Miscellany of a Cheshire Cat

It’s Tuesday, I’m in Connecticut and I’m wearing polka-dot socks. I have training this morning and most of tomorrow and meeting most of the rest of the time. I’m not sure when I’m going to get actual work done this week. Yes, I’m still tired. I started waking up at 2:40 this morning and then woke periodically, about every hour, until the alarm went off at 6. I would really like my body to get used to this new allergy medicine because it’s doing lovely things for my actual allergies… I don’t want to have to choose between sleeping and breathing!

It’s cold out there! YAY! Not too cold, chilly is a better word. I do wish I’d brought gloves. The steering wheel of my pumpkin-mobile is cold! (Yes, it’s a pumpkin. I got an orange Saturn Vue from the rental place this week. It’s really quite cute and festive.)

tags: allergies, cars, random, socks, training, weather, work

The Red Sox won the World Series for the second time in my lifetime! Hurray!

The World Series was, once again, anticlimactic. The real nail-biting games were in the ALCS against Cleavland. But last night’s game was pretty good. Both teams were playing very well and I wouldn’t have been surprised if the score had remained 1-0. I suspect the 8 days off before the World Series caused the Rockies to lose all their momentum. They are an awesome team and should have been able to put up a better fight against the Red Sox. However, it’s also noteworthy that the last time the Red Sox swept the series it was with an 8-game winning streak, so they may have simply been unstoppable by any means in this series.

The bad news? No more baseball until Spring.

tags: baseball, colorado rockies, red sox, world series

Yesterday the sun came out mid-afternoon with that glorious brightness that you only see after days upon days of rain. (Of course, a lot of that brightness and glory has to do with the days of gloom and our eyes not being able to adjust to a sudden burst of sun, but that’s beside the point.) It was nice to have the rain be over, especially since it had started to seep into our basement, but the accompanying weather change was probably responsible for the headache I had most of yesterday afternoon and evening.

I have been watching the World Series. I’m happy the Red Sox are winning but now terrified that they will start to falter as the are so good at doing. As the announcers pointed out at the end of last night’s game, only one team has come back from a 3-0 deficit in a post-season series and the Rockies are facing that team. Of course, these are our Red Sox… they very well could blow a 3 game lead in the World Series, it’s in their idiom. But core to the Red Sox idiom appears to be luck, it would seem. When they hit a streak of luck they capitalize on it.

The Red Sox have some of the hottest bats in the game, some of the best pitchers (though, for some reason, never the strongest bullpen) and amazing team spirit. Not to mention the fans. And yet, they are a painfully inconsistent team and we fans love them for it. Of course, I look at a 3 game lead in the World Series I am once again finding the final series rather dull compared to the Championship Series. I, for one, was hoping for more action against the powerhouse team the Colorado Rockies were purported to be. Hopefully they will rally and provide us fans who love biting our fingernails with another game or more of great, torturous baseball.

If, by some stroke of luck and hot bats and good pitching and incredible fielding, the Red Sox do win tonight, the American League Championship series between the Boston Red Sox and Cleavland Indians will have been the only post-season series to go its full count of games (seven in this case). In fact it’s possible that series will be the only post-season series to have gone beyond 4 games. This strikes me as odd. I guess I imagine that once you get to the post-season, teams will be more challenged by teach other and the match-ups will result in games that keep us fans on the edges of our seats.

(Okay, even with a 6-0 lead in last night’s game, I was rightfully on the edge of seat because I know that the Red Sox can indeed blow a 6 run lead… and they almost did.)

So tonight, I’m hoping for an awesome baseball game, regardless of who wins.

tags: baseball, colorado rockies, orange, playoffs, post-season, pumpkins, red sox, sun, weather, world series

So, the week is almost over… I think we’ll all survive, right? It’s still wet and gray here so I thought more color would be good for today’s photo!

