#37 Boston - Tattoos for Chicken - February 17, 2006
Well, most of you have heard the big news this week - I bought a condo in East Cambridge!! WOOOOHOOOOOOOO!! Contrary to popular belief it is not an igloo, it seems to have all the components of a decent place, and unless the inspection this Saturday reveals termites, deadly mold or the Ebola virus, I think we're good to go. To give a little more detail - it is a family house, built originally in 1870, and only two owners split the place. My cozy little adobe has about 790 square feet (74 square meters), lots of sunlight, two bedrooms, a brandspankin' newly tiled bathroom and the most marvelous of kitchens with lots of room to entertain (cocktail party coming up!).
The neighborhood is residential with lots of good old Cambridge-style restaurants and mom-and-pop shops, the supermarket is nearby and -this might have convinced any of you to pick this place - a tattoo parlor around the corner. Not to be missed is the Mayflower Poultry Company's store with its "Live Chicken, Fresh Killed" sign that pretty much towers over everything on Cambridge Street. Apparently it is a great place to buy chicken, but if you are a bit squeamish, this might not be the place for you.... The Boston Phoenix described it as "Fresh chicken for the stouthearted carnivore". I am all set, you see - no matter if I choose to get a tattoo, a chicken or get a chicken tattooed. Life is good.
The neighborhood is known to have quite a sizeable Portuguese population, and I am expecting to participate in some nice fiestas and parades in the spring. The place is still walking distance to work, should take me about 15-20 minutes, depending my state of mind and body on a given day, and all in all, I am very excited about my find! My spare minutes are now filled with discussions with financial planners, mortgage brokers, lawyers and other people who want my money or a good portion thereof. Stay tuned.
Sooo, meanwhile back at the ranch - my life was plodding along as usual and that includes hiking as you know. Saturday was the day to do it as we were expecting a blizzard the following day, so Rick, Barbara and I joined fellow AMCers on a nature hike (with Boot Boutwell, our botanist extraordinaire) in the Garden in the Woods in Framingham, Mass. (http://www.newfs.org/garden.htm). It is the headquarters and botanical garden for the New England Wildflower Society, America's oldest plant conservation group, and it is a very groovy place! More than 1600 different plants inhabit the 45 acres of land and their nursery boasts to be the largest native plant nursery in New England. There were things to learn that day, but Rick and I did recall quite a bit of our previously acquired know-how, including the rediscovery of some old favorites like the dogwood, the sweet pepperbush, the spotted pipsissewa (http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/chimaphilamacu.html) - and of course no hike is a "Boot Hike" without its requisite quoting of poetry, this time good old Willie Shakespeare, from "Love's Labor's Lost":
"When icicles hang by the wall, And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, And Tom bears logs into the hall, And milk comes frozen home in pail, When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul, Then nightly sings the staring owl: Tu-who; Tu-whit, tu-who--a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
When all aloud the wind doth blow, And coughing drowns the parson's saw, And birds sit brooding in the snow, And Marian's nose looks red and raw, When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, Then nightly sings the staring owl: Tu-who; Tu-whit, to-who--a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot."
Having completed our botany refresher, we felt the need for some more serious exercise, so Rick, Barbara, Phoebe and I headed to Sudbury to explore Memorial Forest, a desert natural area due its well-drained sandy soil and several old sand pits. This soil is perfect for pitch pines, one of our favorite trees - a gnarly kind of pine ("moderately stout") with three needles to the bundle (all pines have needles in bundles) and some of the needles even growing straight out of its trunk (http://www.nearctica.com/trees/conifer/pinus/Prigida.htm). The town of Sudbury nearby is the quintessential quaint and cute Massachusetts town, very charming, founded in 1639 and in its history quite heavily involved during the American Revolution (http://www.sudbury.ma.us/services/seniorcenter/custom/hal/sudbury.htm). During the "Sudbury Fight" on April 21, 1676 major Native American forces attacked the town and the losses were many on both sides. Another historical site on our way to this second hike was the famous Wayside Inn, originally known as Howe's Tavern since it opened in 1716 (http://www.wayside.org/history.html). It is now generally known as "Longfellow's Wayside Inn" referring to American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (http://eclecticesoterica.com/longfellow.html). According to the inn's website, " Edward Rivers Lemon purchased the Inn as "a retreat for literary pilgrims," capitalizing on the interest generated by a widely read book of poems published in 1863 by Henry Longfellow called Tales of a Wayside Inn. Longfellow visited the Howe Tavern in 1862, and based his book on a group of fictitious characters that regularly gathered at the old Sudbury tavern. Lyman Howe was the character featured in "The Landlord's Tale," where Longfellow's penned the immortal phrase "listen my children and you shall hear, of the midnight ride of Paul Revere." Lemon renamed the old Howe Tavern Longfellow's Wayside Inn and operated it with his wife, Cora, until his death in 1919."
