Going out to eat out: May 15

The TVs above the bar were all showing the Bruins game.

What looked to be a family of six included two boys in baseball uniforms, so it’s pretty obvious where they were coming from.

Between people eating outside to enjoy the warm weather — even if the view was of the Market Basket grocery store parking lot — and the fact it was 5:30 (we had a basketball game we wanted to watch at 7), there weren’t all that many people inside.

We get to go

Suzi sent me the National Theatre Live schedule the other day.

Some of it looks pretty promising, especially Jodie Comer’s one-woman show, “Prima Facie.” I didn’t watch the last season of “Killing Eve” because I felt like it had gone completely off the rails, but even when the show was sliding fast, she was always great.

I’m also intrigued by “Straight Line Crazy” with Ralph Fiennes, because I’m not sure what a play about Robert Moses would look like. (Robert Caro’s “The Power Broker” has been on my “maybe I should read that” list for years, but I never have, probably for about 1,344 different reasons.)

Soup, and all the other gifts: April 17

“Gift” … that was the word she used.

Suzi and I went to a Passover Seder at our friends’ house, and even though we’re not Jewish, we partook in traditions both standard — the rituals surrounding the reading — and particular to our gathering, namely jokes about having enough food to feed a small army and my lusting after the chicken matzo ball soup.

The week gone by — Dec. 5

It was a room that had probably heard a million stories, and more than a few lies.

At least that’s what I assume. I’ve never been to an Elks meeting — although the local chapter sponsored a team when I played Little League — but those are the kind of things that happen when folks get together socially.

Because of the vaccine

I finally saw “No Time To Die.”

Suzi and I went to the local theater with the plush, reclining seats, and since it was a matinee — we arrived just as the previews were starting — I enjoyed a pizza for lunch before the movie began.

I’m a huge fan of James Bond movies, and I enjoyed this one. Without spoiling the ending, I will say that it left me curious about what direction the franchise will take when the next movie comes out in another couple years or so.

It feels … so … close

“Are you a mom?” asked the cashier at The Odyssey Bookshop as she rang up Suzi’s Mount Holyoke College T-shirt.

Even though Suzi and I have long been old enough to be the parents of college students, I’m pretty sure it was the first time she had been asked, and I think she was a bit taken aback.

“I’m … an alum,” she said after a slight hesitation.

The annoying person in the office, automated

My phone rang.

Since I was expecting an important message — I’m basically in the fourth of these stages — I bolted from the laundry room to answer before it went to voicemail.

Suzi, having no interest in taking a charge, deftly stepped out of my way.

End of a season … start of what’s next

It was a beautiful afternoon for a baseball game — sunny, bright and pleasantly warm — but I decided to switch from the T-shirt and shorts I had been wearing all day to a long-sleeve shirt and jeans.

After all, the midafternoon start would mean a finish early in the evening, so I figured it would cool off once the sun started to go down.

As it turned out, between sitting in shadows and a slight, but steady breeze, I was happy about the decision starting in roughly the second inning.

A series of random observations (and baseball … and fireworks)

As Suzi and I stood by the rail, the fireworks went off behind the fence in right-center field.

The display had the usual excitement of the initial colorful explosions, followed by a series of small and medium bursts leading up to a finale that always looks like a last, desperate attempt to shoot everything off before someone comes to stop them.

Fireworks are among my favorite things, but I hadn’t seen them live in more than two years. Some things have happened in those two years — the obvious stuff everyone knows about, but other things closer to home.

Just ask, and I’ll show you

Suzi announced that I may have a reason to pull my vaccination card out of my wallet.

Briefly, my mind wandered to unexpected travel or a shots-required concert that she had ordered tickets for but I didn’t even know about it yet.

It wasn’t either of those things. Instead, it was that The Bushnell in Hartford would be requiring attendees to be vaccinated for any shows through Oct. 31.

There’s also a mask mandate, which I’m not thrilled about, but I’ll deal with it.