redbird | Entries tagged with somerville

Two cryogenic zaps, about thirty second each, on the right place this time. (There have now been several correct and one only partly on the wart.)

The doctor told me to go back to using the salicylic acid patches, but be careful with the bandage tape, so as not to irritate the skin on that finger which is still dry and feels a bit rough.

Follow-up in two weeks, with Pam again because Andrea doesn't have in-person availability and this needs to be in person.

The doctor's office is no longer requiring masks, and the receptionists weren't wearing masks. So I told the person who checked me in to ask Andrea to wear a mask, which she did, which makes it lower-risk than the transit to and from the appointment, or the quick stops to buy meat and bread. There may have been one other customer in the meat market, and the only person at When Pigs Fly was the cashier. There are advantages to shopping at 10:30 on a Tuesday morning, though I would have preferred to be able to sleep late.

We now have ground lamb, which is defrosting in the refrigerator, and a rosemary foccacia.

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I had my hair cut today, in about the same style I had last time.

This was in the same place, but a different stylist. A few weeks ago, the hair salon sent out email saying they had "promoted" several of the stylists, meaning increased the price for seeing those people, and offering to reschedule with a less-expensive hairstylist if the money was a problem.

I thought about it and decided that yes, the money was a problem. I'm not having anything particularly difficult done, or asking the stylist to help me figure out a good haircut.

So, today's haircut was done by Sam, rather than Taylor, and she charged me less than I expected, ringing it up as a child's haircut. (Her idea, not mine.)

I missed several transit connections (one on the way there, and three on the way home). So I walked from Davis Square up Highland Avenue to Cedar Street instead of taking an 88 or 90 bus. I stopped on the way home for a cup of tea, and decided to take two buses to get to the green line, instead of getting on he red line subway, because CityMapper said it would be faster.

The subway trip might have taken even longer than the buses, but I would have been waiting indoors/underground. I was dressed fine for the weather in the middle of the afternoon, but not for 7:00-8:30.

However, I came home and had some herb tea and a hot dinner, and am feeling just fine.

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( mostly about my haircut, also discussion of masking and mask styles )

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I got a haircut this afternoon, telling the stylist I wanted basically the same haircut she'd given me last time, because I liked it and it's low-maintenance. I then looked at it with my glasses on, and had her remove another half inch of hair. This time, Taylor was able to work around the ear loops on my KN95 mask; last time, she had me hold it against my face so she could briefly unhook the elastic loops from my ears.

I usually wear a duckbill-style N95 mask, but if a mask has ear loops it doesn't meet the N95 standard. These KN95s are less comfortable than the N95s, so I put on an N95 before leaving the house, and changed masks right before going into the hair salon. This time, I remembered to apply vaseline behind both ears, to reduce abrasion, and it did help.

After getting the haircut, I went to 87Ate9 bakery for a chocolate cheesecake (both places are on Highland Avenue, and it's a short bus trip (or a nice walk) from one to the other. After asking for the six-inch cheesecake, I noticed that one of the flavors of mini cheesecake on display was chocolate with orange ganache, so I got one of those as well. It was good. If I remember, I may order a six-inch chocolate cheesecake with orange ganache the next time I'm going to be in the neighborhood (my next hair appointment is two months from now, which I will cancel if things look too risky).

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Today's lunch was a mushroom crepe, which I ate sitting at an outside table. I got to Mr. Crepe during a break in the rain, and it only rained for part of the time I was eating.

If not for the pandemic, I would have eaten indoors, and probably at a restaurant closer to my occupational therapist’s office. In 2022, I’m pleased to have safe, tasty options for lunch out.

Today is the equinox, and we're definitely getting into cooler weather, which will make outdoor dining less tempting, especially in damp clothes, but for now, I had a nice meal, at a place I like, with negligible covid risk (I was wearing an N95 mask when I went into the restaurant to order).

The OT session itself went pretty well: ultrasound and massage, and the therapist asked me how much exercise I'd been doing, what my pain levels have been, and how often I'm wearing the brace. She told me to increase the amount of time I'm not wearing the brace, and to try to increase the number of repetitions of the exercises I'm doing with weights.

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I had a physical exam this afternoon, which included a few things the doctor couldn't do remotely, like a manual breast exam and a check of the skin on my back for any growths or discoloration (she found no problem with either). The follow-up in 3 months will be telemedicine, because there's no reason for it not to be.

The weather was unexpectedly mild, so I had lunch in Davis Square before I saw the doctor, at one of Mr. Crepe's little outdoor tables. After the physical, I took the bus up Highland Avenue for cheesecake at 7Ate9, and then another bus the bus to Lechmere, in part to see what the new/rebuilt green line station is like. It is impressive, but there should be clearer signs explaining where to get your fare validated. Fare validation uses the fare sale machines, which then print a little receipt. The receipt was familiar from doing much the same thing on some Seattle and New York City bus lines. I had expected separate machines on the train platform (as at the Seattle and New York bus stops). However, the elevators at the new station work well, and I had no trouble finding a T employee to ask for help. This is a snazzy new station, replacing an odd and run-down old one.

ETA, for my reference: Carmen said that if I was exposed to someone with an active case of covid, she might be able to get me another dose of the Evusheld in less than six months. No details, she said it was something she'd heard on the "Ask a Virologist" podcast.

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I have short hair again. Taylor (the hairdresser) and I discussed possibilities, after which she first cut it in a style that had seemed plausible in a photo she showed me on her phone. I looked at it in the mirror, and decided that I didn't like it on me (my hair is thinner than the model's), so she cut it shorter, and buzzed part of it (with the buzz cutter set to 1).

If I still like this haircut in a few days, I can maintain it for a while at home, since we have a buzz cutter, and go back for another cut in 3-4 months. If I don't like it after a couple of days, I will go back in two weeks for a different short haircut, like I had in early 2020.

[photo TK, I'm not happy with the selfie I took a few minutes ago]

After getting my hair cut, I walked up to 7Ate9 Bakery, and bought a chocolate cheesecake.

It's a chilly day, and I'd forgotten that my hair was keeping my head, and especially my ears, warm.

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I made an appointment for

adrian_turtle and

cattitude to look at another apartment in Somerville, this afternoon. They liked it enough that we have asked for a rental application.

cattitude urged me to look at the topo map before deciding; I poked at mappedometer, and the elevation graph shows a 1/16 slope up to Highland Avenue, and 1/25 down to Summer Street. [Those are relevant because there are useful buses on both streets, the 88 and 90 on Highland and the 87 on Summer.)

I'm saying "I think" because the landlord could turn us down, or we could look at the lease and find something problematic enough that we need to back out, as happened with the first place we looked at, several weeks ago.

Meanwhile, I talked to my mother this afternoon, and asked about the email I sent her about ten days ago, asking about where her parents had lived, and when my grandmother became a German citizen and, later, when she and my grandfather were naturalized as US citizens. It turns out that she'd written a nice long reply to my questions, and accidentally sent it to herself instead of to me. I now have lots of information, a couple of questions for our contact at the German embassy in London, and maybe one for my cousin Anne. (This is for German citizenship.)

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JP Licks' "carrot cake" ice cream is excellent. I tried it this afternoon after seeing my doctor. They are giving out tastes/samples again, so I asked for one and then ordered a "small" cone, using my annual "happy birthday, here's some free ice cream."

The ice cream has walnuts, raisins, brown sugar, cinnamon, and (per the JP Licks website) shredded carrots. It doesn't contain cake, which pleases me because I don't generally like like cream that contains cake or cookies. It also means the carrot cake ice cream is gluten-free, so if you are (or know) someone who is avoiding gluten but misses carrot cake, you'll probably like this. (

JP Licks is a local chain, so this recommendation will be useful mostly to people who live or work in or near Boston. But hey, if you're going to be visiting... They say carrot cake ice cream is "available for a limited run," but not whether that's going to a few weeks, or several months.

