#8 Boston - Everything is Free in Massachusetts - July 29, 2005

Well almost everything is free in this wonderful Commonwealth of ours! The amount of free concerts, movies, and plays during summer time here in Boston is absolutely staggering! Some nights I don't know what to do first!
Last night was a good example, a twofer: first, the WBOS free concert at the fabulous Copley Square, featuring Tracy Bonham (http://www.tracybonham.com/ - you know her song "Something Beautiful", right?) and Aimee Mann (http://www.aimeemann.com/home.html) - both marvelously talented artists - the square was packed to the gills! This of course limited where we could sit, and unfortunately the only spot we found hat serious odor issues (enough said, right?), which tampered our enjoyment somewhat. Event #2 last night was Shakespeare in the Park at the Boston Common - "Hamlet" presented by the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, a bit of a change of pace. There was lots of yelling, and no matter how often I see Hamlet, it always confuses me - everybody's messin' with everybody. Who knows who's in cohorts with whom! Our little piece of land we plopped ourselves down on was wayyyy in the back, and the whole performance felt a bit like "books on tape" to me.

I have to admit that I did not even make it until intermission, which was partly due to the yelling (and the fact that it was actually pretty nippy out there - 63 degr F), but it can also be attributed to an unfortunate encounter on Cambridge Street earlier that evening. A screaming lunatic who came plowing down the street zeroed in on me for some unknown reason, pinned me against a wall, and started verbally abusing me (I will spare you the words). I was convinced that he would start hitting me at any moment, but some folks on the street stepped in and steered him away. It took me a while to calm down, and fortunately nothing happened, still - it was pretty scary and did not set a good tone for the evening.

More free stuff - Monday night - again in the Boston Common, this time the Boston Landmark Orchestra - performing a selection of Baroque music, including Ottorino Resphighi, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Georg Philipp Telemann's rendition of the Don Quixote Suite. Wednesday nights features free classical music at the Hatch Shell and tonight, same location, the Free Friday Flicks. However, I do not want to see "Scooby Doo 2". As a very classy alternative, the Boston Harbor Hotel features free outdoor "Movies by Moonlight" every Friday (http://www.bhh.com/PR_movies_dates.cfm) and tonight they show "The Big Sleep" , which just happens to be my favorite Humphrey Bogart movie!

And of course, hiking is free here in New England - lots of beautiful mountains to chose from - last weekend I fulfilled one of my New Year's resolutions and joined my friend and neighbor Mike in a quest to hike/climb Mt. Washington. At 6288 feet it is the highest mountain in the Northeast, and my friends, no small accomplishment - this is a HIKE!! AMC book time is 4 hours one way, and I am happy to boast that Mike and I made it up in 3 hours (and down also in 3). I knew I was going to be sore for a couple of days, but this was soooo worth it! Starting out at Pinkham Notch, we hiked up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail - the ravine is a very popular trail, and in winter a favorite destination for skiers who hike up there with an 80-pound backpack, skis and all (http://www.tuckerman.org/tuckerman/history.htm) - check out the photos! Tuckerman Ravine is beautiful, and hiking up we even saw a patch of snow!! We knew that Mt Washington's weather changes on a dime, so we were prepared for the 45 degree weather on top (7 degrees Celsius) and 35 mile per hour winds. Quite a few folks were not, and I am always amazed to see people going up a mountain like this in a tank top and little bitty sneakers! People die on this mountain and in the visitor center up top you can see all 130 of them listed. The view from the mountain is spectacular! The visitor center is chockful of people and of course, I ran into a friend, what else! I could be in a cave somewhere and would meet people I know (oh wait a minute, that did happen to me!). My friend Ken and a gaggle of friends were on their annual "Deathmarch" through the Presidential Range, a whole slew of peaks in the White Mountains, all named after US Presidents (OK, Boston Friends - who can name them all?). http://community.webshots.com/photo/4771056/6125358wnydmLSTio/. The way down the mountain was via the Lion's Head trail, beautiful, but tricky on occasion, and we were glad to make it down the hill with only a couple of bruises.... My friends, if you are into hiking, this is such a worthy endeavor - PT Barnum called the mountain once "The second greatest show on earth"! The hike up (and down) is challenging and exciting, more than half of the hike is above the tree line, the vegetation is similar to sub-arctic areas (I was particularly enticed by the balsam firs) and the views, as mentioned, magnificient.

