3rd House Journal

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.

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.