Happy Friday!

Posted on September 2, 2005
Filed Under And another thing..., Red Sox | Leave a Comment

From today’s Boston Globe: “After witnessing Boston’s four-game sweep, Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella said, ”Thank God we don’t come in here anymore. I’ve heard enough ‘Sweet Caroline.’ “

The necessity of stating the obvious

Posted on August 2, 2005
Filed Under Blather, Red Sox | Leave a Comment

I feel that I must state the following:

I’m glad that Manny Ramirez is still with the Red Sox.

I’m really glad that Bill Mueller is still with the Red Sox.

There. I feel better.

Today’s bits

Posted on July 26, 2005
Filed Under Blather, Red Sox | Leave a Comment

I am torn up over the thought that the Sox might trade Bill Mueller. Say it isn’t so! He’s one of my favorites. Sadness!

I ran lots of errands this morning, tucked around working at Toscanini’s, which was pleasant and productive. After going to the bank and the post office, I worked through my breakfast and then filled up the gas tank, purchased some mexican heather to hang on the porch, picked up some goodies at TJ Maxx, and purchased a handful of food supplements (including a gigantic package of fresh basil) at Whole Foods.

Ez needs an alarm clock to tell him when to come home. He “loses track of time.” No more coming home at 8:00. Please!

In the department of good deals: Yesterday I purchased 3 packages of 100 paperclips and one 24 pack of no. 2 pencils at the combined total bargain price (including tax) of $1.14. Bless back-to-school.

A week later…

Posted on July 2, 2005
Filed Under Blather, Red Sox, daytripping, family, friends, music, photography, this old house | 5 Comments

I’m so slow these days with the blog.

So last Monday Ez and I went to see our friend Doug’s band The Hyphens at the Middle East. A fine time was had by all. We took silly pictures, and since we were just fooling around, I guess that makes them “punk rock.” A sampling:

The Hyphens at the Middle East

Hyphens--Friday, June 24th

Hyphens in blue

Hyphens, funked up, at Middle East

RRRAWWK!

So… we’re having our house painted, and it’s all bang-bang-banging and scrape-scrape-scraping all the livelong day. I’m sure it will be good in the end. Really, it could be worse. But it’s nice to have uninterupted summer weekends at home. Aw well…

Other than that, it’s been work…

Oh… and I guess I’m so behind that I never mentioned the swell visit from our Pennsylvania-Ezra-cousin-pals, Margaret and Shannon, and Margaret’s boy-companion-guy, Niall. (BCG… try it on, Niall, see what you think.) That was good fun. We saw another Sox game, which we won handily (yay!), unlike last night (boo!). We also spent what I thought was a really fun day in Portsmouth.

Evidence here:

Yet another on the bench
Niall and Margaret in matching Red Sox garb examine the day’s purchases on the Esplanade

Sisters, Cousins
Shannon and Margaret with more purchases in sunny Prescott Park

Speaking of Portsmouth, they’ve torn down this old theater building that recently had a camera shop in it for some kind of silly condo-type development in the middle of town. Grrr…

Need to do some grocery shopping today, I think. Gonna get outta the house, yo.

Saturday, Farewell, The Good Fairy, and Blue Moon

Posted on June 11, 2005
Filed Under Blather, Red Sox, dining, films, friends, the telly | 1 Comment

Nora went home today. It was so nice to visit with her… it seemed weirdly sudden when we dropped her off at the airport. Later at home Ezra was saying that he was about to ask me when Nora would be back from whatever she was doing, and then realized that she’d gone home!

Her parents came by last night, too. It was really nice to see them. I last saw them at Nora’s wedding, and before that I hadn’t seen them for probably close to ten years.

So there were a few rough hours this afternoon after Nora left. It was hot and stuffy in the apartment. I felt wiped out. The Red Sox were on tv, but they were on Fox. At least flippin’ Joe Buck wasn’t on. They started out winning, but ended up losing in another miserable turn of baseball events. Finally it has cooled down a bit tonight.

