Thanks, Tornado Warning!

I think the insane weather reports kept my afternoon a little less busy than it would have been. Less people willing to drive when it was all happening.

With my job, the last snow day I had was during the 2015 blizzard. 

Also, New Englanders are psychotic. They'll "brave any snowstorm just to sit miserably waiting for their appointment. 

Not so much when there's a potential tornado.

Summer storms might be my new snow days. 

My one positive about climate change. 

A Moment of Quiet, Please...

To follow up on this morning's post, I don't want my intent to seem like I want another total white out of snow like in 2015.

Not entirely, at least. Just a little...

I've been thinking about the 2015 Boston Blizzard. It took a lot out of everyone I knew. My mom in particular suffered more than anyone I know. Her house suffered so much water damage, she had to have all two rooms of her house (and the roof) done over. She couldn't sleep in her own home until nearly a year later. Her house is ready to take on the next disaster, but I don't even want her to deal with anything close to that winter for the rest of her life.

Still, the quiet...

For all the shoveling I had to do, I just remember the days at my work being so peaceful. The exact opposite of what they are now.

Where I work, the concept of snow days does not exist. I've had a string of jobs like that since my twenties. Until April, the last time I ever had a snow day was my first job as a waiter during the April Fool's blizzard of 1997. It was the first time a job has ever called me to not come in. Even during graduate school, any storm weather usually cleared up by nighttime, so I had no excuses.

April 1997. That was it.

Any other time there is a storm in Boston, I'm in the thick of it, getting to work as on time as I can.

Until 2015, when the blizzard first broke.

It was scary to be ordered to stay home for my own safety (for a day), but also nice. Sick, huh?

And while I envied my teacher girlfriend and her daughter for both being able to stay home from school the net day, when I got to work,it was slow enough that I felt like I could breathe and pause to think. Maybe even jot down my thoughts as absolutely nothing was happening.

That doesn't seem to happen very much anymore. Society says to take time off,  but anyone who works knows how society makes you pay for choosing to be away for a while. It's almost as if you have to sneak in your real vacation time in between your work days and your so called "time off" which feels less like rest and more like extra work.

To quote Bob Black, free time is just time the company doesn't pay you for. 

Unless nature intervenes.

I don't want the weather damage. I don't want the extra hour or more of commute time. I would even be okay if I never had the opportunity to film a snowstorm ever again.

I just want a little quiet time to come my way.

Mom's Over The Weekend

A view of my Mom's dining room. This was the only room that didn't need to be completely done over after the 2015 Blizzard.

Saying Goodbye

I posted about this shovel in my girlfriend's apartment after it broke under the rigors of last year's blizzard. For some reason we've kept this broken thing around. Three floors worth of people in this apartment have been content to keep this useless tool around, not even using it for a dust pan.

Was it out of some kind of respect for having broken during one of the worst storms New England has weathered in this generation? Whatever the case, we have enough souvenirs from that blizzard. It's time to say goodbye and hope the new shovels I got will stand up to whatever is coming next.
 

October 26: Fly, Fly, Buddaphliii! Fly to Stone Soup

Navah The Buddaphliii has been a mainstay in the Stone Soup Poetry family for the past couple of years. On top of that, she has really hit her stride as both a performer and an organizer for the Society of Urban Poets, a group you've read a lot about here and will no doubt continue to for the foreseeable future. This month at Stone Soup has been a celebration of SOUP, and this Monday, we close the month off with Navah's return feature! Navah was also one of the poets who featured during the Boston Blizzard this year. If you missed her in February (and many did), now is your time to make it up to her.

October 19: Hannah Brown Comes Back to Stone Soup

Hannah Brown's first ever feature at Stone Soup had a lot of obstacles, thanks to the blizzard of 2015. He's had a lot of great moments, some of which were shared with us at the Stone Soup Poetry Slams. It's only natural that we have have her back on the nineteenth during better weather (though a few hours before I started writing this, my girlfriend reported snowflakes outside). Hannah is another member of the Society of Urban Poets, who we are glad to be featuring this month. If you've ever seen Hannah deliver her words, you know Stone Soup is continuing to make Mondays more exciting.

Staying at Mom's

I spent time a my Mom's this weekend to study for a big exam I plan to take net month. It was good to see the house repaired after all the damage she received from this year's blizzard. All but two rooms in her home had walls that needed to be torn up and replaced. And that's not including the roof. Ceilings leaked, accumulated damage over the years was brought to light. It was a mess.

All in all, it took nearly six months of work while she stayed at her mother's house next door. All that's left is installing some bathroom cabinets and a paint job here and there. She's so much happier now.

Molly Uses My Camera

Just as I posted something saying "Thank God it's over," it started snowing in Boston again. My girlfriend's daugther took some nice shots with my camera then went to town photographing around the apartment.

For all the head shaking over new snow on the ground, the view from her room's window is really nice.

 

Scenes From My Mom's House During The Blizzard

Last month I hung out with my mother and tried to offer some help post-snowpocalypse. Boston got had the most lingering effects, but the Massachusetts suburbs got hit pretty hard as well.

