Day 15.324: No photos!

Not much  to share at this point in the week - so maybe it's appropriate that this is what I found going back through the photos on my phone. I don't remember the context (from a couple of weeks ago), but the message is pretty clear I think.

Day 15.323: Required viewing

I took the afternoon off work to watch England and Wales face-off in the World Cup. It was a solid performance from England but not what Exile #2 or many of  our extended families were hoping for. It’s a shame that all three of the nationalities we can claim in this house were fighting for two places in the same group.

Later, we brought the tree in and put the lights on it but ran out of time for doing more than that. 

Day 15.322: By the spoonful

One of E5N1’s favorite Thanksgiving foods? Homemade cranberry sauce. And if there’s some left, he’ll happily eat it by the spoonful:

He may be less happy about being photographed doing so. 

Day 15.321: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #418

Exile #2 writes...

At the end of the Thanksgiving holiday, we are thankful for a fun time together, including Exile #4, who came home to visit. It was a welcome time to rest and recover for E5N1 after his school play exertions, also for Exile #1, who has had some hectic times at work lately. Exile #3 may be beginning to see some improvement in the head pain she’s been battling for months, and the cold that knocked me out yesterday seems like it will be short lived.

Despite the personal agony involved, it’s also been fun that the Thanksgiving break has coincided with the World Cup, so that we’ve been able to catch plenty of the action. Pretty sure I’ll be weeping into this come Tuesday, though...

Day 15.320: Early cut

Yesterday’s other activity was a trip to the tree farm. Exile #3 and I took the duties (although Exile #2 ended up being more involved than she planned to be). 

The tree is now in the garage - not decorated except for the fortuitous alignment of the light fixture. 

Day 15.319: Like many Americans…

…we set an alarm for an unearthly hour on Black Friday morning. It wasn’t to head to the sales however (doors often open at 6 or earlier) but to watch Wales play their second World Cup match (kick off 5 am Eastern). I’ll say no more on that matter. There was more football later on too. 

Much later in the day, while Exile #2 was having a much deserved break after two days of food preparation etc., the rest of us had a grand Pictionary tournament. It was rather raucous and a lot of fun. 

Day 15.318: Thanksgiving #16

Happy Thanksgiving! We enjoyed some World Cup football, some hanging-out, some video gaming, some family TV, a special meal together:

Before we started on turkey etc. 

And, a while after the main course, some desserts:

Lemon pie, pumpkin pie and chocolate cheesecake (all made with goats milk dairy products)

Day 15.317: Late-fall bluebirds

I saw these two as I was leaving work at lunchtime on Monday. I only had my phone, so apologies for the picture quality. 

It’s unusual to see eastern bluebirds at this time of year although Vickery notes that departures have been getting later and over-wintering more common in recent years. 

Day 15.316: Birds at the beach

Our bird sightings from Sunday.

A gull using the same fly-up-and-drop-on-the-hard-sand technique for crabs that they usually use for the surf clams.

Some American black ducks - in the edge of the waves (not a very good photo but interesting behavior), in flight showing their wing patches and swimming in the shallow water.

Most excitingly, we saw these slender divers. We (correctly) thought they were too small to be common loons but (also correctly) thought they must be loons. It turns out they are red-throated loons - winter visitors from the even more frozen north.

This bird has the interesting distinction of being the first bird in Peterson's Birds of Eastern and Central North America. The up-turned bill is distinctive.

Day 15.315: Sunday firsts

In the midst of all the play-related comings and goings, Exile #2 and I managed a small outing to the beach on Sunday afternoon.

We debated whether this was evidence of some kind of The Bachelor incident - possibly gone wrong:

certainly a red rose on the beach was a new find for us. It was also the first time the air was cold enough for the first hint of the mirage effect on the horizon.

We made our way back through Ferry Beach State Park, which is feeling very open now that the leaves have almost all fallen.

Although none was forecast, we felt like it might snow at times and soon after we got home it did:

Well, technically it was probably graupel, but the first wintery precipitation we'd properly witnessed (there was evidence of some a couple of weeks ago, but it had already changed over to rain by the time we got out of bed in the morning).

Day 15.314: Exile #2's Sunday Column #417

Exile #2 writes...

It’s the end of a week of many late nights and early mornings for us all. Exile #1 and I can only blame ourselves for the mad trip into Boston on a school night to see The Smile, but E5N1 has provided us with many more opportunities to be up past our bedtime since, with various dress rehearsals, performances, post performance meals and parties. Exile #1 has heroically taken on the job of retrieving him at the end of the day (for that read wee small hours), whilst I’ve had the fun of waking him in the morning and stoking him up with coffee to get him moving. I think he’s had a blast but I’m sure he’ll be relieved it’s only a two-day week this week, followed by Thanksgiving.

Day 15.313: Treading the boards

We went to see E5N1 performing in the school play this evening. It was an ambitious and very successful staging of The Odyssey. 

E5N1 had a series of minor roles including some quick costume changes. He seemed very comfortable and confident on the stage. He seems to really enjoy it. One more performance tomorrow and then it will be time to start thinking about the musical. 

Day 15.312: Fridge malfunction

Our (aging) fridge malfunctioned this evening...when we opened the door, it leeked on the floor.

Day 15.311: Thirty years a fan

I probably first saw Radiohead live in 1992. It was certainly significantly before their debut album Pablo Honey came out in February 1993. I’ve taken more than a passing interest in the musical output of all of them ever since. 

Most recently, that has included The Smile - perhaps in some ways the most Radiohead-ish of the side projects - thanks to the presence of two of the creative cores of the older band - Thom and Jonny. 

This is no Radiohead-lite however and drummer Tom Skinner is no stand-in. Rather, it is artsy and gutsy and experimental and pop all at the same time. The three members not only take their turns on various instruments (all played keys at some point and both Thom and Jonny played both guitar and bass, Jonny even played a small harp at point with one hand while playing a piano with the other) but also seemed to take it in turns holding things together while the other two were able to indulge their flights of rhythmic and melodic fancy. 

The quiet songs were beautiful, the rocky pop songs really rocked and a lot of the intricate experimental songs landed very well live. There were a few moments that were less perfect, but maybe it’s allowing themselves the freedom to have those moments that allows the free creative rein to produce the best moments - and they were very good indeed. 

Day 15.310: The Smile

Another midweek jaunt to Boston for some live music. This time it was to Roadrunner to see The Smile - the latest project from Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead joined by the excellent Tom Skinner. It was great, but a rather late night so I’ll save more discussion for another day. 

Day 15.309: Churchill?

As we walked towards this imposing statue on the Western Promenade in Portland on Saturday we thought he looked a bit like Winston Churchill.

It turns out there is a “Churchill” connection - the sculptor’s impressive name was Burr Churchill Miller. As if that wasn’t enough the plaque lists the subject as being called “Thomas Brackett ‘Czar’ Reed” - it definitely gives a certain impression even without any other information. 

Day 15.308: More to watch at the feeder

Our second two-day Project FeederWatch session was a little more interesting than the first, with 11 species to record. Here are a few of the pictures I took (mostly to help confirm sightings):

A dark-eyed junco in the tree

Two Carolina wrens on the feeder

A Carolina wren and a goldfinch

A pair of house finches

A white-breasted nuthatch