Of Cats and Peas

So, knowing that I feel like this:



And that I saw this on my bed this morning:

You'll understand that I would like some congratulations for getting in the shower instead of curling up with the lovebug.

(He, by the way, generally feels like this:

And who's to say he's wrong? Not I.)

Continuing in the LOL-theme for the post, we learned today at work that the office park will have an ice cream truck visiting one day a week this summer.


So! Want to place your bets now on how many chocolate eclairs I go through?

Mind you, if only fresh peas were in season all summer, I'd go through even more of those. The local crop is out now, oh bliss, meaning I went to Wilson's after work today, I will go again tomorrow, and probably Friday as well. Nor am I the only one who feels this way; while I was filling my bag, a woman and her teenage daughter came in, and had the following exchange:

Mother: Oh look, their peas are here!
Daughter: I'm on it.

A minute later, as daughter delivers the bag to their cart:

M: Wow, you cleaned them out!
D: I made myself stop when I realized I wouldn't be able to close the bag.

Amen. If you bugged my car, in addition to being treated to the regular sound of me singing along to the radio just as if I have a singing voice, you would have heard me declaring passionately, "They're just so damn GOOD!" more than once on the way home. I also didn't mind stoplights, not one little bit.

I had the brainstorm to offer the pods to friends who compost, so they won't even go to waste. Considering that I bought three and a half pounds just today, there'll be a pile by the weekend. It may as well do some good.

In summary: still tired, but happily full of peas, and ready to go to bed soon and snuggle with the kitty. I'm kind of hoping that NJ wins tonight's game, so that I can watch the Cup hoisted. No way am I making it to the end tonight.

Some Random, Mostly Hockey

So. Ahem.

Woo-hoo!

Excuse me. I'm coasting today on not enough sleep*, and I need to summon the adrenaline before I crash right here. Bruins! Game 7! Last game of the season, for all the marbles, is tomorrow. Ahhh. Go Bruins.

*Oh, I'm so tired. It's so worth it, but I'm so tired.

Yes, the game was good last night. I was nervous at the start, of course, and there were a few minutes at the beginning of the third period where I might have been shouting, "Move your feet!" but overall, that was very satisfying.

I would like to add that although I was not sorry to see Roberto Luongo chased from goal, I could have done without the constant Luongo-on-the-bench camera coverage. Enough already. Find a happy face. Replay Horton waving at the crowd. Or Milt Schmidt, getting the crowd going before the puck dropped. Or any of the current Bruins, for that matter: lots of smiles there. I was listening to the radio, so I don't know what the TV guys were saying about Luongo, but they sure were showing him a lot.

Other snippets:

• Tim Thomas has now allowed eight goals in six games in the finals. That's really good. It's also the same amount that Roberto Luongo allowed ... in game 3. Heh.
  
• A good headline for a Brad Marchand story, after the happy little pest* broke a franchise playoff scoring record last night: "Marchand's been a broken record in postseason".
• Hey, I totally understand that the hockey bloggers aren't heavily proofing what goes online. Mistakes are made. I get it. But saying that Bobby Orr "waived" a Nathan Horton banner before game 4 is just wrong. Yeesh.

*Pest is one appellation he's earned. Another is the one he used himself: rat. If he's playing for your team, you love him.

Whatever happens tomorrow night, it's the end of the season. The playoffs started two months ago, and it's going to be weird not to have them any more.

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I got my sweater close to done last night, and decided to try it on again before deciding if I need one more repeat, or if his length is good. I don't want to rush it because I'm excited to finish, and then wish I'd made it an inch longer. Still, I am excited to finish, there's no denying it.

**********
Unclear on the Concept
I called my doctor's office at lunch to leave them a message. They have a whole complex voice-mail system with different areas for referral requests, prescription refills, appointments, etc.

Except that I got the answering service instead, because the office was at lunch. In order to get the machine, I had to call back when someone was in the office.

They're not thinking clearly here.

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After I mentioned last Friday my ecstasy that fresh pea season was finally here, I did indeed go back on Saturday for more. I raked enough into my bag, okay two bags, that a woman who was there, with her daughter, picking individual pods, jokingly asked who was going to do the shucking for me.

Me. All me. I bought four pounds of peas on Saturday, which is roughly a pound and a half once the pods are off. Yum.

And then I went back again today. They're not quite as perfection-incarnate as they were, but they're still damned good. I don't have to go every day ... but twice is a week isn't so much, during this short and treasured season.

Maybe three times a week.

Quick, Before This Saturday: Last Saturday!

Before I get started here, I just have to say: PEAS! I went to Wilson's after work tonight, and they had their own fresh peas. Yay!

I bought 2.87 pounds. I ate them at red lights all the way home, then settled in and finished them.

They were fantastic.

I'm going back tomorrow. Not enough!

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All right! Now that the computer/photo Thing is resolved, I can tell you (and show you) about Saturday. You're so excited, I know!

In the morning, the main accomplishment was getting the oil change done on the car, which I admit is not a huge accomplishment but hey, anything crossed off The List is a good thing. I went home, had a little lunch, and headed in to Boston. I compromised on the walk to the T versus park there for $5.50 decision by driving half way and parking on a side street, since I don't like to pay if I don't have to, but figured I would be doing enough walking the rest of the day to make walking the whole way less alluring. (And was I ever right about that: I had some almost-blisters by the end of the day.)

