunk, though those were hiding), and the campus has fountains, flowers, graduates from the day before enjoying the green spaces, rechargeable electric lawn mowers, and statues of its most famous alumnus, Robert Goddard, inventor of modern rocketry. It was a Pokemon community day, so I caught lots of shiny Deinos, too. 

We drove to the Piedmont neighborhood to Cool Licks to get soft serve before coming home to the terrible end of the terrible Orioles game. (The Red Sox beat the Braves, at least.) We caught up on Widow's Bay and watched an episode of Boston Blue before SNL, on which Will Ferrell had very little to do, Che and Jost didn't give each other particularly good material, and Paul McCartney's eternal voice finally is starting to sound tired, but the not-the-Hobbit musical made the whole episode worth watching. Here are a bunch of pics of us enjoying the park, the campus, and the Pokemon:

Greetings from Elm Park

I had a fairly quiet Friday -- some computer and photo stuff in the morning, watching clips from Colbert's penultimate week in the afternoon -- plus the rain finally stopped and by the time we were nearly done walking, the sun had come out. We did see a bunny, but there was also a cat -- I don't think it's a stray, too well-fed and groomed -- that has been hanging around before, so most of the bunnies were hopefully hiding (there was a dead small something on the sidewalk and I know who I suspect, though there have also been bobcats and coyotes so whoever's letting the cat out isn't smart either way). 

We had fried veggie chick'n for dinner, then we watched Remarkably Bright Creatures with Cheryl on Netflix. I loved it -- I'm going to appreciate any movie primarily set in an aquarium that isn't a horror movie, it made me nostalgic for Pacific northwest scenery, I liked the octopus's POV which made some of the too-neat-to-believe plot points easier to swallow, I thought the performances were great. Then we watched this week's Your Friends and Neighbors, which is so much darker this season -- much less wealth porn -- and now For All Mankind (team scientists, politics sucks). Elm Park ducklings: 

Greetings from Elm Park

Saturday was Pokemon Community Day, so after a quiet morning, we went to Mia Cano downtown for acai bowls, then walked around Elm Park for a couple of hours. I caught many Tinkatinks, evolved some Tinkatons, met a bunch of local Pokemon Go regulars -- many with families all playing -- and saw lots of geese, some ducks, and many songbirds. From there we went to Green Hill Park, where we saw more waterfowl, walked around the Vietnam veterans memorial, and admired the daffodils. 

After some chores and dinner, we watched the Baltimore-San Francisco game, which ended 6-2, so very well for the Orioles despite two significant injuries and despite being tied briefly in the 4th. Then we watched the start of the Mariners game, which did not start well at all for Seattle but was tied when we switched to Saturday Night Live (Colman Domingo better than most of the material they gave him) and remains tied now in the 9th. Here are a few photos from lunch and after:

Greetings from the Double R Diner

My excitement for Saturday was getting a Massachusetts driver's license, though at the moment I only have a temporary one since they mail the Real IDs. We were hoping to change the car registration too, but they only do that on weekdays, so we'll have to go back for that. It was a gorgeous day, nearly 50 degrees and sunny, so we also managed a walk in between trying to figure out which boxes meant to be in the bedroom ended up in the living room, the basement, or the garage. 

We watched the first couple of episodes of the new season of The Night Agent, which is a little convoluted and they may just have fridged my favorite character. Now we're watching Connor Storrie on SNL (loved seeing the Olympic hockey players, that was a nice shift in the conversation). I'm sure you're sick of my snow and home pics, so here are a few of Double R Diner a.k.a. Twede's Cafe in Twin Peaks a.k.a. North Bend (and yes, I meant to post this on February 24th but I was a little distracted):

Greetings from Chihuly Garden and Glass

We chatted with some relatives on New Year's morning and watched most of the Rose Parade, in which my father's brother's wife was riding with the Blue Shadows Mounted Drill Team. Then we ate waffles and eggs before heading into the city, where we parked near Seattle Center, walked around the Space Needle (and through the gift shop), and went to Chihuly Garden and Glass. The garden wasn't crowded because it was drizzling, and we got to watch glassblowing and part of the film about Chihuly's exhibition in Jerusalem. Of course, as always, the glass itself is spectacular.

 

We visited the gingerbread houses at the Sheraton. too. Indiana thankfully beat Alabama in the Rose Bowl while we were out, though we got home in time to see the unfortunate end of the Sugar Bowl over dinner, then while I was chatting with my Thursday group. Afterward we caught up on Percy Jackson, which hasn't been gripping me this season though there's nothing really wrong with it; it's just so kid-focused that all the adult women are villainized (I don't care if the adult men are evil, ha, but I don't want to root for Percy a lot of the time). Now we're catching up on a few Graham Norton episodes.

Greetings from Redmond-Kirkland Animal Hospital

We had rain most of Monday, so although we didn't have time for a long walk, I didn't really feel like being wet and chilly anyway. After a bunch of computer work and chores, we ate lunch and performed the horrible act of catching the cats and putting them in their carriers for their annual visit to the vet. Katniss wailed the entire way in the car -- all of five minutes -- and when we arrived they looked desperately for somewhere to hide, then crunched together in one carrier after they had to be taken out to be weighed. The good news is that, other than being overweight, everything from their teeth to their paws checked out (we won't have their bloodwork back for a few days), and they got their rabies shots.

 

Both cats were extremely cranky when we got home and went around hissing at each other and us until they were allowed to have treats. We ate our leftovers from Cheesecake Factory and watched Monday Night Football, where I'm pleased to report that the Cardinals beat the Cowboys, then we caught up on last weekend's Saturday Night Live to see Brandi Carlile -- the songs are powerful but it still sounds like a breakup album, and that makes me sad -- then we watched the new Watson episode, which felt weirdly retro despite not having Sherlock or anything not referencing contemporary Pittsburgh (they only just discovered that throuples are a thing and men sometimes panic over unexpected pregnancies?)