Middle of August

 

This morning I came upon this beautiful white heron hanging with some ducks by the UMass campus pond. 

 

 

I tried to get closer for a better shot, but I scared the ducks into quacking so I only succeeded in sending the magnificent creature into flight. 

So it goes.

 

The bean plant has reached the wheel. 

 

 

Ninja turtles hanging out in their birthplace of Northampton. 

Yesterday I went downtown to Amanouz (called "The Nouz" by those in the know) for lunch. . 

 

I'm not used to fancy recipes (If you can boil water, you can cook Irish!) but the Mediterranean/Moroccan mix of The Nouz's offerings are very tasty. Mediterranean food is also famous for being one of the world's healthiest diets. But if the joint is so good, why were so few customers seated inside?

Because it was a beautiful day and everybody was sitting at the tables outside. 

After lunch we headed over to the Farmer's Market, where bargains are rare but everything is local and healthy as fuck.

 Broadside Bookshop has been around for half a century! Too bad the Bart's Ice Cream that was once next door did not survive as well. 

I've bought many books, magazines and newspapers there over the decades, although the joint fell out of favor with me during the so-called pandemic because of their stupid mask policies. However, I have since forgiven them and wish the shop congratulations on their anniversary. After all....

 

This place is gone but not forgotten by the people of Springfield. 

 

 

Brothers Paul and Gus Weissman started Gus & Paul's in 1958 after moving to Springfield from the Bronx, New York. It closed much mourned in 2013. 

 

This is the last known photo of Ron "Pigpen" McKernan of the Grateful Dead, taken a few days before his death in 1973. Interestingly, he is wearing a Massachusetts based sweatshirt. 

Is this the future of Massachusetts?