I took the T in to North Station and stopped in at the Bruins pro shop to see if there were any t-shirts that wanted to come home with me. Sadly (although not for my wallet), none of them was Just Right, so I managed to walk out without stopping at the register. Still, it was nice to see signs of the season in the area:

This one is on City Hall!

I decided to walk to the Public Garden, which was the next destination on my list, since it was a nice day and the idea of going down into the T again was not immediately appealing. I didn't take the most direct route, as I had to (really, had to) stop at Windsor Button for a small knitting emergency (I was near to finishing the sock I had with me, but could see that in order to get it off the needles so I could start the second, I would either need to finish the toe [which requires time to concentrate, plus a darning needle], or I would need to put the stitches on waste yarn to free the needles [which requires a darning needle], so I needed a darning needle). I ogled the yarn (they have a nice selection), but managed to limit myself to darning needles and a hanging row counter that I wanted for my sweater. Pretty controlled, really.

Then it was on to the Public Garden. I wanted to see the statues of George Washington, and of Mrs. Mallard and the ducklings, in their Bruins jerseys, and I had a great time doing so. There were kids crawling all over the ducklings, which in a way impedes clear photos but you know what, that's what the statues are there for, so I couldn't get too bent out of shape.


The father of the little cutie in the jersey mentioned to someone that he'd been hoping to take her to her first game this week, but $400 per seat in the nosebleeds was just too much. Can't blame him, though as it turns out either game would have been well worth it.


The "jerseys" were really more like little capes, custom-made and with each duckling's name on the back (has everyone read Make Way for Ducklings? It's such a classic around here, but it won the Caldecott too, so I hope it's not just locally known).


Getting clear photos of George was easier, as he's way up there, though the lighting of sky versus jersey didn't come out as well as I'd have liked.. He too had a custom jersey, and while the number one is traditionally a goalie's number, it's also quite fitting for the country's first president, so I'll give them a pass on that (personally, I see GW as more likely to be a forward).


Having seen what I came to see, and with some time to kill, I settled down to knit on a bench in the sun. The weather was pleasant, but with a strong breeze that made the shade less palatable for spending time in. Even in the sun, there were chilly moments, but overall it was really nice to hang out, people-watch, and knit.

(When I mentioned to my friends later that it was so nice that I almost called someone just to say how happy I was, one of them suggested that that's when you go on Facebook, to share that kind of thing. Um ... okay? That never crossed my mind. I'm on Facebook, but I'm just not that deeply involved in it*. Not getting on any supposed moral high ground, just ... well, it doesn't come to mind. To digress for a moment more, it's an interesting thing about the internet, how varied our interests in things can be. For me, blogs and e-mail are things I can hardly imagine doing without, but I use Facebook only lightly and Twitter not at all. For that matter, I barely text, while some of my friends use their phones for everything but making actual calls. Technology...)

*Plus, though my phone may technically be capable of going online, I don't know how to, and since it would cost extra, I have no particular interest in learning.

Back to Saturday! After a little while knitting, it was time to move on to the MFA to meet my friends. Back on the T, where the crowded car practically emptied at the museum. I was a little early (how shocking), so I sat on the steps in the sun and finished sock number one, and had time to put the toe on waste yarn and clear the needles to start sock number two (I left the toe to do at home, when I could be sure of not having to stop in the middle). Just sitting in the sun, knitting, ahhh.


But when my friends arrived, it was time to put the knitting away and go see Chihuly! If you're not familiar with him, he's an absolutely amazing glass artist, and the MFA had a big exhibit. I was telling my friends that I had checked the museum's website for their photo policy, and it said that photos were only allowed of items in their permanent collection, not loans, and while I could understand that, I was bummed about it. However, when we went in to the exhibit, at least half of the people had cameras and camera phones out, taking pictures, and not a guard complained.

Well, okay then! Out came my camera, and I went to town. Here are just a few, to whet your appetite and make you want to go yourself. (If you've been here long, you can imagine that I took a lot more pictures than this. A LOT.)


Just amazing. They did a wonderful job with the lighting and the reflections, too. And literally as I was starting to feel like I couldn't take in any more, we were at the end of the exhibit. Just the right size, to me.

We took a quick walk through the new Art of the Americas wing, where I was glad to see some old favorites:

I could not get this without glare. Argh.

Go to the MFA if you can. If you're local, go to the Chihuly, it's there for another two months. If you're not local but you plan a visit to Boston, you really should go anyway.

After the museum, it was time to head to JP for dinner, which was really good (and not too spicy for me) Indian at Bukhara. As it turned out, we were then right down the street from ice cream favorite JP Licks: how fortuitous!


After which, I took the T home, arriving just before the puck dropped. The game, well, that was game two, and I was much more depressed about it at the time than I am in retrospect, with games three and four being what they were (ie, successful). Saturday night was not so much fun. But I did make plenty of knitting progress, at least, finished the toe of the sock and got to the second sweater sleeve (since completed).

And that is the (last) Saturday Report, at last!

And just in time for game five. Go Bruins!