Every to-do list that I’ve made over the last two or three months has contained the following three items:

        • Figure out how to work cell phone camera

        • Take pictures of Purgatory signs

        • Figure out how to post Purgatory pictures on blog header

Now, everyone procrastinates. We know that. But what you may or may not know is that I procrastinate for medical reasons. I mean, this is documented and everything. In fact, if I write an item on a to-do list, the very fact that the item is written there means that there is a 77% chance that the item will never in fact get done. And if I write three items on a to-do list – or, rather, on several to-do lists, that means that there’s, what, a 144% chance(?) that none of those items will ever get done and that I’ll just get back in bed and read Diana Gabaldon novels all day. So the fact that I actually got up this morning and did all three of the items listed above is a really, really big deal, people.

There is a place near where I live called Purgatory Chasm State Reservation:

This park is known for its complex rock formations that were created at some point by some kind of geological forces, possibly glaciers (also possibly massive rock displacement caused by Satan being hurled at the earth by God – take your pick), at some time in the distant past. If you’re interested in knowing more specifically about what the park looks like and how it was formed, you can read about it here.

In the surrounding area, there are, of course, lots of signs pointing to Purgatory Chasm, some of which contain the full name of the state park. Others, though, just say “Purgatory.” Like this one:

I especially like the way the sign on top points the way to Wilkinsonville and Grafton, as if Purgatory were just another town in Massachusetts. Which, of course, it sort of is. I like this one too:

Jill and I have been talking about doing some aesthetic redesigning around here. We are grateful for the template that WordPress provides, but we’ve been getting a little tired of the canned pictures and want to do more to personalize the site. So for now we’ve got some of the Purgatory signs up in our header, and we’re interested in maybe using some medieval images of Dante’s Purgatory Mountain, like this one:

or this one:

We were thinking that if we were graphic artists, we would create a logo that was both recognizably inspired by these photos and also recognizably a big pile of books. I even thought of building a big book mountain and taking a picture of it. But then I decided to scrap that plan and just take a drive and take pictures of signs.

So I’ll leave you now with one last sign photo, which seems to be a hodgepodge of some of the features of Purgatory Chasm and the rules of said chasm:

We don’t really enforce these rules on our website. You can visit our site after sunset if you’d like, and you are welcome to enjoy alcoholic beverages in moderation while you read our reviews, as long as you are not also driving or operating heavy machinery and/or under 21. Because doing all of those things while also drinking and reading our blog is something that we just can’t condone.