Cold is Relative

In an effort to keep writing something on this blog, I make changes to the look, edit my blog list, add some photos, and now I've changed my Recent Reads. 

The book is a fascinating read.  My kind of thing.  Subtitled The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk, it is history without being, you know, so many names and dates with no story.  Anyway...the story is of a 1913-14 scientific exploration well into the Arctic.  The sailing vessel is trapped in the ice and 'goes with the floe' eventually to be crushed and sink.  The men, woman, and two small children escape the crushed and sinking ship to have to survive the winter on the ice and later on a small island before any hope of rescue can arrive.  Chilling (haha) account that makes our horrible weather seem mild in comparison.

So Facebook Isn't Your Thing

That's okay, I understand.  I tend to do more quick posting with Facebook and many of my photos end up over there.  Over there...as if it is truly a place.  Anyway, I thought some of you might like to see what has caused me physical agony over the past few days.
We had a blizzard last Tuesday.  Approximately 30 inches of snow, wind gusts to 65 mph.  I've been shoveling and shoveling and digging and digging.  We had another couple inches last night and on Monday we are supposed to get another load of the white stuff.  Probably somewhere over another foot of it.

The view as I headed for morning coffee.

Read my lips....t.i.m.e.t.o.m.o.v.e.s.o.u.t.h.  We used to talk about putting a space heater on the bow of our boat and heading south, not stopping until someone asked, "What's that thing on the bow?"  Well, we did eventually move to Florida and.....
I loved it
Someday.....In the meanwhile here are some photos of the snowy northeast.

The back fence and the back of my truck got rather drifted in.

Pretty curl of snow off the truck and fence.  Should be little snow surfers!

Back drive almost dug out.

The snow pile from plowing (near the end of our back drive).

Back garden path shoveled to the deck and bulkhead (workshop) and most importantly to the oil fill.

Fun with sun?  I found the bulkhead under a four foot drift.

Some people in town had more energy left than me and built a snow shark.

And now..may Monday's forecast change to sunshine and warm temps!
HAH

Well, I Have Been Saying This...

This was clipped from some newspaper stuffing around a set of keys received this week.  I'm not the type that goes for believing this stuff, but...
Mostly it seems to be the drivers.  It is hardly safe to be out on the roads any more.  They cut right in front of you, run stop signs, and drive down the middle of the road.  Just last week I took my turn stopping at a stop sign and watched in amazement as the truck in front of me made a U-turn at Five Corners...yikes!  Oh, and that drive down the middle of the road thing?  I had just made a left turn, pulling out of our street on to the main road...which happens to be Main Street...heading toward town when the pick-up truck coming up the hill veered in to the middle of the street.  I had to serve to the shoulder to avoid being hit.  He wasn't even texting.  He was looking right at me, like he was aiming for me or something.

And then there are the incompetents.  Evidently a homeowner needed to hook up to the town sewer system.  His contractor decided that it was okay to damage private property while doing the work.  The property belongs to a non-profit where I am the vice president.  I happened upon the mess while going for a Sunday walk.  A truck parked illegally on the property, stone walls damaged, tire ruts in mud when there used to be field growth, and dumped soil and tree branches.  To top it off, it's not only private property, but it is conservation land.  The contractor had also split a utility pole and that had to be replaced!  Met with the guy and hopefully, eventually, all will be well.  He tried to tell me that they had done us a favor.  What?

It snowed today.  I think it is pretty but I hate it.  Anyway, we got all the walks and drives shoveled - three times.  Pain in the...pain in everything.  We have back door neighbors and the foot of their driveway kind of crosses over our property and my driveway.  I shoveled my drive.  Then neighbor lady came out to shovel hers.  She left a little ridge of snow between the two.  Huh?  Why?  I had just cleared half the area.  Wouldn't it be easiest to just finish her half?  Why leave a 30 foot dividing ridge that was about 6 inches, give or take, wide?  I've only been nice to these people, never caused any trouble.  I wave when I pass them on the street, say hi when out walking.  She tries to avoid speaking to me.  She used to be real friendly.  What have I done?

