Greetings from Desi

Wednesday was our 36th wedding anniversary, so Paul worked from home and we watched World Cup games and ate lunch together. I had a fairly social Wednesday otherwise -- chat with two of my high school friends after lunch, some Good Omens second season with Laurie and Cel plus the latter's husband who hadn't seen the episodes, and after Kremer led the Orioles to victory, we ordered Indian food from Desi for dinner, which was excellent. Paul drew me a KPop Demon Hunters-Good Omens crossover card, and I got a Kindle Colorsoft, which I've wanted for ages, and the second part of a Lord of the Rings game for which I already have the first.

 

We only saw part of the US World Cup victory so we could watch Enola Holmes 3, which I enjoyed, although it's more preachy-political than the first two and I really wanted to see Enola work more with Sherlock instead of him being the damsel in distress for her to rescue; also, I wanted to see Sherlock and Watson working together at least a little, though I'm always glad to see Enola working with her mom, and it's nice that her fiance is working with her even before he realizes he may have skin in the game this time. Now we're watching more season four Discovery, and sitting through this anomaly, I can't believe we complained about Voyager's anomalies of the week.

Greetings from Fenway Park

We spent most of Sunday going to, attending, and coming home from the Red Sox game at Fenway Park! Unfortunately the home team lost, but it was otherwise a very enjoyable afternoon at the ballpark, from the pregame video to Neil Diamond's "America" to the eighth inning "Sweet Caroline" singalong. The game was tied 1-1 at that point after a Jarren Duran home run put them on the board, but unfortunately that was the only time the Red Sox scored, and it ended 3-1 in the 10th inning (which we did not witness, since we wanted to make the 5:10 train because the next one didn't leave till 6:45). 

We did get to see lots of other fun things though: a foul ball that could have hit me had the guy across the aisle not caught it (see photo); two different groups of Star Wars fans in costume, posing with attendees for Star Wars Day; NASA astronaut and local native Suni Williams throwing out the first pitch; the adorable Red Sox Grogu bobblehead giveaways; the "monstah" size slices of pizza we ate for lunch; the pregame baseball hype video to Neil Diamond's "America" (a song that's both very Jewish and very pro-immigrant); and the by-hand score changes, though the Yankees-Orioles endgame changes were not fun. 

 

There was a minor crisis when we left, since the train arrived on the track heading into Boston instead of going out and there was a stampede off the very crowded platform up the stairs and around and down. I thought I might get knocked over, and I was already not thrilled to be on a train platform with so many people. But it was a nice ride out of the city and we saw wild swans in one of the lakes. Tonight we watched Toast, which was kind of sad and weird but I liked it until the misogynistic ending, around the Watson finale, whose cancelation is a bummer but did not cliffhang as much as I expected.

Greetings from Fitchburg

Sunday was a gorgeous sunny day and we spent most of it out. First we went to Tower Hill Botanic Garden, which is deep into tulip season and still has lots of daffodils and tall snowdrops, plus Virginia bluebells, grape hyacinth, and the regional native daffodils that the gardens allow to grow wild. Then we drove to Adam's house, where Hildy and Tom were visiting Haley with Cindy's dog, and hung out for a while with them and Pepper, chatting. 

We took Adam and Haley to the Fitchburg Art Museum, which had an Art in Bloom exhibit like the one in Worcester last month in which floral artists echo museum collection pieces in flowers. When we took them home, we all chatted with my parents and Daniel, then we came home for leftovers and the rest of Rivals (UGH THOSE MEN) before tonight's Watson (so much going on and I can't believe this show is about to be over). Some pics from today:

Greetings from Fitchburg

Quick post while watching Watson which I thought was the season (series) finale, but apparently that's not till the first week in May. We spent most of Sunday in Fitchburg at a family party; Haley's extended family want no photos of their kids posted anywhere on social media, so we took no pics except pets, and I took one with Adam when we stopped at his house after having been at Hildy and Tom's home. There was lots of food and it's always a pleasure to spend time with them.

 

We stopped at the food store on the way home in miserable cold drizzle -- it's supposed to be below freezing tonight, I hope the local flowers and frogs are all right. Then we ate samosa chaat for dinner and watched the end of The Forsyte Saga, which I must admit has made me like The Forsytes better; I still dislike most of the characters, especially Soames (thank goodness I've seen Damian Lewis in so many things than the original), but most of the women are more complicated characters.

