Part the Second, in which there are acronyms

I'll try to post something here every day, but I expect to be foiled on occasion by our horrendously sketchy and inconsistent internet service. I won't go into the complete Time Warner saga in full detail, but I did spend my walk home tonight thinking of alternative acronyms for Time Warner Cable (TWC): Theoretically Working, Terribly Wonky, Truly Woeful, The Worst. Coming up with acronyms is an entertaining activity, just this side of hangman and dots, and you don't even need a paper napkin. An old boyfriend and I once came up with a whole page of acronyms for "meh," after his dad asked him if it stood for something. It doesn't - it's just a word to express indifference, really - but we came up with a bunch: My Evening Hat, Mouse Eaten Handkerchiefs, Mad Elephants Hopping, Maybe Everything's Hopeless. 

Sadly I don't have pictures to illustrate any of those, but I trust that you can imagine mad elephants hopping on your own. Meanwhile, some more pictures and captions. 

Massachusetts again; a creamy late fall or early winter sunset. The sky does fantastic things there. Maybe it does them here too, but there are too many tall buildings to see.

Someone gave me roses once. They're sunset roses, so they connect to the previous picture. Not that I have been overly concerned with connecting one thing to another here...

This is a DC metro station. I adore the DC metro, largely because it is so quiet compared to the eardrum-piercing screeching brakes of the NY subway, and because its passengers are so civilized, but also because there are these lights next to the tracks that flash when the train is about to come. This is one of my earliest memories, getting excited over the imminent arrival of the train, heralded by the softly blinking lights. (For some reason it is connected to the Sesame Street episode - movie? - where Big Bird goes to the Egyptian wing of the Met. I don't know why.)

Here is a turtle. It lives (presumably; turtles live a long time, and this was taken only a year or two ago) at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. I like turtles, and also ducks, not that I would ever want either as a pet. If I did have a pet duck though, I would most likely call it Ferdinand. I think that was the name of the duck in the movie Babe. Don't know what I would name a turtle...my dad had a turtle named Blinkie when he was younger. But that is neither here nor there. 

A sunny day on the Boston Common. Despite what New Yorkers will tell you, Boston is a great city. If you require further proof, just have a look at this:

That's right, an argyle chair. I'm not sure what other proof you could need, really. If you want to see the chair for yourself, visit Commonwealth Books. Also, Boston is full of Red Sox fans. And there is fantastic cannoli. I'll stop before you are overwhelmed with too many reasons. Let's go south.

...to Brooklyn. It is not a secret that I had a hard time adjusting to NY, but one of the first things that I loved about the city was the lights on the bridges at night. It's not night in this picture, but the lights have just come on. Whoever had the idea to do that...beautiful.

It's pretty neat in the daytime too. This day was cold and windy; we took the subway into the city, walked back to Brooklyn across the bridge, and waited in line (and waited, and waited) for Grimaldi's pizza. It really is worth doing, at least once, and then you can cross it off that unwritten-but-nonetheless-real list of Things You Must Do in New York. That list also includes the Empire State Building (check), the Statue of Liberty (haven't been), Ellis Island (haven't been there either), Central Park (check), and Coney Island (not yet, but planning to remedy that this weekend).

The first food picture! You knew it was only a matter of time... Here we have the "Summer Berry Tart With Mint Cream." I made it for a picnic last summer; it was equal parts delicious and labor-intensive, so I figure it will be an every-few-years sort of thing, but I will post the recipe soon; I got it from my cousin, who cut it out of a magazine. 

Yes, I take picnics seriously. I don't have a picture of the deviled eggs, but I'll put that recipe up soon too. Also, key lime pie, which is waaaaay easier than this tart, and you can put fresh raspberries on top too. Mmmm...

Visions of sugarplums, and all that.