Needless to say I was sore as can be for a couple of days, but some walking and running got that right out of my system. More hiking is coming up this weekend, with the Welch-Dickey Loop Hike (http://www.summitpost.org/show/mountain_link.pl/mountain_id/835) with my newfound hiking group, followed by a more low-key nature hike on Sunday with Boot, the AMC naturalist. The weather has finally calmed down and cooled off a bit. Wednesday afternoon it was about 100 degrees (38 C) here in Boston, the running group got cancelled due to infernal heat (still 95 degrees at 5PM). Not good!

My friends, have a good weekend, get out there and hike those mountains! When I come to California in September I am going to drag some of you with me!!

pet:)

#7 Boston - And What Did You Do This Week? July 22, 2005

Well let's see - I participated in a movie, went for an 8-mile hike, went to the Boston Athenaeum, ran my first ever 5-mile (8K) race, survived lots of practice runs in rotten, hot and humid weather, watched several movies and even managed to do the dishes and the laundry before I had to go out and buy some. How's that for starters?

Let's do this chronologically, first things first: This Friday past, my colleague Ana took me to the Boston Athenaeum, one of the largest and most distinguished private libraries in the country (http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/). Founded it 1807 by members of the Anthology Society, who I guess wanted a nice place to read for themselves and also be surrounded by decent art (http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/atindex.html), the Athenaeum is the quintessential library, exactly as it should be, filled to the brim with the most unbelievable collation of reading materials including George Washington's private books; collections of Confedearate State imprints of the US, including reports of battles, newspapers, sheet music, you name it; 18th century literary works, New England state and local history, English and American literature, and "fine and decorative arts". Its Norma Jean Calderwood Gallery features ongoing exhibits, currently a photography display of "Places of the Spirit" - Sacred Sites of the Adirondacks". It is a spectacular place - book fiends like myself can loose themselves completely in it (in a good way) - just imagine yourself sitting there in a comfortable leather chair, overlooking the Granary Burying Ground, and reading a book about the "Daily Life in the Early Colonies" (where it was remarked by the way how bad the teeth of the women were at the time - there is no consensus as to why, but there you have it.). I learned some interesting tidbits about George Washington along the way, including that he apparently was so strong that he could crack a walnut between his thumb and his forefinger, he did not wear a wig, as most of us assume, and greeting the president as "Mr President" was his idea. Way to go George! I could honestly spend all my days over there, but the somewhat steep membership fees ($200/year) and limited weekend opening hours will prevent me from doing so. Next time when I win the lottery!

Movie-time!! A new experience for me took place on Saturday when on the invitation of my friend and colleague Renee, I got sucked into participating as an extra for an independent movie called "The Unhappy Medium". Medford, Mass. native Chelsea Spear directs this silent, black and white film (http://www.pixievision.com/index2.html) set in the 1920s. The two main characters are Fay Stinson, a spirit medium, who is considered a charlatan, and her straight-arrow nephew Tom and whatever interesting dynamics are going on between them. The whole story is based on the Spiritualism movement, which apparently began in the mid-19th century when Margaretta and Kate Fox stated that they could talk to dead people (yeah, we've heard that one before! I've seen "The Sixth Sense"!). The movie shoot was tons of fun, we had to dance around a maypole, participate in a fancy schmancy ladies' picnic with scones and tea, and pose for some close-ups. Even though we were adequately sugared up with donuts and buzzed on caffeine, eventually the heat got to us and we were glad to get out of our 1920s wear after four hours.

Hiking with the AMC was on the program for Sunday - the mosquitoes did us a favor and stayed away on this very hot and particularly humid day, and this enabled us to traipse through the woods at Middlesex Fells Reservation (http://www.fells.org/fells.html). I have been to the Fells many times, but mostly during the winter, and it was definitely an adventure to try to follow trip leader Mike Stadelmeier. Most of the time I was in the back of the group, and I had the feeling he was bushwhacking up front and creating new trails as we moved along, but it was hard to tell. The Fells are comprised of a little more than 2000 acres of the most amazing woodlands - rocky hills, lakes and trails invite hikers and mountain bikers in summer, cross-country skiers in winter - and it is only about ten minutes outside of Boston. The word "fells" is the Saxon word for rocky, hilly tracts of land, and our 8-mile hike definitely lived up to this description. Lunch at Spot Pond got interesting as a small band of very frisky Canadian Geese got a little too interested in our food and started hissing as we were apparently too reluctant to share our sandwiches with them.

