Fortress Of Good Fortune

Yesterday was the 70th anniversary of the Tornado of 1953 that hit Central Massachusetts. They were just given warnings of severe thunderstorms, not tornados. The tornado turned out to be a Category F-4, just below the worst (F-5). It killed 94 people amd wounded 1.288 and caused damage of $52.193 million in 1953 dollars, which equates to $590 million in 2023 dollars. Newly-minted Senator John F. Kennedy surveyed the damage. Assumption College was completelty destroyed. They moved to othe land, and today Quinsigamond Community College stands on the old Assumption land.

My mother recalled a brutally hot day with greenish skies before the freight trsin hit. My dad was over in Korea fighting the war (he was only 18) and frantic to find out if his family and my mom's family survived (they did). For that brief moment, he was safer in Korea than at home!

Crossposts: https://bradygirl-12.livejournal.com/1565585.html

In Central Massachusetts, the city of Worcester is saying goodbye to Lieutenant Jason Menard, a firefighter who saved other firefighters after they became trapped in a burning house, but he couldn't save himself. :(

The funeral is at 11:00. Last night the calling hours drew hundreds, many of them firefighters from all over the country.

Jason Menard's family went to bed the night of December 13, 2019, looking forward to starting a vacation in Disneyland the next morning. Instead, they got the news that they lost a father and husband.

He is the ninth firefighter that the city has lost in twenty years, starting with the Worcester Six and the horrific Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse fire on December 3, 1999, and other losses in 2011 and 2018.

Today is bleak weather. Sometimes I think November is the saddest month of all.

Bless our first responders.

Happy Birthday to Tom Brady! He's 40 today, and that's ancient in sports years, but he looked pretty good to me when I was at training camp at Gillette Stadium. ;) The Patriots have baby goats at camp today for fans to take pictures with, because Tom is the G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time). Tom had his picture taken holding a baby goat years ago for a GQ shoot, and he got plenty of ribbing from his teammates for that one! ;)

Today he will be serenaded by the fans in camp, and his teammates will have something for him. He'll be embarrassed by the whole thing, but we don't care. He deserves birthday accolades. He's certainly given us New Englanders years of joy! :)

It's practically a state/regional holiday! ;) Our local news are mentioning it; sports talk radio is all over it; it's Tom Brady Day on ESPN; Twitter's afire; and people are saying, "Happy Tom Brady's Birthday!" to each other. It's really a lot of fun, and in this crazy world, grab fun when you can get it! :)

Hope all who celebrate had a good Imbolc today. :)

For everyone, Happy Groundhog Day! :)

I've been enjoying Super Bowl Week. Found out that Tom Brady's mother has been very ill for the last 18 months, just about the length of time he suffered through the witch hunt by the NFL. He got choked up talking about his hero, his father, during Media Night. He's very close to his parents and his older sisters. His parents go to every game, though this year the illness prevented that. When he first moved to Massachusetts to start his career, two of his sisters came from California to stay with him that first year with the Pats. :)

Got an invitation to a Super Bowl party at my sister's. We might get pizza or Subway sandwiches or BunnyGirl might cook. Up to her! :)

Well, going to turn in now. Zzzzzzz!!! :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day, luvs! :)

'Tis a fine spring day, the birds singin' and the sun warm upon me face. Parades and pubbing and all sorts of shenanigans! To all of the clan, enjoy, and remember, today everyone is Irish! :)

I feel lucky as a charm. Perhaps I should purchase a lottery ticket. At least me shamrock is part of me available icons, so enjoy the pretty pic! :)

'Tis also Evacuation Day, the day in 1776 when the British scooted out o' Boston when the cannons dragged all the way from Fort Ticonderoga in the middle o' winter were placed atop Dorchester Heights. Suffolk County employees have the day off, and any state employees across the great state of Massachusetts may work and take the time off or get nice, green money instead. Ah, a fine day, a fine day, lads 'n' lasses! ;)

I am writing this while looking out through my balcony doors, which have two feet of snow piled up against them, driven by the hurricane-level winds. I can barely see the backyard. The wind has been howling since midnight and the Governor instituted a travel ban, so only essential personnel can be out driving. It's days like this that I'm glad I don't live on the coast! They're getting hammered.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft upped the ante last night. After arriving in Phoenix, he started the press conference with a statement adamantly declaring innocence and backing his head coach and quarterback to the hilt. He also took a shot across the bow of the NFL by telling them to stop leaking information and come out with a report. He expects an apology to his team, especially Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, if no definitive evidence is found that they tampered with footballs.

