Monsters, Inc.

Last night I went with MissDimple and ZZBottom to Millenium Park to see Monsters, Inc., courtesy of Mayor Menino, who has arranged to have a series of kid/family movies on Monday nights in different parks around Boston.

I hadn't been to Millenium Park before; it turned out to be just about next door to WRHS (which, in this case, Scholargipsy, would be West Roxbury High School), where I did my student teaching some years ago. I didn't have time to check the park out very thoroughly; the parts I saw were mostly playing fields and parking and other large, flat, grassy spaces. On the other hand, it was strange to think that we were in the city of Boston near the top of a hill and most of what we could see was rolling wooded hills.

There was a line for kids to get blue helium-filled balloons, which were lost on a regular basis (the breeze last night was approximately south south west, judging by balloon drift...). Most entertaining was when some kids tied six balloons to a soda can (we didn't know how full it was), watching the cluster of balloons carry the can high in the sky. I wonder where it will reappear. I wonder if they thought to put a message in the can... Of course, having balloons for kids meant that there were always one or two balloons blocking a bit of the screen.

The main feature wasn't to be shown until "dusk", but there were some cartoons to start. Then a brief intro by some politician, and a short video about the new voting apparatus they're getting in Boston that are optical scanners. A lot of the information was repeated multiple times, just in case you might've missed it the first three times, like how much faster it will be to set up these voting booths, and how much easier it will be to use. Not a particularly compelling public service announcement... except that when we looked more carefully at the sample ballot someone was filling out, the candidates were for the cartoon council (Bugs Bunny, etc) and for some superhero group (Superman, Batman, etc)....

None of us had seen Monsters, Inc. before; it's a very fun movie :-). Nicely done animation, interesting monsters, reasonable plot. It looked like people had fun working on it... (Outtakes at the end of animated movies always surprise me, since they're obviously more work, rather than recycled unused work.)

Note to self: really, must get bug spray.

Farm share, week 5

A very full box this week, including:

• a big bunch of white turnips with greens
  
• two smallish yellow summer squashes, both with rough, slightly warty skin
  
• two cucumbers, one of which looks like a large pickling cuke, the other a regular one (though not waxed... :-)
  
• a big bunch of dill
  
• a medium bunch of multi-colored Swiss chard
  
• a medium bunch of parsley
  
• a big bunch of cilantro
  
• a big Boston lettuce
  
• a big green leaf lettuce
  
• a big red leaf lettuce (this looks like regular red leaf, not the intensely dark leaves and different shape of whatever variety we got the last couple of weeks)
  
• a medium bunch of collards

I can't abide cilantro (even the smell is horrible to me), and don't do much with parsley, so gave them away. In return, I was gifted with another bunch of Swiss chard, and another red leaf lettuce.

The dill and cucumber coming together this week inspire thoughts of cucumber salad.

In other farm news, they're offering apple shares again this year, and it's not restricted to CSA shareholders. It's nine weeks of apples (including heirloom varieties and other unusual kinds), at least half a peck/week, starting in August. There will be peaches at least once, and there may also be grapes or plums. It's $58, with pickup at the farm Thursday evening or Sunday afternoon. I'm thinking about it, but if someone else were also interested in a share, we could split the trips out to Waltham (in the corner near Belmont), which I'd prefer. Anyone?

Oh, and while I'm at it, a bit of a porch update:
The morning glories are growing nicely, working on their fourth and fifth regular leaves. I really should've given them some kind of stakes already; anyone have any extra bamboo or other thin dowel-like things they want to get rid of?
The ginger is growing well, with solid shoots and green leaves. I still don't know about harvesting it, or whether the shoots are edible.
The herbs are doing well, especially the thymes. I'm thinking of trying infusing oils or vinegars with herbs, since I have so many. Any suggestions for combinations or other useful info very much welcome.