#40 Boston - @!@!#!@#!@#! March 10, 2006
Here's a tip for you: avoid landlords that are lawyers - they have leases tighter than the bark on a tree!! Mine now has decided to increase the rent for the replacement tenants I had found and to ask them to sign a two-year lease. This of course made those wonderful folks who were looking to set up shop in my current abode cringe, and I pray to the high heavens that they will come up with an agreement. My lease of course makes me responsible to either find someone or pay up until June, yikes! @!@!#!@#!@# (Pat knows what this stands for, right??) I have now posted the studio on every website under the sun, or at least a few of them, and pretty much everyone at MGH knows about it as well....
I need this like a hole in my head!! Deep breathing Petra, deep breathing..... aaahhh. Ommm.... Ommmmm....
This fits right in with a horrendously busy week - I had so many big projects at work, sometimes doing two of them in tandem, and in between I packed, I ushered, I ran, and even had time to pop in a few movies. I don't know why and how I am still standing up!!
Let's start with the last weekend though - after just having returned from Jacksonhole, and once again been confronted with the frustration of a snow-less Boston, I hightailed it up to New Hampshire in search of some of the white stuff. Most of the way up to Franconia there was nothing, not a flake in sight, but as soon as we hit Plymouth - Jackpot!! It was fabuloso!! It snowed from Friday night through Sunday morning, wonderful magnificent snow, fluffy and light as feathers. A group of friends (Peter, Kimball, Elaine and myself) had accepted the kind invitation of our friend Rick to spend a weekend at his family's new house up in Franconia and it turned out to be just a divine couple of days. It is a spectacular house with a view of Mt Lafayette - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Lafayette_(New_Hampshire) and Mt Cannon (http://www.cannonmt.com/index.php) right near the Franconia Inn (which offers a whole slew on winter activities - http://www.franconiainn.com/).
We initiated the weekend with a snow hike up the Bridal Veil Falls trail, which we had hiked last fall, but it took a while for my hiking memory to come back and I remembered the trail as one of my first hikes up in New Hampshire. I was reminded again of the story of Bette Davis, who got lost here, rescued by a local farmer, and eventually married him. After his death in a tragic accident a few years later, she put a memorial plaque on a rock in the river with the inscription "To Arthur Farnsworth, Keeper of Stray Ladies, From a Grateful One".
In the afternoon we decided to make use of the all the snow and head for Bretton Woods, a location I had so far only known through my previous work (hi IRN!) as the birthplace of the evil World Bank and the IMF, but you know what? This place is not too shabby (http://www.brettonwoods.com/). It is quite a snazzy little mountain resort with the spectacular Mt Washington Hotel (http://www.mtwashington.com/hotelinformation/index.cfm) built in the Spanish Renaissance architecture style by none other than industrialist Joseph Stickney, a New Hampshire native. Apparently he had made his money in coal mining and on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and must have had a few dollars left over. Poor Joseph though unfortunately died just a short while after the place opened in 1902, and his wife went on and married some French prince with a fancy schmancy name and lived happily ever after. The hotel of course was famous for the Bretton Woods International Monetary Conference in 1944, where delegates from 44 nations established the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, set the gold standard at $35.00 an ounce and designated the US dollar as the backbone of international exchange.
We decided for the afternoon to make use of Kimball's skills as a bona fide cross-country ski instructor and embark on a little journey, this time trying out cross-country skating (also called "free-style"). Whereas you go straight with the classic style X-C, for skating the skier pushes "one ski outward with the ski angled, so that the inner edge of the ski is driven against the snow, much like an ice skater"(Wikipedia says so). The skis are different (thinner) and it is a little harder to learn it, but then again you can get much more speed once you know what to do. I did reasonably well, but this might not be the sport for me! I think the traditional way is the way to go in my case. But hey, you have to try, right? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-country_skiing).
Needless to say we were exhausted afterward, and after a quick stop at the Mt Washington Hotel for some hot cocoa (or in some cases Hurricanes), we headed out in search of Chinese food, which almost got us to Vermont. Thankfully we spotted a place in Littleton (not without some risky driving maneuvers on my part) and ended up with a decent dinner. The evening ended on a funny note including a very compassionate beer-filled session of Taboo, even though I could not understand why Elaine took the cards away from me..... Congratulations to Peter for his vivid depiction of Silicon Valley - we would have never guessed it!
After a maaahvelous buttermilk pancake breakfast courtesy of Kimball (where we also consumed three kilos of turkey bacon) it was time to head toward Bretton Woods again, this time the boys decided to go cross-country and Elaine and I opted for downhill. I wanted to apply my newly acquired skiing skills, and after a slightly jittery beginning, I did quite well considering the typical New England skiing conditions (Motto - "It's dicey when it's icy"). I have some learning to do, but I am getting there! Practice, practice, practice!