Indian corn has never really interested me before… but I never really looked at it either. The colors and patterns are fascinating! I wish I’d taken more photos of the bin of corn. Some of the kernels look more like seashell colors and textures than corn. I keep switching between this photo and some pumpkins for my desktop image. If you want to look at or steal the really, really huge version, click away!

tags: autumn, corn, farm stand, friday, indian corn

It’s a gloriously gray, wet, cool day here today. It’s positively autumnal! HURRAY! Now if only I weren’t so tired…

When we were at the farm stand Saturday, there was one of those moments when the sun breaks through the clouds and just lights everything up so that it glows against the gray. Every color becomes more vibrant, each leaf or pumpkin is suddenly bright and distinct, and the air even seems crisper. Beneath the big orange and yellow tree are pick-your-own apple trees.

In other news, the week is flying by. This is both good and bad, as always. I could really use a nap.

tags: autumn, color, fall, new hampshire, trees, weather

The impending chaos of my day determines which size french press I use for my coffee and whether or not I wait (and putter) in the kitchen for it to brew or if I carry it upstairs to my office. Two mornings in a row I’ve brought it upstairs. This morning I bumped up to the larger french press.

So it’s been a busy week already. I’ve got a fully populated to-do list and a bunch of new projects to support. I’m certainly not bored! (Okay, the meeting I’m in right this moment is kind of dull.)

This photo is from a farm stand in Concord, NH we went to with my brother on Saturday. Apples just taste better from a farm stand… as do pumpkin whoopie pies! The world needs more farm stands!

In other news… Itty Bitty Kitty Committee will consume your soul with cuteness and adorableness. You have been warned.

Stretching in your chair is good for the soul. Making strange noises while stretching in your chair gets you looks from your cat.

tags: autumn, cat links, cats, coffee, fall, farm stand, links, photographs, photography, pumpkins, work

This is another photo from Friday up at Castle in the Clouds. Same tree, different angle. Inside the Carriage House is a huge field stone fireplace flanked by these cute square windows. I couldn’t get quite the angle I wanted on this photo (it would have been rude to drag over a chair then stand on it) but I like how it came out.

The day was too long, a bit of chaos waited for me this morning, work was a bit crazier than usual, and my off-again/off-again project might actually be on sometime soon.

The fires in California are scary. One of my coworkers commented that she wasn’t yet in any danger from the fire North of her. Or from the one to the South. And the one to the East was far off today as well. She’s optimistic primarily because they don’t have a lot of wind where she’s at despite all the smoke.

tags: autumn, california fires, castle in the clouds, fall, foliage, leaves, new hampshire, travel, trees

We ended up in New Hampshire and Maine this weekend, in part to search for a wedding site and in part to get me my Fall Foliage Fix.

Friday was a very gray day and it threatened to rain most of the morning and afternoon.Castle in the Clouds was gorgeous, especially in the fog and mist. We drove up the winding road quite slowly. The Fop commented that I was driving more tentatively than he thought the road warranted. I explained that I was completely distracted by the gorgeous yellows and oranges and reds on the trees and was simply driving appropriately for my level of concentration, or lack thereof. If I hadn’t been driving, there would be many many photos of the ascent. At the top we met with the events coordinator and got the tour. It’s positively beautiful up there even (or perhaps especially) when the fog limits the visibility from the top. Unfortunately, it’s just too far out of the way for people who aren’t already in New England to be a viable site. We visited an inn earlier in the day that is much more convenient to major highways and Manchester Airport, not to mention accommodations. We’re still undecided, but we’ve thought about it and discussed it more now.

This photo is of a tree behind the Carriage House at Castle in the Clouds.

tags: autumn, castle in the clouds, fall, foliage, leaves, new hampshire, travel, trees

This looks to be the last rose I’ll get from my rose bush this summer. (Click the flower for a bigger version.) The cold has set in enough that I don’t think it will be fooled into putting out more flowers. I definitely want to add more roses in the spring. Maybe some white ones out front with the azeleas and an orange one next to the yellow one.

