Just stuff.

I'm not blogging from my phone today, so maybe I'll spell things correctly and use correct grammar this time. Maybe.

Life has been chugging along at a nice pace. We've been doing stuff (I'm not going to say that we're busy, because we are, but we always are so why dwell on that. And I'm not even sure if busy is a bad thing anymore. I think that it just is.). I mentioned in my last post that we had friends over for a end-of-season cookout, and you saw the remains of the beverages consumed. What's funny is that I don't think I had even one glass of wine or a sip of beer all night. I was spending my time talking, or eating, or swatting mosquitoes. Man, oh man, the mosquitoes are still deadly, even this far into October. Another effect of global warming that we have to contend with.

After our cookout two Saturdays ago my family came up to visit. We went on a walk in Boston and then ate dinner along the Boston Harbor. I am amazed at how little Doug and I go into the city. Even when we lived in Allston we rarely went into the city. However, when we're there, we ask ourselves why we don't spend more time there. We complain an awful lot about it, but what do we really know about it? For example, there was a movie being filmed right outside the Old State House. A big-budget flick, too, with Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Bacon. Who knew? Probably people who spend their time enjoying their city rather than wishing they lived anywhere but here. So we are going to change our mindsets a little and we are going to start saying things like, "I like Boston," and "What a nice place to live," and we are going to see how this goes.

We learned that Maria, my youngest niece, wants to live in a city when she grows up. And she wants to be on Broadway. So this means that she wants to live in NYC. She is pro-city and knows this with 8 year-old certainty. I like that.

Maybe this will be our backyard someday; the Boston Harbor.

It fills Doug's requirements of being near the water. It could fill the requirement of being near a public transport line that runs more frequently than the commuter rail. It could also fill the requirement of allowing for a better commute. If the Boston Harbor were in our backyard, do you think we'd actually go on a cruise of the Boston Harbor Islands?

Dreams of water views and twenty-minute commutes don't stop us from keeping things alive and cooking at home. In an effort to live our values, we rearranged some of our living spaces. I don't have many photos to share with you because I'm waiting until the rooms are "complete" to show you the final product, but here's a photo to give you an idea of what we're doing:

Where's the giant TV? In the basement. Where's the bookcase? To the left of the plaid armchair. Where's the computer and table? Out in the sunroom again. Now we have a more formal living space, but I hesitate to call it a formal living room. We are not the kind of people who have "formal" spaces. It is really more of a library, or a study zone. I have been sitting in the armchair to study. Doug has been sitting in the vinyl chair to read. And, without the couch and TV in the living room, we are eating meals at the dining table. The change has been good for us; helps us to structure our time better. We aren't watching less TV, either; we just have it on more infrequently. We use other things, like the radio or record player - or nothing at all - as background noise. There's something very civilized and natural about this arrangement.

But there's nothing natural about Sherman's arrangement with his cone. He has a new one now, because he destroyed the cone he came in. Scratched it to death. Last Saturday when one of our friends came over to our house, he took one look at Sherman, who he had never seen before, and said, "Ew." Maybe it was the ratty cone that elicited that response. Maybe it was the crinkly ear. Or the runny eyes (which are runny because he can't wipe them, thanks to the cone). Regardless, the poor guy needs help. And we just can't decide if we want to pay for it, because it seems that the kind of help Sherman needs is expensive.

Decisions, decisions. Life is all about decisions. Here's one decision that I just made and it was so terribly easy to make - I'm going to bed now. I wish they were all this easy.

Happy places.

Let's give my list of positives for this week a theme - places that make me feel good, and that allow positivity to enter into my life.

* Brimfield. We've been going here for the past three years or so, or twice a year even in some years. We go to Brimfield for the antiques and the oddities, like the guitar that Doug's ogling here, or the card catalog turned into an electrician's parts holder that I'm eyeing here: We were there this past Saturday, and while we didn't come home with anything much this time (old postcards of wildlife, which will have to be the subject of another post because I love old postcards and want to do them justice), I still loved being out in the open, being in the fields, and being around all of this junk with stories attached... It just makes my step a little lighter.

