Short road trip. South Boston. Castle Island. Not really an island. Beautiful day. New camera. Some problems. Very long title. Wait, the phone is ringing.

Looking towards downtown from the southern portion of Boston Harbor.

The pictures above and below were taken last Monday (Aug.20) with my new camera. It's much more complicated than my other camera. There is something to be said for a plain point and shoot camera. This SLR camera is larger and comes in what amounts to an overnight bag.

It was a beautiful day so my buddy and I took a quick road trip to a part of Boston I had never been to. South Boston. Specifically Castle Island. It really isn't an island anymore because it connected by two causeways (that's what they call em'), one that you can drive and one you can walk. In pre-revolutionary Boston the British used this Island to protect the colony on the south side of the harbor. Later on the Americans built a fort. Fort Independence.

The whole area is a mish mash of walking paths, plenty of benches, beaches, fishing, historic site, playgrounds and Sullivan's. A walk up food stand that's been there in one form or another for 60 years. Burgers, fish dinners, chicken. Not bad. Further up the harbor is the airport. The planes come by pretty low. This place is a nice little secret to someone who lives north of Boston. The locals have a little gem on there hands. Approaching the "island" you drive by all these well kept triple decker homes with an ocean view. Not Miami Beach but pretty nice.

Not all the photos would upload here or my photo albums on windows live. I'm not sure why yet though I suspect some might be too large. But I really don't know.

The weather has been wonderful and everything else has been business as usual. Another few weeks I'll be able to take a vacation. I am looking forward to some time off. Things have become a blur lately. Nothing really bad just busy. Time to stop. It puts me in mind of a line from a John Lennon song, "Life is what happens while your busy making other plans." Now I will relax a bit and play a computer game where I aim to take over the world.

I'm outta here.  

                                                                                                                                                            

So here I sit, a bit after noon on Monday. I have the urge to write though I have nothing of any real consequence to say. I do have a new camera I bought yesterday. We had a sales tax free weekend here in Ma. It does bring people out though realistically you're not saving a bunch of money. Only 6%. It would be substantially more if you were buying a high ticket item such as a car. If you spent $15,000 to $25,000 you would save anywhere from $900 to $1500. Of course that's a pretty stupid reason to by a car if you don't need one though I wouldn't be surprised if someone did that. I do have the option of driving 20 miles north to New Hampshire which has no sales tax. And it would take me less time traveling than it would to go to some locations 5 miles away thanks to the highway. New Hampshire is very rural and beautiful. Still there's a lot more going on in the Boston area then there is in New Hampshire, including 3 times the people. Massachusetts is not a cheap place to live. It also goes by the name Taxachusetts. Still it is my home and I do love all that I do have available to me around here. Both places have their good points and bad points.

I have not figured out how to use the camera yet. It's more complicated. I will get to use it officially on August 25, when I do head to New Hampshire for an annual gathering of friends at the home of Cathy and Dennis who used to live around here, bought about 8 acres of land and over  a 10 year period built this house there and moved in.

 Here's a link if you want to see some more shots of this wonderful place from a few years ago.
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=f30b5cd64eb2dafe&sc=photos#cid=F30B5CD64EB2DAFE&id=F30B5CD64EB2DAFE%2114987&sc=photos

Let's see what else is going on. My leg (left to be exact) is doing OK but it's still not completely back to normal. It's a beautiful sunny day though it's quite humid. I have no plans to go out as I did that yesterday. I've done my laundry and will do two more chores then I plan to relax. I go back to work tomorrow. Speaking of the hot sticky weather, some of the outfits people wear in this weather, well let's just say they shouldn't where them. Hey lady! You're not 16 anymore. You look like an overstuffed pinata ready to burst on your own. Then there's the guy who looks like a sweaty rhinoceros. But that's life when you work in a public place. It puts me in mind of a saying I saw on a sticker. OK I actually bought the sticker and it's been stuck on my filing cabinet for many years. The sticker says, "Show me someone with a deep loathing for all mankind and I'll show you someone who works in retail." Alright I'm not that jaded but it does have it's moments. I do get a kick out of people who have apparently given the housekeeper the day off and are left to fend for themselves. This woman came up to the counter. She wasn't snobby in fact she was pleasant  but her opening line told me everything. After I said "Hi. May I help you?" She said, "Yes hi. I'm looking to make a sandwich."
She seemed unsure of her next step, like what kind of sandwich she wanted to make. It was both humorous and painful at the same time. It gets more complicated because now she  not only has to decide what she wants but how much how much she will need. If only there was an International Sandwich Rules Book agreed upon by the United Nations. Still it's a job and I am still employed. Life could be much much worse for me. I'm doing OK.

