And Other Bad Words
Bought some new patio furniture on a lark today, now I just need to finish preparing the patio.
We stuck it on the deck in the meantime, where it attracted some squatters almost immediately. I think they like it. They should, as the human children gave me puppy-dog eyes until I caved and agreed to buy it. (Butter had nothing to do with the purchase, but she spent the most time of anyone on it today.)
Way back at Christmas, Meghan came up with a most appropriate gift for Beta: time at the local rock climbing gym.
We didn’t use it right away because we were out of the country, and then something always seemed to come up or we just weren’t thinking about it, until this past week. I remembered about the rock gym, Meghan arranged a time, and this morning (Mother’s Day to boot) we showed up for the first of five sessions.
A rock climbing gym, in case you’ve never been, is a series of walls with a random assortment of hand-holds embedded into the surface. It’s meant to simulate rock climbing enough to help you build strength and skill.
You wear a harness and clip onto a rope. Some faces have auto-belays, some have ropes slung and wrapped over a bar above the face (pulley-style) so a partner eases you down. The ‘cave’ wall has no ropes, as the entire face is inverted. It has a very thick pad to land on instead.
We booked two hours, and Beta made it through impressive one and a half hours of it. By the end she had “spaghetti arms,” but she was talking about going back before we were even back in the car. Score one for mom!
The Girl Scout troop was going to do some late night thing for a badge – go somewhere people work late, go to Panera for dinner, watch a movie, blah. I have to say, I thought Girl Scouts would be more like the Boy Scouts (Hiking badge YEAH!). But no. Girls apparently don’t do the cool stuff. I mean, hosting an “extreme nighttime party” as a badge requirement?!
Yesterday, we figured out that the Lyrid meteor shower peaked tonight, April 21. Faced with the choice of seeing Stop and Shop getting restocked, and heading out with blankets, 3 layers of hoodies, and some Dunkin’ hot chocolate, the choice was clear.
Screw Stop and Shop.
We went to a recreation area in Tewksbury, the closest we could find to a good, dark, publicly accessible field. After setting up a blanket under us, and another on top, we cuddled together and started watching the skies. We saw multiple meteors, two normal satellites, and one Iridium flare. Every one of those satellites was spotted by Beta, the Champion of Satellite Detection. She pointed out the Iridium satellite before it had a chance to flare, so we all got to see it.
We hung out in the field for about 45 minutes before it got too cold, and we were tired.
And of course, on the ride home, Beta saw one last meteor. Awesome end to the night.
We all went to see The General at The Cabot, back by a live musical performance.
The General is (very loosely) based on a real-life train theft during the Civil War, but it’s played to some drama and comedy by a prime Buster Keaton.
The true story is that a group of Union spies stole a Confederate train (which was, in fact, named The General) with a plan to damage the rails and generally cause mayhem on their way back to friendly territory. It didn’t quite work out as planned because they were pursued and (eventually) caught.
The cinematic version takes a few artistic liberties to entertain and “wow” the audience with stunts, as well as adding a love interest and a human side. It’s considered one of Mr. Keaton’s finest works, and “[he] always said that this was his favorite of his own movies.” (source) It’s an amazing film to watch, moreso when you realize that the stunts were real, frequently filmed in one take, and as hazardous in real life as they are in the story.
The film that we watched was from a restoration made in 2016, with a new musical arrangement that was played live. The quality of the film is very good, better than the gif above, while live music accompaniment is the way it was meant to be enjoyed.
The Cabot is a restored theater in downtown Beverly, MA. It contains many of the artistic features one would expect from a classic venues. We had center seats and a great view. This was our first visit, but won’t be our last.
Shhhh… Soldiers don’t have bedtimes.
-Beta
Alpha loves the Newsies. Alpha had Christmas money, and bought herself suspenders. Alpha asked me to sew buttons on to her pants so they wouldn’t snap off. Since we took her phone away, she’s got the time to pester me, so here we are.
Mission accomplished.
Also, reading glasses help with the threading of needles.
You know what a cardinal is, right? Little red bird with a big red attitude. I pulled into our drive way last night, and parked next to Quinn’s pretty new car. Quinn’s pretty new car is parked in front of my mother’s car (we’re car sitting while she’s Out Of The Country). I heard a noise behind me and looked in the rear view mirror.
There was a cardinal on her rear-view mirror. And it was really really angry at the cardinal inside her rear view mirror. Lets say that again for the people in the back:
There was a cardinal attacking her rear view mirror because he saw his own reflection and they are insane, territorial little beasts.
Quinn scared him off by accident, so I’m the only one who saw him. I have pictures of the results of his assault (bird poops and some weird smears on the mirror).
This morning I came out and found my rear mirror – covered in a little bit of bird poop and weird smears.
This guy is going to be a problem, I can see already.
Goes really well with rice and a veggie.
Originally from https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a54003/easy-teriyaki-chicken-recipe/
