Hazy Heat

I was standing on a pedestrian bridge over Storrow Drive this weekend, behind the building that housed me for my last year at school. I was just looking around. The Hancock Building looks like it may fade into the hazy sky. It was very hot as I walked over to the river. I sat on a bench for a few minutes, but then needed to make my way back to my air conditioned car. I wish autumn weather would show up; I want to wear sweaters.

I also want it to be chillier so I can try warm, steaming cups of coffee roasted by George Howell. I drank tea back in the Coffee Connection days, so I'm glad he's back now that I drink coffee. I'm intrigued by the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, I've read good things about it. Also, not sure where Quebrada gets their coffee, but their house Columbian (iced) is outstanding.

Corn and Tomato Festival

Yesterday I attended the Verrill Farm Corn and Tomato Festival in Concord, MA.

The corn was boiled in wire baskets over a wood fire. I rolled the warm corn across a thick slab of butter and ate it while standing in the hot sun. It felt like one of the first real summer things I've done so far--and it's August!

The tomatoes were amazing. There were over 30 varieties. My favorite was Southern Nights which it seems are not named for the Glen Campbell song, but for the black nights of Southern Russia, where they come from. They were deep maroon with black marks and tasted musky. If I had a yard I'd try to grow some.

There was some great music from the Gypsy Wranglers while we sat on bales of hay and sampled corn chowder, salsa, gazpacho, and bruschetta.

It was a mere 20 mins from my place, but standing in a field where no buildings were visible and my friends' kids were waiting in line for pony rides made me feel I was many miles away. It was excellent. I was brought back to urban reality a few hours later while I wrangled my way into the Apple store in Cambridge to try to buy an Airport card on Massachusetts' first tax-free day. It was busier than Christmas and my search was fruitless; they no longer sell regular Airport cards, just Airport Extreme cards. My G3 iBook may have to suffer with a dying wireless card for a while--I bought a 50 foot Ethernet cable from Radio Shack so I can still sit on the couch with the internet.

Science Fiction, Double Feature

I'm having a particularly bad day, but when I saw the news that Fay Wray died all I could hear in my head was:

Michael Rennie was ill
The Day the Earth Stood Still
But he told us where we stand
And Flash Gordon was there
In silver underwear
Claude Rains was The Invisible Man
Then something went wrong
For Fay Wray and King Kong
They got caught in a celluloid jam
Then at a deadly pace
It Came From Outer Space
And this is how the message ran...

Probably not what Fay Wray would prefer I think of, but it made me smile to remember standing in line at midnight making up our own lines to scream at the movie screen.