Pretty Sky

Clydesdale

Clydesdales from the Sunday, Quincy Thanksgiving Parade.

Parade

Here are some bagpipe players from the 58th Annual Quincy MA Thanksgiving Day parade. The weather was perfect for the parade. It was cold, but not too cold. It was nice and sunny so it was quite easy to see the parade as it was coming up the street. As always, I forgot to bring a chair, so we stood for quite a long time.

Here is a video of the parade from Wicked Local --

More parachuting

Here is one of the elves that landed on Saturday. They parachuted in and then said hi to all the kids. Then, they left on top of one of Quincy's fire engines.

Yesterday there was a big parade in Quincy. Santa was on top of the fire engine again. I'll be posting some pictures from the parade tomorrow.

Here comes Santa Claus

It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving so it was time for Santa to parachute into Quincy MA. Three elves and Santa masterfully landed in Pageant field and greeted the waiting crowd.

new faucets

So, Thanksgiving night our kitchen faucets decided to stop working. DH turned on the cold water and it wouldn't shut off. When we opened up the cabinet under the sink, we discovered that there was water spraying there too. Luckily, we were not hosting the Thanksgiving feast, so it only affected us.

So, now you know what the big project was in our house yesterday. But, it was done, with a minimum of problems. Yay, non-leaking, functional faucets!

Yum!

Deep fried turkey made by my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. One of the tastiest turkeys I have ever had! I had no idea that deep frying a turkey meant it only takes 45 minutes. All the time I have wasted.... I should get a deep fryer and start frying everything :)

Happy Thanksgiving

We were in charge of appetizers this year. My daughter and I made: Ants on a log, dates with peanut butter, pilgrim hats (no buckles, so my daughter called them top hats), sugared cinnamon almonds and a shrimp ring.

If you are interested in how to make some of these items, here is a couple:

• Sugared Cinnamon Almonds are on one of my favorite cooking sites A Year of Slow Cooking
• The pilgrim hats come from Family Fun

Hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving!

And now it is gone....

In May, I showed you a picture of what the Quincy Fair Mall used to look like. They finally demolished the mall. Kind of sad to look at now... There are still no movie theaters in Quincy. At one point it looked like the Wollaston Theater had a chance to start up again, but that fell apart. The Boston Globe has the latest info, but it doesn't look that good.

One of the lakes in Lunenburg

Bird taking a bath

Waterfall/Fountain

A waterfall in Brookline, MA.

Totally Art ad

This is the display that will be in the South Coastal Bank to show how they are helping Totally Art.

Help to the School System

South Coastal Bank gave $3000.00 to Beechwood Knoll school (in Quincy MA) to help with the "Totally Arts" program. This program initiates artistic programs and events that complement and enhance the activities of Beechwood Knoll's Art and instrumental programs. This includes Shakespeare, Photography, Sculpture, String Orchestra and much much more.

It is nice to be able to report money actually going into the schools. Lately all the news is about money being cut. Lets hope that other companies see what South Coastal Bank has done and decide to help out the schools too. Thanks South Coastal Bank!

CSA started

My CSA has started this year. Each one of the bins is filled with fresh produce. Yum! I look forward to this every year. Are you a member of a CSA?

Uncovered

I am replacing the carpet runners from the stairs. I found the multiple colors of paint under the carpet to be interesting.

Result

Before the dance picture

Two photographers perfect the young dancer's pose.

Squirrel Run

The rain may have postponed the flag day parade and fireworks, but it was too late to cancel the Squirrel Run. The Squirrel Run, also known as the Jimmy Kennedy Memorial Run is a 5 mile run and 2.5 mile fitness walk to help the Angel Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding ALS research.


The memorial run is named for a lawyer and former North Quincy High School athlete who was afflicted with ALS. He died in 1997 at age 31. This was the 13th Squirrel Run.

Big smiles

Egret, again

The Egret came back yesterday.

Ready for the splash

Taken at the Weymouth Club, Weymouth MA.

Mid-Chirp

Korean War Veterans Memorial

Korean War Veterans Memorial in Quincy, on Hancock Street. This memorial is across the street from the World War II memorial in Merrymount Park.

Egret

On the day I saw the ducks, I decided to head over to Sailor's Home Pond to see if they eventually got there. While we were watching the ducks, this beautiful snow white egret decided to land.

This was a great day for bird spotting.

Make way for ducklings

A few days ago I was walking around Quincy, and look what crossed my path. This duck family was heading for (although right now they were heading in the wrong direction) the "Sailor's Home Pond".

Looks like California

This is a house that I found on Elm street in Quincy. It is a little different, because it has red tiles for the roof, instead of the usual black asphalt.