After a week of talking about balls, the story may end with a video given by the Patriots to the NFL. It shows the ball boy taking the bag of balls (both Pats and Colts footballs) and going into a room, which turned out to be the bathroom! He was in there for 90 seconds. A big doubtful that he could let the air out of 12 footballs in 90 seconds! Guess what he was doing in there? Yep, using the bathroom before the game! Sheesh!

If the Pats are lying, they are taking a HUGE risk by all these statements. It wouldn't surprise me if they were (nothing much surprises me anymore), but they sound pretty convincing. Of course, the haters are gonna hate no matter what, but as Tom said, you find out who your friends are during something like this. Drew Bledsoe, the guy he replaced in 2001 but remained friends with, stuck up for him publicly this week, and so did other former Patriots and some non-Pats. It's been reported that Seattle is a little nervous that the Patriots might band together so well against the storm (ha, ha!) that they could be breathing fire next Sunday. :)

Very sad day in Massachusetts. Two firefighters, Lieutenant Edward Walsh, Jr. and Firefighter Michael Kennedy were lost yesterday fighting the Back Bay fire. The gusting nor'easter winds turned the fire from a one-alarm to a nine-alarm.

I always think back to the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse fire on December 3, 1999, when something like this happens. Six Worcester firefighters were trapped last night and never came out. It took a week to find the bodies in the rubble.

I was taking the train at the time to grad school in Boston and it was the 6 A.M. train. In the darkness of pre-dawn the searchlights were on while smoke curled up from the rubble and the only sound to be heard several yards away was the skritch-skritch-skritch of the rakes used to look for the bones and ashes. No other sound could be heard. Smoke hung over downtown for days. The highway was partially closed for search equipment and the streets were clogged with drivers usually on the highway. The police had to direct traffic for a week.

Yesterday's fire caught the Boston Fire Department by surprise (the wind). An interesting note: Tom Brady of the New England Patriots lives four doors down and was an eyewitness and gave some interesting insights. He's well aware of who the real heroes are in this life.

Hi, luvs!

Yay, my man Christian has been nominated for an Oscar again! *dances* It's for his role in American Hustle, known as the 'Worcester Movie' around these parts because several scenes were filmed in Central Massachusetts.

Quick List of the movie's major nominations:

Best Picture
Best Actor: Christian Bale
Best Actress: Amy Adams
Best Supporting Actor: Bradley Cooper
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence
Best Director: David O. Russell
Best Original Screenplay: Eric Warren Singer & David O. Russell
Best Production Design
Best Costume

Bruce and Lois did well in the nominations! ;)

You can find the whole list of nominees here at: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/academy-awards-2014-nominations-full-list-nominees-article-1.1581641

The film has a decent shot of taking home Best Picture, though I'm not sure they'll win in any other major category except for Jennifer Lawrence as Best Supporting Actress (gods, was she a hoot!). I would love to see Christian take home a second gold statuette, but he's already got one and a second nomination doesn't hurt the ol' career. :)

I do think that Jeremy Renner should have gotten a Best Supporting Actor nomination. He was outstanding as Camden's Mayor Carmen Polito in the film.

American Hustle is a funny, sly film with wonderful '70s trappings and an excellent cast. Go see it if you haven't already! :)

You can check out my review here but it has major spoilers.

We here in Massachusetts are now officially living a freakin' movie!

Boston is in total lockdown. The people in Watertown still can't leave their homes. They woke up at 12:55 this morning to the sound of gunfire as the police shot it out with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects. The older brother is dead and the younger on the lam. No MBTA service, taxi service only recently resumed, and businesses and colleges shut down. The cops stopped people on the New Hampshire highway and on the Canadian border because they suspect a third or more suspects involved with the brothers. Amtrak trains in Connecticut are being stopped.

It's all so surreal! The two brothers robbed a 7-11 and killed an MIT cop in his car. They carjacked a Mercedes and let the driver out after a half hour. The dead suspect may have had a bomb strapped to him. SWAT and the FBI and every other agency is out in force.

There may have been an explosion on the UMASS/Dartmouth campus. The younger brother attended that college. :(

The Red Sox and Bruins have games scheduled for tonight. Unlikely they'll play.

Official word came out now that the Amtrak service between Boston and New York is suspended indefinitely.

The cauldron’s bubbling, the wind are blowing, the Jack O’Lanterns are glowing…Something Wicked This Way Comes!

Strange Brew IV: Bare Essence is a whimsical Zatanna tale set in a magical Salem, Massachusetts shop.

The Room At The End Of The Hall is a twisted little tale of horror entrapping Johnny and Mel.

Mel and Johnny are trapped in the Bankers Building, which becomes a literal House of Horrors in The Thing That Ate Chicago.