A crocus has blossomed. I thought that in the past they blossomed in my yard in late February, but I’m not really sure.
March 4, 2010
March 3, 2010
No curtains
All the lights are on in the house next door, and there are no curtains on any of the windows. There used to be curtains. Did the people decide to clean all the curtains at the same time? Have they decided to live without curtains as many people do? Have they moved away? And is the new occupant in the house looking things over? I don’t know.
February 20, 2010
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda will be the narrator at a concert performance of the opera The Grapes of Wrath next month at Carnegie Hall. The audience will able to observe the results of her recent plastic surgery. She wrote on her blog on Feburary 16:
I just had some ‘work’ done on my chin and neck and had the bags taken away from under my eyes so I decided it would be good to get a new hair cut so people will think it’s my new hair. . . . I’m writing a book about aging so I couldn’t very well NOT talk about it. It’s been 2 weeks.
November 20, 2009
The chipmunk and winter
I haven’t seen my chipmunk neighbor since Saturday November 7. Maybe he has gone into his burrow for the winter.
October 31, 2009
Boston Symphony Orchestra mailing
Today I received a large brochure in the mail from the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The outside of the envelope says, “It’s not too late to become a BSO Subscriber! Look inside for a special offer.” The special offer? 2 nights of free parking above the Whole Foods store on Westland Avenue if I buy a series or mini-series by October 31. Today is October 31! Do they have their act together? I wonder whether they are getting desperate. They used to be very stingy with the brochures.
October 29, 2009
Angela Lansbury & earpiece
” . . . Angela Lansbury . . . said in an interview this week that she used an earpiece to stay on cue during her Tony Award-winning turn in ‘Blithe Spirit’ on Broadway last season.
“‘It’s not something you ever want to do, but if we’re going to play important roles at our age, where our names are above the title on the marquee, we’re going to ask for some support if we need it,’ said Ms. Lansbury, 84, who is set to star this winter in the Broadway revival of ‘A Little Night Music.’”–New York Times
October 25, 2009
I miss Filene’s Basement
I miss Filene’s Basement. I mean the real one that used to be in the basement of Filene’s department store in Boston, not the chain of stores that use the same name. I was able to buy a lot of good clothing there at reasonable prices. I’m not interested in paying full price for many types of clothing, and it is sometimes hard to find things at Marshall’s because their stores are smaller and have limited stock at any given time. I haven’t been able to find an acceptable pair of athletic shoes at Marshall’s in the past two weeks. I also want a new winter coat and I haven’t seen any there that would interest me. I went to L.L. Bean’s store in Dedham today, actually willing to pay full price for something, but they didn’t have any knee-length winter coats. Also nothing really at Orvis or at the small Brooks Brothers store in Dedham or at Banana Republic. I went into a store called Express that I had never been in before. They had a coat for $385 that would be acceptable, but I don’t want to pay that price for a coat that looks only so-so. I did some looking on line but wasn’t enthused by anything.
I do have a few coats that I’ve bought over the years that look OK. So I’ll look in Marshall’s every now and then, but if necessary I can make do with what I have.
October 23, 2009
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October 15, 2009
I Am What I Am
I just finished reading I Am What I Am by John Barrowman, a book about his experiences in the past few years. It is a pleasant book to read if you want some light reading to pass the time in an airport waiting room or if you want something light to read on the commuter train. It is a book for fans only, not really for the general reader.
—
The Federal Trade Commission has said that “a consumer who purchases a product with his or her own money and praises it on a personal blog or on an electronic message board will not be deemed to be providing an
endorsement.” I purchased the book with my own money at the Heathrow airport.
October 11, 2009
Express by Holiday Inn–Earl’s Court
I spent two nights this week at
Express By Holiday Inn London-Earl’s Court, 295 North End Road, Fulham, London W14. My room was small, but a little larger than some rooms I’ve had at more expensive hotels. There was never a problem with noise. The “climate control” worked well. It was not possible to open the window, but then it wasn’t really necessary to open it. The shower floor was fibreglass or some such thing, not porcelain, and it seemed potentially slippery. Showering while holding on to something was a little awkward. Breakfast in the lobby was free and available from 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. One could have cold cereal, yogurt, pastry, toast, tea, coffee, milk, and fruit juice. The internet connection was not free, but I was able to use the internet for free at a Starbucks up the street a few blocks. I would bring my laptop there for about an hour each morning. With a Starbucks card one could use the internet for free for up to two hours a day.
The hotel was an eight-minute walk from the West Kensington undergroud station (although in that area the train is not underground). North End Road is the main shopping street for a residential neighborhood where one sees relatively few tourists. The neighborhood appears to have been a comfortable middle-class and upper-middle-class area in the late nineteenth century. It probably declined in the mid twentieth century and then parts of it experienced some gentrification in the past few decades. Looking at ads in the window of a real estate agency, I saw that two-story townhouses are going for GBP 350,000 and three-story townhouses are going for GBP 500,000. There was quite a variety of people in the street. At the Starbucks up the street near St. John’s Fulham I saw some prosperous-looking young women some of whom were pregnant and some of whom had small children with them. I’d guess they’re the wives of young men with good incomes. Many parents walk their children to school in the morning. Around lunchtime I saw about a dozen teen-aged boys in blue blazers and grey flannel trousers, the sort of outfit I wore in high school. They probably attend the London Oratory School that is nearby.
I chose that hotel because it came as part of a package deal with the flight. A round-trip ticket with two nights at a hotel was more than $200 cheaper than a round-trip ticket!?!
