3rd House Journal

October

Ah, where has the time gone? Busy with work, as ever. Avoiding sitting any more than already required for the job -- another impediment to blogging. However, I did just install a Varidesk sit-stand thingie in my home office, which means I can stand some portion of the time at my computer and I like it a lot! I may have to work from home a bit more since we don't have the means to stand at desks at the office. [photo: Beech tree in the Public Garden, Boston, 10/23/16]

After a very dry summer (we have extreme drought in this part of New England), we got a bit of rain over the weekend. It's starting to cool down to normal October weather, too, after some weird 80-degree days the end of last week. Tomorrow's forecast hinted at the possibility of snow flurries. I get up for work in the morning while it's still dark, though that will change for awhile when we turn the clocks back this weekend. Soon I'll be driving home from work in the dark as well. [photo: Newbury St in Boston; 10/22/16]

Despite the drought, we've seen some fall foliage around here that isn't just dried brown leaves. Further north of here in Vermont where we visited friends the first weekend of October, the foliage was spectacular. My friend and her husband have retired up there, although MJ just took a job at the local ski resort selling season ski passes. This gave her free access to the road that winds up the mountain to the peak (normally quite pricey), so we piled into her minivan and she drove us up for sightseeing, one of the last weekends before they close the road for the winter season. [photos below: Stowe, Vermont, 10/1/16] More photos from Vermont here.

  

 I had my 40th high school reunion the weekend before last, which was quite fun actually. I absolved D of coming with me (he had a friend visiting anyway) so I could catch up with friends I haven't spoken to in 20 years (I did go to my 20th, so long ago). We had a large turnout, not surprisingly since there were more than 800 people in my graduating class! Nice to be with so many people my age since everyone I work with is 15 to 35 years younger than me, and D and many of my friends are a few years to a dozen years older.

Other than that, I and many of my friends and, well, countrymen and women, have been existing in high anxiety over the political situation in our country. Things seem to be heading in a positive direction regarding the elections (just 2 weeks from yesterday), which eases the mind a bit, but nothing to be taken for granted. I will be relieved (presumably, fingers crossed) when the elections are over. But so much sorry behavior and sentiment. I hope lancing this boil to let these things come to light helps to eventually cleanse the country, however noxious it is in the meantime. I teeter between pessimism and hope.

Maybe it's the perfect season, Halloween, which brings out the ghouls and goblins and gives them their due. I remember years ago visiting a friend in Santa Fe, New Mexico for the annual Fiesta, where they bring out Zozobra, Old Man Gloom. People contribute mementos of the year's troubles, let Zozobra rail a bit, before burning him in effigy along with their troubles away for another year. I think we could use a similar ritual after the elections to cleanse our own spirits and make way for a merrier holiday season.

[Back Bay, Boston; 10/23/16] 

Vacationland

We went to Cape Cod for vacation this again this year. Last year we tried a new place on the Upper Cape, which was nice but not a favorite. This year we went back to a place on the Lower Cape we'd been to before. It offered a shorter drive and a prime location overlooking Vineyard Sound and adjacent to Falmouth Harbor. We asked for and got the same corner room we had on previous visits, a room that unlike most motel rooms you'd be happy to spend your whole vacation in. And get lots of sleep listening to the gentle waves lapping at the shore below.

Staying there also afforded the opportunity to spend a day with friends who were there for an extended stay (would that we could afford to!). These friends had recommended the place but had been out of town on previous visits. This time we were treated to a ride on their boat, through a lovely inlet where we saw an osprey nest, across the Vineyard Sound, and to lunch on Martha's Vineyard island. 

We also got out for a few walks -- up to the Heights beach while the the sunset reflected pink across the clouds, and along the harbor with its myriad boats, beach roses, cormorants, and lichen-coated fences.

We were there for four nights, then back to the city for a few days. Then, back to work again, all too soon.

A few more pix from the trip here.

Into the summer...

With all the swirl of swill that seems to be enveloping the world these days, there are also the long days of sunshine and warmth. And, alas, the long nights waking in sweat if I can even fall into sleep in the first place. The long holiday weekend was particularly challenging at D's as another person's heat and movement and, well, just presence set me off, no fault of his. But I managed some sleep and once back home replenished the coffers some, even though still waking a few times to daub myself in ice water (all this despite plentiful air conditioning). At least the weather over the weekend could not have been lovelier, warm and dry with sweet breezes. The city streets near D at night were fragrant with honeysuckle from the tiny manicured gardens in the neighborhood.

We walked down by the river a couple of days before the big 4th of July Independence Day celebrations on Monday (first photo below) and then again the evening before (second photo), when the Boston Pops orchestra and guests had rehearsal for the big night. Where last year's rehearsal evening felt like an armed camp with military police making us feel rather less secure for their presence, this year's security detail was present without feeling oppressive but more or less reassuring. And we watched the concert the evening of, then walked down the end of the street to watch the fireworks over the river without needing to cross over into the crowds.

Before the long holiday weekend, both D and I were away on separate travels, he to a wedding in Pittsburgh and I to see my dad in Michigan. My dad was doing well and we had a nice visit. I managed to get one nice walk in at the arboretum, including down to its river, and otherwise just walked a few times around where he lives. We watched Red Sox games and some soccer (football) and more than enough of the news (Brexit happened while I was there, which at least took most of the attention off our horrid US politics for awhile), went out to eat every night, and as usual I got him parked in the coffee shop one day while I shopped at my favorite shops downtown.

And now I'm back to work for a short week before another weekend comes. A friend is celebrating her 70th birthday on Sunday, so we're hoping for good weather for that since she's planned it outside around her pool. The fine dry weather last weekend has devolved into hot and humid, more usual for this time of year, and thunderstorms are threatening. Hopefully they'll hold off or pass by.

Still here

Two months after my last post, checking back in. The news is unbearably sad or infuriating in turn these days here in the US. And yet there is still beauty and love.

On Saturday, we walked down the street to the Boston Pride Parade, which was fun and joyful despite the drizzle. A very long parade and disparate or maybe inclusive is the word - gay dad groups, drag queens, LGBT sports teams, church groups of all stripes, public education advocates, a pet rescue group, many large local corporate sponsors, and our liberal politicians including both of our US senators (including Elizabeth Warren, which was rather thrilling since she's becoming quite the rock star). With all the hateful stupidity bubbling up around the country, it's heartening to know at least that I live in a state with sane, progressive representatives.

[At the Boston Pride Parade; 11 June 2016]

Otherwise, we are enjoying the long summer days, which have been on the cool side lately, which I am perfectly happy with. I'll not be doing much beach going and sunning this summer after suffering through the past month healing from the excision of a swath of skin off my back to remove a basal cell carcinoma, nothing serious but very uncomfortable (and not at all easy to wash and dress by myself twice a day, bandage in one hand and mirror in the other navigating against reverse reflection to position the bandage in just the right spot). Better now a month later, no more bandage at least. 

We did get up to Rockport one very hot day in May, thinking the sea breezes would be cooling. No other road trips this summer as yet, but the summer has only just begun.

We have one more weekend together before we both fly off for a few days - me to visit my dad and D to attend a wedding (a friend's son). And then we have the 4th of July long weekend after we're back and some vacation time on the Cape in early August. Our summers are short here and go by so fast. Probably best to turn off the news and social media as much as possible and enjoy the long days while they're here.

April Fools

[Public Garden lagoon; April 10, 2016]

Yes, February and March have come and gone, with no update here. Various uninteresting things have kept me from posting, including intermittent sleep problems and accompanying aches and pains and inability to focus (visually and otherwise) beyond what I gave at the office. But work has been good, with a recent pay increase and bonus, so there's appreciation for my contribution - and, really, no extra time put in beyond the usual, just that the sleep issues etc make my already smallish tank of energy even more precious and sitting at a computer more uncomfortable. Still, I have found some time to see friends and spend weekends with D, among other outside of work stuff.

[Magnolias blossoms, Boston; April 9, 2016]

The weather has had some wild swings lately, from a relatively warm March to a chilly and wet April. A week ago we had a couple of 70°F days (21°C) followed by a snowstorm of 4 to 5 inches of snow. That melted quickly because the roads had warmed up, but since then the temperatures have been below normal, with biting winds. Still, the daylight has steadily grown longer and on days when the sun is shining it's warmed things up and lifted spirits.

