Hello Blog! I Really Have Missed You!

For the last few months I have been unable to get Pink Granite to reliably load as a webpage. I Googled around and tried all sorts of tweaks to troubleshoot it, but nothing helped. The last thing I tried was deleting some of the items in the sidebar, especially one called a “blinky” which rotated images. But no joy. Then tonight I was going to Tweet out a distress call over on Twitter to see if anyone could diagnose the problem. I came over here to copy the URL and poof - the blog loaded right away!

So while the Blog Gods are smiling on me let me say how much I missed being able to gather my thoughts and post them here. I’m on Twitter, which I love despite a recent “hiccup” - more on that soon. And I’m on Facebook which I don’t love. I’m also on Happier - more on that too. But despite my addiction to expressing myself in 140 characters or less on Twitter, nothing beats the time and space to construct an entire paragraph - or five - and post them here.

When I first began this blog in 2006 I assumed I would be off in a little corner of the internet, pretty much all alone with my private thoughts being quietly made public. But soon I “met” lots of people. Both the local members of the Worcester Blogging Community and folks from all corners of the world, some of whom I am humbled and grateful to call my friends.

So here’s an early Happy Blogiversary to Pink Granite!

And now I must figure out what I need to offer up to the Ethereal Gods of the Blogosphere - perhaps a snazzy thumb drive or maybe reams of binary code printed out on green and white lined paper via a dot matrix printer, then burned as a symbol of my commitment to all things digital?

Thank You TJ’s

For several weeks we have been devoting a great deal of time and energy to helping Chuck’s elderly aunt. Working with hospice has been of clear benefit to Tanta and a blessing to us. Every life is complex and complicated; Tanta’s no less than anyone else’s. We are wending our way through a life’s maze built on privacy and filled with explicit and sometimes contradictory requests and desires. We are learning a great deal. We are sad. And we are weary.

Ever since Trader Joe’s has been doing their “bring your own bag, fill out a ticket” raffle we have been faithfully filling out tickets. This has been going on for years. We have written our name and phone number on tickets and slips all over Massachusetts, in Rhode Island and out in Washington state. Week after week some other lucky TJ’s customer has won. That’s why we were so delighted to receive a phone call telling us that we had won the bring your own bag raffle! Several days ago we came home after a very long day on the road and being with Tanta, to see the red light on our answering machine flashing and four messages waiting for us. Three were about Chuck’s aunt. The last was a cheery message from a gal named Leslie in Shrewsbury saying we had won a $25.00 Trader Joe’s gift certificate! We listened to it twice and high-fived each other to boot!

Tonight, on our way home from Tanta’s, we stopped at the Trader Joe’s on Route 9 in Shrewsbury and picked up our gift certificate. Chuck couldn’t resist snapping this photograph. The gift certificate was a welcome treat; our names on the sign such good fun. And exactly what we needed right now.

Jeff Was Right

Jeff was often right. He was also insightful, smart, cynical yet open minded and generous with his thoughts, his blog posts, his knowledge and his links.

Two facts caused me to think about Jeff Barnard tonight. The first is that Jeff’s yahrzeit is coming up on November 28th. The second is that Chuck and I ate at Carmella’s Italian Kitchen in Brookfield this evening. It was wonderful. Chuck and I and many, many Worcesterites loved Famous Italian Kitchen on Shrewsbury Street. It hurt when they closed. But back in March of 2009, Jeff posted about his celebratory family dinner at Carmella’s. In many ways Carmella’s is the reincarnation of Famous Italian or more accurately its ongoing legacy. I won’t go into details here. Jeff’s post deserves to be reread. Suffice it to say that the atmosphere was homey and whatever the Italian equivalent of hamishe is, service was perfect and cheerful and the food, well, we’re still talking about it and can’t wait to go back. Oh, and you can get a side of peppers that are even better than Famous Italian. Really.

Thank you Jeff. Thank you for everything.

