24-Jan-2000 Brrr
It's a lot warmer today. After all, thirty is halfway from zero to sixty. It shouldn't be surprising that it's a lot more comfortable outside today than it's been for about a week.
Saturday we hid in the house most of the day and went out to see Galaxy Quest at the Embassy in Waltham in the afternoon. It was cold! I don't think the temperature had been much above twenty for almost a week.
On the other hand, the movie was worth going out in the cold to see. There were points where I was laughing so hard I was crying. I guess it helps a lot if you watched the original Star Trek either back in the day or in reruns, but then, who hasn't? How could you tell, as soon as you saw them, that the real aliens were really aliens and not just more trekkies? Philosophically, I think the best part was Guy's conviction that the adventure was really going to be just like an episode. The whole question of reality versus illusion was working on level after level, all the way to the end.
We stayed in Waltham for supper at New Mother India and ran into a Japanese co-worker of mine there. Besides one of the best beer selections in the Boston area (which I didn't take advantage of this time), NMI has excellent food and lots of condiments and chutneys on the table. Surprisingly, we didn't leave anything to pack up and bring home. And that's with a side order of very garlicky garlic nan besides our main dishes.
Sunday we went out to the De Cordova in the afternoon. There was a big exhibit about the holocaust (or I'd rather say the Nazi era genocide) with walk-through installations as well as prints, photo collages, photos of survivors with their stories written on them, and paintings. There was a lot of powerful, disturbing stuff there.
From the De Cordova we went to Drumlin Farm, on the other side of the same town, to get a bird feeder mounting pole at the Audubon shop. The squirrels have knocked down a pipe I halfheartedly mounted on our pine tree to hang feeders from, and they were always able to run out that pipe to the feeders anyway. This pole just possibly may be more squirrel resistant. If it's not, I don't take it as a sign that squirrels are smarter than I am. They're just more motivated to get at the food than I am to keep them away from it. They don't really have anything else to do all day.
It was almost four thirty when we got home. I wanted to do a lap around the school field across the street on cross-country skis and to install the feeder pole before dark, but it wasn't clear that I'd have time to do either. I must have moved faster than usual, because I did both.
We've had pine siskins at the window feeders frequently over the last several days. One in particular seems to be all fluffed up. It's very strange because on the whole siskins are very slim birds compared to house finch and chickadees. One chickadee seems to have a shorter tail and to be using its left leg less than the other; I think it's the one that didn't have any tail a couple of months ago.
This morning, just a little after 6 AM, I had a really strange dream. If I haven't reported dreams in the journal, it's because I rarely remember them rather than because I don't want to talk about them. This dream took place right at home. It was almost time to go out somewhere, probably Klezmer rehearsal, but it was pouring outside and I thought I'd wait a little while. I looked outside again and saw that the rain the rain had dug a deep gully across our front yard, exposing huge boulders and carrying away part of the front walk. To get to the street I would have to climb down at least two feet and then up the other side of the gully. Then I looked in the living room. The floor was covered with mud and boulders; somehow they had washed in, though there was no gap in the wall. Just about then I woke up, and then the alarm went off.
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