An Orgy of Bridges

Ahhh another lovely weekend outside on the books. Look at us go! Walking miles through nature! And no one is forcing us at gunpoint! Astonishing! 

I will say now though that this story ends with margaritas and chimichangas. Life is about balance after all.

Saturday was forecasted to be unseasonably warm and sunny so we felt that it was out of our hands, we had to get out there. We decided to make a day of it and head to southern New Hampshire to revisit an area filled with trails we had hiked before, Beaver Brook in Hollis. There's a whole network of trails so I left the map reading to M, as I have gotten lost in a parking garages. 

These particular trails are some of my favorites. They're labeled as moderate, not excessively strenuous but definitely a workout, and lots of interesting things to see. Some hikes are a boring slog through trees but this one had enough variation in terrain and views to be interesting.

For instance, there's a lot of bridges. As I've discussed before, bodies of water never fail to draw us in but you know what's even more exciting? Bridges. No idea why, but if I stumble across a narrow set of planks built up over some murky water in the middle of the woods, the trail suddenly becomes ten times more interesting to me and I spend a significant amount of time standing on them taking pictures and staring into to water looking for creatures.

Look! Another one! But with railings!

Also exciting was finding the most poorly hidden geocache ever. I've joined some people on searching for these before and they're a real search. Like, they don't make it easy. We stumbled across another poorly hidden stash but I failed to record that one. Someone dropped the ball here but I didn't have the heart to mess with it.

An orgy of bridges!!

What really got me was how truly beautiful the day was. I did such a photo dump here because I couldn't stop taking pictures of the lovely ways the bright sunlight caught the surroundings and reflected off the water.

We even made a new friend, this turtle. Yes, that is a turtle I promise, we saw him move and everything. It was a pretty big guy who looked like he's been through some serious battles but came out the other side ready to snap off any curious fingers. ...We left him alone.

We also spotted some wild chairs in their not-so-natural habitat. We did not stop and now I'm regretting it- I'm anxious as ever!

***

In total, M estimates that we dragged ourselves through about 7 miles of forest. I was sore for a couple days after but I was feeling pretty proud of myself for lasting that long without complaining, a real feat for me.

And yes, to refuel from the day of actual real-live physical activity, we went to get some chimichangas and a couple blood orange margaritas (mojitos for M). Totally worth it- they tasted even better after all that fresh air.

New Adventure, New Project!

I've been moping along for a while, wishing I had a good cross stitch project to dig into but not having the energy to find and start one. I had an extra day off this week though, so I decided to visit a local needlework shop, see if that could fire up the ol' inspiration. I've been trying to make more of a conscious effort to shop local/small whereever I could anyway so it felt like a good way to spend some time on my bonus day off. 

I really can't believe that it'd never occurred to me until recently to see if there were any such shops around me. I wasn't expecting a ton of hits and there's certainly more yarn shops than needlework stores but I figured there would have to be some around Boston at least. I'm very glad to say however, I was pleasantly surprised to find one with a much easier commute (though there are more out towards Boston of course). So, on Friday I headed out to The World in Stitches in Littleton MA (they don't have a website but they do have a Facebook page you can check out).

I always get nervous when I first visit a new small shop like that. First of all, I get very nervous about parking- I panic if there's inadequate parking and I have to search for it or parallel park (the HORROR). Then, there's the near certainty that you're going to have to interact more with the people IN the shop, which is hit or miss and especially awkward if I find the shop doesn't live up to my expectations and I want to leave quickly. 

That nonsense aside, I'm super glad I went. The shop was, to my overly organized self, kind of in disarray and it was small and a little cramped, BUT that means it had a ton of stuff to look at. I was a pretty overwhelmed to be honest so I only bought a pattern, but next time I'll be more prepared to look around. I noted that they had a lot of thread I don't usually see and would be very interested in, including silks, hand-dyed cottons, and metallics that look like they may not be terrible to use (does that even exist?!).

Nerves aside, it was still a worthwhile trip because I'm pretty excited about the pattern I ended up buying. There was quite the selection of patterns (TONS!) but the colors really drew me in to this one. Once I looked closer though, I realized it was exactly the kind of thing I felt like stitching. Patterns like that- actual patterns, not, say a picture or something- are, to me, extra satisfying to work on. Plus, being able to complete one square at a time really ups the satisfaction levels. 

I didn't have all the threads it called for (only about half maybe) but I knew this was a situation where I would have plenty of similar colors to switch out with no issue. Really, I could've chosen a whole new color palette if I wanted but like I said, the current color scheme is what drew me to the pattern in the first place.