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I went to the doctor's office this morning, for a follow-up visit on the cough that I just took a course of antibiotics for, and she thinks I'm basically recovered.

The doctor was pleased to hear that I'd hurried up the escalator at the subway station, and not been short of breath while doing so. She encouraged me to keep doing a bit of exercise that increases my heart rate and breathing--I mostly don't, because it can strain my knees, this was because I got off the train at 10:07 and had a 10:10 appointment. I hurried through Harvard Square on my way home, in order to catch a bus, and thinking of Carmen's advice--my current livestyle doesn't include much hurrying for buses and trains, and didn't even before the pandemic.

Also, keep using the inhaler if I'm coughing and feel the need. Carmen was surprised that Michelle had told me last week not to, in order to clear my lungs; this came up when I said that the bit of coughing yesterday was a dry cough, so I decided not irritating my lungs was more important. (For reference, I finished a five-day course of antibiotics on Monday, and today is Thursday.)

Since we've decided it's not prudent to eat inside in restaurants right now, I got a cup of hot chocolate, and drank it on the sidewalk, in the rain, rather than eating a crepe inside at Mr. Crepe. I stopped off at McKinnon's while I was in Davis Square, and bought smoked pork hocks and ground lamb.

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cattitude and I just had sushi for the first time in 16 months, having decided that (at least this week) in this part of Massachusetts, I was willing to eat indoors.

It wasn't astounding sushi, but it was sushi, and reasonably good, and hey, raw fish! nori! And then we went to the farmers market, so I have raspberries and peaches and lettuce and cherry tomatoes, and bread and local honey. (Genki-ya, in Davis Square.)

Now I am home, and glad to be in an air conditioned room. (Weather Underground says the air quality here is "155: unhealthy," but the weather app on my iPhone says "70: moderate." I wore a mask indoors and part of the time I was outdoors, and the air seemed OK.)

Tomorrow will be a day to stay close to home and not over-exert myself, because I am trying to be cautious after being sick for several weeks, including a relapse or two.

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cattitude,

adrian_turtle, and I had lunch at Cafe Barada, which has a permanent fenced-off area with tables on the sidewalk. This is the first time the three of us have done something like this since before the pandemic. I suggested Barada for our first post-vaccination outing, and Adrian mentioned that they had been one of the first restaurants to go to take-out-only, last spring. (It's a family business, which might mean the management cared more about the health of the staff than someone who was employing strangers and expecting rapid staff turnover even in normal times.) I had lamb kebabs, cattitude had vegetarian kibbe (squash, mostly), and Adrian had falafel, and they shared stuffed grape leaves as an appetizer, and it was all good.

After lunch, cattitude went home and I went with Adrian to her place for a couple of hours. First, we walked up to Davis Square because she wanted to get vegan ice cream at JP Licks, but they were out of the flavor she wanted. I suggested taking a bus from Davis to Arlington Center and then catching the 77, rather than walking back to Mass Ave, but the bus ride it was bumpy enough to make Adrian uncomfortable, so we got out at Clarendon Hill. She was thinking of waiting for the next 87, but I suggested we walk along Alewife Brook Parkway instead, even though that was a longer walk than the one (trying to remember how long the walk would be) and said yes. After a few blocks of sidewalk, we got onto a boardwalk next to Alewife Brook. It was a nice day for a walk, and for sitting quietly for a few minutes on a random bench, and my hip was fine (with my usual caution of moving slowly and taking breaks before it started to hurt). Oddly, on the trip back to Belmont, my feet hurt from the short walk in the Harvard bus tunnel from the 77 to the 73.

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This afternoon, I went to Davis Square and bought a chicken and some frozen ground lamb, then walked a few blocks to Mass Ave. and bought some lettuce plants for my garden. That's two stores I hadn't been to in over a year, MscKinnon's and Pemberton Farms, which were both basically as I remembered, and I will be able to roast a chicken for

cattitude and

adrian_turtle while they're recovering from their second vaccine doses.