The remainder of my spare time on the weekend and this week was spent with preparing for my first 5-mile road race, the 18th annual "Jim Kane Sugar Bowl Five Miler" in South Boston. It has been viciously hot, humid, yucky and practice runs were a challenge. Last night, temperatures had cooled down somewhat, but still hovered around 80 at race time, which did not deter a crowd of 1600 runners from seriously going at it. My goal was to just put up a decent finish - I know that I generally do not run well in this kind of heat. I had all the best intentions at pacing myself, but something happens every time I participate in a race - there is such an excitement in the air, people cheer you on, it is so uplifting. I get so motivated and psyched up that I push myself and it did pay off this time. Not to say it was easy, but I did run the 5 miles at a pace of 9:32 per minute, and even placed 13th in my age group. I was quite elated and happy afterwards!!! (Enclosed is a picture of me (#1020) zipping by an exhausted #1425).

This was good training, as I am heading up Mount Washington this weekend, actually tomorrow. My neighbor Mike and I will hike up to the summit at 6288 feet (and hopefully down). There is the option of taking the cog railway or (dare I say it?) - the car, but that would be sooooo wrong!! I look very much forward to this adventure, and this time of the year is perfect. Mount Washington is notorious for its unstable weather conditions, and who's to say there can't be snow in the middle of summer!
I am expecting substantial soreness on Sunday, which is why I have loaded up the entertainment center at my place with movies, books and magazines. I will not have to leave the house!!

My friends, have a wonderful summer weekend, enjoy the sun!

pet:)

#6 Boston - None of that Nature Crap and Other Tales from the Fruit Sherpa - July 15 2005

Toe woes, schmoe woes - promises and resolutions all were tossed out the window this weekend, and adequately bandaged up I decided to hike up Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire after all. Never pass up a good hike, right? Monadnock, reportedly the second most hiked mountain in the world (right after Mount Fuji), is considered by many a rehearsal hike before heading up the king of the White Mountains, Mt. Washington (the highest peak in the Northeastern US with 6288 feet - I will attempt to hike up there at the end of this month). http://www.nhstateparks.org/ParksPages/Monadnock/Monadnock.html

As is normal with hiking in the granite state, you take a pounding, no matter how high the hill - 3100-some feet in this case - boulders, roots, holes - not an easy stroll up. Our group (a collection of regulars from the AMC) decided to stay away from the mass of hikers scrambling up the main White Cross Trail, and picked a less traveled, and thus a bit more challenging sequence of trails: White Dot to Cascade Link to the steep Red Dot Trail and then along the ridge line of the Pumpelly Trail. Red Dot provided some excitement for those of us who like rock climbing, and who do not mind a bruise or two, but Pumpelly, which guides you to the summit by a progression of rock cairns, rewarded with spectacular views all the way over to Mt. Washington (http://www.qcc.mass.edu/brink/qcc/mmpumpelly.html). Once you reach the summit, of course, you are surprised at the huge mob of people hanging out, and for many of them you cannot figure out how in the world they made it up there in the first place. It's like a convention up there!

Martin, our fearless trip leader, led the group up at a nice clip, with no time to smell the roses and ooh and aah the blueberry bushes ("none of that nature crap"), water breaks were restricted - slave driver - and only his kind (and somewhat reluctant) offer to carry an apple up (and down) the mountain ("What am I, your fruit sherpa?") got him a couple of small brownie points. Despite the chain-gang-like experience :-), a good time was had by all, and plans were hatched for future outdoors adventures. The day ended with a lumberjack-size meal at the railroad-car style Peterborough Diner, which left us all in a food-induced coma and restored some of us to moderately decent human beings.

