Ice Cream Castles in the Air

Bows and flows of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere, I've looked at cloud that way.
But now they only block the sun, they rain and snow on everyone.
So many things I would have done but clouds got in my way.

I've looked at clouds from both sides now,
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall.
I really don't know clouds at all.

Taken from "Both Sides, Now" by Joni Mitchell

Glorious sunsets are not confined to the American Southwest and other equally amazing places, though they are pretty spectacular there. It just takes looking up and noticing they are there amongst the buildings and wires. On the day I took this picture, I was walking down to Porter Square to get some groceries. I had a great view of the clouds pulled from N. C. Wyeth illustrations or other books from that era. These clouds invited Bostonians to enjoy their sense of wonder if they would just look up.
During one of our many powerful rainstorms, worthy even of Midwestern thunderstorms, about a third of our tree fell down. I wrote about it in a previous post. Here are the photos.Neatly chopped pieces
The very big stack of limbs awaiting chipping.The previous owners of the house set up the black composter in the middle of an ivy patch, added lots of non-compostable items, and left it to sit there. I have cleared thorn bushes and other things, including a mosquito breading pit known as a pond, from next to the garage and set up both the drum composter for kitchen waste and the black one for yard waste and finishing the kitchen waste. Yardwork continues. I just managed to convince the bushes in front to not encroach on the sidewalk. Had to use the hedge trimmers to do the convincing!

recycling and more

This is the new composting center that just fits next to our back door. The bins are easy to take out, it fits a very small footprint, and it is not garishly colored. Quite perfect for what we need. Bins as a bit small, but that was stated in reviews online. We just take stuff out a few times a week to the larger bins on the back porch.

Other than that, busy, busy, busy.

Rose and Bubbles

Rose loved drawing with crayons.
I got a new sodastream carbonator. The plus is no more bottles from the store, water from the tap. The minus is carbonation doesn't last too long, refill canisters are pricey, and supposedly customer service is bad. I am using fruit juice and some flavored syrups to add a bit of flavor to my drinks.

Composter

Diana came over to watch Rose for part of the day as Reena is off at a conference all week during the day. I took that time to work on putting together the composter that has sat in the hallway in its battered package for months. Here is a photojournal of the process. This composter has two chambers which allows one to complete the composting cycle while the other is being filled. There was one screw missing, so I had to go to the hardware store to get a replacement.




Today, it rained. I sat on the back poarch during Rose's morning nap and read.

February's End

In the morning, I went to my writing group which often meets near the Cambridge City Public Works. On Saturdays, they are open to the public to drop off household waste that can be recycled but is not picked up at the curbside. Metal, fluorescent bulbs, electronics, plastic film (like bags, bubble wrap, etc), packing peanuts, and more. I like going there when I am already in the area because I was already using the gas to get there.
On a walk I took later, I saw this tree that was bursting its leaf buds. The bright red color doesn't come through in this photo, but the tree was glazed in a sheen of red.

new togs

I was shopping for new shorts and other summer gear. I try to balance environmentally/socially responsibly created new clothes with going to thrift stores and giving clothing continued life. The latter is much friendlier to the wallet, but recently I have been trying to help the demand for new clothing from good sources grow.

One of my favorite companies is going out of business. Check out Nau to see a model of a very good clothing company that didn't make it. Also, there are some excellent deals on the inventory that they are trying to sell off.