So on Sunday we had ourselves a little blizzard, a foot or two of snow, nothin' much. I was sooo excited! About 3 PM I joined the other crazies, grabbed my snow shoes and walked all over town. People were cross-country skiing, snowboarding, and used any kind of reasonable implement to zip down the hills in the Boston Common!! How fun! You know it is cool when your friends can come to dinner on their cross-country skis! Of course, I dragged my poor friends Ellen and Patrick out into the snow, and we met up with Amanda for a nice bite to eat at my favorite bookstore/cafe on Newbury Street, The Trident. Incidentally, the snow is now gone, since we had spring temperatures of 50 degrees all week. Tomorrow we are going back to glacial and expect 12 degrees or colder, who knows.
Well, you know mostly what happened during this week, condo purchase craziness, jogging with the Running Partners, and last night an outing with Ellen to the movies to see "Syriana" - a very intelligent and well-made movie, though tough to take at times. The evening was supplemented with delectable Mexican cuisine at Fajitas and Ritas, always a good deal - what can I say - the girls had a good time. Tonight I am heading to a post/anti-Valentine's Day event called "Kill Cupid" and besides completing a loan application and the home inspection, I intend to do some running, watching movies, and maybe throw in some cultural stuff as well (on the weekend, not tonight).
OK, OK, I'll stop!!! Have a President's Day Weekend, my friends - next week I will hail from Jacksonhole, Wyoming, where I intend to spend a few snow- and fun-filled days with my friend Lisa Miller and her family. To follow my friend Chris deRosa's advice: "Make sure you see the Grand Tetons, if you haven't been before. They are the most magnificent pair of breasts ever produced naturally in this country."
On that note - Cheerio!
Petra
The neighborhood is residential with lots of good old Cambridge-style restaurants and mom-and-pop shops, the supermarket is nearby and -this might have convinced any of you to pick this place - a tattoo parlor around the corner. Not to be missed is the Mayflower Poultry Company's store with its "Live Chicken, Fresh Killed" sign that pretty much towers over everything on Cambridge Street. Apparently it is a great place to buy chicken, but if you are a bit squeamish, this might not be the place for you.... The Boston Phoenix described it as "Fresh chicken for the stouthearted carnivore". I am all set, you see - no matter if I choose to get a tattoo, a chicken or get a chicken tattooed. Life is good.
The neighborhood is known to have quite a sizeable Portuguese population, and I am expecting to participate in some nice fiestas and parades in the spring. The place is still walking distance to work, should take me about 15-20 minutes, depending my state of mind and body on a given day, and all in all, I am very excited about my find! My spare minutes are now filled with discussions with financial planners, mortgage brokers, lawyers and other people who want my money or a good portion thereof. Stay tuned.
Sooo, meanwhile back at the ranch - my life was plodding along as usual and that includes hiking as you know. Saturday was the day to do it as we were expecting a blizzard the following day, so Rick, Barbara and I joined fellow AMCers on a nature hike (with Boot Boutwell, our botanist extraordinaire) in the Garden in the Woods in Framingham, Mass. (http://www.newfs.org/garden.htm). It is the headquarters and botanical garden for the New England Wildflower Society, America's oldest plant conservation group, and it is a very groovy place! More than 1600 different plants inhabit the 45 acres of land and their nursery boasts to be the largest native plant nursery in New England. There were things to learn that day, but Rick and I did recall quite a bit of our previously acquired know-how, including the rediscovery of some old favorites like the dogwood, the sweet pepperbush, the spotted pipsissewa (http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/chimaphilamacu.html) - and of course no hike is a "Boot Hike" without its requisite quoting of poetry, this time good old Willie Shakespeare, from "Love's Labor's Lost":
"When icicles hang by the wall, And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, And Tom bears logs into the hall, And milk comes frozen home in pail, When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul, Then nightly sings the staring owl: Tu-who; Tu-whit, tu-who--a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
When all aloud the wind doth blow, And coughing drowns the parson's saw, And birds sit brooding in the snow, And Marian's nose looks red and raw, When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, Then nightly sings the staring owl: Tu-who; Tu-whit, to-who--a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot."