I had carefully tested my abilities to wander about the day before when I joined my friend Linda in an outing to the Blackstone Valley near Sutton, Mass. After a bug-infested hike along the Blackstone River and Canal Heritage Park (http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/central/blst.htm), we zipped over to King Farm for the Blackstone Valley Celtic Festival which turned out to be a most exquisite event (http://celticfestival.blackstonevalley.org/). Situated on a hillside with a marvelous view of central/northern Massachusetts and with Mt. Monadnock in plain sight, this turned out to be a splendid day and an experience I can certainly recommend. Thousands of revelers enjoyed knockout performances by the Glengarry Bhoys, Robbie O'Connell and Aofie Clancy, and Pendragon among others. Of the many diversions offered, Linda and I were particularly enticed by the "Men in Kilts" competition, which turned the somewhat well-behaved crowd into a hootin'-and-'hollerin' pack of troublemakers. A jury of fair maidens in Celtic outfits needed to be impressed, and aside from overall and most authentic appearance, it was the category of "best knees" that garnered quite an enthusiastic response from the crowd, and led a few of the competitors to reveal more than some of us anticipated. Marriage proposals and money bribes were also used as implements to sway the voting.

After having some cold drinks to calm ourselves down, it was time for the sheepherding demonstration with border collies - [picture from the 2004 festival (http://celticfestival.blackstonevalley.org/gallery04/festival/collie02.jpg)) - this is a must-see! I am sure most of you have seen the movie "Babe" and have a bit of an idea, but these dogs are fantastic! http://www.bordercollie.org/bcchar.html. They worked together in teams of five and herded the sheep exactly where their owners wanted them to (and the sheep did comply in most cases....). The sheep kept gathering in some kind of a huddle, quite possibly hatching escape plans, but the collies made no secret of the fact that they were definitely in charge here.

The week started out with some soreness (toe recovery - and NO, I did not have to call the toe truck!! - and a few Monadnock aches and pains), but jogging activities have commenced, and on Wednesday night a solid contingent of the Running Partners bustled over to Charlestown for a nice three-mile dash. This left us utterly and completely exhausted and in need of some brewskis which were obtained at the Tavern on the Water (http://www.tavernonthewater.com/). The place was a virtual beehive of the swank and preppie that night, which made us drink even more. There was a small incident with the seating list, and a schmuck named Rusty received immediate disciplinary action by the hostess for his rather overt bullying tactics.

Boston's social summer programs have definitely hit their full stride, and free events are everywhere. Last night I attended the WBOS free concert series at Copley Square which featured singer Ari Hest (www.arihest.com), and tonight I am meeting some friends from Boston Cares at the Charles River Esplanade, where the Free Friday Flicks (sponsored by radio station WBZ-AM) are shown at the Hatch Shell - tonight's program: "The Wizard of Oz", which should be fun after a beer or two.

Other plans for the weekend are crystallizing slowly - for starters I am participating as an extra in an independent movie tomorrow -don't get your hopes up to high, I assume the flick will most likely show in about five years in some obscure movie theater!!

Have fun my friends - and enjoy the summer!

pet:)

#5 Boston - Let Freedom Sing - July 8, 2005

Before we get to the whole 4th of July hoopla, Independence Day, freedom stuff, you must hear the newest tale from Petra's grisly cabinet of medical horrors - my latest ailment, and yes,yes - it involves another visit to the emergency room. This is not for the squeamish amongst you.

I am currently sitting here with my right foot propped up way high - sporting one of the wonderfully fashionable hospital socks and waiting for insane pain to hit me. Last night, one of my often bothersome toenails decided to swell and hurt, and come 2 AM I was in so much pain, that just touching the toe made me almost pass out. Experiencing cold sweats when simply touching your toe is not a good omen, so I got myself to the clinic today and was promptly ushered to the ER, where I spent (again) several lovely hours with prime TV programming and a pretty assorted parcel of the frail and sickly. My new best friends where two maintenance workers from MGH, who joined me in answering "Who wants to be a Millionaire" questions (How can you not know how the Alphabet Song ends? Seriously! ...."Next time will you sing with me"!! Apparently they don't teach that in Santa Barbara). One of them kept drifting off into deep sleep and snored away to the delight of the rest of the crowd. I was subsequently doctored up by a three medical students from New York, California and Germany and two attending physicians - receiving first a moderately unpleasant injection with Lidocaine, which made my right toe double in size reminiscent of elephant-like digits and also made it clear right there and then that I might not go hiking up Mt. Monadnock (New Hampshire) this weekend. The rest of the procedure was witnessed by a pile of med students who founds this oh so interesting and provided moral support along the way. I was sent home with a nice prescription for Vicodin, and was told that if I feel so inclined to drink alcohol with it, to kindly refrain from operating heavy machinery, so no joy-riding on the fork lift tonight.