The woman who owned the shop, Randi, was extremely nice and helpful and not overbearing at all (another small-shop related concern of mine). She was able to tell me a little about the designer of the pattern and answered a couple questions I had. I later looked up this designer to check out the rest of her work and it was a Bad Choice because now I know where all my money is going forever. SO MANY AMAZING DESIGNS! Seriously, so many beautiful patterns, check it out for yourself. 

I've already started it and it's a joy to work on just as I predicted. It feels really good to be excited about starting a new project. Getting comfortable on the couch, watching something good (or not good, depending on my mood) and getting into a stitching groove... it's so relaxing to me and such a calming influence that when I'm not working on something more immersive, I feel at a little bit at a loss. 

It took a while to get to this point, I've been in a funk for a while, but it sure feels good to be back. I thought about giving it a rest and wait until I was feeling more inspired, maybe try out something new in the meantime, but instead, I followed a fellow stitcher's advice and stitched up something small and silly to get help me back into the groove. I'm glad I did because that, combined with yesterdays adventure, and I'm feeling better already.

Luckily, recently there was a conveniently timed "stitch or dare" event in one of my stitching groups where three different people gave me a stitching challenge and I had to pick one to complete. Of course I chose "grumpy animal of your choice" and decided to do a small (that's a 3 inch hoop) tribute to that snake I almost stepped on the last time I went hiking. Sorry buddy! I'm sending it off to a friend who's always trying to harass snakes when we go hiking. 

Well, I'm going to get back to my project! Have a fantastic weekend!

I Read: Fer-de-Lance

Yes, I know I just did an "I Read" post but I couldn't resist sneaking in this second one because 1. It's been a while since I spent my weekend blowing through a whole book (yeah it's only a small 200 pager but still), and 2. it was so good. 

The book that engaged several chunks of my delightful weekend was Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout, a Nero Wolfe mystery (#1 out of 33 novels and 39 novellas!). I first became aware of Nero Wolfe after stumbling across the show A Nero Wolfe Mystery on TV years ago, before streaming services were a thing and you spent half your time flipping though the channels trying to find something you wanted to watch which was hopefully only just starting. 

I'm not sure what made me settle on this (nothing else on maybe? What a thought!) but I remember watching a small handful of episodes and liking it- a detective show set in the 40s/50s with all the charm and a lot less of the camp than you would imagine. Somewhat recently, for whatever reason, it popped into my head when I was trying to find a new show to watch. After tracking it down and watching a few episodes, I decided to to give the books a shot, and I'm glad it did.

It's a classic "armchair detective with legman solves murder" scenario but the characters are such characters and the writing so good that it really sucked me in and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Nero Wolfe, the armchair detective here, is a very large genius of a man who wants nothing more than to tend his impressive orchid collection, read his books, drink his 6 quarts of beer a day (!), and enjoy his fine food cooked by his own personal chef without having to leave his luxurious New York apartment EVER. Like... ever ever. To finance this lavish yet hermit-like lifestyle he solves mysteries with the help of his trusty New York street-wise legman Archie Goodwin, from who's perspective the books are told. In this first book, they're tasked with solving the murder of a prominent University employee who had absolutely no enemies and who was killed in the most ingenious way.. for the substantial reward money offered of course. 

I would highly recommend this book and have already ordered the next 2 books (though I heard it doesn't not matter which order you read them in).

Star rating: 4.7/5

2021 Book count: 5

Saturday hikes

Usually about this time of year, as the weather starts turning nice, M and I start to complain at length at how unhealthy we are, how sluggish we feel, and how much we need to start moving again. Bikes are dragged up from the basement and random nice Saturdays are devoted to getting confused about trail markers and maps.

I'm not one for your sterile, gym-based exercise (though I'm not dissing it, good on you for working out if that's your thing!) because I am apparently a child that insists any physical activity is fun (any innuendo is unintended, I promise). That's why winters are so brutal, when we can't take hikes or go kayaking, or generally enjoy the outdoors- what's there to do?!

I still often need convincing though but luckily, even though M is also really enthusiastic about his indoor seat-based hobbies, he's much better at adulting and forcing the much needed exercise on me/us (in a very nice, encouraging way of course). 

This past Saturday, the forecast was for a high of 60 and clear skies- perfect for a hike. Sunday was a rainy day so we saved all our sitting for then and took not one but TWO hikes. Yeah you read that correctly. TWO.