Monday evening I visited Janet (my favorite jewelery artist at Pennsic who also happens to live down the road a bit) and we dug up some peonies she wanted to get out of her front walkway. Oh darn… we filled my hatchback with mature peonies that desperately wanted to be divided and transplanted. Last night, I planted most of them against the fence by the driveway and one bunch by the house. Even if only half of them take, I’ll have a ton of peonies next summer! By the by, 45 minutes of digging and planting is serious exercise. I love working in the garden, just not when it’s 80 degrees or hotter.

The weather has been gorgeous lately. It’s been cool enough to really cook again - I made chicken and roasted vegetables last night and bread over the weekend. It might finally be Fall!

tags: autumn, cooking, flowers, gardening, peonies, photographs, photography, roses, weather, yellow roses

In a recent interview, a company told me they look for Type A personalities to join their team. This struck me as odd as I’ve often considered Type A traits to be rather detrimental to team building, especially if you have too many individuals of that persuasion in the group. However, I will admit that I do have some of those traits and that, by being nice about it, they make me pretty effective.

Which brings us to grocery shopping. I have a love-hate relationship going on there. I would love to get a delivery grocery service going but I can’t stand the thought of someone else picking out my bananas. Unfortunately, I also can’t stand the way baggers bag my order either. I’m actually gleeful when I get to bag my own groceries because I know I will do it right. (At least this part of my Type A personality has 3 years of part-time grocery store experience… I like how I bag.)

Confession time: For a long time I requested double plastic bags because the extra layer would save my groceries from ripping through the bag before it got to my kitchen. In short, I chose to consume more to make up for the incompetencies of the poor baggers at my grocery store. (In their defense, I don’t think they get any real training.)

I finally came to the realization that I will never reuse all the plastic bags I have shoved under my kitchen sink. There’s no point in adding more to the stash - they won’t fit anyway. Not to mention I’ve found myself increasingly disgusted by the sight of a plastic bag littering the street or a yard.

I ransacked (isn’t that a fabulous word?) the house for canvas bags. I found a couple of really nice canvas Food Co-op bags as well as a couple of random “Save the ___” bags from environmental charities. They now live in the Closet of Doom awaiting each grocery shopping trip with great glee. And you know what? They’re the greatest.

Why Canvas Bags Rock:

1. Canvas works. They are sturdier than the flimsy plastic ones, hold more stuff, rip less, and make carrying things in from the car safer and faster!
2. Canvas works - so well it bears repeating. Canvas bags sits better in the back of the car, spill less stuff and are easier to carry than those horrible plastic things.
3. They are reusable! Over and over! The Co-op bags I mentioned above cost me $12 each and I’ve had them for over a decade.
4. Canvas bags are useful! You can use them for more than just shopping! I’ve used them for moving, travel, carrying heavy, awkward stuff, laundry bags, and gift wrap!
5. If they get wet, they still hold everything (unlike paper).
6. Canvas is a natural, non-petroleum based product. Renewable resources for the win!
7. Canvas bags have a sense of style - you can get them in bright colors, cool designs and with various sayings.
8. They are relatively inexpensive ranging from free (with donations to various charities) to $3 on up. While the plastic bags are free from the store you’re shopping at, then you have to deal with disposing of them.
9. They can save you money. Some grocery stores will give you a kickback for using them - usually 5-10¢. IKEA has recently started charging for plastic bags in an effort to raise awareness of just how cool it is to reuse bags.

And finally…

10. Canvas bags help save the planet! And the planet needs all the help it can get!

This is a relatively recent commitment. Like most habits I’ve tried to form, I’ve tried canvas bags several times in the past and it never stuck. I’ve decided that this time it will stick. I hope to drag the canvas lots of places with me and on all my shopping trips.

And, because Jon asked for it: Here’s a close up of the praying mantis’ head.

tags: blog action day, canvas bags, environmentalism, green, grocery bags, plastic bags, save the planet, shopping, shopping bags, type a personality