After a trip to Disney World in Florida back in January, it’s starting to look more and more like there’s a trip to Disneyland in California in the fall. Fingers crossed.
Category: Generic
Downtown
Fountain
I take a lot of pictures of fountains. I was standing by this one in Hollywood Studios for a while while Jen was in line at Starbucks. I took way too many pictures of this fountain. This one tried to keep the shutter speed a tad on the slower side. I guess it sort of worked. Sort of.
Picard Season 3
Star Trek Picard season three will kick off in eight days. I really enjoyed season one. Season two was okay but not nearly as good. The trailer for season three looks outstanding. Is it a fake out? Who knows.
I have decided to prep for the new season by rewatching the first two. I’m up to the opening credits of s1e1. Think I’ll finish before the 16th?
Ellen Parker 1940-2023
My mother passed away on Sunday afternoon. I might give details someday, but not today. Here is her obituary, copied from the Farmer and Dee Funeral Home website.

Ellen M. (Powers) Parker, age 82, a resident of Tewksbury for over 50 years, passed away at the High Pointe Hospice House in Haverhill on Sunday, February 5, 2023.
She was the beloved wife of Robert J. Parker, Sr. with whom she celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary on July 29, 2022.
Born in Boston on September 26, 1940, she was the daughter of the late John T. Powers and the late Bridget M. (Murphy) Powers.
Ellen was raised in the St. Peter’s Parish neighborhood of Dorchester. She attended local schools and graduated from St. Patrick’s Parochial High School.
In 1969, she and her husband moved to Tewksbury where they raised their three children.
Ellen was an original employee at the Tewksbury location of Calvert’s clothing store where she worked for many years. Prior to her retirement, Ellen was employed by Segue Manufacturing Services in Lowell, where she worked as a bookkeeper.
Ellen was an active communicant, supporter, and former Religious Education (C.C.D.) teacher of St. William’s Parish in Tewksbury.
She enjoyed reading, working as a poll worker for the Tewksbury annual town elections, following her beloved Boston sports teams, as well as volunteering her time to the Tewksbury Music Association as a band parent, as a Camp Fire Girls leader, and Tewksbury Youth Baseball.
Ellen will lovingly be remembered for her devotion to her family, church, and community.
In addition to her husband, Ellen is survived by three children, Lisa E. Desrochers and her husband Ken, of Ayer, Robert J. Parker, Jr. and his wife Jennifer, of Methuen, and John T. Parker and his wife Mary, of North Chelmsford: six grandchildren, Patrick R. and Brian P. Desrochers, Bellana E. and Harry W. Driscoll, and Sarah E. and John T. Parker, Jr. She was the sister of James Powers and his wife Mary, of Abington, Nancy Creed and her husband John, of Kingston, and the late John P. Powers and the late Joan Fasanello and her late husband John. Ellen was the sister-in-law of the late John H. Parker, Jr. She leaves many nieces, nephews, and extended family members.
Calling hours are Monday, February 13th, from 4-8 p.m. at the Farmer & Dee Funeral Home, 16 Lee Street, Tewksbury. Her funeral procession will begin Tuesday, February 14th at 9 a.m. at the funeral home, followed by her Funeral Mass at 10 a.m. at St. William’s Church, 1351 Main Street, Route 38, Tewksbury. Interment will follow at St. Mary Cemetery, 90 River Road, Tewksbury. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to the Dementia Society of America at http://www.dementiasociety.org or to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at http://www.lls.org.
I’m Freezing
I am working in the office today. That’s going to be a regular Wednesday thing going forward. For now at least. It’s 47 degrees out, which on February 8th is an absolutely glorious heatwave. I wish I was outside in the back yard filling up the bird feeders and taking pictures in the woods.
Nope, I’m at the office instead. Not that I would have been away from my desk at home, but you know what I mean. It’s a symbolic thing, dig?
The main point of this post is not to bemoan working in the office, but rather to bemoan the fact that I AM FREEZING MY ASS OFF while working in the office. No one else has complained about the temperature, so it’s probably just a side effect of losing 200 pounds worth of insulation which has left me feeling as though I am on the verge of frostbite 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and somehow that just seems to be exacerbated by being away from home. If I were at home I’d have a fleece jacket on and maybe, though probably not today, a space heater.
Instead we’re in a conference room 40 miles away from home and I am feeling so cold I am almost shivering.
Also, I want to play my damn guitar. Why haven’t I played my guitar in like 2-3 months? What is wrong with me??
My Guitar is Calling Me
I haven’t played my guitar in months. What the hell is wrong with me?
Bubbles
I spent our entire trip to Disney World trying to get a good pic of bubbles as some random kid fired off a barrage of them from one of the little bubble producing toys. I tried on film and on digital and I came up with pretty much squat. This is the best I got… and it’s nothing.
Cats


The Monorail
The one film shot of the Monorail that I managed to get at Epcot came out 100% better than any of the digital monorail shots I got. Oh yeah.