We hiked Mount Misery in Lincoln, MA which was short and not nearly as bad as it sounds (though as I was hunting for the link to that, I discovered we only hiked a small fraction of it somehow). It was a pleasant enough hike but it left us wanting a little more (that sounds insane to me now that I write it out but really, it didn't take us long) so we made our way to the Gardner Hill Conservation Area in Stow. 

The Conservation area was a really nice loop of a hike, not incredibly strenuous and with lovely views. We agreed that we'd probably pass on Mount Misery but Gardner Hill will definitely be a repeat visit.

There are a lot of random small bodies of water along the hike which is definitely what you want to see, though I'm not sure why. I think there's some primal instinct or something still buried in us that gets awoken when we're out and about in extra naturey nature, and that is constantly seeking a water source.

See? W A T E R

Here is also another example of satisfying our inner caveman. Someone walked by this rock and a little something inside them said "yes. Yes, here we make S H E L T E R."

 Speaking of "a little something," here is a little snake friend that I almost stepped on. I will admit to a very undignified squawk when that happened which M will not let me forget about but who wouldn't make a little noise when the ground suddenly moves very quickly right under their feet? Luckily, he stopped to pose for a picture before slithering fulling into the underbrush. 

***

So that's our hike! It was a good one overall and hopefully is starting a new trend of movement. We went on a bike ride yesterday so things are looking up! Happy moving everyone!

I Read: A Scanner Darkly

I'm going to start out by saying I just got back from a serious Philip K Dick Wikipedia rabbit hole and it was WILD.  What a guy- a classic example of a seriously troubled individual churning out amazing work in spite of it all. 

His tumultuous personal life aside, I've read many of his books--and yes, seen a handful of the 13 movies (!!!) based on said books-- and I've never been disappointed. The book I just finished, A Scanner Darkly, is no different and the only reason it took me a little while to read it is that it's dark overtones clashed so harshly with the emergence of spring here that I had a hard time delving in (I always have a good excuse, don't I?). 

A Scanner Darkly follows a narcotics agent named Bob Arctor who, as he sets out to discover serious drug suppliers in the LA area, becomes addicted to the dangerous drug "Substance D," which ruins the connection between the two hemispheres of your brain. He becomes increasingly confused and the two parts of him- the government agent and the junkie- begin hunting each other until he finally breaks down and is admitted to New Path, a rehab facility. This work was especially personal for Dick as he struggled with his own addictions.

Yeah. See what I mean about it being a bit too anti-happy-spring for me? 

All the same, I would highly recommend this book. It's not as straight sci-fi-y as I've come to expect from Dick but it's an interesting viewpoint on the treatment of a disparaged portion of the population- it doesn't quite vilify heavy drug use but it certainly doesn't glorify it either- and corruption.

Anyway, I'm off to find the happiest book I have for my next read!

Star Rating: 4/5

2021 Book Count: 4

Hello Mr. Blue Sky

My excuse for stepping away from the computer lately is actually a good one: It's been nice outside.

I've realized over the last few years- especially since I moved to Massachusetts and began experiencing longer, more miserable winters- that the weather affects me a lot more than I thought it would. What this means is, I'm a sad cold lump for several months, then the first few warm days hit and I feel like I've taken a party drug. We got out our bikes and everything. And RODE them. Even my geranium, which I dragged inside after last summer and which hated me for it, proving it by shedding a ton of leaves, has regained her former glory and is even pushing out new blooms.

Speaking of plants, I would like to pause in my pro-spring rant to bring you another plant pride and joy, my birthday gift to myself:

Isn't she beautiful? It's a Ficus Elastica Tineke, or, slightly less fancily, a variegated rubber tree. In the background you can see the plant that started my obsession, Rubbert Plant the rubber plant, who is my ultimate favorite- when I learned he came in fun colors, I knew I would get one one day. It was ages until one appeared in my local nursery (ordering online isn't nearly as fun, plus, the hunt his half the excitement!) and serendipitously, I stumbled across this one on my birthday Treat Yo Self trip to the garden center. 

To further deviate from the original purpose of this post, allow me to share another birthday present to myself which is a new pair of glasses. I usually have two pairs in rotation just in case something happens to one but decided to add a third because... why not. I love changing my glasses frequently so I order them from Zenni, which has a lot of inexpensive but good options (I've never had any quality issues and I've ordered many pairs). I will say though that they're inexpensive for me because my vision is normal-bad so no astigmatisms or anything- I'm not sure how it'd be for someone with bad-bad vision. 

I usually go with something in a cat eye shape but decided to mix it up a little. I was specifically looking for blue ones but I fell in love with the shape enough that I was okay with settling on just streaks of blue. I like bolder colors usually (the blue isn't so pronounced when I'm wearing them) but I'm glad I got these because they suit my face so well!

