Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

I just went to the optician and ordered a pair of computer-distance glasses, in part because rysmiel has been talking so positively about theirs. I had a prescription from my last eye doctor appointment, in October; I asked for a copy mostly in case I lost or broke my current pair of glasses. So I had a prescription for the kind of bifocals I'm wearing now, for distance and close work, not for computer distance.

Ron looked at the prescription and told me he would have to adjust it for the computer distance. This led to me ordering a pair of bifocals, with the top half for computer distance and the bottom for closer work. That's not what I was thinking of, but when Ron suggested it I decided that it was a good idea.

I like Ron, and am planning to keep getting my glasses from him until he retires, hopefully not soon. He's been in business for half a century; it's a one-man shop, with a sign that has his name and the word "optician."

From there, I went across the street to La Victoria Taqueria, bought a taco al pastor, and ate it sitting at a metal picnic table outside. It's a chilly day, but I haven't been to that restaurant in ages, and wanted to take advantage of being in Arlington Center at lunchtime.

cattitude and I are moving again, and therefore looking for an apartment to rent. We need a place that allows cats and doesn't have a lot of stairs, and want 1200-1600 square feet, preferably near the 77 bus route (probably in Arlington, since Somerville or Cambridge would cost more).

We have our current apartment until the end of July, but would prefer to move into the new place July 1st or 15th rather than August 1st.

I would be grateful for pointers to either apartments for rent (I know this is a long shot) or real estate agents you think well of. We want to stay put for a few years, so even the best sublet isn't for us.

( other things we want )

cattitude and I got up very early this morning and walked over to the Alewife Reservation to look at (or at least for) birds and frogs, and listen to the dawn chorus. This was my idea, in conversation on our way home yesterday: I suggested that it might be fun, but maybe later in summer when sunrise is later. He mentioned that he is often up around dawn these days, so we agreed that if he was up anyway, and wanted to go for a walk, he would wake me gently by calling my name.

We pulled on clothes at about a quarter to five, and walked down the bikeway; unusually, we saw no cyclists, though one pedestrian passed us, looking as though he was hurrying to catch the first or second subway train of the morning.

We heard more birds and frogs than we saw: the ones we heard included what sounded like two or three large bullfrogs. I spotted one large frog, lying on the surface of the water with all its legs spread, near enough to us that I could see some yellow on its body as well as the green; Cattitude found a few that were either sitting on lily pads or doing their best imitations of random lump of vegetation.

The sun rose while we were on one of the paths in the Alewife Reservation, that first blaze of orange on the horizon. *smile*

We heard some familiar birds—red-winged blackbirds, mallards, a cardinal, grackles—and some birdsongs neither of us recognized. We also saw swallows (in the air, of course) and what might have been wrens or warblers, tiny birds on the path some distance away. My immediate thought when Cattitude pointed them out was sanderlings (sandpipers), but the Alewife Reservation is a freshwater wetland, not a tidal marsh or mudflat.

On the way back I got a glimpse of a heron, flying up and curving away from the path as we approached. (It looked white enough that it might have been an egret, but a great blue heron is more likely based on what we've been seeing around there, and the dawn light can do odd things to color.)

We also saw several rabbits, of which there are a lot living around here, and one chipmunk. No muskrat—the last time we were over there we got a good look at one swimming near the surface of the water, biting off a lily pad and taking it away somewhere, presumably to its den.

That was a lot of fun, but may not have been prudent, because I got about hours' sleep last night. We tried going back to bed when we got home, and I dozed a while but didn't really get back to sleep.

I got up again around 7:30, had tea and breakfast, and then went out again to do some gardening before it got hot. "Gardening" in this case means looking at what's currently growing there, and quite a bit of weeding. We have three sunflower plants (I'd only been sure of two), but no flowers left, and the cucumber is being enthusiastic enough that I'm trying to figure out how much I can reasonably cut the roses back to make room for it.

Forsythia all over, and the first magnolia blossoms along the bikeway (near Magnolia Field). Some cherry blossoms on Lake Street, both fruit trees in my back yard are in flower, and I saw some Callery pear blossoms on Mass Ave this afternoon. Some of our crocuses are done, but others are still blooming. (Lots of daffodils.)

There are still chickadees in my yard (yesterday) and along the bikeway (this morning), and I had n nice long look at a red-winged blackbird in the marshes near Alewife Brook, on the path from the bikeway to Mass Ave.

I planted rosemary in the front yard this afternoon, to replace the plant that didn't make it through the winter. (The tag on that one said hardiness zone 8, and we're zone 6; the one I just planted just says "rosemary," but I've seen rosemary plants in gardens nearby that clearly made it through at least one winter.) I also bought some lettuce plants, but have to decide where they go, and weed and/or hoe first, I think. (Yes, I started lettuce from seed last week, but I'm not feeling patient.)

cattitude and I just got home from an Arlington meeting for the livestream/beginning to do stuff of the ACLU's "People Power" grassroots initiative. (Yes, a national organization trying to organize a grassroots anything is weird, but we have information on getting stuff done at the city, town, or county level.) The first project is to try to get local law enforcement not to cooperate with ICE, with specifics on what to do and not do, that apparently were developed by ACLU lawyers working with police chiefs and such.

There's a proposal to make Arlington a sanctuary town on the next town meeting agenda; someone at the meeting is going to get in touch with the state ACLU to see whether he should try to get the proposal amended, or whether it's close enough. Someone else is going to be contacting the attorney general, I think to ask what the state is doing (I've forgotten the details, so I'm glad it's not my task). We might also be calling the Middlesex County sheriff to ask about the pieces of this enforcement thing that are relevant to his job.* It was good to talk to other locals who want to do something, and we have another meeting scheduled in a few weeks. (This was one of at least three events in Arlington, so we may wind up coordinating, or people who went to this meeting may go to the next meeting of one of them, or vice versa.)

