The Cactus Garden

The Cactus Garden is just before the San Diego Zoo, right on the west side of Park Drive. It's a great place to walk through, as it has all kinds of unusual cacti and desert plants. (Click on any photo to see larger versions.)

 

Ski Report

Having just repaired both cross-country ski boots with super glue, I was unsure of how much stress they could take. So, on Friday the 15th, I decided to go somewhere that wasn't too steep, and headed out to Estabrook Woods in Concord. It's mostly level out there, with some up and down where the trails go along what look like glacial arêtes. Had a good ski, but while heading back, I realized that the white plastic layer on the bottom of my right ski was coming loose. I was able to keep it lined-up under the ski, until I was almost back to the entrance. Had to pull it loose and drape it over my neck, where it hung like a long, thin scarf or Tallis, while I tried to ski the last part of the way on snow that was rapidly turning into slush.

Once I was home, I got out the glue and the clamps again. But, since there was no more super glue, I had to resort to smearing Gorilla Glue the whole length of the right ski, and along goodly portions of the left one as well. Along with the afore-mentioned clamps, I used a lot of clear packing tape & large binder clips to hold things together as well.

Everything sat until the following Sunday, when, thanks to our third Weekend blizzard in a row, there was plenty of fresh snow. I  took off all of the various forms of binding technology I had resorted to, and went out for a good long ski behind Horn Pond and across the Golf Course. Everything held together just fine. When I got home I wanted to crow, "I am the Jed of Jeds, the Mr. Clamp-It of Clamp-Its!" (You have to admit, you don't always get to combine home repairs, A Princess of Mars, and The Beverly Hillbillies in one allusion.)

Super Glued My Ski Boots

My cross-country ski boots, that is. The last time I went x-country skiing, back in February or March of 2012, my right boot came apart. The sole came loose from the upper, halfway along its length, from the binding pin down to the arch. I had to limp back through the snow, skis on my shoulder, the broken boot flapping open like Jaws and collecting a lump of snow with every step.

Naturally, I didn't get around to replacing it until the day before the big Blizzard. I went to Play It Again Sports in Stoneham, because they usually have a good stock of new and used equipment, but just couldn't find boots that were the right size. So I went home, and got out the super glue and some serious clamps. I applied glue generously along the inside of the sole, and then clamped the shoe tight.

The Blizzard of '13

Wow, we are buried. I predict that Blog and Facebook postings from the Northeast will be following this pattern over the next few days:

• Snow Day
• Winter Wonderland!
• Board Games
• Housebound
• Bored Games
• You want me to wear a what?
• Cabin Fever
• Donner Party....

Plus, there'll be numerous entries along the lines of:

• Went out to Shovel, taking some Ibuprophen,
• More Shovelling, switching to Aleve,
• Still Shovelling out, now looking for old pain pills in the back of the Medicine Cabinet....

Quit Stalin

Storyteller Laura Packer shared this posting from Imgur:

Tyrannical Valentine's Day Cards

As soon as I saw it, I thought, "Hmm...totally inappropriate VDay Cards. What an interesting idea!", and quickly came up with:

And then, after some reflection on how to be even more politically incorrect, I came up with this:

Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone! And, as we used to say in the French Légume, "Don't take any wooden nookie."

(From the Book of Faces, January 31, 2013)

Hayden Woods

Had a sore throat, and sinus congestion, that pretty much kept me inside for the past two weeks. I think I was indoors for a higher proportion of time than any other period in my life. Was finally feeling better, so I decided to go for a walk in the Conservation Land next to where I used to live in Lexington, back in the early 80's. 

I was renting a tiny Cape, built on a cement slab, on a large, but oddly sloped, triangular lot. The slab meant no basement, and cold floors in the Winter. At one point, I had both my brother Larry (who was in High School), and my brother Bernie (who had dropped out of College), living there with me (but that's a whole other story). It took me a while to realize that this neighborhood had probably been developed right after WWII, and that all the houses had once been exactly the same. Over the years, they had all been added onto and modified; except for mine, which was still the original Cape Cod.

(The house is no longer there. Some years ago there was an article in the Boston Globe about "Teardowns", and the pictures were of the all-new, modern structure being put up where my little house had been.)

But, I still remember going for long walks in the nearby Hayden Woods, especially the time I went out one extremely icy New Year's Day. No one else was even outside, and the only thing I heard were trees cracking from the cold. When I got back to the house, I had a thick layer of ice on my upper lip where the moisture in my breath had condensed and frozen over my moustache.

Here are some cellphone pictures from today's walk. The boardwalks are fairly new, and obviously date from much later than when I used to live there. It's impressive that Lexington, which has been settled for so long, has managed to set aside so much land. (Click on any photo to see larger versions.)

Words We Need in English

Here are three things that nobody (as far as I know) has a word for yet, but should:

a) the Person who, no matter how bad things are, can always make it worse; or when something is almost settled, says the one thing that gets everyone going again,

b) an Artistic Performance that is more enjoyable for the people who are doing it, than for the people who have to watch it, and

c) a Movie that is so bad, it actually takes you longer to describe everything that is wrong with it, than it would take for your friends to see for themselves.

Here are two useful words coined by Lizzie Skurnick: Palbatross (pal-ba-tross), "the friend of a good friend, whom you don't actually like or get along with, but have to put up with"; and Stincubus (stinc-u-bus), "the source of, or causative agent behind, a demonically-persistent bad odor".

Finally, if one Helen is "enough beauty to cause the launching of 1,000 ships", and a milliHelen is "enough beauty to cause the launching of 1 ship", it follows that a microHelen would be "just enough beauty to cause the launching of a small boat".

Tree Sponges

While walking in the Conservation Land near Horn Pond in Woburn, I saw some unusual, lacy bell-shaped pods hanging from vines along the trail. At this time of year, it's typically very cold, and the trail is often blocked by trees bent over by heavy, wet snow. And there's usually a flock of Robins watching you from all along this particular trail (they stay there through the Winter), so it is a lot like walking through Gang Turf.

But today, it is warmish and very gray out, and I noticed these pods instead. Even though I have lived in New England for a very long time, I've never seen anything like them before. They must be the skeletons of some sort of plant growth, but they most resemble little loofahs that have been cut in half. Since they are growing on vines, I guess that makes them "Tree Sponges". (Click on any photo to see larger versions.)

Break in the Weather

The weather is on the mild side here, so yesterday's omelet from Cousin's Restaurant in Woburn Center reflects it: