Soft weekend

[Leaf, Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary; 11:30am, 6/20/09]

For most of the weekend, a light drizzle occupied the air, too light to be considered falling. On Sunday, we put up an umbrella briefly, then traded it for our hoods, the better to pull up or down as we ducked in and out of shops. The Irish call it a soft day. The Urban Dictionary calls a soft day a day with no edges.

If there were edges, they were high in the sky, to be squinted at during cloudbreaks.

[A view from Boston's Back Bay; 5pm, 6/20/09]

There was a brief break in the endless clouds and rain on Friday evening. After dinner with a friend in Cambridge, the sun broke through and we walked along brick residential sidewalks admiring the gardens (very green, with rain-drunken blooms) and lovely porches. On Saturday, the sun did battle with the clouds, gaining the upper hand early only to lose it at the end of the day. At least it was dry and bright enough for awhile to bring one turtle out to "sun" at the eponymous Turtle Pond in the local Audubon sanctuary.

[Painted turtle at Turtle Pond; 11am, 6/20/09]

Nearby, the bullfrogs were also busy bellowing (a former colleague called Habitat "frog heaven").

It was a nice soft weekend for me, no timetable, no plans but last-minute - duck into a warm cellar-hole of a restaurant for dinner, couch-potato the rest of the evening, watching movies on the HDTV. On Sunday, we did wander out to see Up - in 3D! Wonderful movie. (A quick Google search says I'm not the only one who thinks the main character looks like Spencer Tracy!) We joked about a woman who promptly quit her job after seeing the movie, but really it did have a powerful message about taking stock of what's important in life.

We've all been complaining mightily about the bleak June weather we've had here in Boston, but it's hard to complain about a weekend with no hard edges.

Comments

[Lorianne]

Ah! He has an HDTV! You should definitely keep him. ;-)

Nobody warned me that Up is a multiple-Kleenex/hankie movie if you're prone to movie-inspired mistiness. My eyes were more than a little "soft" by the end of the opening montage, with occasional showers to follow. And that wasn't even in 3D.

[Leslee]

Yes, HDTV. The wonder is that he ever leaves the apartment! I think it will be an especially nice thing to have in the winter.

I was warned, fortunately, about Up. Definitely many tear-jerking moments.

[sky]

we have so many days like you describe here in the pacific nw. it is always interesting to me that those of us who live here rarely use umbrellas, just move about quickly in transit from one place to another. sometimes we even sit beneath the canopy of large evergreens while admiring the emerald and misty world in which we live. tourists, on the other hand, travel with metal or wooden poles, making faux canopies, taking up extra space with pointy barrels and tops.

[Leslee]

Normally around here "when it rain it pours." So this mist is more unusual. But I've also spent a lot of time at the seacoast in New England, and that misty world (more briny blue than emerald) is not unfamiliar.