I was surprised to see Cyd (WINOLJ/DW) there; she said she hadn't been able to find a Belmont meeting, and left when we got into discussing Arlington-specific plans.

Side note: the host offered tea (several choices of tea, and a proper electric kettle), but when I asked about milk and sugar had only hemp milk, so I tried it, and didn't like it at all (unlike soy milk). I gave up on that and had iced tea instead, for the caffeine.

*I gather that in most of Massachusetts, the sheriff's job is only to run and set policy for the county jail, so "don't turn people over to ICE or ask about immigration status" is relevant, but reminding them about the importance of warrants isn't.

Specifically, where should I go in person tomorrow morning to buy a new teakettle? (I dropped the one we had and it broke.)

I don't want to run all over the place, so Arlington, Cambridge, Somerville, or the red line-accessible parts of Boston would be best.

It needs to be a whistling tea kettle, and doesn't need to be fancy or expensive. The kettle it will be replacing lasted more than three decades, and I paid four dollars for it, which is cheap even allowing for inflation.

After voting this morning, I went grocery shopping. On the way home, I was talking idly with the woman sitting next to me on the bus. As she was getting up, she thought she had dropped something, and it looked a little like something had fallen, but didn't sound like it, and she didn't see anything missing.

When I got home and put my groceries away, I found her CharlieCard/The RIDE (paratransit) ID card in one of the bags. The cards have the holder's name and photo, and no other information.

I googled a bit, using her name and "Arlington," and came up with three possible phone numbers. One of those got me a man who said it was a wrong number, but that the name sounded vaguely familiar; I may not be the first person to try reaching her there. (When we lived in New York, every few months I got a call from someone looking for bus information.) The other two got me voicemail, and I left messages.

The woman's sister called me after about an hour, thanked me enthusiastically for taking the trouble, and asked how I had gotten her number. I explained how I found her number, and said that I would want someone to do the same for me, and she said that she would call her sister and tell her to expect to hear from me.

I heard from the card-holder at about 6:00, and arranged to meet her at the nearest bus stop, because I really didn't want to go up to Arlington Heights. She was slightly flustered, and when I asked if she could get there pointed out that I had her Charliecard; it took a little back-and-forth to get past that to yes, she had enough cash for the bus fare. She took the bus down here, I handed the card over, and she thanked me and headed for the bus stop in the other direction.

I am pleased this worked out. (The MBTA's suggestion, when I emailed their lost-and-found address, was to give them the name and number on the card so they could deactivate it. This seemed suboptimal, to put it mildly.)

The annual block party for my block (and a few people from nearby blocks) was Saturday. It was a nice low-key thing, potluck food, conversation, and children running around. Two different neighbors asked if they could have seedpods from our milkweed plants*. We said sure, and I suggested to one of them that she take it right then, but cattitude said it would be better to let the seedpods dry first.

However, yesterday morning we noticed a seedpod had split open and the seeds were drifting on the wind. So, after I took the trash downstairs yesterday and moved the bins to the sidewalk, I picked up two seedpods and went to call on those neighbors. The one right across the street wasn't home, and I left a seedpod on the edge of their grill, next to an unopened can of soda. Then I went down the street, rang the bell, and got an "aren't you sweet" thank you for the seeds. I am considering whether I want to deliberately plant milkweed in the back yard, or just let it sprout wherever the seeds land.

I mentioned this to rysmiel, who said they hadn't heard of milkweed being something people actively want. The plants aren't very attractive to humans, but they're what monarch caterpillars eat; monarchs are attractive, interesting, and suffering serious population decline due at least in part to habitat loss. This is part of gardening for wildlife, a bit more actively than leaving the volunteer pokeweed because birds like the berries.

Today I stopped at Pemberton Farms to get some lettuce for dinner, and noticed they had six-packs of lettuce and kale plants in the garden center part of the store. I talked to the woman behind the counter, and told her I don't know the local seasons yet and had no idea when the first freeze was likely. She said that one of the few advantages of New England for gardening is you can grow cool-season crops twice a year.

So I bought some lettuce seedlings, brought them home, and did a bunch of weeding to make room in the front garden for the lettuce. I talked to at least three people while I was doing so, including 42itous and a passing child who asked what I was planting, then said it looked like lettuce, and when I agreed expressed approval. Best case, I will get some really fresh lettuce; worst case, it cost me $3.50 and less than an hour's work, including some extra weeding elsewhere in the yard.



*our meaning they are growing in front of our house; the landlady planted them last fall, I think.

I just chased a rabbit out of my front garden.

It was standing on its hind legs, eating a pea leaf. The pea vines are basically done, and my first thoughts were "you're late" (42itous had expected them to devour the seedlings) and "sure, why not," but I don't want it to go after the cucumbers and tomatoes. Or even the rosemary and sorrel and milkweed.

The garden is doing well for values of "well" that include "I don't actually know when to harvest the lettuce," because "before it bolts," while valid, isn't all that useful. Some of the lettuces are growing much faster than others; if I plant lettuce next year I think it all goes in the side bed. I may need to remove more of the milkweed so the lettuce and herbs can have enough sunlight, but we have a lot of milkweed. We haven't spotted any monarch caterpillars yet, though.

There are a lot of cornflowers in front of the house, a very cheerful blue color.

The most recent surprise, and possibly the last, was a few more irises, tucked in among the roses on the back fence. The locust tree in our yard is apparently too young to flower, alas.

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