I wanted to do my own shopping for the chicken, rather than chance an Instacart shopper picking something that needed to be used right away. The original plan had been to go to Star Market, which is closer, but some of their delivery drivers are on strike, and shoppimg there right now would feel wrong even without a physical picket line. So, bus and subway to Davis, rather than just a shorter bus trip. The advantage of this is that uncrowded subway trains let me do a bit of balance practice, which isn't formally PT but which the physical trainer I was working with for a while agreed was useful as a balance exercise. (When I was 15, standing on a moving train without holding on was just for fun.)

Mostly this trip felt refreshingly normal, though passing through the Harvard Square subway station and seeing almost nobody in the normally crowded area between the escalators and the turnstiles, fare vending machines, and busway was weird.

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The mayor of Somerville just announced that Somerville will not be going to phase 3 of reopening on Monday, because the 7-day rolling averages in Middlesex county and several other nearby counties are moving in the wrong direction.

My working guideline is that I am being at least as cautious as Somervillke, which in this case translates to not getting a haircut next week, even though it would be allowed under the phase 2 rules.

I called and rescheduled for a month later. By then it will either feel safe, or I will cancel and not reschedule.

I am going out to see Adrian, and for medical things that can't be done remotely, which included a drugstore trip that couldn't wait. A haircut is much lower priority. When I noticed that I was trying to think of an argument for doing it anyway, I realized that meant that I thought I should cancel, and

adrian_turtle encouraged me to do so right away.

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I needed a new blood pressure monitor, so I looked at Consumer Reports and saw that the recommended model was a Rite Aid house brand.

That led to the interesting question, since Walgreen's bought Rite Aid, would it still be available. There is (for the moment) a Rite Aid in Somerville, near Davis Square, and also conveniently, Rite Aid emailed me a 30% off coupon. Our vet's office is less than a half mile from there, on the 88/89/90 bus route. Also on that route is Mackinnon's butcher shop.

So, those were the morning's errands. There were a lot of bare shelves in the Rite Aid, but they still had the blood pressure monitors; I bought the appropriate model, Moon Pies for

cattitude, and some wooden hangers. Thence to Mackinnon's for frozen ground lamb, and the vet's office to buy more of the prescription cat food.

All quite smooth and successful, except for some bus annoyances that aren't interesting enough to be worth detailing: I'll just note that the annoyance wasn't from the electrical problem but from poor MBTA communication, and what else is new?

... I was doing nothing in particular this afternoon when I tripped over an edge of blanket and fell on the floor. My head is fine, and nothing was broken or even bleeding. I sat for a minute to catch my breath, then got up, went into the kitchen, and got ice packs for both knees and one shoulder; using them all made for a boring several minutes, but seemed to do some good.

Later, I noticed that the large muscles at the bases of both my thumbs feel sore, which is probably also from the fall, though I didn't notice that bit at the time. *sigh*

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After lunch and tea this afternoon, I was thinking that I really ought to go out and $do_stuff. At the point when I realized I was doing nothing in particular at the computer, in an avoidant way, I decided to go out right then, because that felt like depression getting in my way.

The timing was good, because the sun had come out, but I think it would have done me good to go outside even on an overcast afternoon. I decided that the key point was to be go, but also decided that I would take the bus to Harvard Square, and then decide whether to go further, do useful things right there, or just come home.

I did two useful errands in Somerville: First, I returned some hair product I had bought last week after my hairdresser tried it on my hair. What had seemed like a very mild scent to me bothered

adrian_turtle enough that I washed it out a couple of hours later. Since I didn't want another product instead, I now have the money on a gift card, which I will use to pay for my next haircut.

I then bought Molly and Kaja more prescription cat food, the vet being conveniently a couple of blocks from the hairdresser. That was somewhat awkward to carry, but I made one more stop on the way home, at Lizzy's Ice Cream on Church Street, for a pint each of chocolate and black raspberry.

I was feeling enough better for this outing that I think I need to make more of an effort to get outside every day--in particular, to go further than five feet from the apartment door if at all possible. My policy/goal has been, go outside unless that would be stepping into blizzard or hurricane conditions, but I think it matters to be outside for at least a few minutes.

