mud season

You may be happy to learn that winter is finally easing its grip and the snow is finally melting.

My colleagues in North Carolina report that the spring flowers are in bloom. I’m trying not to be jealous.

We’ve still got a few weeks of mud season to get through. It’s my least favorite time of the year here in New England. Melting snow reveals a season’s worth of road salt/sand, and the bare patches of ground that are starting to show look brown and dead.

The vernal stream is in full spate, with all the melting snow. What snow piles that are left are steaming. Every time Dog goes out, he comes back smelling like Lake Michigan. That observation is courtesy of Himself. I’ve never had the pleasure.

Personally, I am reminded of Onondaga Lake.

In any case, maybe that goes some small way to explain my color choice here, which I absolutely love:

Wait til you see what color I paint the stairs! :-0

batten down the hatches … again

Blizzard warnings flying in Massachusetts this day. We are very happy to hunker down and ride it out at home. We have food, heat and plenty of new books in various formats to amuse ourselves with, thanks to Santa.

The Girl is reading Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods.

Himself is reading Marching Bands are just Homeless Orchestras by Tim Siedell (Twitter’s @badbanana)

I’m reading The Wave, by Susan Casey.

Speaking of waves, check out this story posted today on the Good Morning, Gloucester blog. (via Universal Hub) The video (also embedded below) is wild. Did I mention you should batten down the hatches?

music AND fireworks

This Friday at 6:30pm, the MARVELOUS Nashoba Valley Concert Band will be performing at the Groton fireworks (which were postponed from July 4 due to dry conditions).

Good music AND fireworks… what more could you want?

Hope to see you there!

The Nashoba Valley Concert Band rehearses on Wednesday evenings from 7:00 P.M. until 9:00 P.M. at the Ayer High School, 141 Washington St., Ayer, MA. Any musician with a wind band instrument (woodwind, brass, or percussion) is invited to rehearse with the Band….no auditions required.

cheers!

cheers!, originally uploaded by kellypuffs.

Behold, the traditional post-rehearsal pint at JP O’Hanlons.

Hard to believe it’s been 5 years since we’ve last played with the Nashoba Valley Concert Band.

We returned tonight.

God, I’ve missed these guys.

And it felt good to play again, even if we were a little rusty. We, as in Himself and me. The band sounded AWESOME! Black Horse Troop, 1812, and Leroy Anderson’s Fiddle Faddle. What fun!

We’re back!

community-supported agriculture FTW!

India – Haridwar – 010 – vegetables for sale in Bara Bazaar, originally uploaded by mckaysavage.

Just got a mouthwatering report from our CSA farm:

Our greenhouse is so full of plants awaiting their departure into the rolling fields that it is somewhat hard to walk through. Our hoophouse tomatoes were planted a couple of weeks ago and they are growing fast…with a little luck they will be ready for the beginning of the CSA. We have the first and second planting of lettuce in the ground, shallots, garlic, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, peas, and early corn. The strawberries were uncovered and they look outstanding! The fall raspberries were mowed down and the summer raspberries will be pruned within the next few days.

We have about 15 calves on the ground at Gibbet Hill and many baby ducks and chicks that were born within the last week!

The orchard in Groton was in full bloom a couple of days ago…hopefully the apple crop will be as good as last year. A rolling hillside covered in healthy apples trees is one of the most beautiful sights there is to see!

And best of all…

…we are only about a month away from the first CSA pickup!

*bounce* *bounce*

Yay for veggies!

Vintage Photo, originally uploaded by cindyiscrafty.

I am pleased, as you can tell.

Having recently developed a somewhat alarming taste for, dare I say, vegetables, AND being known to wax rhapsodic over the virtues of sustainability of local food, we have bought ourselves a share of our local Community Supported Agriculture family-run farm (hat tip to Jake)

Oh. my. God. It’s just so perfect in so many ways: local food, local farm, local economy, what’s not to love?

And it saves us from this prospect.

Because as ardently as I may desire a garden, my delicate constitution, coupled with my inclination to sloth and aversion to physical labor, means that the only way I get one is to somehow convince someone ELSE to dig it.

Which, remarkably enough, I’ve been successful in doing. More than ONCE, I might add.

And this in spite of the fact that after I admire the newly tilled earth, I proceed to plant my precious vegetables and then steadfastly ignore them until harvest-time.

If there IS a harvest-time.

So this year, I’m leaving it to the professionals.

Himself is pleased as well.

Human Dog Sled Championship 2009

Last night. Lowell, MA. Thanks to @aaronmcohen for the Most Excellent video footage.

And, for the record, the Boy wishes there was a way to drop off a skid of tissues down to DC.

Boo-freakin-hoo. Snowpocalypse, indeed.

***

Late-breaking Update: Aaron reports in from Facebook:

The winners from last night go again today. I will be participating today to replace a member of the yukon gold.

pirates!

pirates of penzance, originally uploaded by kellypuffs.

This is the cover from the Colonel’s well-worn copy of the vocal score for Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance.

So you might guess I’m a fan. And was thrilled to learn that the Savoyard Light Opera Company was presenting Pirates for their annual November production. They are playing this weekend and next.

We went tonight. It was awesome.

You should go.

The Savoyard Light Opera Company

be my guest

sunlit church, originally uploaded by kellypuffs.

Making “Holy Noise”

That’s what they’ll be doing on Sunday, October 24, according to the notice they left on my mailbox today.

Saturday, October 24 is a common call for Climate Action around the globe to reduce the planet’s concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which is beyond what is healthy.

One symbolic action churches are engaging in is to ring their bells 350 times. Why 350 times? Scientists say that 350 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity. At the moment we are at 387 parts per million in 2009. If you would like to find out more, go to www.350.org.

It was nice of them to warn us … a neighborly thing to do, but really, totally unnecessary.

I love church bells. It’s one of my favorite things about living here. I love that the church bell chimes the hour around the clock. We’re particularly amused when it synchs up with the grandfather clock.

Ring them all day long if you like. We don’t mind.

I can only hope that the UCC and the Baptists are participating too.

he’ll meet your momma outside

Oh my god. The entire Kellypuffs household is Rolling On The Floor, Laughing Our Collective Asses Off, and it’s relating to a news story that the rest of the nation seems to be taking pretty seriously – the story of the Harvard Professor arrested in Cambridge while breaking into his own house.

Imagine our glee while reading the following on CNN:

Crowley said he tried to determine whether there was someone else at the home and wanted to ensure Gates’ safety.

Gates, however, told him “that I had no idea who I was ‘messing’ with” and was being so loud that he could not give pertinent information to the department when he was calling in, the sergeant said.

Crowley’s report said that when he asked to speak with Gates outside, the professor at one point responded, “I’ll speak with your mama outside.”

*snort*

Full CNN Article