I baked cinnamon rolls for breakfast, took Ron out for lunch at the re-opened Thai restaurant in Deer Crossing and picked up meatloaf, Moroccan carrots and a stuffed potato for supper from Windfall.
Spent most of the day prepping for the interview this morning. I’ll rejoice when it’s done.
I printed letters for the Dixon neighbors about the DPW’s requests to make our street plowable. Ron and I walked them to each house and got to chat with a couple of neighbors, which was nice.
Lori Robbins and I managed to clear the building material debris that she’d pulled out of her basement a few weeks ago.
We made two trips to the Bourne refuse facility. 700 pounds, $33, under budget. They could not have been nicer to us at Bourne.
Lori told me about some paths that she likes around Santuit Pond.
I was able to get to my appointment with “Doc” Schortman on time, but he passed on extracting my tooth. They made an appointment with an oral surgeon.
Talked with the town Treasurer about how long it takes for Mashpee to seize property for non-payment of taxes: 3 years. One piece of property designated for conservation land at this week’s Town Meeting has been owned by the Town for ten years.
Met with a tree guy this morning. He wants a lot of money for work we can pretty much do ourselves.
Booked an appointment to talk with the school superintendent about his “Mashpee is Dogpatch” comments last night. Not true: our average income is higher than both Falmouth and Bourne. Our percentage of college grads is higher than the state average.
Ron and I took a walk up and down Dixon to figure out which trees need to be pruned to meet the DPW standards.
I got a number of errands done today and started prepping for my interview this week. We both got flu shots at the town clinic.
Made eggplant parmesan and from-scratch sauce for supper. HUGE eggplant, we’ll get three meals out of it.
Went to Town Meeting, short and sweet. Tyler was videoing!
Ron was right, my run for a Board position in the neighborhood association was a waste of time.
Aside from appreciating Ron, Emme, James and Ethan even more for their loyalty, I’m still trying to figure out what I learned from the experience, other than understanding how it feels to be shunned.
I’ve taken the website and FaceBook page down as well as the email accounts and blocked the perpetrators from my email client. Shunning works both ways.
We were thinking about going to Newburyport today, but that plan got scuttled because of me. I’ve been so anxious about this campaign – the last time I ran for anything was in secretarial school and of course, I was defeated – that I woke up at 2:30 this morning fussing over my sign.
Ron let me sleep in. I finished the sign (two-sided) and we posted it at Edgewater. Spent about $6 on this big campaign. Have gotten more than my share of hate emails, an ugly FB post and an angry phone call. Will be glad when it’s over. On a more positive note, distributed the milkweed seeds behind the summer sweet.
Ron spotted this beauty a week or so ago, and we saw it again today at Roche Bros. I’m pretty sure it cost about the same as my first house.
Ron and I attended the ribbon cutting today along with a slew of local pols and a few town workers.
James raked, seeded and watered the lawns at Edgewater. We helped out a little with the raking.
I put mothballs on the bulb beds.
Ron leaf-swept, overseeded and watered the front and side lawn.
I (finally) dug up the tulips between the rose bushes along the deck and replanted them in the oval and the “U”. Doubt that I got them all, but did retrieve quite a few, including a bunch of tiny bulbs. Hope some at least will bloom.
I took out our bedroom a/c and cleaned the window and sill. Ron gave the a/c a good cleaning and put it away.
We moved super bed back to its winter spot and re-hung the door.
I put peat moss on the new daffodil/narcissus bed and seeded and watered the front.
Having broken four eggs by mistake yesterday, I baked butterscotch oatmeal cookies and cornbread today.
I’ve been wanting to visit Blithewold for years and put myself on their mailing list a while back.
So, when I got an email saying that the gardens were being put to bed starting tomorrow, I asked Ron if he’d like to visit today, and he agreed.
We did the transfer station run and had lunch here, which got us to Bristol a little later than planned, but still plenty of time to roam around and even tour the mansion.
Blithewold is a beautiful estate, no doubt, but its owners’ riches were obtained from coal mining in northeastern Pennsylvania. The original mistress, Bessie Pardee Van Wickle, was the daughter of coal baron Ario Pardee who with his son Calvin Pardee, was responsible for the Lattimer Massacre in which 18 unarmed miners were murdered by sheriff’s deputies.
We stopped in New Bedford to fill up the van and pick up swordfish and steamers. Had the clams tonight with a green salad.
Great day. Ron loved it. He imagined how much fun a five year old boy would have at that vast estate, with its gigantic lawn, rocks, gardens and bosquet.