Separately, I note that my right shoulder has been sore lately. I am going to reduce the intensity and number of repetitions of my shoulder exercises, while trying to do the relevant stretching more often.

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I went to a Friends of Captain Awkward meetup yesterday morning: a couple of hours of pleasant conversation, including quite a bit about cats. I suggested to the organizer that if she is feeling cat-deprived, she could visit me and spend some time stroking and admiring Molly.

Somerville just put on an impressive fireworks show for Memorial Day, which we could see out our living room window. We were eating dinner when the fireworks started, and I put my soup spoon down and got up to watch the fireworks. Given how Somerville tends to do things, I was surprised that they had it on Memorial Day; the city's July 4th fireworks are usually in June.

I have yet another "explanation of benefits" ("this is not a bill") from Tufts Health Plan. This is for blood tests from April of last year. I still have the paperwork from Quest Diagnostics for this bill (we've been hanging onto documentation of medical expenses, in case of a possible tax deduction). I logged onto the health plan website, and this appears to be the third time they're trying to bill for this: last year they submitted the claim twice on the same day, and one was paid and the other rejected because it was a duplicate. I don't know whether I should call Tufts tomorrow, or wait and see if I receive a bill. (I have so far received three identical "explanations of benefits" for my visit to the hand doctor in January, but her office hasn't billed me for it.)

cattitude and I were feeling drained enough by the apartment-hunting process and uncertainty by the time we signed the lease last week that we have been taking a few days to not work on, or even talk about, the rest of what needs to be done for the move. We've been talking about this as "relaxing," but it's a loose value of "relaxing": in addition to walking and Scrabble, we've been keeping up with cooking and basic chores, and I've done a few hours of work on my current freelance project.

I colored my hair purple again this morning. It had mostly faded by last week, and I decided to see using the small bottle of "purple" coloring conditioner when I washed my hair a few days ago. Maybe I should have left it on longer, or maybe this is another aspect of the colors working differently on gray/white than bleached hair: the only visible effect was a bit of darkening. I threw that away, and applied the "blue"+"teal" mix that looks good on my hair.

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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 )

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I saw and, more importantly, smelled my first lilac of the spring this afternoon, a white lilac with many open blossoms. I thought at first that it was going to be a washout, literally—there was noticeable rain falling—and then walked a little further down the sidewalk, which put me downwind of the lilac. There are lilac bushes closer to my apartment, but they're waiting for more sunny days, or something.

Also on that walk I saw white violets, rhododendrons, forsythia, periwinkle, tulips, daffodils, and dandelions. (And two just-planted rosebushes, fully in bloom, which was disconcerting.) There are a lot of purple violets blooming near me, and some maple trees that haven't dropped all their flowers yet.

Weather permitting, I hope to go to the Arnold Arboretum on Tuesday and enjoy their lilacs.

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I re-colored my hair this morning, about an hour before going to my doctor's office. Both the receptionist and the nurse practitioner commented favorably on the purple.

After I saw the doctor,

cattitude and I went over to Powderhouse Square and had a sushi lunch with his sister, who teaches at Tufts. That was at Yoshi's Sushi; I had decent though unspectacular eel and cucumber and sweet potato rolls, and a disappointingly bland shrimp and mango roll.

It turns out I don't need a referral or a routine mammogram, I should just call Mount Auburn Hospital and make an appointment. (I have put a reminder into my calendar to call soon; I didn't feel like dealing with it this afternoon.

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Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

Don't mourn, organize

another round of wart treatment

haircut

haircut

haircut, and cheesecake

eating outside on a rainy day

physical exam

haircut

we think we've found a place

carrot cake ice cream

reassuring visit to the doctor

sushi!

lunch out, at an actual restaurant

shopping in person

not getting a haircut

productive morning; not so good afternoon

Pleased that I overcame the "don't wanna"s.

Five things make a post

looking for an apartment to rent

Spring flowers

purple

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