See her?  My drive looks white as I finished before she started and it was still snowing.  My drive is between that long ridge of snow to her right and the stick marking the edge of my parking spot.  Why would anyone leave that ridge of snow?  The next time I went out to shovel, I shoveled the ridge away.  She hasn't shoveled since.  Must be angry that I cleared the ridge. 

In other wonderful news.  I just heard that we are to expect a blizzard on Tuesday.  OH JOY.
Maybe I'll take some pretty pictures.

Words of a Picture

Some time back I wrote a post about a picture that I came across while looking through some stuff my Dad had stashed away.  I just checked to find that the post is dated from April of 2008.  Most of you will remember reading it...hah. Those of you who don't can refresh your memory about the post here.

Most of you will also remember that a couple years ago I went through the mess of settling both my cousin's and aunt's estates.  During that process 'R' and I traveled to South Carolina to sort through lots of their stuff and make arrangements for the clearing out, repair and sale of their home.  I sent a box, that contained a lot of photos, back home to myself.

In that box was this photo:

Remember?  If not, go back to that link I gave you.

Same photograph is in the photograph.
It gets better.
We have the statue that belonged to my grandparents.  The one that the original photograph was propped up against to be photographed.

So......today I finally did this:

A Last Glimpse of Christmas

Part of a very pretty Christmas window display.

Thank you, Sandcastles, for brightening my evening!

Drifting Away...

so far from the appearance that I had hoped for in changing things here.  I guess I've got some work to do this weekend to fix the mess I've made.

Needing to Warm Up

Well, so much for the gloom and doom template trial.  I'm needing something better.  At least for the cold of winter.  So...I'll try this scheme for a bit and see if it will suit me.  It really screws up the print color of the doom and gloom posts but the text wasn't so important there anyway!

A Gift from New York

My friends M and E (along with K) spent the day in NYC and look what they brought home for me!

This is a challenge to photograph as the camera wishes to focus on the flat surface rather than the 'etched' image on the interior.

This is totally amazing to me.  Especially all the reflections from the top.

How do they make these?  3 - D and all the fine lines...inside.
Baffling.  Thank you!

p.s.  I got a nifty Statue of Liberty pencil, too.  It is displayed next to a Statue of Liberty pen!

The Dark Side

I was up for a change.  Don't know as I'll keep it but it sure makes photos look good.    I have no idea what this font color will look like on the dark gray...

Comments welcome.

Okay, just previewed it to make sure it's readable.  Won't keep the color but fun to play with.

Fine Dining

With the busy-ness of the Christmas season we have done a bit of extra eating out.  Hardly fine dining, but good food.

Denny's...usually attached to a budget motel...breakfast all day.

On Rocky Neck...a fave breakfast and lunch spot only open weekends in the winter.

Inside Sailor Stan's...yes, we were the only patrons at that moment.

So Many Questions! (Bernard)

Pretty much the size of a standard wooden matchstick with no actual flame stuff on the end.  Many of them have been glued together end to end.

As you can see, it has joined the collection.  The photo shows part of the collection.
They get dusted quarterly.

Ta Da ----------

Done.

1250 'matchsticks' later

Oh, the Suffering

I thought this would be a fun project.

What was I thinking?

Still lots more to go...46 pages of patterns.  And some say delightful things like make 7X or 4X or...
I am making progress, though.  I'm working on the double pedestal.

Keystone Bridge Gets Trimmed

Just some photos to compare with the ones in my last post.  The DPW has started work clearing out overgrowth around and under the bridge.  All that seems to be left is to cut down some vine-y stuff, clean out dead stuff, and remove the remnants of an old chain-link fence.  The photos.......

Now you can see the bridge!

Beautiful at Flat Ledge Quarry

Flat Ledge Quarry

The arch reflected

Keystone Bridge

Keystone Bridge viewed facing west

"R" and I took a little walk over by Granite Pier to take a look at the Keystone Bridge (Granite Street/Route 127 passes over the bridge).  There is to be a Conservation Commission meeting next week about the DPW's plan to cut back the overgrowth in the area.  This will include some trees and they have been marked with red paint streaks.  Our bank, the Granite Savings Bank is sponsoring a portion of the work and the hope is that there will be a granite bench placed somewhere near the bridge along with a plaque about the history of the bridge.

