Category: photos

upstairs, downstairs

Here is another collection of stairways, both near and far. (Most of these near, it would appear.) In most of these, I’m looking down, but the last two are looking up.


Dublin, Ireland.


Boston, MA.


Cambridge, MA


Boston, MA


Cambridge, MA


Cambridge, MA


London, England.

spiraling down (or up)

Here are several spiral staircases I’ve seen.


A double helix spiral staircase in Paris, France. 2007.


An ironwork spiral staircase inside the library at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. 2014.


Stairway inside a hotel in Glasgow, Scotland. 2015.

the stairs not taken

It’s good to take the stairs when you can. It’s good exercise, and all that. Of course, there are times when it’s less feasible to do so. These are the back stairs at my old house at a couple of times when taking the stairs was a less-than-inviting option. (Of course, I had to take on those stairs. With my snow shovel. Which I guess is also good exercise.)


February, 2013


February, 2015.

Happily, this year was a very moderate winter for snow. On the other hand, we have snow on the forecast for tomorrow. Which is technically not part of this winter.

Out of order. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Like the elevator in this photo, it would appear that this blog has been out of order. Obviously, the trouble here is that I have gotten baggage carts stuck in my door. Once the obstruction is cleared, I expect to be back in order soon. Meanwhile, please take the stairs.

another ball dropped


A festive holiday ball that someone dropped in an icy parking lot a couple of years ago. (I’m happy to say that this year, we haven’t yet had more than a few stray flakes of snow. I know it’s coming, but I’m not ready for it yet. I’m still recovering from last winter.)

So much for trying to blog daily for the month of November like I’d done the past 7 years. Not only did I drop the ball early in the month, but I dropped it again at the end. I got caught up with a deadline, and totally forgot to post one day. And then once I’d broken the pattern again, I didn’t find it in me to rush back. (Or, if you will, I couldn’t be bothered to pick up he ball again. I figured that the ball had rolled off somewhere, maybe into the bushes, or under the couch, and I didn’t want to have to hunt for it.) I did, happily, meet the deadline, and submitted a paper to a conference. In all, 25 posts does not make a bad tally for the month, especially after 5 solid months without a single post.

However, it’s starting to feel like roughly 60% of the content of this blog is about how I’m not blogging as much as I’d like. Another 30% seems to be about balls. Nah, that can’t be right. I also had the significant and weighty topics of: leaves, poultry, potatoes, pants. In any case, I am more-or-less back to blogging. And I plan to continue to blog more-or-less regularly.

turkey haven

In this part of Massachusetts, its not unusual to see flocks of wild turkeys here and there, and now and then. In our new house, we see them rather more frequently. More here and now, than there and then. A family of them lives nearby, somewhere in the woods around our neighborhood. We started noticing them especially over the summer. There was a group of a few adults, and quite a few chicks. I don’t actually know how many of each there were, but I do know that now we have a group of 8 adults that regularly visit our yard. Especially now that we have put up bird feeders in the back yard. They can’t reach most of the feeders, but the little birds that can are messy enough eaters that there’s usually something to be found pecking at the ground below.

Our family, especially the younger generation, has been enamored with birds in general. So, we tend to enjoy these visitors. The one exception to this was when we had our lawn re-seeded. Then I was rather displeased to see the flock of turkeys out on the front lawn, enjoying the grass seed buffet. There were more than a few times when neighbors may possibly have seen me running across the lawn, waving my fist and shouting, “get off my lawn, you whippersnappers!” Or something like that. I did also enjoy a strategic use of the newly repaired sprinkler system, turning on the sprinklers right where the gang was pecking at the lawn.

Anyhow, here are some photos I took back in July. I know I’ve taken more recent photos of these guys (or gals, really), but it’s fun to look back and see the little chicks. Or the not-so-little chicks. They were cute, in any case.

The turkeys didn’t visit us today, which is Thanksgiving in the United States. Also known as Turkey Day. We figured that they were laying low. But these guys don’t have anything to fear from us: the only turkey on our table was a ceramic salt shaker.

the pullet surprise


I certainly won’t ever win the Pulitzer Prize, but I think I have a winner with this photo I took a few years ago.

Have you ever come across the term eggcorn? It’s a kind of misheard phrase, much like a mondegreen but not necessarily from a misheard poem or song lyric. A while back, I saw a comment thread on Facebook where a friend of a friend mentioned someone mishearing the Pulitzer Prize as the Pullet Surprise. Naturally, this photo came to mind. And then it makes me want to see if I can find photographic illustrations of some other such misheard phrases. Do you have any favorite misheard phrases?