Having completed our botany refresher, we felt the need for some more serious exercise, so Rick, Barbara, Phoebe and I headed to Sudbury to explore Memorial Forest, a desert natural area due its well-drained sandy soil and several old sand pits. This soil is perfect for pitch pines, one of our favorite trees - a gnarly kind of pine ("moderately stout") with three needles to the bundle (all pines have needles in bundles) and some of the needles even growing straight out of its trunk (http://www.nearctica.com/trees/conifer/pinus/Prigida.htm). The town of Sudbury nearby is the quintessential quaint and cute Massachusetts town, very charming, founded in 1639 and in its history quite heavily involved during the American Revolution (http://www.sudbury.ma.us/services/seniorcenter/custom/hal/sudbury.htm). During the "Sudbury Fight" on April 21, 1676 major Native American forces attacked the town and the losses were many on both sides. Another historical site on our way to this second hike was the famous Wayside Inn, originally known as Howe's Tavern since it opened in 1716 (http://www.wayside.org/history.html). It is now generally known as "Longfellow's Wayside Inn" referring to American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (http://eclecticesoterica.com/longfellow.html). According to the inn's website, " Edward Rivers Lemon purchased the Inn as "a retreat for literary pilgrims," capitalizing on the interest generated by a widely read book of poems published in 1863 by Henry Longfellow called Tales of a Wayside Inn. Longfellow visited the Howe Tavern in 1862, and based his book on a group of fictitious characters that regularly gathered at the old Sudbury tavern. Lyman Howe was the character featured in "The Landlord's Tale," where Longfellow's penned the immortal phrase "listen my children and you shall hear, of the midnight ride of Paul Revere." Lemon renamed the old Howe Tavern Longfellow's Wayside Inn and operated it with his wife, Cora, until his death in 1919."
So on Sunday we had ourselves a little blizzard, a foot or two of snow, nothin' much. I was sooo excited! About 3 PM I joined the other crazies, grabbed my snow shoes and walked all over town. People were cross-country skiing, snowboarding, and used any kind of reasonable implement to zip down the hills in the Boston Common!! How fun! You know it is cool when your friends can come to dinner on their cross-country skis! Of course, I dragged my poor friends Ellen and Patrick out into the snow, and we met up with Amanda for a nice bite to eat at my favorite bookstore/cafe on Newbury Street, The Trident. Incidentally, the snow is now gone, since we had spring temperatures of 50 degrees all week. Tomorrow we are going back to glacial and expect 12 degrees or colder, who knows.
Well, you know mostly what happened during this week, condo purchase craziness, jogging with the Running Partners, and last night an outing with Ellen to the movies to see "Syriana" - a very intelligent and well-made movie, though tough to take at times. The evening was supplemented with delectable Mexican cuisine at Fajitas and Ritas, always a good deal - what can I say - the girls had a good time. Tonight I am heading to a post/anti-Valentine's Day event called "Kill Cupid" and besides completing a loan application and the home inspection, I intend to do some running, watching movies, and maybe throw in some cultural stuff as well (on the weekend, not tonight).
OK, OK, I'll stop!!! Have a President's Day Weekend, my friends - next week I will hail from Jacksonhole, Wyoming, where I intend to spend a few snow- and fun-filled days with my friend Lisa Miller and her family. To follow my friend Chris deRosa's advice: "Make sure you see the Grand Tetons, if you haven't been before. They are the most magnificent pair of breasts ever produced naturally in this country."
On that note - Cheerio!
Petra
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