Greetings from Worcester

We reached 70 degrees here on Monday! And we had a report that they were working on the cables in our neighborhood so we might lose internet, but it was fine all day and only went down a few minutes ago, so I will be brief. The major news of my day was learning that the person to whom I gave much of my Star Trek collection -- the absolutely lovely man who wrote the West Week Ever blog -- passed away after a stroke, which I'm very sad about. 

Otherwise, we watched some baseball (Mariners swept the Astros, Orioles came from behind to beat the Diamondbacks), saw the new Maul episodes, and caught up on last night's Watson -- of course the show is getting really good right as it's canceled. Spring in my neighborhood; more tomorrow when hopefully I'll have working internet.

Poem for Tuesday and Garden Flowers

The Russian Spoon 

By Anne Myles 

I think of the Russian serving spoon

that lay in my mother’s drawer, then mine

in one city and another: aged metal,

gray-toned, pointy-headed like a bird

with a thin graceful neck and widening tail.

The silver spoon nests in its darkness,

in the story I’ve lost, who it came from—

the wealthy grandmother or the poor one

who nonetheless recited Russian poetry;

which bag or chest it was once thrown in,

or carefully bundled, with what hope or fear.

It flew to America, shining relic, outlasting

the Cossack swords, the bits and spurs

that jingled terribly on the galloping horses.

How many peaceful dinners has it seen, 

grasped by my mother’s hands, now mine,

as TV clatters the news of our time?

The spoon keeps itself, innocent and mute,

even when the old poetic dreams are gone—

now when I no longer picture just a bird

but a missile, and think of all we can’t outrun.

 -------- 

Winter returned on Tuesday -- we woke up to snow. It didn't stick, since the temperature hovered above freezing, but the wind chill was in the 20s and it was very cold when we took a walk, though a couple of bunnies were out anyway. At least the neighborhood daffodils haven't opened yet, despite how many we saw at Tower Hill Botanic Garden over the weekend:

 

I did a bunch of computer stuff while watching the Orioles comeback win, and watched DS9's "Equilibrium" with those of my group who could make it after dinner. Then we caught up on Monday's Watson (finally it has momentum now that it's been canceled) and now we're watching this week's Daredevil and I wish the things I love outweighed the things I don't.

Poem for Monday and Celtic Celebration

St. Patrick's Day 

By Jean Blewett 

There’s an Isle, a green Isle, set in the sea,

     Here’s to the Saint that blessed it!

And here’s to the billows wild and free

     That for centuries have caressed it!

Here’s to the day when the men that roam

     Send longing eyes o’er the water!

Here’s to the land that still spells home

     To each loyal son and daughter!

Here’s to old Ireland—fair, I ween,

     With the blue skies stretched above her!

Here’s to her shamrock warm and green,

     And here’s to the hearts that love her!

-------- 

I unpacked four boxes of science fiction books on Monday -- two with anthologies of year's best and award winners, one entirely my remaining Star Trek books, one graphic novels and comics collections -- plus what I think is the remaining box of children's books we saved, though we're not entirely sure what's in all the boxes the mitigation company packed after the flood (some very random combinations, some books badly smashed between others). It's weird having bookcases with gaps for books we're not even sure if we still own. 

We had snow flurries on and off all day, but nothing stuck to the roads, and it didn't stop us from taking a walk, nor did it stop the bunny from coming out to eat the neighbor's grass. We watched the new episode of Paradise -- so many amoral people! -- followed by last night's Watson -- can teenagers actually sue doctors for NOT having advised their parents to abort them? -- and now we're watching more Artful Dodger. At Old Sturbridge Village's Celtic Celebration, we saw music, needlework, smithing, cattle, and food:

Greetings from the Veterans Memorial

I'm watching the end of The Count of Monte Cristo, which has been entertaining and beautiful to look at though I wish more of the women were full characters, so I'll be brief. I spent the morning finally uploading all the photos I've taken since moving to Massachusetts and setting up the decorations I keep on my desk, then we had lunch, took a walk in the drizzle on a warm afternoon, and I started digging the boxes out of the garage that were in storage on the west coast, including the children's books and oversized art. 

We had Caesar salad and noodles for dinner since we missed celebrating the Ides of March yesterday, talked to my parents on Google Meet, and watched this week's episode of Paradise featuring my favorite psychopathic woman and a very fun cameo in flashback, plus last night's Watson, where I feel like I've seen the a similar medical mystery on House or something. Here are some more photos from the Massachusetts Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which surrounds one of the (now frozen) ponds in Green Hill Park: