Last Tuesday

This Tuesday
My arms are still sore from shoveling/clearing the car yesterday, on top of the same on Sunday, on top of carrying luggage on Saturday, but they aren't quite as bad as yesterday, so I don't think I've done any real damage. They're more move-ow, whereas yesterday was move-OW!-fight back tears of pain. I am taking tonight off from swimming, though, just to give it more of a rest (and I'm a little nervous about tomorrow, when I have to go into the city, which means carrying the laptop around, but sufficient unto the day, etc.).

Meanwhile, seeing the sun today was very nice! Two days of gloom and snow, on top of the physical pain, was not good for my morale.

Last Tuesday 
I learned that as well as missing some snow and the Patriots' parade, I was far away when the Bruins fired their coach* (they had the press conference during the parade; tacky optics, guys). I think it's a shame, but hey, it felt inevitable, and we'll see what happens the rest of the year and over the summer. (They're 3-0 since then, but I think that may be at least partly from Shame Motivation.)
*And today, he was hired by arch-rival Montreal; way to twist the knife, man.

Meanwhile, following Perfect Breakfast Redux, we went for a beach walk that turned out to also be perfect. The weather was warm, but there was a good breeze, and the water pleasantly cool for walking in. There were tons of shells, and lots of birds to watch.

This gull was just hanging around in case the pelican had any leftovers it didn't want.

The pelican decided what it didn't want was the gull's company, and took off.

Maybe a little farther apart would work?

"They're such pests, gulls, don't you think?"

Then there was a flock of terns.

They always make me think of little old men, with tufts of hair sticking out.

I don't want to go out on the boat, but it's scenic, isn't it?

Such a beautiful view.

We stopped at one of the hotels to have a drink at their outdoor bar, and just sitting there, barefoot in the sun, well. Painful to think of it now. It was lovely.

And the haul.

Sadly, a couple of the fighting conch (the large ones from three to five o'clock in the photo) turned out to be too ... fragrant to keep. Yuck. Trust me. Meanwhile, look at the white piece at 11 o'clock, between the two big sunray venus ones; can you imagine the size of the whole shell that was part of? Possibly a channel whelk; that page says they grow up to eight inches. Whew.

Also on Tuesday, I reached the magic number of octopus arms. Legs. Tentacles?

Tuesday night we went out to have dinner with my mother's oldest friend, or rather longest-standing friend; that sounds better. Anyway, they met when they were two years old, and it was nice to get to see her again, as well as have a very good Italian dinner.

And on the way home, I saw a plate I had to try to photograph, despite the lighting challenges. See?

Got it better here. It's me, ccr!

And that was Tuesday.