A vacation amidst a nor’easter

My niece Alex said she was free the last weekend of September or two weekends in November for me to visit her in Boston. I chose September, anticipating warm, sunny days and needing just a light jacket at night. 

Instead Boston got a nor’easter, a cyclone named for strong northeasterly winds hitting the Atlantic coast. The storm arrived on Saturday and lasted until Monday. Staying upright in 50 miles-per-hour wind was hard. Trying to walk a few feet from a restaurant to an Uber car, I was pushed back by gusts that turned my umbrella inside out and broke off the handle. Pelting, cold rain soaked my clothes and shoes and chilled me to the bone.

When your inbox overwhelms you

In the play Octet, recently staged by Raven Theatre at the Goodman, the characters lament their internet addictions, including compulsive gaming, conspiracy mongering, pornography, and doomscrolling.

My problem wasn’t any of those. It was simply being overwhelmed by the volume of email.

Start the battle against pantry moths as soon as you see one

I don’t want to alarm you, but do you realize how easy it is to bring bugs home?

I bought a bag of rice at an ethnic grocery store. At home, I poured the contents from the paper bag into a Ball jar. When I opened the jar some time later, insects flew out that I learned were pantry moths. The bag of rice must have contained eggs or larvae. I threw out the rice and washed the jar, whose sides were covered with the telltale webbing that identifies pantry moths. 

Afterward I saw a moth so infrequently that I naively didn’t think about the moths reproducing. But when an occasional moth still appeared months later, action was past due.