Monday morning miscness

Traffic around Harvard this week is likely to be somewhat nutty, with Harvard's graduation Thursday (and other events starting Tuesday). The Yard is already changing, with a sea of thousands of folding chairs, a variety of tents, banners with a variety of coats of arms on them, and even a gazebo.
(Must remember to change my usual walk Thursday morning; the Yard will be closed off then.)

The tree chair around the corner from my house is now gone. Alas. I wonder if whoever made them is still making new ones?

The porch is getting closer to ready for summer. Yesterday I transplanted almost everything (including the huge lavender, which turned out to have been root bound). I think I want to grow some more flowers this year, and I still need to rearrange it all. I finally realized that I could put the bushier plants in front of the windows to keep the kitchen a little cooler (it only took what, a decade?). At some point I'll probably list what's growing, once I've gotten it in better shape. Oh, and though it sounds cool, I wasn't up for experimenting with growing tomatoes upside down. Maybe next year.

My lower back is sore. The only reason I can think of is schlepping bags of potting soil and compost up to the apartment, but even the compost was lighter than a bag of flour (40 lb), so I'm not sure that's it. I hope it normalizes soon.

Farm share starts next week! (I shall have to figure out what I want to do with Boston Organics then, switching to a smaller box, getting fruit, perhaps.)

My boss just told me there's a nice production of Love's Labour's Lost at Zero Arrow Street, Tuesday and Wednesday. I haven't seen that one yet...

It is much easier to use a mitt catching a ball in a plane, rather than in space.

The first photo I've had published is on the front page of the spring 2005 newsletter of the New England Hemophilia Association (available as a largish PDF), a portrait of the author (Nope, no official photo credit. But it's still pleasing.). Just for the record, her son was having a hard time that afternoon; it turned out he was starting a high fever while we were trying to get a nice photo. Better luck next time :-).

more short stuff

I finally remembered to ask for the days off for Shavuot. Yeah, it's next week, I've known it's been coming up, but. Now I really do have to admit it's less than a week away, and I've done nothing in preparation. I should find guests and plan meals and such. (And meals partly depend on what's delivered Wednesday :-)

Upcoming events: Sunday (June 11) there will be dragon boats on the Charles.
Saturday (June 18) is the Cambridge River Festival. It's always on Shabbat, on the banks of the Charles, just outside the eruv. Not ideal for me.

Task I'm most avoiding: dealing with an insurance snafu.

Things that might get made tonight:

• strawberry-rhubarb something, whether a crumble, a pie, with dumplings, or jam is unclear (if jam, probably with cranberries for pectin); I got far too many strawberries yesterday
  
• stir-fried broccoli, oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, water chestnuts, and seitan with ginger and onions
  
• limeade, perhaps with a few lemon balm leaves in it (though obviously I should've made this yesterday!)(note to self: should try to find mint to grow)

I've seen a couple of references to people blogging their food for a week, trying to see how well they do in consuming local foods. It's a cool idea, but I realize also that keeping kosher means that I'm never going to be able to aim for 100% local foods, with cheese and meat (and probably other things) being non-local (fsvo, of course). And there's the question of main ingredients vs supporting stuff: if all the vegetables are local, but the oil/sauce/dressing isn't, does it "count"? It's interesting reading other people's discussions, though. There's the local vs. nonlocal produce (by some definitions, my farm share isn't local, being grown out in wester MA), organic vs. nonorganic, small company vs. megaconglomerate (for produced foods). Plus probably some other axes I've not thought of. It gets intricate; where do the ingredients for processed foods come from? Are they organic or not? If it's a local bakery or restaurant, rather than something packaged, then questions are likely the only way to find out. I don't think I'm diligent enough to do that. And as always, it's easier to eat locally year-round when living in a place that doesn't have a severe winter.