I love it, it seems very California in the middle of New England.

The John Adams/John Adams memorial

This is the memorial that I posted about yesterday. It has a picture of John Adams and John Quincy Adams. The memorial reads "John Adams John Quincy Adams, Father and Son, Second and Sixth President of the Nation, Statesmen Diplomats Patriots Builders of our great republic, They labored in the vanguard of human democracy on this soil".

Right now the memorial is in Merrymount Park, but up to very recently this memorial was next to Black's Creek.

Lighting, but green

This is the solar panel that powers the lighting in Merrymount park. Not only does it power the lights for this John Adams and John Quincy Adams memorial, it also powers the World War 2 memorial that I showed a couple of days ago.

No Punning

My friends and I found this sign in Magazine Beach in Cambridge. It originally said "No Running", but someone decided that "No Punning" was better.

City Daily Photo is doing funny signs as its theme day today. (I'm not a part of City Daily Photo, but I like to follow the theme days). Check out their funny signs photos.

Happy Memorial Day!

World War II memorial statue in Merrymount Park, Quincy, MA.

This statue was originally unveiled in front of city hall (Nov 11, 2002), then on December 6, 2005 was moved to its current location.

Many of the bricks around the statue are inscribed with names of those from Quincy that served in that war.

Open Fall 2010

This is the Target in the Braintree Mall. Or, more to the point, this is where the Target will be in Fall 2010. The escalators are still covered in plastic, and the doors are all boarded up.

Not many people were shopping on Saturday, how about you?

Freeway Revolt

This is the mural on Magazine Street in Cambridge.

In the 1970s, there was a thought that Interstate 95 would go through Cambridge. The people from that area would not allow their homes to be bulldozed and the neighborhood split in half by a highway. This mural shows how they stood up against the highway.

Even now, I95 goes around Boston, and Cambridge was spared from being split in half.
For different views of this mural, see here.

Bunny

I am a Little Bunny (unknown author)

I am a little bunny.

Eyes on the sides of my head.

I see to the left and right,

Behind me and ahead.

I am a little bunny,

These are my very long ears.

They help me hear many sounds,

I can hear from far and near.

I am a little bunny,

My strong legs are for jumping.

Warning others of danger,

I use my feet for thumping.

I am a mother bunny,

With a white and fluffy tail.

I lift it up into the air,

Babies now follow my trail.

Goose family

On Saturday there were a whole bunch of geese families out on the Charles River.

How are you keeping cool?

Cambridge Street Bridge

Another picture from Saturday -- here is a picture of the Cambridge Street Bridge in Cambridge MA. I'm pretty sure the red building is Genzyme.

Yesterday was 87°F and very sunny. How is the weather near you?

Kayaking on the Charles river

One of the many people enjoying the river this weekend. Quite a few people sail, kayak and crew on the river. This weekend was perfect weather, so quite a few people were out and about.

I was standing on Magazine beach when I took the picture.

Middle East Wall

This weekend we went to visit some friends in Cambridge, MA and took quite a few pictures there.

This is the wall on the side of the Middle East Restaurant and Night Club. This is only a portion of a beautiful mural made by Daniel Galvez entitled "Crosswinds". This mural was painted in 1992.

For more information (including a picture of the whole mural), see the Cambridge MA website.

Thomas Crane Library Seal

This symbol can be found on the Thomas Crane Library in Quincy. This particular one is above the Quincy Access TV offices (which is in the Library). There are a few symbols like this on the building.

As you may have guessed by the brick, it is on one of the new sections of the library, and not the part designed by H.H. Richardson.

Comfy on the porch

This cat was enjoying the warmth and sunshine a couple of days ago.

Wish I had time to enjoy it too.

Flowers through a gate

Another photo by my daughter. I liked the way my eye can't decide what to look at, either the gate or the flowers.

Flowers by my daughter

My daughter took this picture of a flower a couple of days ago. I think she has a knack for photography.

I'm not sure what type of flower this is, do you happen to know?

yard shrine

I saw this yard shrine of the Virgin Mary in someone's yard. When I was a child, I used to see these all over. Shrines are still around, but not nearly as common as they used to be.

Flower in the rain

I came across this flower when walking through the ENC campus. The flower was beautiful already, but the drops of rain that still clung to its petals put it over the top.

American Robin

A Bird
A bird came down the walk,
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angleworm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.


And then he drank a dew
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the wall
To let a beetle pass. 


by Emily Dickinson

ENC, Graduations

Yesterday, Eastern Nazarene College graduated 240 students in associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s programs.

This is another view of the temporary structure they put in front of Gardner Hall to used for the main stage during the graduation. Patriot Ledger has uploaded a video and some pictures of the event.

Congrats everyone!