West for the Weekend ("Boston" trip, part 3/?)

(Part 2 here.)

I knew from the time I started planning this trip that I wanted to visit one of my friends (Friend 4) at her house in western Mass, because on my last few trips, she had come east to see me instead, and I wanted to see her house! In a very propitious turn of events, though, it turned out that the weekend I was coming was also the Mass Sheep and Wool Festival. Knitters ho! This is our idea of a good time.

So, on Saturday morning, I got myself up and on the road in short order, and listened to my audiobook as I drove. Most of the way was the route I used to take going to college, out Route 2, since I went to UMass Amherst, back in the day. The weather was decent, the views very green, and the drive boring in the best possible way. 

Upon arrival, I got to see her (very cute) house briefly, and say hi to her husband as he was setting off to visit some family, before we took off again. (These are the friends who visited me in February, and we had so much fun.) The drive seemed short as we were catching up, and before long, here we were.

I'd never been to this festival, which is like a much smaller version of Rhinebeck. Which was kind of nice, as it was good and enjoyable and not overwhelming. For some reason, this year was announced as the last, which is sad: it was so good! But I'm sure they had their reasons.

This was at one vendor's booth, and wow.

There were sheep! The first row of buildings had vendors, and then there was the bard with all the sheep.

Beyond that was food, and of course once I saw them taking potatoes and making them into fries, I had to get some, yum.

More booths and more sheep.

More sheep!

Such cute sheep sweaters!

On our way out, there were more sheep, "mowing."

We stopped at a place on the drive back and were amused by these outside it.

...then got closer....

Cowch! Oh, what an awesomely bad pun.

I photographed my haul when we got back to the house.

I especially love the leather project bag. It folds up so nicely, then opens wide...

...and holds a lot!

We got lucky with the rain not starting while we were out; it did start when we were out to dinner, but we only got damp, not drenched. Had a good meal and then relaxed on couches for the rest of the evening.

And that concludes Saturday! More to come, there's a whole week left.

Have a Lipstick, Dad!

So this was unexpected. I’m not sure why Clinique is advertising makeup for Father's Day, but okay!

I mean, my dad wouldn't have, but some dads do, I suppose. It certainly got my attention, which is what an ad wants! And made me laugh, which even (holy cow) 17 years after my dad died, is something new from father's day ads.

And We're Off! ("Boston" trip, part 2/?)

At the rate I'm going, I'm going to finish talking about this May trip by September, but who cares? Not I. (Part 1 here.)

I hit no snags getting to the airport, and had planned out carrying my bags downstairs over the previous couple of days, so I didn't have to kill myself that morning. Checked my bag (yeah, yeah, I know), flight wasn't delayed, and other than the irritation of being forced to gate-check my roller bag (I was one of the last three passengers before the groups that had already been told to check theirs, but we got to the plane door and were stopped), things went smoothly.

Up in the air!

There were two reasons that I was pissed about gate-checking the bag. 

• First was that I didn't pack it intending to be checked, so I worried that things would be damaged, as well as the nightmare idea that it would be lost, with all my "I don't want to check this" items. (Happily, neither of these ended up happening.)
• The second was that it would go the baggage claim with all the checked bags, meaning I had to carry my "Why is this so heavy" personal item all the way. At least I was already going to be going there, but my shoulders were not a fan of this plan.

But after a considerable wait at baggage (seriously, I didn't rush there, and it was still half an hour before I had both bags), I finally had all my luggage and could go find the shuttle to the rental car center (at Logan, it isn't in the terminal, it's nearby). Where I then waited in line another half hour, because of course.

When it was my turn, the woman and I talked about the level of car I chose (compact SUV, Kia Soul or similar [I really was hoping for that, as it would be familiar]) and how they were more likely to give me something bigger, which I didn't want. She asked if I would rather have a sedan, I said yes, and she sent me off to the far-off spot that should have a Toyota Camry. 

Which it did, but it also had two people getting into it, so after confirming that they also had been assigned the same car (sigh, that's some system they have), I got to haul all my stuff back to the counter and wait for her to finish with her current customer before getting back to me. This time the car was a VW Jetta, and it was waiting by the door, so I was able to give it a good once-over before getting in and figuring out all the controls (I've never driven a VW before).

Unfortunately, all these delays had added up to me leaving the airport in rush hour, which my 1:42 arrival time was supposed to avoid. I took a screenshot of the GPS while in stopped traffic:

Look at all that red. No good way to go. But all things come to an end! I got there at last, got settled, and had a good dinner at a favorite restaurant with the friend I was seeing the most.

Note: I had to come up with ways to refer to my friends without using their names. I can't use initials, as somehow there are four names that start with J and three that start with M. 

So Friend 1 (F1) and I had dinner, it was good to start catching up, and then I kind of crashed out. As one will after a long busy day.

On Thursday, I had a bit of A Moment with the car while on my way to a grocery store. Reminder that my car is a 2019, so I know technology has leapt ahead since then. This one let me Bluetooth my phone in, which my own car does do, but it doesn't integrate as much as this one did. I could use the display screen for my map directions, and it showed Audible for me to keep listening to my audiobook, which was great. (I'm currently listening to a book that's 31 and a half hours, so it's slow going to get through, though excellent.) 

