I have two shows coming up, one is this weekend! If you’re in the greater Boston area you’re in for a treat. I’m vending as a part of North Shore Vendor Events tomorrow and in March. These shows feature people with handmade items, like me, and also people that own and run small business. That means I’ll be featuring a LOT of “new” vintage items I’ve been collecting, fixing, and curating over the past few months.
Rerun had a protective blanket of fear. Dash prefers the whole bed.
Since Kelly and I were stuck at home yesterday, we had a marathon viewing of Season Six of Game of Thrones, just to watch it all again. So it was so very appropriate when we re-watched the scene where the white ravens were sent out to announce the arrival of winter. When I got up this morning, the temperature was 12 degrees Fahrenheit, with a wind chill of about -20. When I went outside this morning, the winds had blown the snow around quite a bit, which at least made a pretty picture in the back yard.
I do love winter landscapes, even though they mean I have a lot of shoveling ahead of me.
It looked like we had gotten about a foot of snow, at least when I was out clearing the walks.
One of our neighbors kindly cleared most of the driveway and part of the walk for us with a snowblower. We love Winthrop.
Officially, we got around 11 inches of snow, according to Boston.com. As you can also see on that data table later in the article, the wind was blowing pretty hard – it got to over 50 mph here. At one point yesterday afternoon when Kelly and I looked out the window, we could not see more than 100 yards or so.
So puppies did not go out a lot yesterday. This morning Dash was excited that he was finally going to get to go outside, but he became much less excited when he realized that conditions were still far less than ideal for anyone really close to the ground.
Dash had gone out, turned around then went over to the generator to do his business. Note the lack of a Thumbelina in this photo.
Note that in the above photo, we are looking out onto our concrete patio, which is covered by our deck. So all of that snow you see out to the support beams was blown in by the wind. I’m just glad we didn’t have to try to crank up that generator. That would have been truly awful. As it was, Kelly and I were marveling over the difference in experiences between our new place and our old one. At our old place, we would have been feeling terrible cold drafts even in our bedroom.
As it was, some members of the household decided that it was best if they stayed under blankets during the snowstorm.
Scratch doesn’t get under blankets often, but when he does, you KNOW it’s cold.
Dash and Thumbelina also decided that it was best if they stayed in our bed.
Thumbelina likes to sleep like a person. I have no idea what Dash is trying to sleep like.
And last but definitely not least, little Violet wanted me to come snuggle with her in “her” room (the guest bedroom) for a while. She does this thing where she sees me, waits for me to walk up to her, then she jumps over the baby gate we have installed in the doorway of the guest room, then turns around to see if I am following her. When I come through the gate, she will walk over to the bed and flop down on her favorite blanket, which is actually Kelly’s bathrobe. And then it’s snuggle time.
She may just be the most adorable little baby kitteh ever. And she probably knows it.
We may get even more snow this weekend, with predictions for “heavy” snow on Monday, although I have not yet seen any estimates of how much.
Over the last couple of days, we had our first nor’easter since we moved to Winthrop. The storm caused wind speeds here near the coast to pick up quite a bit, and as result there was a pretty heavy surf along the beaches here too.
Goodbye 2016, don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. All things being equal, this year was a social, geo-political, and popular culture disaster. From the deaths of David Bowie, Prince, Alan Rickman, Leonard Cohen, Ron Glass, and Michelle McNamara, to Mohammed Ali, John Glenn, and Elie Wiesel, the list of those we mourn is really long and really hard. Then again, Hell also got a little more crowded with the additions of Antonin Scalia, Fidel Castro, Rob Ford (the crack smoking Mayor of Toronto), Phyllis Schlafly, and Nancy “Just Say No” Reagan. Continue reading “This is Your Card – Our Annual Holiday Post”
That’s a question I am often asked in winter here in Boston by people who know me, especially on particularly cold days. My answer is always no, no matter how snowy and miserable and cold it is. And the reason for that is because while I don’t mind cold winters, I really, really don’t like hot summers. Plenty of people don’t feel the same way, which is probably why so many people from the Northeast retire to Florida. But I would always rather put up with nasty Boston winters than brutal Alabama summers. And it’s why on days like today (when it’s supposed to get over 90 degrees) I long for winter to return.
Being the weather geek I am, let me break it down for you with some data.
when temperatures have me in a near-constant sweat.
Clearly, when it comes to my ability to withstand temperatures, my French-Canadian side is dominant over the Portuguese side. I do much better in cooler weather than I do in hot weather. I start sweating when the temperatures go over 70, more or less. And today it is going to reach the mid-80s. Sigh.
Considering that this year is already well on its way to being the hottest year on record, I am not looking forward to whatever blistering temperatures we may get this summer. Not at all. At least it won’t be constant, like it used to be when I lived in Alabama. That’s one big advantage of New England.
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.
I found another good video on YouTube about rogue waves, and this one actually talks at length about the dangers to offshore platforms and people on shore from rogue waves, using actual recent historical examples.
Well. April 15th is another day that it seems like so many things happened throughout history. And for the most part, it seems like it has been a date on which a lot of truly tragic things happened. Honestly, I can only think of one really cool thing that happened on this date: it was the day that Jackie Robinson first debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. And as big a fan of baseball as I am, and as happy as I am about how far my favorite sport has come since that time, I can’t help but contrast that event with all the other terrible, tragic things that have happened on this day.
Of course, the most immediate thing for me is that this is the 3rd anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing. Hard to believe it has already been threeyears. But I am glad that Boston had really cometogether and bouncedback.
Today’s date is a day on which so many things happened, I doubt I can even remember them all.
Of course, it is the day that in 1861 the Civil War started with an artillery bombardment of the Union garrison in Fort Sumter, in the middle of Charleston Harbor. That’s a gimme for a Civil War historian like me.
The Books are Taking Over... 