Aaaanywho, with this explosion of good feels, I've broken out of my apathy a little and started some new projects. Things are still slow-going and I'm pretty sure this is something I'll always struggle with but it's felt nice to work on some new crafty things recently. 

One of the first things I did as the weather warmed up is break out the watercolors. I love experimenting with watercolors. I've nowhere near mastered it but I think I'm getting better and am pretty proud of my recent result, which is a card for my mom who recently had surgery on her hand (trigger finger). She's much better now and is healing quickly but I figured she could use a card of support since she was unable to sew for several days (tragic!).

Chickadees are the state bird of Massachusetts and fun to draw/paint because they're basically round little puff balls. Since they are super cute little puff balls, I thought it'd be extra funny to have it yelling at my mom to get better.

I dunno, it made sense when I was painting it.

I was definitely inspired by the comic False Knees when I made this (check it out! So funny!). I think I did a pretty great job if I do say so myself and though I haven't painted anything else since this, I also haven't put my paints away. It's either inspiration or laziness, only time will tell.

That's not the only project I worked on but of course, I'm making things for people that will potentially see this so I cannot yet share but it's happening, trust me. It seems to be impossible for me to just keep making things for myself- for every thing I do for me, I have to bombard at least three other people with something I've made. I suppose it could be worse.

I've also finally gotten around to hanging some art that's been kicking around for a while and generally sprucing stuff up. Spring cleaning I suppose. That and I've been taking more walks and planting a lot of flowers in Animal Crossing, which totally counts, right?

Well, I think I'm going to sit on the porch and try to coax the neighbors cat to hang out with me. I'll just leave the natural choice for a song to accompany this post before I go. Enjoy the sunshine everyone!

Birthday Museum Trip

Like I mentioned in my last post, my big birthday plans centered on a museum visit. It ended up being a more laid back day than I was originally planning, but on the day, that's just what we felt like doing. Aside from booking the museum trip, I just didn't feel like making all sorts of plans and having to figure things out so we decided to wing it. Luckily, it turned out to be a great day and an overall nice, relaxing weekend.

The museum I landed on was the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston. I decided to choose something closer to home than my first choice,  MASS MoCA, as we thought that it would be more fun to visit when we could make a whole weekend out of it. That left a few other choices but I ultimately wanted to try something new. I'm happy to report that I was not disappointed. 

And now for the photo dump...

If you were to google this museum, you'd get hit with a ton of pictures of it's courtyard. It's a large, 3 story tall glass roofed observatory filled with an amazing array of plants that, so the audio tour told us, are swapped out every few weeks- if you look close, you'll notice that the vast majority of the plants are in pots.

The rest of the museum was filled with an eclectic mix of art from all over the world, collected by Ms Gardner (1840-1924) with the help of various artist friends and experts, including pieces from some old masters as well as work that would be considered modern for her time.

 Her occupation is listed as "philanthropist" which is basically a nice way to say she had a lot of time and money on her hands, hence the museum. She seems like she was quite the lady though, doing her own thing and successfully chasing her dream of creating this museum at a time when that was most definitely not something a woman would commonly do.

She was extremely hands-on with the creation of the museum and in her will, left strict instructions to leave it as-is. She specifically wanted it to be a place where you go to feel the art and come to your own conclusions, which is why there are no placards giving info on any of the works. I love this idea in theory but M and I are the kind of people that enjoy taking hours to go through museums reading every little thing- luckily, these an audio tour for people like us.

This is a Raphael (no, not this Raphael). I loved the colors.

The walls here are covered in painted leather panels- the dark parts are tarnished silver. Think about how gloriously shiny that would've been!

A Botticelli.

This little alcove is a good example of how eclectic her collection was.

This museum initially got on my radar by hearing about the theft of 13 paintings in 1990 (there's going to be a Netflix docuseries about it in April!) and I was interested to find that they kept the empty frames up as  a sign of hope for their eventual return. Classical painting isn't my number one favorite but it's hard not to be a little awed seeing some of these and feeling the loss of the stolen work. 

Below that painting by Manet, was another piece by him called Chez Tortoni.

Those frame used to contain 2 paintings by Rembrandt, including his only known seascape, Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee (look at the light in that one!!).

That's a self portrait of Rembrandt as a young man, now gazing across the room at the empty frames of some of his later great work.

We topped off our classy museum visit (I even wore a dress, which doesn't often happen) with... good beer and tacos. And games (except I lost)! A good day hits all those important notes- classy, laid back, fun. A successful start to my 32nd year, I'd say.