Stuck in my head now:

Stuck in my head:

Aragog and Nagini

I spent last Saturday apple picking at Brookfield Orchard with Paul and two of my blogging buddies. It was really awesome! The orchard had all sorts of delicious apple treats and maple goodies, plus a neat antique section. I got an apple corer, a new hour glass for our boggle game, and about 10 pounds of apples. I'm going to have to start baking soon methinks.

There was also some really cool craft vendors. One was selling jewelry for crazy cheap. I got a necklace and earrings for $10!

As you may or may not know, I recently started re-reading the whole Harry Potter series. It's been really cool, I kind of forgot how fun and compelling these books are. It's also been nice to read them with a little more focus and care, as I usually tore through them all in one sitting, the night after buying them. There were lots of neat details that I had overlooked. I'm about 5/6 of the way through "Order of the Phoenix" and I'm enjoying it a lot.

I've also been seeing Harry Potter everywhere, including in the jewelry I bought at the Orchard. The earrings remind me of a spider's web, or perhaps an Acromantula's?


And I'd totally wear this every day if the Sorting Hat put me in Slytherin. I'd also be a big old Voldemort lovin' jerk.


I think I'd like to do a post when I finish reading them all about what I hope for from the last movie. From the look of things, I'll be finishing reading them all just in time for the premiere. Cool.

Caturday XXIII- Wave if the Future

So apparently, exercise wheels aren't just for hamsters and mice anymore. The Cat Wheel Company has made sure the futility of running in place very quickly can be appreciated by your kitty too!



Next step, harnessing the energy to power your house. I'm gonna buy 100 kitties and go off the grid!

More like, Big Sigh

Yesterday, when I was driving home, I swung by the nearest Big Y to buy groceries for the week. Working hither and thither and yon has given me the opportunity to go shopping in quite a few different local Big Y’s. This was the first time I had ever visited the one in Northampton, and it was quite the experience. I don’t think I’d ever been in Big Y so nice. The entryway had wood flooring, and instead of numbered lights on the checkout, they had decorative lanterns, each one boasting black construction paper silhouettes of pumpkins and ghouls for Halloween.

I couldn’t help notice the huge difference between this store, and the one I went to when I was working in Ware. It was almost like two totally different brands of store. While the Northampton Big Y has high ceilings and lots of bright, natural light, the Ware store has a feeling of dinginess you just can’t shake. The biggest and most noticeable difference though, is the way food is arranged and marketed in the store.

The Amherst store, which I go to most frequently, has twice the amount of fresh, local produce as the Ware store does. In the Ware store, canned vegetables make up one half of an aisle, and candy is on the other. Imagine trying to take a kid down that aisle to get corn and cauliflower, with all those sweets staring them in the face. It’s like a prescription for a temper tantrum. This basically sums up the situation, but the discrepancies are stark and many. Amherst has a takeout counter with brick oven pizza and rotisserie chicken. Ware has a grab and go section that is a cooler with some of the grossest looking sandwiches I’ve ever seen surrounded by displays of fun size chocolate bars. Northampton has a sizeable selection of fine wines and microbrew beers. Ware has more than one aisle for soda.

It kind of goes hand-in-hand with what I was talking about earlier this month. Healthy eating habits are learned, not instinctual. And it’s hard to imagine teaching yourself a new, healthy diet when the fruit snacks are in the same section of the store as the fresh fruit (yes, really). I’ll admit too, that I found myself coming home with more junk food than usual. Treats that I’d usually skip over dominated the end of aisle displays, and were strategically placed near healthier options. It was hard not to notice. So I guess the question is: why is a struggling community with so many people on government food assistance mitigated to such unhealthy options?

It’s sort of a chicken and egg situation. Are these aisles organized this way because of the shopping preferences of the community, or is the community buying these foods because of their strategic placement in the store. Either way, it’s clear that Big Y sees it’s stocking practices in terms of dollar signs, not diet.

PS: I'm supposed to add a disclaimer that these are my personal opinions, and do not reflect the opinions of the food bank of western MA.

Spirit Animal

We went up to Wells last weekend, the last beach trip of the summer. It was kind of sad. I'm kind of in disbelief that it's the 20th of September already. The month is slipping by like crazy!

This last trip up I made a trip to my favorite bookstore in the world: Harding's Books. This place is amazing, you can find all sorts of really cool stuff there. I found a book of national geographic photographs from the 1900's called "Scenes from Everyplace," and a LIFE magazine from the 50's with the dancers from "Oklahoma" on the cover. The real reason I love going here though is for the print room.

I like to get myself one nice print every time I come here. It's also where I purchased my bridesmaid gifts.

They had these really beautiful star charts that I wanted to get this time, but they were over $100 each.

Instead I got this print of "Resplendent Trogon" from John George Woods "Animate Creation" (1898).

The Resplendent Trogon is better known as the Quetzal, a bird that was sacred to the Aztecs and the Mayans. It is a symbol of goodness, light and hope, and was associated heavily with the tribal fight for independence over colonial forces. There is even evidence that the Mayans designed their temples to echo the sound of the bird's distinctive chirping call.

The bird is typically 14 inches long, but a male has an additional 25 inches of tail plumage. Wow!

One of these days...

These are my new boots! They are easily the most grown up pair of shoes I've ever owned, and I love them. They make me feel like I should be in this music video always: