#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:)
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:)
posted by My Boston at
3:46 PM
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