A friend loaned me The Hare With Amber Eyes, by Edmund de Waal. This is a fascinating family memoir, as the author traces the history of a collection of Japanese netsuke that have come to him as an inheritance. The story is breathtaking in its scope – ranging from the Paris of the Impressionist painters and…
I’ve been wasting a little time over the past few days playing the virtual reality game Ingress, which was recently released for the iPhone (previously it ran only on Android). This game has the unique feature that the field of play is the entire world, the actual real word, with virtual elements superimposed. So to…
As I get ready to go away for a week, I’m wrapping up my spring garden by harvesting the rest of the spinach and the bok choi and freezing the part I can’t eat. I’ve been eating the asparagus (and feeding it to friends) pretty much as I’ve gone along. I had a great…
I just had a slight panic, but all is well now. I was getting sleepy and thinking of going to bed early when I realized that I hadn’t seen Pekoe for a while. Thinking back, I realized it was a long while. The last I could remember was when he was getting tangled up in…
Alex and I saw this review in the Boston Globe, so we decided to try The Dumpling House on Mass Ave. in Cambridge. The Dumpling House, Cambridge The whole experience was very much like eating in Chinatown. First it took forever to find a legal parking space, and the one we found was about a half…
My brother just sent me this video, which he created from one of my father’s old 8mm home movies. Travel back with me into the past to my first birthday party, August 1947, in Stratford CT. Surrounded by parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Kind of blurry and way too short, but wonderful to have!…
Oh man, I am getting too old for this. I helped with picking garden setup this morning, although we had a good turnout of men and a few younger people for a change, so I didn’t feel too bad taking on just the easy jobs. Especially because it was pretty humid and humidity always knocks…
When I heard the rain pattering down this morning, I almost didn’t go to the conservation trail walk. But I did drag myself out and it was actually quite a lovely walk. A bit soggy, but lovely. The first spring green is finally starting to come out and somehow the rain makes it all greener.…
Once a month, my town’s Conservation Commission holds a Conservation Coffee where residents can get together with the conservation team for an informal discussion of current issues. To keep things interesting, the event is held in various venues around town. I hadn’t managed to get up early enough to attend any of these before, but…
It’s been a long, cold winter here in the Northeast, and spring is coming later than usual. About two weeks ago, when I would normally be thinking of planting peas, I went out to my garden and found this: Discouraging. Then last Monday, I was scheduled to lead a guide training walk at Garden and…