News of the Week of October 31, 2023

Sawrey Gilpin - Tiger - B1981.25.2856 - Yale Center for British Art

Meeting Report

We played:

Thanks to Ishmael for taking notes.

Schedule

We meet on Tuesdays at 7:45 pm, at 233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA. Let me know if you want to come.

This Tuesday I’ll be working the election and won’t get home until after 9. So whoever shows up will be running the meeting.

Jetsam

The old receiver, the wok, and the coffee making equipment are still available.

I have now turned up an ice cream making machine. It’s the kind where you need to use ice and salt, or dry ice – there’s no refrigeration.

The paperback novels are mostly going to be donated, so if there’s an author you would like to own more of in dead-tree form, let me know, and I’ll lay them aside for you.

News of the Week of October 24, 2023

Potamochoerus porcus in Prague Zoo 01

Meeting Report

We played:

Thanks to Ishmael for taking notes.

Schedule

We meet on Tuesdays at 7:45 pm, at 233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA. Let me know if you want to come.

We are making progress on the boxes – we’re probably about where I expected to be last May. I can access most of the boxes without help.

I’ve found quite a lot of stuff including the printer and the old desktop computer. It looks like the good stainless flatware has gone forever, but of course it could have ended up under books in a box I haven’t unpacked yet..

Jetsam

The old receiver and the wok are still available, although I expect most people our age have as many of those as they want.

I had acquired a quite good set of coffee making equipment before I decided that even decaf was too strong a drug for me. So if you have any desire for a roaster or a grinder, let me know.

The paperback novels are mostly going to be donated, so if there’s an author you would like to own more of in dead-tree form, let me know, and I’ll lay them aside for you.

News of the Week of October 17, 2023

(Childbirth is a Gypsy camp) (5036216419)

Schedule

We meet on Tuesdays at 7:45 pm, at 233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA. Let me know if you want to come.

There’s still a room with boxes that should be in other rooms making it impossible to move in the stuff that should be in that room. Anyone who wants to come early and help alleviate that situation is welcome.

Jetsam

There are still two large pots and a wok. The receiver in my home media center seems to have stopped working, so I have ordered a replacement. If anyone wants to try rehabilitating the one that’s been through the fire, they’re welcome to it. It was up-to-date when I bought it in 2007. The replacement includes a pre-amp, so if the old pre-amp ever re-surfaces, that will be available, too.

Based on the fiddling with the new receiver, it’s likely there was nothing wrong with the old one. The dog had chewed the cable on the headphones I was testing with, and the speaker/wire combination I was using for the center speaker doesn’t work with the new one either. This means I’ll need help moving the TV again.

News of the Week of October 3, 2023

Covered Tankard with 16th century ornament MET DP880297

Meeting Report

We played:

Thanks to Ishmael for taking notes.

Schedule

We meet on Tuesdays at 7:45 pm, at 233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA. Let me know if you want to come.

As has been the case since I got back, people who want to come a little early and help juggle boxes will be welcome. Anne and I made progress last week on the small room that needed the 3D tetris skills, and this morning I finally found the box with the printer in it. I have not managed to extricate it from the box and verify that it works, but there is definitely progress happening. The next step is to move enough stuff for other rooms out of the small room that the stuff that will end up in the small room can go there instead of cluttering up the other rooms.

There’s also still a maneuver that needs at least 4 hands to get the media center set up.

A more fun activity I need help with is that there are lots of pictures, decorative ceramics, and wall hangings that need to be hung. One person can do it, but it’s a lot easier and more fun with two.

Jetsam

Now that I have access to the brewing equipment, I find that none of the large pots I acquired for that will work on the new stove. So anyone who finds that they still have things to add to the stew pot when their dutch oven has gotten full, should come take a 30 or 40 quart pot (with spigot). There is also a wok.

News of the month of September, 2023

Meeting Reports

Apologies for the sketchiness of the reports. If I don’t write down what we played the next morning, I can’t remember if if we did it out of books instead of individual sheets. And unfortunately, the unpacking to find the necessary items and napping to catch up on sleep from taking the puppy out in the middle of the night both take priority over writing on the blog.

September 5

We played:

September 12

Schedule

We meet on Tuesdays at 7:45 pm, at 233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA. Let me know if you want to come.

As has been the case since I got back, people who want to come a little early and help juggle boxes will be welcome. There’s one room that involves 3-D Tetris skills, and after that I should be able to get access to anything that’s really here by myself. There’s also still a maneuver that needs at least 4 hands to get the media center set up.

A more fun activity I need help with is that there are lots of pictures, decorative ceramics, and wall hangings that need to be hung. One person can do it, but it’s a lot easier and more fun with two.

Housing progress

The above plea for help should not be interpreted as meaning that there is no progress. All four of the large rooms are now usable as intended. The still have boxes, but the amount of necessary objects still in the boxes is diminishing. I found two pencil sharpeners this morning (of course not with any screws for affixing them to anything). The printer and the good stainless flatware are still AWOL, though.

People are complaining about not getting enough pictures of both the new puppy and the new living space, so here’s one stone for both birds:

faramir_stairs.jpg

Jetsam

Now that I have access to the brewing equipment, I find that none of the large pots I acquired for that will work on the new stove. So anyone who finds that they still have things to add to the stew pot when their dutch oven has gotten full, should come take a 30 or 40 quart pot (with spigot).

Concert

Dulcian player Ben Hoadley, Recorder player John Tyson, and harpsichord player Miyuki Tsurutani will play a concert at 7PM on Saturday, September 30 at the Museum of Modern Renaissance, 115 College Ave, Somerville, MA. The concert will include Renaissance polyphony, Elizabethan melodies, and early Baroque virtuosity. For more information, see the museum website.

News of the weeks of August 22 and 29, 2023

Abraham Brueghel, Guillaume Courtois - Ceres at a fountain, attended by putti

Meeting Reports

August 22, 2023

We played:

Schedule

We meet on Tuesdays at 7:45 pm, at 233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA. Let me know if you want to come.

As has been the case since I got back, people who want to come a little early and help juggle boxes will be welcome. There’s one room that involves 3-D Tetris skills, and after that I should be able to get access to anything that’s really here by myself. There’s also still a maneuver that needs at least 4 hands to get the media center set up.

News of the week of August 15, 2023

Malang bird market 02

Schedule

We meet on Tuesdays at 7:45 pm, at 233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA. Let me know if you want to come.

Housing update

I’m home.

The boxes I can’t lift are still in front of the boxes with the stuff I really want to unpack. In addition, the boxes with the books I don’t want to shelve are too big to put books in.

So if anyone has lots of book-suitable boxes to give me, or a bit of time to help move boxes, it would be appreciated. You get to play with the world’s cutest puppy, and/or watch the 55″ OLED TV, and/or drink cold beverages, and bask in air conditioning. You notice that we are having an unusually temperate August, thanks to my having acquired air conditioning in July.

In any case, the house-warming party is still weeks away, but probably not months.

News of the week of August 1, 2023

Amourous couple, the woman playing a bagpipe, mating chickens PK-T-AW-657, PK-T-7902

Schedule

We meet on Tuesdays at 7:45 pm, at 233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA. Let me know if you want to come.

Macbeth

Several people said they would like to go on Sunday, August 6 at 8 pm. So we will meet on the Boston Common at 7 or thereabouts. If you tell me you want to go, I will send you the phone numbers of the other people who want to go, so we can end up in the same vicinity.

News of the week of July 18, 2023

Rackham Macbeth Lamb Tales from Shakespeare (1909)

Schedule

We meet on Tuesdays at 7:45 pm. Unless otherwise decided, we will be meeting at 233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA. Let me know if you want to come.

Housing News

I’m back. The actual occupancy permit is just paperwork away, and I moved back to sleeping in Cambridge on Friday.

I’m still needing a lot of help moving things – Anne and I spent a lot of Friday evening moving boxes in my bedroom so I could go to bed. The TV set died after one day of showing the news, so I have ordered a new one, for which I will need help moving the living room around.

So it will be a while before the housewarming party, but at least it’s possible to make progress.

Communications to the group, not necessarily about the group

In general, I try to keep these emails to one a week, and mostly about what the group is doing. But it is a vibrant social institution, and people do want to use it for other things. So here are some of the recent attempted posts about such things.

Macbeth

Anne <alkalinelilac@gmail.com> writes:

Several of us have mentioned the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company free performances on the Boston Common (stage near corner of Tremont & Boylston) and wondered whether we might plan a group outing.

A few years ago some of us brought a picnic to share, attended Cymbeline, and brought some friends with us. Generally, if one gets there an hour ahead one can get a decent seat and enjoy a picnic before and during performances. There are some food trucks and ice cream (just a few) available also.

Macbeth preview sounded exciting. The performance schedule [for August] is as follows:

Tues-Fri, Sun, August 1-4, 6 at 8PM Sat, August 5, 6PM

So let Anne know if you’re interested, and which dates would work for you.

A request

Pam <pamhsiehcambridge@gmail.com> writes:

Do any of you happen to have any musical instruments that are of no use anymore, so bad you can’t play them anymore? If so, I’m looking for some to paint a still life series. Thank you, Pam

Recorder group looking for members

Laura McMurray writes:

Small informal group of recorder players seeks 1-2 more to join us. Intermediate level; ideal if play both F and C instruments.

Now meeting in midCambridge on Sunday mornings. Contact laura.mcmurry24@gmail.com <laura.mcmurry24@gmail.com>