Now - back to last weekend and the 4th of July celebrations, and I have to say, if you are into celebrating American History and Independence, Boston is the place to be. Mother Nature did her duty and indulged us by delivering the most beautiful weekend weather, temperatures in the mid-70s, no humidity, picture perfect!!

I started off with my part of the whole bit by attending a debate on the Declaration of Independence in the Old State House (http://nanosft.com/freedom/oldsthouse/index.shtml). Everyone attending was a delegate - I myself was Benjamin Rush of Pennsylvania, apparently a good looking, smart patriot, scientist and doctor by profession, age 31, who loved chemistry and traveling. In 1776 I actually arrived too late to vote but did sign the declaration after all. This was so much fun!! We first debated two paragraphs our friend Thomas Jefferson had put in regarding slavery and his dislike for the British, but after much back and forth (mostly instigated by our own Sam Adams) decided to strike those the wording and go on with the voting. The woman next to me was Benjamin Franklin and was called upon quite often. John Hancock who was a mere 10 years old, ruled the meeting with a firm hand despite his young age. (http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.html)

Next on the list was a stroll over to the Chowderfest at Government Plaza, and a quick stroll away from there, as I was not willing to stand in line for 30 minutes just to get in - so I sauntered over to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, got myself some chowda there, and hung out to watch a superb variety of street performers from all over the East Coast.

"Let Freedom Sing" led me to the Old South Meeting House (http://www.oldsouthmeetinghouse.org/history/), one of the key locations of the American Revolution. It was build in 1792 and was once the largest colonial building in Boston. This is where in December of 1773 5,000 angry colonists gathered and decided to throw tea in the harbor, because they just about had it with the British and their taxes. "Let Freedom Sing" was an absolutely enjoyable concert by both the Charlestown Chorale and the Santa Cruz Singers from Arizona. The program included folks songs, gospels, patriotic tunes - you name it. From Ernest Bloch's "America" and Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" to African-American spirituals such as "Sometimes I feel like a motherless chile" and Down by the Riverside to the very touching "I Dream a World" dedicated by composer Andre J. Thomas to the victims of September 11 - the performance more than deserved the standing ovation it received.

On Monday, July 4th I headed over to C-Town to hook up with Elaine, run a few miles, and then see the USS Constitution do her turnaround and sail from Charlestown Navy Yard over to Castle Island. She is a beauty and got a wonderful send-off by the crowd!!
I figured might as well tour another ship, so I headed for the USS Cassin Young, a World War II Destroyer ,also parked at CNY. Built in 1943, she got a quick start in 1944 fighting Japanese strongholds in the Caroline Islands, a group of about 500 small coral islands in the Pacific Ocean east of the Philippines, and continued its activity until April of 1960 when she was decommissioned for the second time.

After a fabulous lunch with my friends Ellen and Patrick at the Charles Street must-go-to "Panificio", a bakery-pizza-turned-Italian-yummy-food-and-fabulous-salad place, and an attempt at shopping without getting killed by sales-crazy people, I headed home, completely "indepenced out" and spent some quality time with my neighbor Claire's cats Zach and Emma and their big screen TV. I did watch the - as always spectacularly performed- fireworks on the Charles River from the comfort of my boss' office at MGH (he does have a fine view) with a water bottle filled with good beer from Maine. All in all, not a bad weekend.

Mother Nature gave us one more nice day on Tuesday, and since then we have pretty much gotten drenched on by the windfall of all those tropical storms hanging around Florida. On Tuesday morning, during my 7 AM morning run along the Charles River, I did get surprised by the biggest downpour ever, believe me - I have never gotten so wet so quickly. It was just as if someone had poured a bucket of water over me. Refreshing, though!! And it seemed to improve my running.

Speaking of rain, I gotta get myself home and wrap a lovely plastic bag from the drug store around my foot and hobble home. Due to my being a complete invalid now (just kidding), I might have nothing to report next week (ha!). The weekend after this should be interesting - I will participate as an extra in an independent movie - something to do with a ladies' auxiliary picnic to celebrate May Day. Need to go costume shopping!

Later!

pet:)