One big piece of news is that I bought a new car last Saturday, a brand new Jetta to replace my 11-year-old Toyota Corolla, which I bought as a commuter car when I started my old job. The old car didn't have a ton of mileage on it since I moved closer to work after the first year with it, but it was a bit beat up and kept needing $ put into it. And there was that bonus I mentioned above! Of course two days after I bought the new car was when it snowed, so it sat in the driveway a couple of days as I was afraid to drive this unfamiliar car in slippery conditions, not to mention the worry of risking any damage so soon! Here she is under a coat of snow on Day 3.

[New Jetta; April 3, 2016]

I was in town with D this weekend, but he had a return of his GI problems and we had to cancel plans to go out last night. We did walk around yesterday, but today he was feeling poorly so I went out for walk myself and then brought back applesauce and soup. He's supposed to fly out to visit friends on Tuesday. Not sure if he'll make that. It's been a rough year as the first couple of months he had bronchitis. And he'll top this all off with a big birthday (70) next week. Time to make staying healthy a priority - for both of us, I guess.

[Spring blooms, Boston; April 9, 2016]

Into February

The photo above is from last year, February 22, when we were finally able to get out of the house after 100 inches of snow fell, mostly all in the previous 3 or 4 weeks. We were so thrilled. We drove to Cambridge, just outside Harvard Square, found actual cleared parking on the street, and got this table by the window at the Cambridge Common pub. You can see the snowbanks still piled high outside the window. It's what I used as the February photo on my 2016 calendar, likely in no small part for the joy imbuing the remembrance.

This year thus far we have had very little snow, and what we have had has melted lately with warm days and sunshine. Tomorrow is also expected to be warm but with drenching rains - more like late March. In some years I'd feel a bit wistful for lack of snow, but this year I'm grateful. Still, the winter is certainly not over yet, despite the fact that Punxutawney Phil did not see his shadow this morning and thus predicted an early spring. 

At the skating rink at the Frog Pond on Boston Common it's winter all season no matter how warm the temperatures (within reason) as they keep the ice cold with refrigeration. We managed to get out to see it during our wanderings on Saturday (no, we didn't skate as we never do, but the lines were also very long and the ice crowded). D was feeling better and the weather was nice so we did a lot of walking around, plus took the T out to our friends' place in Jamaica Plain that evening for their annual Grinch party. Alas, all that activity was probably pushing it for D as he was dragging on Sunday and still feels a bit set back. Hopefully more rest this week will help. This coming weekend we are driving up to see my friends at their lovely ski house in Vermont. It's pretty low key, but I know it'll be tiring for him if he's still feeling under the weather.

 February is one day longer this leap year. Hope it's ducky.

January thaw

While Snowzilla hit the Mid-Atlantic states and Washington DC, we got away with just a few inches in the Boston area. D was still recovering from his cold (possibly bronchitis), so I brought him to my place in the 'burbs where we mostly hunkered down for the weekend.

Unlike our usual city weekends, where we're generally out and about and so dine out wherever we end up, weekends at my place give me a chance to cook. I cooked fish with Thai red curry sauce on Friday night. And on Saturday I made chicken cacciatore (or hunter's chicken) from an old recipe I had that stewed the chicken parts in a sauce of portobello mushrooms, onions, white wine, chicken stock, and a mere cup of chopped tomatoes. We were planning to have the cacciatore leftovers on Sunday afternoon during the big playoff football game, but all those commercials featuring pizza during the game got the best of us so we ran out at halftime to pick up an order from a local pizzeria.

We did get out for a walk on Saturday afternoon after the snow stopped and it cleared up. There wasn't a whole lot, just a nice coating over the brown, which was nice.

Today I worked at home after a bad night's sleep. Lucky that I can turn off my alarm when I'm awake for too long in the middle of the night and sleep in a bit. It would have been hard to function at the office, so I managed to get some work done in my home office. By mid afternoon, I needed a break and it was relatively warm out (50°F/10°C), so rather than try to drag my sleep deprived body to the gym I went for a walk, commiserating with sorry-looking snowmen melting into lumps with their jaunty face pieces fallen at their feet. All that freezing and melting and freezing again. Just like my night.

