The tornado was about 5 miles away.

In fact there were four tornado's in New England. I was home during the storm and it did get quite intense. It was over in about 20 minutes, then the sun came out. I didn't find out about the tornado until later watching the news. It could as easily happened here as it did in Revere. They are rare but not unheard of around here. The next two days have been perfect. Mid to high 70's with low humidity.

So what else is going on? Nothing really. Even though I am semi retired I feel the need for a break. True I had a vacation 2 months ago but I am getting weary. Instead of working 40 hours I work about 30 with 60% of the money. It's not the money, not that I'm independently wealthy, it's things haven't changed all that much. I have 4 weeks of vacation in the bank so far and I think I will make use of that time soon. Since Arlene and I work for the same company we could line up some off time in the near future. This also depends on other peoples vacation requests. Still it shouldn't be hard to do.

So Wednesday I took my little camera with me to work. I videoed bits of my drive in and then again back home. I was well behaved and said nothing as I drove. Nary a cough or clearing of the throat was heard. I had music playing almost all the time. Well there was one little incident where I forgot the camera was running. I was trying to get through Harvard Square on my way home. It wasn't as bad as it can be but it was still congested and fairly crowded. Early in the morning there's traffic but it moves right along with the lights. In the afternoon, at best it's a crawl with little spurts of speed. Some gentleman in an s.u.v., who I have named (Mr.) ****head, cut me off, then cut back to the left, then got back in front of me. Then he signaled he was going to merge into the right lane where the road splits. Does so, gets ahead of me as the traffic moves, begins to try to cut back in front of me then darts back right to take the split. Well that really torqued me off. Now if he had been an out of state driver, of which there are many around here, I would have been more forgiving. I love this area but the road layout and the congestion can be awful. So in reaction to his last maneuver, I uttered a rather colorful compound phrase that I will not even attempt to hint at. By the time I got home I had forgotten about the incident, however when I watched the video clips, there, (TA DAH!) it was. Cutting through the music, traffic, and engine noise. Needless to say I cut it out of the video but you can kind of tell when. it happened but the way I accelerate as I went left

Ok to wrap this mess up, here are two videos. One going to work and one going home.

 I'm outta here.

This blog will go where it goes.

Not a great title, but though I am writing this now, I don't know what I'm going to write by the time I get to the end. With one exception. It's a bit of a rant. I work in Cambridge Ma. (part time, semi-retired you know) Cambridge is only one city away from my city. It's not all that far at all. Driving in early in the morning is a breeze. I pass Harvard every day and that leads right into Harvard Square. Harvard Square is a funky bustling place. During the summer it is especially crowded. Lot's of tourist, tours, students, locals, shoppers, cars cabs, trucks and so on. Normally, though congested, my route is pretty straight forward. A couple of lights and I'm on my way. Coming home it's roughly the same route reversed. Well now there's lot's of roadwork going on in the area. I was stuck behind a young woman in a Prius. Every time the traffic moved I had to toot my horn because she had her head down. No doubt staring at her little hand held device. As I sat in traffic I watched the herds of people crossing the streets and walking down the sidewalks. A good chunk of them were off in their own little worlds. Ear buds in, walking with a transfixed gaze on a little screen like some techno zombie. Let me say here that I think these devices are wonderful. It is truly amazing how things have been miniaturized and how such a small device are capable of so much. But there are a lot of distracted people out there. Some have stepped off a curb before looking to see the traffic situation. I've seen that more than a few times. Another amazing device that kind of irks me are the little phones that are worn on the ear. It is  amazing and yet what does it say about the person? I'm so busy that I haven't got the time to pick up or reach into my pocket for the phone. I'm that important. Maybe in 100 years everybody will have some device implanted in their heads.

So now it's early Sunday afternoon. It's raining at the moment. I was up early today and took a ride into work to get my schedule for next week. I could have phoned in but that can be a bit of a nightmare too long to explain. I had mentioned above that I go through Harvard Square to and from work. Well as I left the store this morning I found my little camera in the bin in my car. I stuck it on my dashboard while sitting at a light. It's somewhere between 7 and 8 A.M. The square is not crowded and it's overcast. I took a couple of brief videos. Believe me it's no academy award winner. They're quick and as I hit home I decided to visit a graveyard in the center of town. It dates back to pre revolutionary times. I stopped and took some pictures. Once again things like this are literally in my back yard and I take it for granted.

So I stuck the two video clips and the pictures together. Please excuse the music on the clips. It was stuff I was playing at the time. You don't get much of a shot of the Harvard front gates, but the whole thing was spur of the moment while I was driving.



