Monthly Archives:

May 2024

#TinyThreads: An Insignificant Series

Murdering puppies is the GOP brand now. Remember that when you think about voting for a Republican. 

#TinyThreads

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Spring Fruition & Summer Plans in CT

The best sort of visit with friends is one in which the company can be thoroughly enjoyed, the moments can unfurl in their own time to make themselves matter, and where there is a spattering of hints and plans to come thrown in for the promise and possibility of future gatherings. All of these happy items were in place for my recent visit to Connecticut.

The entire state seems to be on the same beautiful page when it comes to daffodils, as there were clumps and swaths of them at every driveway entrance and along every charming stone wall. You could spot them in drifts in wooded glades, at the edges of meadows, and in the gardens and lawns of most of the houses I passed. 

Coupled with a sunny entry day, it made for an enchanting return to this magical place. I always have a good time at Missy and Joe’s home, and now that their children are old enough to join in the conversation and dinner talk, it makes for many entertaining exchanges. 

The grounds of their home were filled with blooms – from the glorious cherry tree that stood sentry at the entrance to their driveway, to the littlest purple Pasque flower seen below. Lilacs are on their way too – the quintessential sign of a proper New England spring

It made for a fitting scene, as we had loosely talked of a floral theme for the weekend, punctuated by my first trip to White Flower Farm (post to come). Cameron joined me for an impromptu photo-shoot beneath the weeping cherry. He would also help out with this summer’s theme (another post to come). 

We went out for a Mexican dinner at Sancho to close out the weekend – obligatory toast shot by Missy (because I would never cut Julian out of a photo in such a manner!) We ended things with the promise of a summer get-together with Ann around the pool in July – at which point three dear friends will reunite for the first time since our tenth high school reunion in 2003.

Once every ten years is simply not enough…

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Connecticut in the Pink

A spring-time trip to Connecticut to see Missy and her family provided the perfect weekend away to celebrate the arrival of the season – and nowhere was that more evident in this magnificent weeping cherry tree in front of their home. Fully decked out in its pale pink blooms, it glowed gorgeously as I drove into the driveway. Petals fluttered down in the breeze, and an idyllic weekend was pre-ordained by destiny. 

Andy texted me that our own cherry tree was finally breaking its buds and unfurling its pink blossoms – deeper of color and fuller of form thanks to its hybridized enhancement. That meant I could extend this cherry-popping season a bit longer when I returned home. For now, it was a weekend in Connecticut with an old friend

Does beauty augment and enhance a meeting of dear friends? Of course it does, and the weekend provided this gorgeousness to mirror the joy of a reunion. Along with Missy’s family, we set about to plan out the coming summer months…

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Dazzler of the Day: Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi should need no introduction or explanation as far as earning this Dazzler of the Day, and she does it not only from her historical successes in politics, but her recent swift and simple throw-down of MSNBC ‘reporter’ Katy Tur for continuing to play the both-sides game at a time when that nonsense threatens to kill American democracy as we know it. Go Nancy. 

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Anniversary Month

May also marks the month of our wedding anniversary, which usually brings us back to Boston for a celebration for two. That’s happening again this year, and in order to stoke the excitement, here’s a poem about that beloved city by E.B. White:

BOSTON IS LIKE NO OTHER PLACE
IN THE WORLD ONLY MORE SO
When I am out of funds and sorts
and life is all in snarls,
In Boston, life is smoother far,
Where every boy’s a Harvard man
And every man’s a skier.
There’s something in the Boston scene
So innocent, so tranquil,
It takes and holds my interest
The same as any bank will.
Rather I think that Boston is
A sort of state of grace.
The people’s lives in Boston
On Commonwealth, on Beacon,
They bow and speak and pass.
No lady ever dies;
No youth is ever wicked,
No infant ever cries.
No orthodox Bostonian
Is lonely or dejected,
For everyone in Boston
With everyone’s connected.
So intricate the pattern,
Becomes a jigsaw puzzle
Each Boston girl is swept along
Down the predestined channel
Alert in Brooksian flannel,
Magnificent in fallen socks,
His hair like stubble weeds,
His elbow patch an earnest of
The fellowship of tweeds.
It wakes celestial stings,
And I can sit in Boston
For Boston’s not a capital,
And Boston’s not a place;
Rather I feel that Boston is
The perfect state of grace.
~ E.B. White
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My Favorite Month Arrives

May is my favorite month in the calendar year, which goes against all those ego-pointers, because my birth month is August. May is superior because it holds in it all the hope of a spring and summer about to unfurl in all their splendor. Even if summer turns out to be a somber dud, as some summers do, in May it still holds the possibility of being perfect. May is wonderful that way. Let’s take a moment to look back at a few May starters of the more recent past. 

Last year it seems May 1 was a day for recapping the previous week, which means hints of April made their way into this post after all.

May 1, 2022 found this haunting post going up, which was much too serious and somber for this month. 

May 1, 2021 found me kicking off Asian-Pacific Islander Heritage month in another rather serious post

Well, discovering this third-somber-entry-in-a-row from 2020 seems to indicate I don’t know what I’m even saying regarding this month… though that may be the after-effects of COVID hitting. 

The pre-COVID May 1st post from 2019 found me immersed in a bit of retail therapy, so happiness certainly was present then.

May was all about hope, and it still is. Enjoy this day, and this month

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