The Inevitability of Winter

It snowed last night, rather unexpectedly at least to me. We haven't really had any snow to speak of yet this winter except for a few flurries. And it's been relatively warm, so we're a bit spoiled. But last year's first snowstorm wasn't until late January either and then we got 100+ inches. With the El Niño weather pattern this year, it's expected that we'll get a more normal amount of snow, which is still plenty and still on its way. We got just a few inches this weekend, but there's a potential snowstorm coming next weekend, so Old Man Winter is just beginning to mosey into town.

I was in Boston for the long holiday weekend (Martin Luther King Day in the US) and hadn't thought to pack my snow boots. I hadn't packed very much, in fact, because D was sick with a bad cold and I took a taxi into town on Saturday instead of the usual loading up D's car Friday night with a range of options to get me through the weekend. Anyway, after two days of mostly sitting on the couch keeping D company watching football and such, I had to get outside this morning for a walk. So I put on thick socks and laced up D's boots and went out walking to see what the first real snowfall of this winter left behind.

There weren't too many people out and about, but of course dog owners must come out and there were many of those out with their pooches. Over in the Public Garden, a slew of dogs were off leash and romping and rolling in the snow while their owners socialized - likely a regular play group.

The Make Way for Ducklings mallards in the Public Garden had clearly been visited by little feet by the looks of the small boot prints around them.

But the chilly wind was strong and didn't encourage visitors to linger on the lagoon bridge.

I did get out walking yesterday, but mainly to pick up cold medicine and groceries -- plus my favorite cold cure, the hot chili ramen soup from Wagamama, which seemed to help (and was quite delicious). Hopefully he'll be feeling better soon as it's been more than a week now, but seems like it might have developed into bronchitis as he's coughing a lot and feeling pretty lousy. He'll go to urgent care tomorrow if it doesn't seem to be moving in the right direction.

Meanwhile, I took my first Uber ride to get home this evening (I am decidedly a late adopter), which cost me half what the taxi cab ride into town did. It was pretty easy to do, so I may be doing it again soon.

Good reads of 2015

 

I recently re-sorted my sidebars on the blog, including updating my Recent Kindle Reads list with books I enjoyed in 2015. Just as I have little time and mental bandwidth for blogging, I have similar obstacles to book reading, as opposed to shorter things like articles and news. I do read a lot for work, of course, as well as write, hand-in-hand, but not fiction. That generally gets relegated to vacations and trips, with a tail into the time that follows as I get hooked into something and continue with it until work again eats my brain.

Anyway, I've been thinking about my kvetching in the prior post, which upon re-reading I realize is terribly repetitive if an accurate reporting of what consumes my thinking whenever I attempt to blog. (Hmm, being consumed and eaten, a pattern there.) And I've wanted to write something else to sweep that post past, but it's the doldrums of the year so there's nothing much to report. But, having re-arranged my book list, I thought I might briefly note some books I enjoyed last year, which I tracked on Goodreads (without reviewing except to click on the number of stars).

I started out in January reading a collection of Anthony Doerr's short stories, having just read his beautiful All the Light We Cannot See in December (finished off during a trip to see my dad). I read Memory Wall in January and came back to his writing in February, reading The Shell Collector, both books full of captivating stories beautifully written. In between those two collections, I read Roxane Gay's gripping An Untamed State, set in Haiti and involving the kidnap of the American daughter of wealthy Haitian immigrants.

In March I read the lovely The Speed of Light by Elizabeth Rosner, a story told in three voices, a brother and a sister whose Holocaust survivor father cast his shadow over their lives, and their Central American housekeeper who has her own painful past.

In April I tried to get through Bettyville by George Hodgman, but gave up on it. It needed a good editor I hadn't the patience to find the nuggets of goodness within it. That appears to have depressed me enough that I didn't read anything else until June, which must have provided some time off and a trip as I read a few that month. Annabelle Gurwitch's I See You Made an Effort: Compliments, Indignities, and Survival Stories from the Edge of 50 was light and entertaining, even for someone over that edge. The Girl You Left Behind, by Jojo Moyes was a bestseller set in France during WWII featuring a French woman billeted by the Germans, very similar to one of the subplots in Irène Némirovsky's Suite Française. I thought it was interesting enough reading, but just not as good as many other WWII novels I've read. Next, I read Kent Haruf's posthumously published Our Souls at Night, a novel of mature love in a plain town written in Haruf's luminously spare prose. At the end of June, I read The Descent of the Lyre by Will Buckingham, on a friend's recommendation, and loved entering its mythical world so beautifully written.

A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson was my summer vacation read, and yes, not especially light beach reading by so well done. I 'd read her Life After Life and probably enjoyed that more, but this latest was still an excellent read. I followed that up with The Orphans at Race Point by Patry Francis after D had read and enjoyed it while we were on vacation near Provincetown, the setting for much of the novel. A very good read as well, and even more enjoyable for having just been in Ptown.

In October, I read Harriet Wolf's Seventh House of Wonders, by Julianna Baggott, a beautifully written and unique tale that I think I would have enjoyed much more if my readings weren't in snatches of time here and there. There are various threads to follow and I was feeling rather too scattered, but I admired the writing and when I could get into it I enjoyed it very much.

In December I needed a new book to read for my trip to see my dad, and kept running into too many stories I felt I'd read already and I wanted something from some different world. Watercolours by Adrienne Ferreira was just the thing, set in Australia about an artistically gifted 11-year-old boy from an eccentric family and the young teacher who comes to the little town where he lives and tries to encourage his talents. The next book I read and last of the year, The Ambassador's Wife by Jennifer Steil, was also set in a very different world, a fictional Arab country (the author had lived in Yemen) with another artist as the central character, the bohemian American wife of the British ambassador. The book had some uneven moments, but it offered a fascinating look at that part of the world and was a good read.

---

I'm currently reading Lucia Berlin's A Manual for Cleaning Women, a collection of short stories that are very short, very original, and extraordinarily good. But I think I need to find another novel to sink my teeth into, leaving Berlin's stories to pick up when I only short bits of time to read. I have a long list to choose from...

Into 2016

As I was writing my 2015 Year in Review, I scrolled back through many old posts, not just from 2015 but further back. I'm amazed at how much I blogged years back, and so much more thoughtfully than now. Of course, much of this was when I was freelancing from home (and, frankly, barely working and thus barely surviving), before I went back to working full-time in 2006. Then once I started seeing D in 2009 and spending weekends in the city, it just became impossible to keep it up. My brain was fried with work, and I already spent too much time sitting at a computer during the week. I did begin to photograph more, but mostly posting on Flickr and sometimes on Facebook. I know many bemoan Facebook from taking people away from longer and more thoughtful blog writing, and surely that's the case for many, but it's mostly other circumstances that have necessitated channeling my congenitally limited energy supply elsewhere. And the smallish bits of time I spend on Facebook let me feel connected to people I would otherwise have sadly lost track of.

So I will certainly not say I expect to spend more time blogging in 2016. In fact, I have made no New Year's resolutions. Over the New Year's holiday, I suffered from much insomnia and sleep deprivation and so resolving to do anything more than get through the semi-waking hours semi-enjoying my vacation time was more than I could entertain. I did, and do, have some vague concept of letting myself off the hook a bit more this year and worrying a bit less about the judgement of others as I'm wont to do. It just saps too much energy, which, as I said, is already in finite supply and not likely to increase much anytime soon.

I do hope to move around a bit more - D gave me a Fitbit Charge wristband for Christmas, which encourages the achievement of a certain amount of steps and stairs and activity each day. I already know that sitting all day as I do at my job is not healthy, but tracking the numbers does have its motivational aspect. My Fitbit also has a sleep tracker, which is somewhat depressing in my current state - and I had to just take it off a couple of nights as I was all too aware of being awake well into the wee hours - but it does provide some interesting feedback when I have worn it. I'm hoping being back into a daily routine on workdays rather than at D's (let's face it, another person's snores and stirring about are a challenge when you're having sleep issues) will get me back on track with sleep, precious drug that it is.

Above - New Year's Eve fireworks from the lagoon in the Public Garden in Boston. These were the "family fireworks" at 7 pm, after which we returned to D's and had dinner (I'd made a Bolognese sauce earlier) and watched a movie on tv and then some New Year's Eve stuff until the ball dropped.

I've been back to work since Monday, and pretty busy already. Despite the lack of sufficient sleep over the holidays, I did get a welcome break from work and feel more ready to get back into it. If that's not enough, I also this week booked our summer vacation stay on the Cape, which cheers me no end and provides warming thoughts on these cold winter days.