Less great, however, is what it did to me as I was making a turn to go around the back streets to the store. I'm turning, the book is playing, and suddenly this Voice loudly says something like, "Hi, this is your gemini assistant to help you navigate!"

Understandably, I think, I half-yelled What the Fuck! Like, where did that come from, you know? And then the damned thing said that if I was frustrated, it could help me.

-_-

What.

I am not proud of my reaction in the moment (though, hey, I didn't actually drive off the road), but I can tell you that in that situation, either "Shut up!" or "Turn off!" or "Stop!" will turned the cursed thing off.

Ahem.

Annnnyway. I stopped in at the grocery store to pick up a few things (so I didn't have to pack them), and was perplexed to notice this. Liquid Death water? Seriously.

Aww, look, Coke and my Bruins! In some sense, Massachusetts will always be my home. 

Thursday afternoon, I was off to see Friend 2 and her daughter (F2 and F2D). It was strikingly green by their house.

It wasn't the only time I could see F2, but F2D got an internship and was heading out that weekend, so it was my only chance to see her (she's in college, and such a great kid, I love her.) We had a nice time, the three of us, sitting around and petting the cat (this is balloon cat's house) and catching up.

After F2D left to go watch her brother in a play, F2 and I kept chatting until her husband got home. I adore her husband as well, and was delighted to go out to dinner with both of them. And amused that I had to drive, as their kids had both the family cars out. We had a good dinner, though the ... unusual musical act that started while we were there did drown out remaining conversation. But it turned out not to be the last time I saw them, so no regrets there.

On Friday, I left F1 hard at work and took myself out for coffee.

This is a coffee shop I remembered fondly from living in the area (it's in Stoneham, specifically), and I was glad to see it was still there. Delicious drink.

Charming place.

I was meeting yet another friend, Friend 3, in Melrose, where once upon a time we both lived. Melrose is north of Boston, and it's a cute place. Have to say that I miss the architecture.

And I was glad to see this welcoming crosswalk!

We had a really good afternoon! We met for lunch, had a good time shopping, and then got coffee and sat knitting and catching up for a while. It was so nice to see her.

Friday night was a quiet night in with Friend 1, eating leftovers, and getting ready to go away over Saturday night. More to come!

There's Not Winning the Lottery....

And then there's whatever you call this.

The winning numbers from the other night's Powerball:

And our ticket:

Fate laughs.

The Earth Moved! I'm All Shook Up

I promise that I am going to write more about my trip (before I forget every detail), but today I have to tell you very important news. Did you hear that there was an earthquake off Cuba today?

I can tell you that there was, and it was at 2 eastern time, because I felt it. Here! In southwest Florida! And it was, pardon my French, fucking freaky. 

I was sitting in my office chair and realized that it felt like it was vibrating slightly. Then I noticed the lamp was shaking. And the closet doors were vibrating. And the ceiling fan, which was not on, was shaking.

It probably wasn't two minutes, but that is a really long time to wonder if it's an earthquake or if your building is about to collapse.

This is actually the second time I have felt an earthquake, but this time was longer and, well, not violent, but more noticeable

To me, anyway. Mom didn't notice. She was walking from her room out to the lanai, and then sat down in one of the chairs that, while it isn't a rocking chair, kind of bounces, so it all blended together for her. But it took a while for me to feel normal again.

Pets That I Met ("Boston" trip, part 1/?)

First note: I'm calling this the Boston trip because...that's what I call visiting the area. The only time I actually spent in the city of Boston was at the airport, or going to/from the airport. I spent all the time in various suburbs and into western Mass, but yeah, Boston it is.

Second note: This trip recap is in no particular order. I just wanted to be clear that there is no plan!

Note for part 1 specifically: The pets in question were mostly cats, just one dog. I think of cats and dogs the way I think of speaking French and Spanish. I studied French, and while I'm not a fluent speaker at all*, it is familiar to me in a way that Spanish, for all its similarities, is not. I "speak" French, not Spanish. Similarly, I "speak" cat, not dog. I know that my friends who are dog lovers feel about them the way I do about cats, but it isn't that way for me.

*One of my great language achievements was telling a Paris cab driver where I wanted to go and having him understand me. I also apologized for not having closer to correct change, and he understood me. This happened when I was a college student, so it's a long time ago, but I still flush with pride to think of it.

On to the pets! First house, two cats, one fluffy (ragdoll) and the other not so much.

Floof:

There were birthday balloons in the house (not for the cat's birthday), and she liked to walk with them.

Second, not-so-floof:

After stretching out in the sun, she did an army-crawl move forward.

Floof loaf.

Tabby stripes.

Classic box.

Second house, dog. The only photo I got was of her making friends. We got cozy.

Third house, two cats, both floofy. The counter inspector:

And the floor friend.

And that was it! I was definitely feeling cat-deprived by the time I got home. Newman gifted me with zoomies shortly after greeting me when I walked in.

Then he gave me these poses.

AKA "go ahead, caller, I'm listening."

Such a good boy.