The Prints and The Potter

Worcester, Massachusetts boasts a wonderful gallery and framing shop: The Prints and The Potter. Located at the corner of Highland and West Streets, they have been in business for 36 years. With an extensive selection of pottery, jewelry, glasswork and framed art, the cleverly named shop should be your first stop for a special gift - for yourself or others! They are also the only place we take artwork for framing. They have handled a variety of projects for us and always do a professional job with exceptional attention to detail. They really are a gem!

Too Much

Monday, just past sunset, Chuck and I were driving on West Boylston Street in Worcester. As we drove south from Mountain Street toward Quinsigamond Community College, we saw a woman on the northbound side with a babe in arms and another young child, little more than a toddler, clinging to the woman’s leg. They were standing in the road, pressed up against the enormous pile of snow lining the street, filling the sidewalk. A bus stop sign was hanging on a nearby post. Cars and trucks were driving by, headlights glaring; slush and spray flying up from their tires. The scene was frightening. A bus was driving up West Boylston toward them. I hope it was the bus they were waiting for.

This winter, this snow, has been too much.

Deja Vu, Baby

It’s hard not to let the weather dominate our lives right now. We’re in a relentless pattern of a couple of storms a week, each with shovelable snowfall. We’ve had to cancel and reschedule appointments and get togethers; rethink plans, activities and errands. We believe it has been about ten years since we had a winter as intense as this one.

We drove down to Rhode Island yesterday to visit with my Mom, Carrie and Isabella. Knowing some school districts had delayed openings we wanted to get an early start. That was impeded by a dead battery in our only car. Luckily Chuck has a battery charger-booster gizmo which plugs into an electrical outlet and acts like a good samaritan with jumper cables. So much for the early start but we were soon out and rolling. State highways were good. Town and city roads were mixed to miserable. Worcester was a major challenge and a big delay. The two lane roads we drove on were down to one lane. Some of the side roads were nearly impassable due to snow which had fallen the day before.

In terms of impact, this last storm feels as if it is the final straw. There is just nowhere for urban dwellers to put the new snow. Heck, it is becoming a serious challenge and concern for those of us living in the country. And whenever the DPWs do what they must do and push back the snow to the curbs, residents’ arduous shoveling is undone and the cycle begins again - only with much, much taller piles of snow.

Had we not been running so late, I would have been a better blogger on several occasions. The first was on Goddard Memorial Drive. One of the flat roofed industrial companies had cranes in place next to the building. A swarm of workers was up on the roof shoveling snow into what appeared to be large tarpaulin bags. Then the bags were lifted by crane down to the ground. Similarly, down on Route 146, the new WalMart also had cranes lifting sacks of snow off their expansive roof. These efforts may seem extreme, but one look at this video would send any business owner in search of relief from the snow load on their own roof. It certainly had us out with the roof rake again today.

Our visit with family in Rhode Island started late but was great. Isabella now weighs 9 pounds, 15 ounces / 4.5 kilograms! She is strong and lovely and a pleasure to be with. Carrie has started back to work half-time and is adjusting quite well to that transition. From Sutton, Massachusetts to Johnston, Rhode Island we could see the evidence of the band of weather which brought more ice than snow. Every twig was glistening with a coating of ice. Thankfully, it did not appear to be anywhere near as thick as the ice storm of 2008. Even much farther south at Al and Carrie’s home, the ice had locked Carrie’s car in place in their driveway. With a bit of shoveling, some rocking back and forth of the car and a judicious placement of a metal AAA mesh strip, Uncle Chuck and Auntie Lee soon had her car free.

See what I mean about how hard it is to not let the weather be the dominate topic? One minute I’m talking about Izzy’s awesome progress and the next I’m shoveling snow again!

Catching Up & Two Questions

: : First off, a belated blog birthday greeting to my sister Gail in Georgia. She is “GG”, Isabella’s grandmother, and she celebrated an unnamed/unnumbered birthday on Thursday. May this coming year hold only joy for you Gail!

: : Speaking of Isabella, she now weighs 8 pounds, 14 ounces or 4.03 kilograms and she remains bright as a new penny, endlessly entertaining and adorable.

: : Do any Apple computer aficionados know of a good personal health record or medical record template for Numbers? It could even be a Microsoft Excel template, which can be opened in Numbers and then saved as a Numbers file. I found a couple on-line, but none of them seem to be as sophisticated as the sort of templates which come with Numbers.

: : Are any of my readers using HD Radio? We just began learning about it and, despite its nascency, it seems pretty nifty. If we could reliably get the Boston Red Sox ballgames via HD Radio we would be all over it like white on rice!

: : Keith Olbermann has left MSNBC. I am unhappy about this. I like Keith. I liked his show Countdown. Even though there were times when he tipped over from determined to strident; from angry to wrathful; from funny to obsessively mocking, I always admired his courage, his convictions and his willingness to speak truth to power. I shall miss him.

: : So far, Downton Abbey is fabulous! The series is airing in four parts here in the States as part of Masterpiece on PBS. There is a lovely warmth, humor and humanity about the characters and the storylines. We have been captivated by it and are keeping our fingers crossed that it finishes well. And that the next round of episodes, filming this spring, will be equally wonderful.

: : I thought of the late Jeff Barnard many times this week. Each time we drove through Worcester we found folks walking in the street because sidewalks were unshoveled and we played dodge-cars with other vehicles because lanes of traffic suddenly disappeared under unplowed or poorly plowed snow. As we inched along, I couldn’t help but think that Jeff would have held those responsible up to his high standards and kept their feet to the fire.

: : It is now -9F / -23C! I’ll let that sink in. Yes, it is incredibly frosty. The sky is crystal clear as it usually is on such bitterly cold nights. The moon is just past full and the snow is glittering under its gentle light.

Farewell

Jeff Barnard died today.

We extend our deepest sympathies to his wife Kathy, who Jeff described as his “angel”.

Jeff was the dean of Central Massachusetts bloggers and Worcester was his special calling.

Two weeks ago Mayor Joe O'Brien and City Councilor Rick Rushton, presented Jeff with the Key to the City.

Now that city, and beyond, mourns his passing.

Thank you for all you gave us Jeff.

Peace...

My Favorite Overpass

I don’t know who the creative geniuses were who thought to paint the overpasses spanning Route 146 in wonderful colors. Nor do I know which state bureaucrats had the good sense to authorize it. But my hat is off to all of them.

This one is located in Worcester at the intersection of Cambridge, Quinsigamond and 290.
It is, for obvious reasons, my favorite.

Unique Memorial

We’ve driven by this unusual headstone many, many times and I’ve always wondered about it. But I never went to see what individual or family it represents. Today we went into St. John’s Cemetery off of Cambridge Street in Worcester and learned that it is the Palermo Family.

May all the members of the Palermo, DeMango, Cipro and Pedrone families know peace. And may P.F.C. Vincent G. Palermo’s ultimate sacrifice always be remembered and honored.



You can follow along with The Wormtown Fleet by clicking here and following the “Linky blog hop” links.

Where Am I Standing?

We ran several errands late this afternoon and had dinner in Worcester.
Where was I standing when I snapped this photo?
(You can click on the image to get a better look.)


: : Update: Well that didn’t take long! Mike quickly identified that I was standing outside Wild Willy’s. Karl came by shortly thereafter and concurred.

I’m happy to report that Wild Willy’s still makes an excellent burger and a mean cup of steak chili!


You can follow along with The Wormtown Fleet by clicking here and following the “Linky blog hop” links.

The Wormtown Fleet #1

Jeff of Wormtown Taxi chronicled it all on his blog; from the razing of the old buildings to the clearing of the land through the plethora of rumors and, finally, the results. Even though we have driven by the new WalMart off of Route 146 a million times (hyperbolically and emotionally speaking) we had never stopped. Last night we did. I snapped this photo of one of the miniature wind turbines which top each parking lot light stanchion, pinwheel style. We then went inside the crowded temple of all things cheap, consumable and disposable.

The wind turbine was the highlight of the trip.


You can follow along with The Wormtown Fleet by clicking here and following the “Linky blog hop” links.