It's been a busy week and I haven't had much computer time. I started this blog on Friday, continued it on Sunday morning and hopefully finishing it up tonight, Sunday evening. This afternoon I was invited next door as it was Arlene's brother's birthday. It was a nice time. They fed me and we had cake! I haven't had a piece of cake in two years (my choice). So now here I sit trying to wrap this thing up. Hey! I have an idea!
That's it for now.
I'm outta here.
    

Saturday.

Saturday I was invited and happily attended the 40th wedding anniversary wedding anniversary celebration, including the renewal of vows, of friends of mine and my sister. I know many of my sisters friends and she knows mine so it was a wonderful day of meeting some people who I haven't seen in 20 to 30 years including my God child Erica who I last saw in 1986 when my sister and I flew to Maryland to visit Erica and her parents. Erica is now 40 and had just given birth to twin baby girls 11 days before. Her Parents, my friends, weren't there. They have since divorced. Her dad, David, still lives in Maryland  and her mother Karen lives in Virginia. I would love to see them both again as we were all very close. My younger sister Enza went to school with Karen's sister Kathy. We've all know each other for years and the whole group of friends was large, maybe 20. All in all about 60 or 70 people attended. Just a guess. It was held at the Concord Rod and Gun Club in Concord Ma. I may have been through Concord in the past but I have never actually checked out the historic sites. It's about 15 or 20 miles from here. Shame on me for having such places in my back yard and never visiting. I have been to the Lexington Green where the "Shot heard 'round the world" happened. Every year they re-enact the confrontation between the British red coats and the patriots. I have not seen this personally but hope to go in the near future. This is not my picture.

   
Back to the party, because that's what it was and a good time was had by all. Kathy and Dennis have lived in New Hampshire for many years now. Every year they hold a big cookout and invite all their Boston friends up. I went two years ago. They have a good chunk of land up there and Dennis built a log cabin style home over a period of years. As soon as the house was finished they sold their house here and moved north. It's just beautiful with mountains as a backdrop. This year, for whatever reason they turned the cookout in New Hampshire into a celebration of their marriage back in Massachusetts. That certainly saved a bit of driving, though time wise, it wouldn't have taken too much longer to go to New Hampshire because it is almost a straight shot, highway drive north. There are no straight shot highway drives to Concord from here. That can be blamed on the age of the road layout. Most of the roads pre date the automobile. Anyway here are some shots from Saturday.

Left to right, My God child Erica (What a beauty!), Dennis and Kathy. The head in the foreground, unknown.

 I have to say Kathy and Dennis are wonderful, generous and kind people who have made a very good life for themselves.

   

 

Left to right, my other friend Dave, my brother in law Jim, Marie (Dave's ex-wife) and my sister Enza.

 

Left to right, me (I look like I really had to pee), Erica, Enza and  Jim.
 



My sister and Marie dancing up a storm.
 

 
 As always Marie was the life of the party. Marie is one of my dearest friends. I don't see her very much anymore. She has personality plus with a quick wit and a sharp mind and she's a sweetheart. Everybody loves her. After hanging around with her and Dave for 19 years, they divorced in 1989, and Dave had a heart attack as well. It was difficult times for them and for me as well. I was around before their daughters were born and watched them grow.                                                                                                                         
The whole time Saturday was quite enjoyable. Kathy and Dennis are wonderful, down to earth, hard working people. They chose to move out of an urban area to live in a very rural area, New Hampshire. New Hampshire is a beautiful state, for the most part rural. Greater Boston has about 4.5 million people. New Hampshire has about 1.1 million people. The Greater Boston area is roughly a 20 mile radius of the city. There's a lot of people here in a small area. It's a whole different world where they live. They planned, worked hard and are living quite nicely. Dennis is fully retired though he is about four years younger then me. He was obviously much smarter than me with his money. He used to repair furnaces, here, where I live and lived here as well. He repaired my parents furnace twice. Kathy is a no nonsense sweetheart. She to grew up here. Look out if her and Marie get going, they are a riot. I have been fortunate to know such great people in my life.

So that was my Saturday. Sunday was a very relaxed day. Arlene and I went out for dinner and polished off a bottle of red wine in her back yard as her niece and boyfriend played badminton until their dog Chip, would grab the shuttlecock. They would chase him around and he made a game of it. The dog was clearly having fun.

I haven't heard anything new regarding Beth yet. She is in my thoughts. Please send your good wishes her way.

I'm outta here.