Tag Archives: houseplants

May22

A flight of New England Fancy – Rest and Relaxation in Medway

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It’s been a while since I’ve been back to Massachusetts… I think it was for Dillon and Liz’s wedding, wasn’t it? That’s sounding right… though I frankly can’t believe that was only six months ago. These last few months have felt like forever, and it was high time that I got back East. The rock was calling, family and friends beckoned, and I hadn’t seen my Grandma in far, far too long…


Tuesday through Thursday, 19-Apr-2022 to 21-Apr-2022


There’s some turmoil in the United States these days over working remotely.

Some people are for it, some people are against it… Mostly employees being for it, and executives being against it, from what I can tell…

I’ve never really had a horse in the race, to be frank. I’m operations support, so I don’t have the option to work remotely… at least not regularly. I work with people on the production floor, and I get pulled away from my computer to deal with physical problems at least a few times a day.

At the beginning of COVID I worked from home every other day… and that was glorious – I got to catch up on work, and could stay a bit calmer than normal on the days that I wasn’t in the office. It did make my days on-site a bit more crazy, and I had to make a point to go for more walks when I stayed home, but… yeah, it was nice.


The chance to spend a whole week working remotely was excellent, and I hugely appreciate the freedom to do that every so often. I definitely understand the draw… especially after spending three days working out of the dining room in Medway.

It was glorious – I started the week with nearly a full hundred to-do items on my list (yep, that over-booked at work), and I ended with maybe a dozen left. Granted, I had coworkers shouldering some of the burden while I was gone, and I didn’t want to think about all the “fun” that the production folks were saving up for my return, but… you know what? That’s fine. It’s all fine. I can live with that.


I spent time catching up with my Mom and Stepdad. I took walks, enjoyed the garden, and went to dinner with friends who were great enough to drive out from Boston to visit.

It was a good few days.






Of interesting note… I never noticed this before, but Medway has a memorial to the “Grand Army of the Republic”, listed as 1861 through 1961. Which is interesting… since the G.A.R. was an organization for civil war veterans founded in 1866, and then dissolved in 1956.

So I’m not saying this is definitely Star Wars, but… pretty sure it’s Star Wars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Army_of_the_Republic

May6

Gardening in an apartment – Spring, 2021

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Spring, 2021
Specifically, 19-Apr-2021


I enjoy gardening, and digging in the dirt.

I mean, think back on when kids are young… what kid doesn’t enjoy digging around in the dirt, not worrying about getting soil under their fingernails, and just having fun?

No reason to stop now that I’m an adult… right? Doubly-so, since cleaning up afterward just involves a quick shower, instead of (probably) a whole screaming fit, followed by a dunk in the bath?



I don’t have much space to dig around in the dirt at my current apartment… which, frustratingly, makes me want to garden and dig even more. I did quite a bit of gardening back in Portland, but it was usually subsumed by the work Sarah was doing, since she did a lot more flowers and garden arranging… my planting has always been quite utilitarian – I like peas, and sometimes tomatoes, with a few flowers thrown in for variance. I’m not great at designing and organizing a whole garden layout.

But you know what? That works perfectly for someone in an apartment, with a small balcony and a few pots for my plants.



There’s a small garden shop that I pass every day going to and from work – I stopped in for the first time, without much of a plan aside from “get the growing things”. I came out with a dozen little pea plants, some tomatoes, and an Azalea bush – a small one though, so don’t worry about me too much. I got a few planters, some soil, and… that’s really all I need, right? Probably?



That evening, I took a cool-down after dinner to garden again. I sat out on my balcony, under the nice incandescent lamps, and got my hands dirty. Soil and fertilizer strewn around me, big watering cans to water in the newly transplanted seedlings… I’m feeling good about this. I don’t know how well they’ll do – they get pretty good East-facing sun, but who knows how that’ll go – but in the mean time… I’m happy. I’m glad to have some growing things on my balcony again, and I can’t wait to see how they do.