Parsons Mill fire, Holyoke, Massachusetts

I grabbed photos of the massive mill fire on Sargeant Street on Monday, June 9. All of my photos can be found in this MassLive.com photo gallery.

Cold River

My ladies and I took a day trip up north to take a dip. Earlier in the week, I had scouted out a spot in the Cold River in Charlemont. As we pulled up to the area, Brittnie, yelled out, “they’re naked!”

We spent the early afternoon dipping in the cool water of a small river. Rapids sang above us while we waded and chatted and co-existed peacefully with the nudity.

Afterwards, we headed over to Shelburne Falls for an early dinner at the West End Pub.

I have such highs during the weekends that it’s hard to get motivated to get ready for work this morning.

Holyoke Giants… err Sox

I went to the Holyoke Sox opening dinner last night and put up a couple of photos here.

Some things that are new:

- The Holyoke baseball franchise now has its own “dance team.”

- The mascot is a dog. His name is Big Red. The team still seems to be working through the color problem, since Big Red’s jersey is red and white.

- At least the team will be wearing blue. Presumably.

- I get that it’s the socks themselves that are blue, but I don’t get that the dog is still Big Red. I suppose I could have asked at the event, but everyone seemed so excited and happy, I didn’t want to rain on their parade. For the record, I’m wicked excited. Home opener is June 11th. Are you going?

happy marriage license request day

Matt and I headed to City Hall on Tuesday to “apply” for a marriage license. I use quotes around “apply” because although that is the standard way that one might describing going to the City Clerk’s office with the intent to acquire a marriage license, there appears to be no application involved whatsoever.

There were papers to sign, but there was no real need to prove that we’re worthy of a marriage license. They didn’t even ask for any identification, a fact that chilled Matt and me to the bone.

Fact: We are the 100th couple to declare our intent to marry to the city in 2008.

We were way more prepared than I thought we’d be so that may have contributed to the quickness of the experience. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts no longer requires a blood test, so that wasn’t necessary. We did have to raise our right hands and swear that what we wrote down on the application was true. I think I said yes. Matthew confirmed later that he had replied “yup.”

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where have you been?

These past couple of weeks have found me doing a bunch of things – getting ready for vacation, planting things in our front and back, celebrating someone’s birthday, working, taking photos, going to picnics, successfully not getting too many bug bites in the process, visiting family, watching what I eat. I promise to have something up here on this blog soon (besides this pathetic post).

oh it’s on

I have so many photos of my cats, you would lose your mind. Don’t even get me started!

rainbow reader

Whenever it rains but the sun is still peeking out from behind the clouds, I look up at the sky searching for a rainbow. Matt likes to make fun of me for this.

But look!

Not one, not two, but three photos of rainbows popped up in my google reader this morning.

This emboldens me to keep my eyes on the sky from now on.

spinach puree / pesto

Following our trip to Brimfield, I spent some time in the kitchen, figuring out something to do with all of our leftover parsley. The great thing about parsley is that it costs almost nothing, it comes in an abundance, and will last a decent amount of time stored in the crisper.

We originally purchased the parsley to make this fantastic salmon recipe for Mother’s Day. A week later, there I was, looking up recipes in Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything Vegetarian.

I’ve been trying to cut down on high-fat foods these days, in anticipation of our vacation next month (next month!?!), and this recipe fits the bill as a nice substitute for a sandwich condiment, such as mayonnaise. I modified it slightly by using less olive oil than was called for (4 TBSP instead of 1/2 cup) and two garlic cloves instead of a one-half clove. I think Matthew would have rather I put less garlic, because as he says, I am more “garlic obsessed” than he.

The recipe appears as part of a clam entree in the NY Times, but stands alone in Bittman’s cookbook.

The above photo was unenhanced. That’s the true color of the parsley puree.

Brimfield Antique Show again

Here are the rest of my photos from our trip to Brimfield. I didn’t take a lot of them. I was too busy restraining myself from buying everything. We made out with two Fiesta rim bowls (more like salad plates to me), a Fiesta butter dish, and I got a pretty pair of earrings that match my engagement ring.

brimfield antique show

more photos to come