Random (a lot of it local)
Apr. 16th, 2010 03:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidIt's spring: street cleaning announcements have started my morning. Also this week: tulips, rhododendrons, and a sour cherry tree in bloom.
New food products noted:
Chobani has pomegranate flavored Greek-style yogurt, with actual pomegranate seeds. Yum.
And Trader Joe's is now carrying kosher-certified salt water taffy (which, of course, has no salt water involved in its production).
Harvard St. in Allston now has bike lane. Not bike lanes: they moved the double yellow lines about 18 inches to one side, enough to buy them a dedicated bike lane in one direction, while the other direction has huge bike symbols stenciled on the main lane. Given the potential issues with dooring in a dedicated lane next to parked vehicles, I'm not sure which is better, though in this case, Harvard St. is extremely traffickus and prone to double-parked trucks and other vehicles, so it's unclear that this will help a lot, though I suppose it shows goodwill towards bike traffic.
The taxes got paid, both FY2009, and 1Q2010. Ah, the freelancing life. (This is the first time I've had to deal with estimated taxes. I was surprised that the form was based on last year's AGI, rather than taking, say, a percentage of whatever income I'd generated in the first quarter.)
I haven't been to the National Heritage Museum in Lexington before, but there's an exhibit until June 27 I so want to see, "Jim Henson's Fantastic World." Anyone else interested?
I've decided not to get Enterprise Farm's winter share next year. I'll miss the citrus, and the grains, but I'd rather have more seasonal foods that are more local (and now that I know which farm does the grains, I might be able to do a bulk buy in the fall). Instead, Red Fire Farm's full season share, then the deep winter share, which will take me to March. At that point, I should start eating down whatever I've preserved. And I can always supplement from Russo's or Boston Organics if I want.
Dogs have to be leashed around here. I saw one who was wearing his, and carrying the rest of it coiled up in his mouth, rather like a toy. I don't know why this amused me so much, but it did.
The new main Cambridge Library only opened in the fall, and the old building part is going to be closed next week to fix some water damage. I don't remember there being issues previously with strong rains. (Though the plus side is that I'm actually going to the library fairly frequently these days, which is great for reading new books and seeing new movies, rather than doing lots of comfort reading.)
I was in Worcester for Shabbat last week, for a bar mitzvah. The boy did a good job, as did his parents and sister (they all read different aliyot). I still don't like a lot of things about my parents' shul (mostly on the ritual side, just stuff that drives me nuts, but I know I have different sensibilities than other people there, so I live with it, since it's my parents' place), but it was clear that this was a community celebrating a wonderful kid's religious majority, and that was nice (he's a geek, so at the lunch-kiddush afterward, there were large chess pieces arranged on some of the tables for a chess puzzle). One thing done at mincha-maariv I've never seen before: the one kohen had had an aliyah that morning, and waived his getting of the first aliyah, so when someone else was called up for rishon, it was "b'r'shut ha-kohen," "with the permission of the kohen" (rather than "b'm'kom kohen," "in the place of the kohen"). I suspect it wouldn't fly in an ortho davening, but it seemed a reasonable workaround for the situation.
New food products noted:
Chobani has pomegranate flavored Greek-style yogurt, with actual pomegranate seeds. Yum.
And Trader Joe's is now carrying kosher-certified salt water taffy (which, of course, has no salt water involved in its production).
Harvard St. in Allston now has bike lane. Not bike lanes: they moved the double yellow lines about 18 inches to one side, enough to buy them a dedicated bike lane in one direction, while the other direction has huge bike symbols stenciled on the main lane. Given the potential issues with dooring in a dedicated lane next to parked vehicles, I'm not sure which is better, though in this case, Harvard St. is extremely traffickus and prone to double-parked trucks and other vehicles, so it's unclear that this will help a lot, though I suppose it shows goodwill towards bike traffic.
The taxes got paid, both FY2009, and 1Q2010. Ah, the freelancing life. (This is the first time I've had to deal with estimated taxes. I was surprised that the form was based on last year's AGI, rather than taking, say, a percentage of whatever income I'd generated in the first quarter.)
I haven't been to the National Heritage Museum in Lexington before, but there's an exhibit until June 27 I so want to see, "Jim Henson's Fantastic World." Anyone else interested?
I've decided not to get Enterprise Farm's winter share next year. I'll miss the citrus, and the grains, but I'd rather have more seasonal foods that are more local (and now that I know which farm does the grains, I might be able to do a bulk buy in the fall). Instead, Red Fire Farm's full season share, then the deep winter share, which will take me to March. At that point, I should start eating down whatever I've preserved. And I can always supplement from Russo's or Boston Organics if I want.
Dogs have to be leashed around here. I saw one who was wearing his, and carrying the rest of it coiled up in his mouth, rather like a toy. I don't know why this amused me so much, but it did.
The new main Cambridge Library only opened in the fall, and the old building part is going to be closed next week to fix some water damage. I don't remember there being issues previously with strong rains. (Though the plus side is that I'm actually going to the library fairly frequently these days, which is great for reading new books and seeing new movies, rather than doing lots of comfort reading.)
I was in Worcester for Shabbat last week, for a bar mitzvah. The boy did a good job, as did his parents and sister (they all read different aliyot). I still don't like a lot of things about my parents' shul (mostly on the ritual side, just stuff that drives me nuts, but I know I have different sensibilities than other people there, so I live with it, since it's my parents' place), but it was clear that this was a community celebrating a wonderful kid's religious majority, and that was nice (he's a geek, so at the lunch-kiddush afterward, there were large chess pieces arranged on some of the tables for a chess puzzle). One thing done at mincha-maariv I've never seen before: the one kohen had had an aliyah that morning, and waived his getting of the first aliyah, so when someone else was called up for rishon, it was "b'r'shut ha-kohen," "with the permission of the kohen" (rather than "b'm'kom kohen," "in the place of the kohen"). I suspect it wouldn't fly in an ortho davening, but it seemed a reasonable workaround for the situation.
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no subject
Date: 2010-04-16 09:25 pm (UTC)I was thinking of possibly taking them there next weekend, with or without Wolf. Would you want to come with us?
no subject
Date: 2010-04-16 09:32 pm (UTC)(And yeah, the weather is not ideal for outside activities :-(.)
no subject
Date: 2010-04-16 10:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-16 10:24 pm (UTC)I don't know why, but I'm not feeling like I need to see the Muppet movies on the big screen this week(end). Though if the weather continues as not-outdoors-ily as it's projected to, I might change my mind by Sunday.
National Heritage Museum
Date: 2010-04-16 10:51 pm (UTC)From deep in their website:
History of the American Freemasons
Even the history of our own Museum is intriguing to visitors. Founded by the Scottish Rite Masons of the Northern Jurisdiction of the United States as a gift to the nation on our country's bicentennial, we depend on their continuing support to keep our doors open. Many people do not understand the Masonic fraternity or know that prominent Masons, such as George Washington, Ben Franklin and Paul Revere, played a pivotal role in the founding of our country. Our Museum demystifies the rituals, symbols, meaning and history of the society. We have one of the finest Masonic collections in the United States, shown in a number of exhibitions throughout our facility. Our Museum is also noted for authoring important, scholarly books on Freemasonry, which accompany our exhibits.
Re: National Heritage Museum
Date: 2010-04-18 12:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-18 03:17 am (UTC)The satisfying-the-letter-of-the-law aspect of this makes me smile.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-18 05:51 pm (UTC)