Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 16/04/2025Last night's sunset illuminating the trees (and still-stormy skies) to the east. Wow. 0211
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 31/03/2025A month ago, this foggy morning view would have been depressing. But now I can see the pink of the maple buds getting ready to pop, which changes everything. (OK, not everything. But it helps.) 060
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 19/03/2025Witch hazel isn't the most adorable spring bloom, but it's so enthusiastic! And most important, I can enjoy ours through the window, without braving wind or mud. 3855
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 17/03/2025Google AI elbowing aside actual sources to contradict the info that's in its own calendar (and everyone else's): 130
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 05/03/2025This should have run yesterday, National Grammar Day, but better (a little) late than never. 040
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 27/01/2025This is what I need to see first thing every day, just to keep my spirits up. 050
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 12/01/2025A rare sight: Once upon a time, there was skating every winter on this little bit of the Charles River (and on longer sections of the river, too, according to local lore). But in the 20 years we've lived in the neighborhood, the number of skateable days has steadily dwindled. 050
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 01/01/2025 From today's comics, a good prompt for an editorial New Year's resolution: Don't fall for the notion that you have to use "fewer" (instead of "less") any time you spot a number in the neighborhood. It depends on what the number is doing there, and "10 items or less" is perfectly good English. 140
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 01/01/2025Our little neighborhood lights up every winter, and most people leave the lights up for a couple of months — it really helps. (And it's worth driving through if you're not far away: Islington Peninsula, Auburndale [Newton], Mass.) 0342
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 20/12/2024"Covering about two-thirds of the ring makes an asymmetrical wreath look modern, not unfinished." 🤨 220
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 20/12/2024OK I must now post this bit from "Master and Commander," to which my first response was "Jane Austen never told us about this!" 010
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 18/12/2024Here's my favorite Klee angel, because if an angel shows up in my house I definitely want it bringing me breakfast in bed, and not, say, telling me I'm pregnant with some world-historical embryo. 0267
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 16/11/2024Hey this reminds me, I have an idea for how you could take the winter break you said you need. It's kind of amazing how many of the old strips are totally current; why not pull a Doonesbury and run a month of historic highlights? Like this one from 30 years ago (sorry abt the glare on photo): 010
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 15/11/2024Here's a nice Borgward Isabella coupé, and yes, my fellow editors, the accent aigu is right there on the car. 000
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 02/11/2024This monster bug is visiting and I wonder if it might have been the design inspiration for the Cybertruck. 120
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 31/10/2024Just a tiny peeve: The phrase "till death us do part" (or "do us part," if you prefer) has been around in wedding vows for more than 400 years. Apparently that's not long enough to convince some editors that the pronoun really should remain objective case, even in your clever variation. 130
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 30/10/2024Here's a Boston Globe story I definitely won't be reading: 160
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 26/10/2024Some other nice distractions this week: The Morandi show in NYC, and afterward, lunch at Piccola Cucina Uptown, where they make (very tasty) individual servings of tiramisu at tableside. 020
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 26/10/2024Such a beautiful fall we're having in the Northeast. I hope I'll look back at my photos when the background vibe is no longer this pervasive anxiety about the election (and has returned to the normal pervasive anxiety about war and climate change). 030
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 26/10/2024Then there's "crispy": I was editing food stories (among other things) when "crispy" began its rise in the 80s/90s. Looks like "crisp" has also increased its reach since then, but "crispy" remains ubiquitous in the food world, in both BrE and AmE. 122
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 17/10/2024In northern Ohio, two parties on one tree lawn.* *Or devil strip, tree strip, curb, parkway, terrace, swale, tree belt, depending on where you live. 110
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 13/10/2024Speaking of grammar books, @tomfreeman.bsky.social and @lanegreene.bsky.social, does either of you plan to review/comment on this book, in which GKP tries to simplify the New Grammar for people like me (non-linguists steeped in the confusing Old Grammar)? Makes me wish I were a student again! 200
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 12/10/2024Finally tracked down this great election year comic — "Christ for President" — from 1992, and am wondering why the creators haven't updated it every four years. Of course, in 2024 it would probably end with Jesus going to heaven the same way he originally did. 001
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 09/10/2024Thanks for the reminder, @editrix-rachel.bsky.social — I also have a fall foliage photo from yesterday's #MorningWalk. Possible title: Why I Didn't Stay In California (Despite Loving Many Things about California). 170
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 05/09/2024You've been kidnapped. The characters from the last TV show you watched are trying to rescue you. Who is coming to save you? I think I'm in luck, but I won't know till there's been a bunch of laughing/shooting/running/cursing. (The scheming and killing have already begun.) 020
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 05/09/2024A month ago, the bunnies had eaten every flower in our little raised bed, so I hadn't been near it till today. And it was not barren: two volunteer cherry tomato plants, seeded by birds, are producing unmolested. Is the lesson here to plant these later, when critters are less ravenous? 140
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 23/08/2024Also, in Ithaca I have (in addition to human friends) a dear cat friend, which is nice because my husband is too allergic to live with one. She likes to nestle in my luggage, apparently unaware that the blue socks and purplish lining are not her most flattering colors. 110
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 23/08/2024 Cannot understand how the good Christians of Jim Jordan's district have left this lamp to languish at Goodwill, when for $10 they could light up their lives. Have fled Ohio for Ithaca, NY, where they have at least heard of rosé wine. 210
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 21/08/2024Some things don't change, though: My favorite chickens are still strutting their stuff in the 4-H poultry barn. 000
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 21/08/2024Also new to me: You can buy an outdoor grill built into half a car. Why? It's a mystery. Another mystery: Where are all the games of "skill" where you throw a ball at immovable bottles and so on? What's the fair without kids walking around with giant stuffed animals? #Ohio 100
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 21/08/2024Haven't been to the county fair in so long I don't know what rolled ice cream is, nor "Swiss fried cheese." Apparently the latter is batter-dipped fried cheese, just what you'd expect, so actually "fried Swiss cheese." #Ohio 100
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 19/08/2024Headed "home" to see lots of family, and right about here we got our welcome to Jim Jordan's congressional district (from which, alas, we will not emerge for days). 020
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 08/08/2024Especially if you're not much of a beach person anyway ... 010
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 10/07/2024 Since we agree that Toscanini's burnt caramel is the best ice cream flavor ever invented, I used @ckummer.bsky.social's caramel-burning instructions (from an old Atlantic mag) to make a burnt caramel semifreddo instead. You can scoop it up with the chocolate wafers. Fantastico! 0102
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 15/06/2024He was "only" the opening act for this big show ... 020
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 15/06/2024 Something from The Other Place for us editors to enjoy. (I don't know if the poster is also the author of the French version. The original, from Jan. 9, 2014, will follow.) 110
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 04/06/2024I grew up in a small Ohio town, and so many memories are tied to our Carnegie library. I think it's in better shape now than it was then, but as a kid/teenager I didn't care about anything but the books. 130
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 19/03/2024Sometimes your ad is better without a proofreader. 020
Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social · 21/12/2023Part 2 of the story, involving a Christmas card and a 1939 New Yorker cover, didn't make the Globe cut, but it too seems to be at least part fiction. So I published what I know on my neglected blog (will that be proof enough for Wikipedia?). throwgrammarfromthetrain.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-... 010