A Year of Blog Posting

Last year, on December 18, I vowed to publish a post to this blog each and every day for the next year.  As of today, December 17, I have completed one year!  I have not missed a single day.  I even published  more than one post on some days. Whether sick, lazy, lame, stupid, or crazy, I have somehow forced myself to publish a post every day.  I wanted to see if I could do it. Well, I did - so enough of that!  

From now on, I am going back to my former schedule to publish when I darn well please. So for you many daily readers out there, you may or may not see a post every day. But considering how compulsive I am, I expect them to still be fairly frequent.

Here I am celebrating!  (Photo courtesy: Jean Chisser)  And no, this is not my hat.  One could say I was "framed" by Amy into having this photo taken.

Odds and Ends, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

I altered the original regular photo image of this Kingfisher by using the Photoshop Elements Palette Knife filter.  Now it looks like a bad painting that you could buy cheaply framed at a flea market - but I like the effect anyway.

And here again is Milo the Spoiled Cat with his mostly one-eyed stare. He's getting ready to go on vacation, too - just not with us. [All natural early morning sunlight with no enhancements in post-processing.]

Stark winter branches. [In Photoshop Elements, I de-saturated what little color there was and increased the contrast to create this cold stark view.]  It's getting colder here in New England and southern and warmer climes are beckoning to me...........in fact, expect some warm weather posts very soon.

License Plate, Massachusetts, USA

Here's another personalized vanity license plate in my occasional series about this subject. I can't decipher the meaning of this one at all.

Literally, it means, " I - mystical Sanskrit sound - potassium superoxide." That seems unlikely so perhaps instead there is some other meaning intended by the owner? Maybe it's like "klaatu barada nikto?" Anybody out there have a guess?

Sign Art, Newport, Rhode Island, USA

I understand both the text and the image on this sign - as would any idiot who walks along the cliff edge.  What I don't understand is why and who decided that the unfortunate example of falling would be a bow-legged stick figure.  It looks more like he got bucked off a horse. Maybe he came from a rodeo sign and they just had an extra lying about.  Just wondering............

Then and Now, Manomet, Massachusetts, USA

As shown above, back in the mid-1800's, Manomet was so under-developed that the official State map listed the names of the few home owners and the location of their homes rather than just the road names.  Source: Plymouth Public Library, 1857 Massachusetts State Map Survey.


View Larger Map

What a difference a century and a half can make. Source:  Google Maps.

Plymouth Harbor, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

This time of year, downtown Plymouth's waterfront is quiet and relatively empty compared to the hustle and bustle in the summer tourist season. It's early afternoon but, already the shadows are long. The solstice is only a week away and then winter settles in but, the days start getting longer again!

These two vessels are part of the Captain John fleet, long a mainstay of Plymouth harbor.  They offer whale watching and fishing cruises during the spring, summer, and fall.

Only the gulls are sunning themselves on the beach today - it's too cold for humans.

Before a Storm, White Horse Beach, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

There's a big wind blowin' and a storm a comin'. This porch view from a house on Manomet Point Road is hard to beat no matter the season.  It's for long term rent during the winter months and then short term for summer weeks.

And no matter the season, a dog will chase a thrown object until the human tires of throwing it - even while he already has a duplicate toy in his mouth.

Vegan Pizza - Butternut Squash and Broccoli

Another pizza in my continuing series about "what do vegans eat."

This pizza version is butternut squash and broccoli as the main theme. 

Lay out or roll out whole wheat dough, top with fresh tomatoes in marinara sauce, fresh or frozen diced butternut squash, fresh or frozen chopped broccoli florets, your favorite Italian pizza/pasta spices, and vegan cheese (prepackaged and made from tapioca and vegetable oils among other things).  I'm not much of a cook but even I can put these things together, put it in a 450 degree oven (on a pizza stone), cook for 5 minutes, top with fresh avocado slices, and enjoy a healthful meal.  

I like to think this is a two-serving size pizza but, truth be told, this time I ate the whole thing.  As always, no animals were killed or harmed.....that's the bottom line for us vegans.

Shopping - Then and Now

Once upon a time, people either on foot or using animals to help carry, brought their goods to a common location and traded. An example is this market in Ecuador.  The word "market" is likely derived from the Latin "to trade merchandise."  

Then people built a more permanent infrastructure in villages and towns for one-off mom-and-pop stores.  An example is this village in Spain. 

When the  horse cart gave way to the automobile, more folks from farther away could come to the central market locations. An example is this town in the United States.

But automobile access created congestion and the physical constraints of the town setting limited where people could park their cars. Convenience and practicality suffered.

So then along came the development of shopping centers that provide lots of space for automobiles.  But to pay for all that additional cost overhead, most of the mom-and-pop one-off stores couldn't compete so that gave way to national or regional chain stores at these malls.  Meanwhile, many mom-and-pop stores in downtown locations had to close for lack of customers.

At this mall, for example, the red areas are the stores and restaurants, the much larger green areas are for the cars to park. Hundreds and hundreds of parking spaces are available.

Now we're hearing that more and more people are driving to these malls to look at and touch the products but, then they go home and order products cheaper online for home delivery.  So eventually, these stores will not have enough business to sustain themselves either.

What's the future when that occurs?

People will have to go to a common location and trade. As they say, there is nothing new under the sun.

Building a House, Part 2, Bartlett Pond, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

I started Part 1 of this "Building a House" series a year ago on 12/7/11. (Available at this link.)  I assumed the project would move along quickly - not so. You might say we're moving at the pace of retirees driving on the highways in Florida, little eyes peering out over both hands tightly gripping the steering wheel, a turn signal blinking endlessly even though we're not turning, moving along at 35mph in a 55mph zone..........all we need is blue hair.

The cottage in springtime - magnolia in glorious bloom. (April 14)

The cottage in summertime -  green, green, and more green. (July 8)

To recap, our intent is to replace this small, 850 square foot, 60+ year old cottage with a real house about 2000 square feet.

Accomplishments so far:

• Obtain land (1/4 acre - completed December 2001)
• Design and develop basic footprint for building concept (cape style - 40x34 basic foundation - completed August 2011)
• Have engineer survey property and develop formal site plan (completed August 2011)
• Meet setback rules and obtain zoning approval (completed September 2011)
• Obtain Conservation Commission variance approval necessary for building near a wetlands (completed November 2011)
• Hold preliminary discussions with selected builder and architect (completed June 2012)
• Have architect complete preliminary plans (completed December 2012)

Preliminary Plans:

Costs to date:

Concept plan, site engineering, permits and public hearing, preliminary architectural floorplans and elevations  = $6500.

Next steps:

Meet with the builder for initial construction cost estimate. If the cost is too high, back to the drawing board.  If the cost is acceptable, proceed to complete detailed construction drawings and develop tentative construction start schedule. Turn off the blinking turn signal and speed up.