 

The above pic is me standing on my Mom's back porch, which I helped clear so my sister could visit with less hassle

My Mom got hired help to do the roof to help halt the water damage she had by the end of the first couple of weeks.  I ended up helping here and there, including doing a bit of work on my grandmother's house and her thankfully less wide roof.

Mom said she saw some deer during the thick of it.  No signs of tracks by the time I got there.  Just buried trees. 

 Below is a view of my mom's shed, just to give you an idea of how deep the snow was in the back. 

The pool deck also got really piled on with the white stuff.  If she hadn't just gotten it redone, the winter would have been too much for it.  Regardless, this might be the first year my mom regrets owning a pool. 

New Englanders who fancy owning a pool to save spending money to go to Cape Cod, take note: One, you will want to go to Cape Cod anyway.  And two, you really have to want a pool to deal with stuff like this.  I mean really REALLY want it.

Found Art

One of the last "snow graffiti" shots I took before the rain and warmer weather started to wash away the piled-up snow.

Seen in South Boston

I found these cans on side street in South Boston a couple of weeks back near a snowed-in car.  I won't give the exact street anyway, but if you live in South Boston and have zero taste in alcohol, know that somewhere you are loved.

Admidst The Blizzard, a Plea for Mercy

"I just bought this car.  I will get a parking sticker tomorrow."

It's been a while since I've seen evidence of a Southie resident throwing themselves at their neighborhood's mercy.  Usually, they're just throwing old furniture in the streets to protect their vehicles, but this was a special case.  And it was on a road police cars drive down often.  The person was taking a risk doing this.  The streets are so packed with snow, no one might have noticed if not for this not right in the middle of the driver side window.

I regret not being able to see if the car was left alone.  Maybe I'll find out tonight.  Maybe there will be a follow-up not tonight.

Stone Soup Poetry February 23: Hannah Brown, The Rescheduled Feature!

After three weeks of cancellations due to the insane weather, Stone Soup returned this past Monday. I thank the brave people who came out to lend their support to Toni Bee's night. I hope we can all rally again and come out in greater numbers to see Hannah Brown, the poet whose feature was the first to be cancelled back in February. This is going to be quite the debut feature, and I hope there will be many surprises both during the feature and the open mic. Stone Soup is back. Let's help keep it that way.

The First of The 2015 Boston Blizzard Days

I thought I had already posted these.  There's more to come in the days ahead, I'm sure.

A Masshole in Hull, Mass., Part 3

As seen in parts one and two, the majority of my shots were taken in the afternoon or early morning.  Girlfriend's idea was to head home around five o'clock and catch the setting sun before we left.
 

We went further out this time, as the tide was much further back now.  The whiteness on the ground isn't from a crashing wave, but the frozen remains of several.  The remains of water and salt.

\

Though seemingly either brittle or soft, we could walk over certain parts without leaving much of an imprint, allowing me to take shots at better angles.  

In the end, what was on the ground was much more successfully documented than the sky.  I did my best though.  Some of the nicer memories this winter has provided.

Today in Oddball Magazine: Another Snow Poem!

Oddball Magazine hasn't had as many as you would think this winter.  Thankfully, one was submitted by Christopher Mulrooney a while back.  We're using it today with one of the many pictures I've taken of Boston during our blizzard month.  Click here to see it.

A Masshole in Hull, Mass., Part 2

Yesterday morning was the last day of our Nantasket Beach winter getaway.  I wanted to get catch some waves with my camera, so I took the camera with me when I went out in search of real coffee for my girlfriend.

It's only later that I realized how much of the frozen matter below was both water and salt.  More shots of that later.

Even though the wind wasn't as fierce as it was the day before, it was hard to face the sun and get some shots without getting freezer burn of the eyes.  I got lucky with my last shot.

Beach towns are as dead as you would think  We  got take out from the hotel restaurant most of the time.  Our excursions out were unsuccessful. 

The Red Parrot, closed for business either due to the weather or the season.  More like the dead parrot, am I right? 

Thankfully, we got coffee and brought additional food, including some bagels and lox, leading me to take my second food pic ever. 

A Masshole in Hull, Mass.

Girlfriend and I sat out the winter lunacy in Boston for watching the seawall as seen from our window.

First pics from Saturday night.  Most of them from our hotel balcony.

And this Sunday morning, me and Girlfriend by the shore.

 

 Props to my girlfriend, who was much more smartly dressed than me for winter and was able to stay in one place more easily than I could.

 

 Aside from the moisture on the lens, the sheer cold and force of the wind on Nantasket Beach was enough to cause my eye to tear up.  One of my tears landed on the right lens of my glasses, forming a perfect circle of ice.  I tried to grab a picture of it when I got inside, but it melted too fast.

I was able to grab some last shots of my girlfriend (all the while barely able to face the wind and look her way) and some final shore shots while running back to hotel.

H-h-hold on!  Let me take a S-s-s-selfie!