Flat Ledge Quarry (the cut and bridge enabled quarried stone to be easily transported to the pier to be loaded on boats)

Anyway, we thought we wanted to check it out.  I'll probably be representing the historical society at the Conservation Commission meeting.

Looking toward the coast from just west of the span

The work that they are proposing and the trimming and tree thinning seems appropriate.  Personally, I think it could be more radical!

A keystone bridge of dry fit granite blocks!

It is a really pretty area, supposedly off limits as it is town water supply.  No trespassing and posted so.  Makes me wonder about the bench and plaque.  Oh well, this is Rockport and everyone seems to trespass just like we did.

Walking in the Fog of a Saturday Afternoon

'A' and I are restarting our efforts toward fitness with a few long walks each week.  Here are some scenes from today.

Mill Pond

The ducks are back

Foggy Front Beach

Driftwood next to Toad Hall Bookstore

Late summer flowers at the former GAR Hall

Pears delivered fresh to the table!

and lobsters direct to the restaurant

Four Hours on a Sunday

Chopping...

starting to work through the pile of veggies

and more chopping.

Lots of green tomatoes, red peppers, green peppers, and onions.

Pile is about half chopped

  All chopped with a new, nineteen fifty-ish 'blitz hacker'.

Colander number one - before more tomatoes and before onions - filled two colanders piled high

Cooking and stirring two large pots of relish

4 hours later - the yield

Today was Make Relish Day.

The Motive

The latest and probably the painting that will be exhibited this Spring at the Rockport Art Association.  It is from a night photo that I took of Motif #1, which is often referred to as the motive by native Rockporters.

"Are you willing to sell it?" I was asked today. 
"That's why it is called The Motive, rather than Motif 1."

When Patience Is Priority

The piano was supposed to be on the stage.  The recital was in the afternoon and as I sat it was 11 a.m.  I had other jobs scheduled for later in the day.  A return visit was not an option.

My view of the piano-less stage.

The Stage Manager was frantic.  The guy in charge of moving the piano knew that it needed to be on stage.

I waited.

And waited...for 45 minutes.

The guy wasn't showing up, wasn't answering his phone.  It was a no-go or improvise.

Did I mention that the manager was frantic (and very apologetic)?

Finally, I went backstage and located the piano.  The Stage Manager found me exploring the options for getting the piano from backstage to on stage.

He said that there was a ramp and I found it.  Then I located a power driver and some drywall screws.  I attached the ramp to the edge of the stage and the manager and I rolled the piano on stage.

Not without mishap, though.  Managers do not make good movers, nor are they used to listening and following directions from someone else.  I pushed and steered, he guided and pulled.  I said take it slowly.  He rushed and managed to yank the piano part way off its stage dolly.  The homemade dolly wasn't attached!  Thus, another problem...

Get the piano back on the dolly correctly so that it could be rolled across the stage.  With a bit of searching I found the necessary items to force things back in line. 

Finally, an hour and a quarter later.........ready to tune.  Much to the relief of the Stage Manager who offered to go get me lunch.  I settled on a bottled water, got to work and collected my pay.

We've Been Lit

Last Saturday evening was Illumination Night in Rockport.  I drove my mom's car down to find a parking space at about 6 p.m. and R followed in my truck.  The only reasonably close parking spot to where we would view the fireworks was at the library.  "Library Parking Only 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Violators will be towed."  However, the library did close at 5 p.m.  What to do?  I parked, got in the truck, and we drove to the police station to plead our case.  "We needed to find a parking spot for my mom's car and we will drop her off at it for fireworks time.  She isn't handicapped, but she can't walk from home.  It's just too far.  Will her car be okay there?"  After giving a description of her car, we were assured that we could leave it there.  Yay, it worked!

At 8:30, Mom, A, and I headed down in the truck.  I dropped them at the car to wait, drove home and R and I walked back down.

We all sat on the wall on Pier Avenue.  A great spot to watch the fireworks!