weather

Clouds of Boston

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clouds in the skyWhenever I’m in an elevated location where I can see the city from a new perspective, if I can, I like to take pictures.  This is my most recent photo seeing Boston from above. If you look at the far right, just where the land meets the sky, you can see the gas tank near the expressway.

It was a warm sunny day. Blue sky and white puffy clouds. I love the clouds.

Back in November 2007, I was doing 30 Days of Thanks on my old blog. One of the things I’ve always been thankful for is the ability to go outside, look up and see beauty in the clouds. I wrote about a new group that I had learned about called the Cloud Appreciation Society.

The group still exists. Last night I read an article about the founder, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, in the latest issue of Kinfolk. I learned that he gave a TED Talk, Cloudy with a chance of joy. Watch it, when you get a chance.

Pretor-Pinney is trying to get people to stop associating negativity with clouds and to focus on the beauty instead. He shows some amazing cloud pictures. Talks about the act of watching clouds. Doing nothing but letting our minds wander, which can spur creativity. He also gives a nice final quote.

Always remember to live life with your head in the clouds. ~ Gavin Pretor-Pinney

Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow. Please Go!

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snow banks on sidewalk roasted sweet potatoes collageIf it’s Monday, then it must be a post about snow! It feels like everyday it’s snowing or we are recovering from more snow. Plus, last night the wind chill was in the double digits below zero. It was scary cold!

Tonight ABC nightly news started coverage from right here in Quincy to talk about the horrible weather. You know it’s serious, when the national news starts in your city!

Here are some more pictures to give you an idea of what we are dealing with here. The large picture to the left is a view down my street. Below to the right is the walkway to my car. My car is behind the snow bank and I won’t even go into the details of the ordeal to back out. I have to to maneuver around the snow bank and try not hitting my neighbors’ cars. In order to get back into the space again, I have to go up another street and come down the hill, so I can drive in at the right angle. I just wanted to cry after backing out the first time. Today it wasn’t quite as bad. G has been digging my car out each time and he made more space.

Above that picture is a pan of roasted sweet potatoes. When it’s cold out, there’s nothing like roasting some vegetables to warm things up in my apartment. Plus, they were so good! I microwaved them first, then cut them up and added olive oil, garlic powder, ground ginger, ground rosemary and sea salt.

Hopefully you had a nice long weekend and your parking situation did not make you cry! Let’s hope this is a good week!

Monday in Collage

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Monday in Collage
It seems that the post that I wrote last Monday could very well have been recycled for this Monday as well. The T was a mess again with the new snow storm that is currently going on.

While in my opinion, it should have been shut down before the snow even started based on what happened last week, the train service is shut down through the end of Tuesday. Also, finally the Governor declared a State of Emergency for Massachusetts. Hopefully, with additional equipment now being requested, the snow will be removed and it will be safer to get around. We’ll see. There’s supposed to be another storm coming on Thursday and on Sunday. It’s just too much!!!

Above are some pictures that I took on Instagram that I thought I’d share here. The snowy scene is from my backyard. The table and chairs have almost disappeared under the snow! I finally tried the Red Velvet Oreos. They are so good! But I gobbled them all up really fast, so they are not pictured here.

Luckily, when I went food shopping before the storm, there was an enterprising Girl Scout in the store selling boxes of cookies. People were swarming to get them! I got three and had some Thin Mints today. A wonderful classic. Since I ate all the Oreos, G finished that box up. I also bought the Thanks-A-Lot and Cranberry Citrus Crisps. I’ll be opening those soon! The boxes are much smaller than they used to be, so they don’t last as long.

Also, in the midst of all this snow, the paperwhites that my mother gave me for Christmas have bloomed. They smell so good and remind me that spring will arrive eventually. It will be a very nice change.

How is the weather where you are?

Subway Stories: Keep Calm

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Keep Calm Red Line MBTA Deep breath. Stay calm.

It will be okay. It’s only a commute.

In case you haven’t heard, the Red Line has been a nightmare recently. Not that it isn’t awful a great deal of the time, but it’s really awful today. In a whole other dimension awful.

Those of us who rely on the Red Line to get to work are being advised not to take it. Seriously.

To seek alternative means. I’m working on getting a ride, but the car is still being dug out of the snow.

So I’m trying to be productive and calm myself down.

Deep breath.

I started thinking that I needed to keep calm and carry on. Or actually to keep calm and avoid the Red Line. So I decided to make a nice little image with one of my old photos and introduce the Subway Stories series to the new blog.

Maybe this blog post will go viral and earn me all kinds of money, so I don’t have to commute on the Red Line ever again!

Yup. Realistic. *sigh*

Deep breath.

Okay. Carry on…..