Ezra and I made yummy empanaditas for dinner… so delicious… hot veggie food with cilantro and mexican spices and raisins–ah so good! Then we watched some UB Iwerks cartoons, followed by a favorite Moonlighting episode, The Murder’s in the Mail. It’s the “man with a mole on his nose” episode. It’s been fabulous for me watching the old episodes. I can’t believe I was only ten when the pilot episode aired.

Maddie: “What are you doing?”
David: “Nothing. I’ve been clean for years.”

Now we’re going to watch the end of The Good Fairy (1935) with Margaret Sullavan (love her), Herbert Marshall, Frank Morgan (yes, the wizard), Beulah Bondi (Ma Bailey), Alan Hale (the skipper!), and Cesar Romero. We watched the first half the other night… it’s good, as I expected it would be.

Where We’ve Been

Posted on June 8, 2005
Filed Under Blather, Red Sox, daytripping, dining, films, friends, music | Leave a Comment

It’s been a good few days in my world. My good friend Nora (most of you reading this probably know her!) is gracing us with a visit this week. She arrived Saturday afternoon, and we’ve been busy enjoying ourselves since.

Saturday evening we went to see her cousin Samantha’s dance recital in Winchester. We hadn’t been to any ballet–professional, kiddies, whatever–in quite a while. It was neat to see. Samantha is very serious about dance, it seems, and I thought she was quite good. She takes classes at the Boston Ballet school, so we discovered afterward that we are familiar with some of the same ballet people. We also got to finally meet some of the Gallers I’ve been hearing about for years. By putting together different characteristics from various Gallers, especially Nora’s uncle Don, I felt like I could come up with something that looked/sounded a bit like her dad. So it all made sense! Nice people…

We saw some fireworks over a pond in Winchester as we were walking through the parking lot after the recital.

On Sunday we decided to take a crack at going to the Red Sox game. Since the Sox headed out on a road trip on Monday, it was our only chance to try to take Nora to Fenway. We started our day with some Dunkin Donuts coffee and breakfast bagel action (it’s only appropriate), and then headed down to stand in the day-of-game ticket line. We seem to have pretty good luck when we try for day-of-game tickets, and this time was no different. We got the last available tickets before they started selling the no-shows. We couldn’t get three seats together, but we were able to get two good seats behind home plate and one standing room ticket for the right field roof. Once you get in the ballpark it’s possible to move around, and the people sitting near us weren’t in their seats for about 1/2 of the game, so Ezra roamed the park, checked out the right field roof, and sat with us behind home plate. It was a fun game, especially because we won, 6-3. Afterward we made our way over to the North End for some general exploring. We ended up having dinner at a “Mom and Pop place” (Nora’s description) and then stopping in at a soccer-oriented espresso/gelato cafe. We enjoyed our coffees and gelati as Spiderman played on TBS (I think) in the background.

I did a bit of work Monday morning and then Nora and I spent much of the day in Harvard Square. We shopped, she made the necessary shoe purchases, and we got some drinks at Cafe Paradiso. I managed to get through the day without buying much more than a magazine… exercising great restraint, I purchased vicariously. We met Ez at Shilla for a little sushi, and then went to see Faust (the Murnau film) with Cul de Sac musical accompaniment at Coolidge Corner. If you don’t know them (I didn’t), Cul de Sac describe themselves as a noise/atmosphere/psychedelia band. They have provided accompaniment to Faust and other films at venues around the world. I liked the film and the whole experience. And I’m certain I’ve seen one of the band members on the T about 40 times. He must live or work on the Red line.

We were pretty slow to get going on Tuesday… I think all the activity caught up with us and we were tired… and the warm weather didn’t really help. John arrived from Portland around 2:00, and we grabbed some caffeination from the Someday to try to get ourselves moving before heading down to the waterfront for the FNX Best Music Poll party. I had never been down to the Bank of America Pavilion (formerly the FleetBoston Pavilion and before that Harborlights), and I hadn’t been to an outdoor venue in many ages. It was the first Interpol show (yeah, Interpol again) for both Nora and John. I thought they played quite well, but the crowd wasn’t strictly an Interpol crowd, and it’s just a better experience–in my opinion–to see them at a club where they’re the main event. I guess I’ll just have to take John and Nora to see them again sometime. (Yeah, twist my arm.) My fan activity this time was a surprise one. Sam, Carlos, and Daniel did a little signing before their set, and I got their signatures on a beaten-up Antics poster (apparently the last one). I’ve heard that Paul was around, but I didn’t see him and he certainly wasn’t signing anything when I was there. A guy next to me got them to sign a ticket for his small son. Nora relieved Ezra of his fan enabling duties and stood in line with me for the signing while Ez and John got beers.