I think I'll go play with me camera. Oh Faversham! Peel me a grape!

I'm outta here.

Another fabulous Blogzilla update, well maybe not so fabulous.

It's been about a month since I've been here. I do feel guilty about it.  Sometimes life gets in the way recreational time. Believe me I'm looking forward to some recreational time. My next free day. apart a couple of Sundays, is August 20th though I do have a dental appointment. What can I say, I've been busy.  My leg is much better though not 100%. Who knows if it will ever be? These things take time. Apart from all that I'm pretty well. My friend and I have been selling things on eBay. He done much more than I. He's been doing it for 5 or 6 years. I've been looking at all the clutter I've accumulated through the years. Some I will save but, but most of it is going one way or another. It's funny what people will or won't buy. I had four packs of cards or maybe they were stickers of animals, given away by a supermarket around 1962. The key here is that the packs were unopened, stapled to a cardboard backing. $20.00. My twelve snap-shots, not taken by me, of Eric Clapton around 1970 here in Boston. My friend had a better camera than I, but I was there. I had to give up owners ship, well duh? I had to sign a paper transferring ownership. Fine by me. I have copies for my own personal collection. Not the originals but just as good visually. $280.

Things you'd think would carry some interest. Say movie magazines from the 40's and early 50's. Big Hollywood names on the cover,  Clark Gable, Gretta Garbo etc. I'm not looking for a killing. There are quite a few out there for sale with little or no takers. I have about 20 of them.

I have a couple of comics worth "guide price" about $90. bidding is around $20 at the moment. If that's all I get after the bidding ends. I'll take it.

I am heading back to Martha's Vineyard in September. It'll probably the last time for a while. I do love the place but even in the off season it isn't cheap.  This time I am taking my car. While getting around the island isn't a huge problem, One of my reasons was to be able to stand on the western side of the island at sunset at this place.

The Clay Cliffs at Aquinnah.

     
I was there once when it was foggy and misty and on this day, when the weather was about perfect, late September, 2011 . I'm hoping for some late summer good weather. You never know. The whole trip, from just north of Boston' takes about 3 hours or so, including the ferry.
All reservations have been made. I'll just have to sit and wait until mid September.
Work has been a trying experience. Let's just say the inmates run the asylum. I'm trying to stay out of all the soap opera aspects of this situation. Most of the people here are 20 to 40 years younger than me. My immediate boss is 10 years younger than me.

My employer finds new and improved ways to to make a tedious, at times, job...more tedious. Then I get real and think, "I'm still working." Just a few more years...
Speaking of work, we had two incidents last week. Both involved the same young lady. She's the one who fainted on the job about a month ago. Neither involved me, well a little in one. I'm at one end of a rather large department. There are two young ladies at the other end though I wasn't sure what they were doing. I looked again a short time later and I see this particular young lady lay down on her side like she was trying to retrieve something that had fallen under the sink. As she reached further under the sink she would squirm up, moving her body further below. Everything moved but her pants. Soon we had an early moonrise. I didn't say anything but I did nudge the guy I was working with. What we found most amazing was that she seemed completely unaware that her pants were flying at half mast. She wasn't unaware long as Mauricio, my co-worker, Yelled, "Hey! Don't you feel a breeze?!" We both laughed! She shot up straight, pulling her pants up disappearing into the corner. The other young woman was amused by it. A short time passed, maybe two or three minutes, and and Miss "By the light of the silvery moon" came up to me and said something to the effect, "I should think that a person of your age would know enough not to laugh at what is a very embarrassing situation."

I tried to tell her that it's wasn't that big a deal. "Relax." She would have none of it. She wanted an apology and that was that. So I told her I was sorry I laughed, (at your bare ass for what seemed like 20 seconds) I didn't say that last part. We were sworn to secrecy. Thus ends the saga of the mid afternoon moonrise.

Incident #2. I was in the chest adjusting an order. We need more of this and we don't need any of that. I walk out of the chest to check something and I hear and see another woman, who I work with, on the verge of tears saying something as she stormed in my direction, "I work too ******* hard to be talked to, like that by you!" This woman is in her early 40's. Apparently our younger, cheeky lass went and reported the older woman for taking 40 minutes instead of 30 minutes. They both stormed away in opposite directions. For about 10 minutes I had no idea what had happened.

As for this blog "Blogzilla
I'm outta here.