* Boston Common & Boston Public Garden. These public spaces in Boston are always so full of great things to look at. People playing sports, people walking through to get to somewhere else in the city, homeless people sleeping on benches, kids playing on the playground, families hanging out on blankets having a picnic, people getting married, people having their photos taken, people feeding the squirrels and the geese, tourists looking at the statues. Being in these places makes me feel like I'm part of something big, like I'm part of the world. We spent some time in the Common and Garden with my good friend from high school, her wife, and their son this past weekend. We had a picnic - can't remember the last time I had a picnic, but what fun! - and played a little soccer before walking around a little and then heading home. Little Ely is an explorer, that one - very curious, and very independent. Here he is exploring the world from a park bench and here he is enjoying our soccer game from his mommy's back. He had little interest in the game when we tried to have him kick the ball, but perked right up when he was in that carrier. He's another positive force in life, mine and that of everyone who knows him, I'm sure. He's such a happy boy.

* Washington D.C. Doug and I recently visited our fine capital city, and we loved it there. We felt part of the world there, part of world events and part of something bigger than ourselves. Maybe one would get dragged down by daily routines in D.C. just like one does here, but I wouldn't mind finding out for myself, living there for a bit and seeing how I would like it. Because vacationing there was great, and we were very sorry to leave.

* Maine. I really haven't spent all that much time in Maine and have only seen a very small part of the rather large northern state, but the time I have spent there has been really very enjoyable. Doug and I like to go to Ogunquit in the summer and we were engaged there. We have friends in Portland and we visit them whenever we can. We vacationed in Liberty last summer and will do so again this year. Life seems peaceful in Maine, and I feel open to possibilities when I'm there. This is a good thing.

* My bed. My bed is a place, after all, and it's a place that I like to be. I like to sleep in my bed, but I also like to read in my bed and watch TV from my bed. I like to fold laundry on my bed while I watch TV, and I like to rub Doug's back when he's laying on the bed after a long day at work. Plus, we got the hardest mattress Gardner Mattress had to offer, which does wonders for my back. I can relax when I'm in my bed, and I often wake up feeling energized and ready to go. Ready to be positive about my day. I thank my bed for this. Thank you, bed. Maybe I'll go visit you right now.

A whole lot of nothing.

* Tonight on NPR, WBUR, actually, but maybe other NPR channels, it seems to be musicals night. First I listened to an On Point with Idina Menzel, the star of Wicked and Rent, and now I am listening to a Fresh Air with Burt Bacharach, showcasing his music for the revived musical Promises, Promises. I have officially come to the conclusion that I do not like musicals. Not only is the music bloated and ostentatious, but I forget that I'm supposed to be paying attention to the lyrics when the song breaks out, so I get impatient and distracted. I'd rather be bleaching my shower than listening to a musical, and you'll never catch me watching Glee.

* Doug and I went into Boston on Saturday. Technically I go into Boston each day for work, but it doesn't count because I rarely leave my building. On Saturday we walked around Back Bay - stopping in the Garden for a swan boat ride then hiking through Beacon Hill and over to the North End, where we ate at Bacco and watched the Kentucky Derby. My desire to go to the Kentucky Derby someday has been solidified, and I might even be encouraged to wear one of those wild hats.

* My new favorite meal is eggplant parmesan. I get it at all Italian restaurants now. While I'm not completely convinced that there's any nutritional value to an eggplant, which uncooked feels a bit like a sponge and cooked has the consistency of pureed banana, I am completely convinced that it's better for me than a big plate of baked ziti and I think that it follows more closely my desire to live by a Mediterranean diet.

* Doug and I have been watching The Tudors on Showtime. The show became my friend during my clothes transfer project, and we're already just about halfway through season two. It's bawdy and terribly historically inaccurate, which makes for pretty good TV. And it beats watching Glee.

* I rue the day I discovered Popcorn, Indiana's Kettle Corn. I have absolutely no willpower if I open a bag. This bag? Opened on Sunday when I was doing my self-assessment, and it was gone by the time I went to bed on Monday. If I am what I eat then I had better stay out of the sun and heat, otherwise I'll pop up into a nice, fluffy white piece of popcorn. Either that or a soft and squishy piece of eggplant with a nice dollop of sauce and mozzarella on top. Unfortunately, tonight for dinner it's a baked potato (and a desperate attempt to ignore the unopened bag of kettle corn in the cupboard).

* Only one more story to read in Alice Munro's Too Much Happiness. Time to stop blogging about nothing and get reading.