And that brings us up to today. Nora went into town to meet up with a friend of hers and then headed off to visit family for a few days, so I had an opportunity to get more work in. Hope to see Nora again on Friday… and I might even get to visit with her parents! Haven’t seen them since her wedding.

It’s still hot here. Gah. I hate it. If you don’t know already, you should–I really hate hot sticky weather. I’m not physically made for it. If anything, I’m made for Fall weather. I endure the heat to get to that!

Besides the heat, I am also enduring a frustrating Red Sox game on tv. At least they’re not currently losing. They’re just not scoring yet.

I’m having visions of ice cubes… “I’m melting… melting!”

Weird sighting

Posted on April 29, 2005
Filed Under Blather, Red Sox | Leave a Comment

OK. Now I know I didn’t just see Curt Schilling walking down Holland Street. But just hear me out… I was walking home from the T, and a guy was coming towards me down Holland Street. Didn’t think much of him at first, but I realized as he got closer that I was focusing in on his face… looked so familiar… like Curt Schilling. He was squinting in the sun, a little shorter than I imagine Curt Schilling, and a little heavier. I guess this is what Curt Schilling would look like if he were slumming it a little. But consider: 1) He was wearing a Pirates jacket. We’ve seen Curt wearing Pirates stuff before. 2) He was carrying a baseball bat (kind of smallish–maybe for a child?). And–and I’m not making this us up… 3) He was limping.

Friday Thoughts

Posted on April 15, 2005
Filed Under Blather, Red Sox, dining | Leave a Comment

Last night’s altercation between Gary Sheffield and a Red Sox fan is being blown out of proportion, in my opinion. I do sort of think the guy took a swipe at Sheffield and that he was rightly ejected from the ballpark, but I don’t think he necessarily intended to punch him. Anyway, it seems that Red Sox/Yankees really is the BIGGEST STORY (flashing neon signs, whistles, sirens, dancing girls, fireworks, etc.), and the press will make this an even bigger deal over the next day or two.

It’s gorgeous. Again. What am I doing inside? Well, I thought I’d get a bit of work done. But I will get out there, damnit.

One really good, fresh sandwich is better than any amount of canned pasta.

Spring is in the air. Yesterday when I was at the Someday, it seemed like everyone was checking out everyone else. I felt eyes on me (ha! me!). It was strange and funny. Ah Spring!

The Blogging Habit

Posted on April 14, 2005
Filed Under Blather, Red Sox, friends, politics | 1 Comment

Yeah, so anyone who actually reads this thing has probably noticed that I fall in and out of the blogging habit. My most regular reader (I use the term “regular” loosely), Ezra, has actually pleaded with me for more bloginations. So, time to get back in the habit (go ahead, chuckle and imagine me dressed as The Flying Nun).

In just about an hour I am going to have lunch with my friend Lynn (Hi Lynn!). It looks like another lovely day out there. The cats are sleeping in blocks of sun, the weekend is around the corner, I have mud mask on my face, and we’re going to Paris next week. What could be better?*

Well, OK. So the Red Sox could have a winning record. The Bush administration could be magically replaced by intelligent, thoughtful, caring, fair public servants. Military entanglements around the world could untangle. Those annoying advertisements in bathroom stalls could disappear forever. Come to think of it–I haven’t seen too many of those recently. So things really are getting better.

(*Don’t say no to optimismo.)

And he’s off to a terrific start…

Posted on January 10, 2005
Filed Under Blather, Red Sox | 1 Comment

I’m just comparing this to how Curt Schilling started out in Boston. Hm… We know how that turned out.

Looking at the two biggest markets in baseball… Except for his efforts for Dubya, it’s been a love affair for Curt up here pretty much from the start, even (or maybe especially) with the famously tough media. With RJ and the New York media? Maybe not so much.

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