Spotted this guy this morning. Appearantly rare. #birds #nature #spring #gloucesterma #newengland #massachusetts

https://merlinbirds.org/species/reevir1

New England has direct democracy for town government in many towns. Which means that anybody can go to town meeting where we decide on the budget and zoning laws and pretty much anything in the town. There are committees that figure out the important bits, and there's a board of selectmen and various other elected boards, but it's the people who actually get to decide.

It's a bit of a zoo. Because anybody can get up and object to something and make an amendment -- and they do! And then they object to the meeting moderator's call of the voice vote and make us all have a standing vote. But, it is still kind of cool, despite everything taking way longer than it ought to. We were there for five hours on Monday night and four hours on Tuesday night.

Of course, in some ways it's really "non-representative democracy", because a lot of people don't go, because it's not convenient for them to be awake until midnight (it wasn't really convenient for me, but I stayed anyway), or they just don't care enough to spend their evening sitting around the high school auditorium listening to people drone on about this or that planning board initiative.

Another nice, sunny and warm day. Got the onions weeded & cultivated & #BeetBear came out to inspect the beet plants. He pronounced them to be fine & then went to take a nap. One more chilly day tomorrow then we'll be setting out the tomatoes, etc. finally! Need to make space for the starting of the corn, cukes, squash, & zucchini. Beans need to go in to the ground, too. Chores are piling up. No mow May just happens here by default.
#gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
@gardening

#BostonWeekend 1/?
It's time for your Boston Weekend thread for May 8-11, 2025.

Welcome! Please, give this thread a boost to help get this in front of Boston-ish folks. Every week I compile events near Boston that are worth the trip.
#Boston #Massachusetts #BostonMA #NewEngland #weekend

Here's a view of #provincetown #massachusetts A #smalltown at the tip of #capecod

https://adam-gladstone.pixels.com/featured/view-of-provincetown-adam-gladstone.html

#photography #coastline #newengland #landscape #ayearforart #buyintoart #fineartamerica @fineartamerica

Thanks to @RobotDiver for giving me this tip on cabbage moth protection on the cabbages. The idea is that since they are territorial (haven't read up on that yet) they will avoid approaching areas where one individual is already present. I put two of these in a row of 12 cabbage plants and we'll see what happens. Nothing to loose, since I otherwise use no other precautions since I stopped using BT innoculant a few years ago.
#gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
@gardening

This was a highly productive macro dive at Old Garden Beach in Rockport, MA. We didn't swim very far, but found all sorts of critters.

I just got back from a sunset scuba dive-- first dive of the year! Here was my view just before I went into the water. It was really great exploring the underwater world again! #ScubaDiving #ocean #beach

Finally had a warm, sunny day to get out and do a little scratching around the lettuce, beets, and cabbage. After 3 days of solid wind and rain they're a bit ragged, but seem to be enjoying the sun and warmth today.

#gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
@gardening

Eggemoggin Reach, #Maine

Throwback to my first dive after the COVID shutdown in 2020! We realized that it's hard to be more socially distanced than bringing your own air supply and submerging in salt water. Excellent critters at Lanes Cove in Gloucester, MA!

https://massmoca.org/a-statement-from-director-kristy-edmunds/

Trump administration terminates NEA and IMLS grants to Mass MoCA, one of #NewEngland's greatest museums (you should visit if you can!).

The loss of these crucial funding awards for projects at MASS MoCA (pending appeals) is real and will throw us into greater financial strain. As painful as this is financially, what is more so is the diminishment of our revered national agencies and their staff after decades of service in elevating our national creativity, innovation and cultural contributions. These actions in combination with their rhetoric are unnerving, and are but one of many challenges at hand and to come.

MASS MoCA is a not-for-profit contemporary art museum that supports the visionary work of artists in all disciplines and cultures. We warmly welcome everyone as audience members and visitors and will continue to do so. We generate dynamic spaces for artistic expression to be created and shared with a global public, and we are a place of creative encounter with the extraordinary world in which we live. At our core, we are part of the beating heart of an artistic and creative ecology as it is being lived and made.

POWER FULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT is proudly on view and will be luminously alive for our visitors through August 2026, as will all other exhibitions and programming planned and forthcoming.

MASS MoCA is here to do what our mission and charter serves for the commonwealth, artists, our employees, and our public good.

Now that the apple blossoms have mostly dropped (or got beaten down by the incessant rain) #BeetBear insisted that it was time to start deploying the sticky traps to help fight the Apple Maggot Fly that likes to cripple my apples. I made him help me get them ready as I wasn't keen on going out in the pouring rain by myself. Each tree will get 4 or 5 spheres and we'll hope for the best.
#gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
@gardening
#apples
#Orchard

Update on my Pot-O-Carrots. On 20 April the pot was filled with potting soil and seeded with carrots (Moonraker). As of today we have a nice spread of germinated seedlings. Now we wait... The pot size is 11.4 gallons or 43 liters.
#gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
@gardening

A view from #mountwashington in #gorham #newhampshire
https://adam-gladstone.pixels.com/featured/view-from-atop-mount-washington-adam-gladstone.html

Spring is coming right along.