Sweet Relief

I've never been happier to see blue skies. It seemed like it was gray for weeks. In San Diego, I always joked that if the June Gloom got you down, you could drive east for 20 minutes and be out from under it. The cloud cover we've had here was more pervasive, and I'm so glad it's over. The ten day forecast has a chance of thunderstorms and partly cloudy every day, but I can handle that. I love thunderstorms (I'd gotten fed up with the impotent drizzle, though). And partly cloudy is just fine with me, as long as I get a little blue skies from time to time, to keep my own blues at bay. Below, Billy seemed confused by the sun shining into the apartment this morning. Perhaps he'd forgotten what sunlight is, poor fella.

Drizzly and Blue

Everyone thought the "long, harsh" winter would get me down, but I loved winter in Boston. I've loved the weather the whole year I've been here. But it's been drizzly and cloudy for weeks, and the June Gloom, which I thought was a San Diego phenomenon, is what's finally done me in. After work for the last couple of days, I've been so down, and I know it's the oppressive gray skies. Fortunately, I've started running again, and that seems to do a lot to wipe the blues away. There's a great park near my apartment, and each loop is 1.7 miles, or I can head for the Charles River, which has been three or four miles so far, but can be as long as I want. Billy, with his affection and amusing playfulness, also helps immeasurably.

Drizzly June

It's been raining again. A lot of places have flowers planted to bloom in succession. The blue iris photo from my Urban Fowl post was taken in the same place as these orange flowers.

Even in the drizzle, Sox fans head to the game. Here, you can also see a guy waving cars in to his parking lot.

The gas stations near Fenway Park turn into parking lots when there's a Red Sox game on. They just make way more money that way.

A friend of mine has a sailboat, and a new Genoa sail.

At the harbor

A Cat in a Home

From Nevada Barr's book Flashback:

[Anna'd] wondered whether it was a kindness to drag [her cat] to [her National Park Service assignment on an island in] the middle of the ocean but, once the trauma of cat travel was over, she'd congratulated herself every day on the wisdom of her decision. With a cat in it, a home was never empty. Echoes, like mice, were frightened from the corners, and loneliness, though still possible, had blunter teeth.

Summer Solstice

Today, the first day of summer, Boston's sunrise was at 5:07am; sunset will be at 8:24pm. Civil twilight is from 4:32am to 8:59pm.

The sun rose over San Diego today at 5:41am and the sunset will be at 8pm. Civil twilight: 5:12am to 8:28pm.

We get 71 more minutes of light than San Diego. However, while it's 71 degrees and clear in San Diego, it's been around 60 and drizzly in Boston. Well, yesterday was nice.

One Year in Boston!

Today, June 16, 2009, marks my one year anniversary of moving to Boston. What a wonderful year I've had. I love Boston, and I'm so glad I moved here. It's certainly the biggest decision I've made in my life, and one of the best. I am so happy here, and I see that, while San Diego and my family and friends are so dear to me, I've grown so much from having moved away.

Last year, when I told my friend Sara I was moving to Boston, she introduced me to the theme song from the Mary Tyler Moore show. (Be sure to watch all of it -don't miss the end! The video continues beyond the sound.) The subsequent seasons had different versions, so if you do your own search, make sure to watch the theme song from the first season. Mary Tyler Moore First Season Theme Song

The lyrics to Sonny Curtis's "Love is All Around," from the Mary Tyler Moore Show:
How will you make it on your own? This world is awfully big, girl this time you're all alone. But it's time you started living. It's time you let someone else do some giving. Love is all around, no need to waste it. You can have a town, why don't you take it? You might just make it after all. You might just make it after all.

The Freedom Trail with Out-of-Towners

My friends Barry and Kori came out from Denver and stayed with me a couple nights. We walked the Freedom Trail and had a terrific visit. Here's a picture of Kori taking a picture of Barry taking a picture of the Union Oyster House, the oldest restaurant in the country.
Flowering onion
The Public Garden

Hilarious bulldog out for a walk

People playing soccer under the Leonard Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge

The Bunker Hill Monument, 300 stairs to the top, whew!

On the Sunday preceding June 17 (Bunker Hill Day), they have the Bunker Hill parade. Here's the Bunker Hill parade from the top of the Bunker Hill Monument.

Can you read the inscription at this graveyard? It reads that this hill in Boston is "well-protected from the three great annoyances, of Woolves, Rattle-snakes, and Musketos."