In my last gardening post, I had promised to put up more pictures at some point to show how things were progressing with the garden. And so here is the progress report. Today was a gorgeous (but hot) summer day and I was out in the yard doing some work, so I thought I would take some pictures for another blog post.
Tag: garden
A visit to Mass Audubon’s Drumlin Farm
Yesterday Kelly and I took a short day trip out to Lincoln to visit the Drumlin Farm. We wanted to see it because I am thinking about applying for a job there with Mass Audubon. So we spoke with some friends of ours who work there and went out to see them.
The Return of Gardening
For the first time in several years, I am able to do some real gardening, and so with the arrival of spring I have managed to get quite a bit planted, both in pots and in the ground.
Happy Earth Day, Have Some Flowers
On Wednesday on my way home from work I missed my bus. I didn’t actually see my bus so I can only assume that it was early as I was on time. This meant that I took the other bus that drops me off about 5 or 6 blocks from home. As it was a gorgeous day I had the opportunity to walk, pick up a (losing) lottery ticket, and take some photos of flowers along my way home.
While Spring always makes me a little sad, Spring flowers are my absolute favorite. I think it has something to do with the fact that Spring flowers come in a riot of colors, but SO many of them are purple. Purple is my favorite color, always has been. So, enjoy some photos of the spring flowers that are still out. It may have been in the upper 70’s yesterday and we may have had a wacky mild winter, but it’s Spring in New England.
Beautiful spring day today
Kelly and I were working at a craft fair trying to sell some of her jewelry and the weather was just gorgeous. In the morning it was a bit low so I walked to a little neighborhood market to get a bite to eat for us. While there the nearby railroad crossing started flashing and dinging as a train approached the crossing. So I walked over to take a look.
Yeah… about that “winter is over” bit
A little while back I had commented about how we were experiencing winter’s “last hurrah”.
Oh, man was I wrong.
What we’re reading now- holiday edition
We’re back from our hiatus. We’ve had our battle with Mass Health and we came out victorious. So, it’s time to catch all of you up on what we’ve been reading and doing other than preparing to fight for our right to health care.
A quick note on history and food in ASOIAF
As I mentioned before, I have been doing a lot of experimenting with medieval recipes in recent years. And this includes trying many of the delicious-sounding foods from George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Thanks to the diligent work of Chelsea and Sariann, we ASOIAF fans have a fantastic resource to explore our foodie sides. Everything I have made from their website and their book has been delicious, so seriously, try making some of their recipes.
Recently, I noticed something about George’s books that I had not noticed before: an utter lack of potatoes, Irish or sweet. Now, at first glance this would seem to make sense, because they are both “New World” foods that would have been unknown to medieval Europe, which is the historical basis of much of Martin’s writing. Potatoes would not be introduced to Europe until the 16th century, when the Spanish brought them over. So no potatoes in Westeros, right? Makes sense, right?
Yes, it would… except that there are plenty of examples of other New World foods that are present in Westeros. So why include them but not potatoes?
Continue reading “A quick note on history and food in ASOIAF”
Boy, winter sure came early
Mark Twain had a lot of wonderful witty things to say about New England weather, and the most relevant (and true) for today would certainly be this one, from a speech he gave in 1876:
One of the brightest gems in the New England weather is the dazzling uncertainty of it.
Oh, boy, is he so right. Although the cold and rain was predicted, as was the high winds, I don’t think anyone thought that we would have any appreciable snow here in Boston today, and yet we got enough to turn the roads into quite a slushy mess.
Our ridiculous weather
OK, I have held off on commenting about the weather for several days, but now that our little heat wave is over, I feel like I need to comment.
Essentially, this is abnormal, especially for Boston in June.
The Books are Taking Over... 