Back in Boston, as mentioned, the week has been a bit hectic. Tuesday night I joined Ellen and Patrick for Boston Cares ushering duties at the Huntington Theater - the play was "The Hopper Collection" by Mat Smart, the story of a married woman who is obsessed with having once met New England artist Edward Hopper (http://images.google.com/images?q=Edward+Hopper&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLJ,GGLJ:2006-10,GGLJ:en&sa=N&tab=ii&oi=imagest) . I actually ended up leaving half way through the play - periods of yelling and the woman screaming like a buzzard alternated with utterly boring scenes - just not how I want to spend the evening.
So - I am heading home now! The upcoming weekend will be taken up with packing, and a little Half Marathon on Sunday - "The Run to Remember", which honors policemen and firefighters fallen in the line of duty. I am heading out to Europe (Netherlands, Germany, Spain) on Tuesday for about ten days, so my next write-up will be sent from the ever charming city of Amsterdam.
On that note, Goede Avond!
pet:)
I need this like a hole in my head!! Deep breathing Petra, deep breathing..... aaahhh. Ommm.... Ommmmm....
This fits right in with a horrendously busy week - I had so many big projects at work, sometimes doing two of them in tandem, and in between I packed, I ushered, I ran, and even had time to pop in a few movies. I don't know why and how I am still standing up!!
Let's start with the last weekend though - after just having returned from Jacksonhole, and once again been confronted with the frustration of a snow-less Boston, I hightailed it up to New Hampshire in search of some of the white stuff. Most of the way up to Franconia there was nothing, not a flake in sight, but as soon as we hit Plymouth - Jackpot!! It was fabuloso!! It snowed from Friday night through Sunday morning, wonderful magnificent snow, fluffy and light as feathers. A group of friends (Peter, Kimball, Elaine and myself) had accepted the kind invitation of our friend Rick to spend a weekend at his family's new house up in Franconia and it turned out to be just a divine couple of days. It is a spectacular house with a view of Mt Lafayette - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Lafayette_(New_Hampshire) and Mt Cannon (http://www.cannonmt.com/index.php) right near the Franconia Inn (which offers a whole slew on winter activities - http://www.franconiainn.com/).
We initiated the weekend with a snow hike up the Bridal Veil Falls trail, which we had hiked last fall, but it took a while for my hiking memory to come back and I remembered the trail as one of my first hikes up in New Hampshire. I was reminded again of the story of Bette Davis, who got lost here, rescued by a local farmer, and eventually married him. After his death in a tragic accident a few years later, she put a memorial plaque on a rock in the river with the inscription "To Arthur Farnsworth, Keeper of Stray Ladies, From a Grateful One".
In the afternoon we decided to make use of the all the snow and head for Bretton Woods, a location I had so far only known through my previous work (hi IRN!) as the birthplace of the evil World Bank and the IMF, but you know what? This place is not too shabby (http://www.brettonwoods.com/). It is quite a snazzy little mountain resort with the spectacular Mt Washington Hotel (http://www.mtwashington.com/hotelinformation/index.cfm) built in the Spanish Renaissance architecture style by none other than industrialist Joseph Stickney, a New Hampshire native. Apparently he had made his money in coal mining and on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and must have had a few dollars left over. Poor Joseph though unfortunately died just a short while after the place opened in 1902, and his wife went on and married some French prince with a fancy schmancy name and lived happily ever after. The hotel of course was famous for the Bretton Woods International Monetary Conference in 1944, where delegates from 44 nations established the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, set the gold standard at $35.00 an ounce and designated the US dollar as the backbone of international exchange.
We decided for the afternoon to make use of Kimball's skills as a bona fide cross-country ski instructor and embark on a little journey, this time trying out cross-country skating (also called "free-style"). Whereas you go straight with the classic style X-C, for skating the skier pushes "one ski outward with the ski angled, so that the inner edge of the ski is driven against the snow, much like an ice skater"(Wikipedia says so). The skis are different (thinner) and it is a little harder to learn it, but then again you can get much more speed once you know what to do. I did reasonably well, but this might not be the sport for me! I think the traditional way is the way to go in my case. But hey, you have to try, right? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-country_skiing).
Needless to say we were exhausted afterward, and after a quick stop at the Mt Washington Hotel for some hot cocoa (or in some cases Hurricanes), we headed out in search of Chinese food, which almost got us to Vermont. Thankfully we spotted a place in Littleton (not without some risky driving maneuvers on my part) and ended up with a decent dinner. The evening ended on a funny note including a very compassionate beer-filled session of Taboo, even though I could not understand why Elaine took the cards away from me..... Congratulations to Peter for his vivid depiction of Silicon Valley - we would have never guessed it!
After a maaahvelous buttermilk pancake breakfast courtesy of Kimball (where we also consumed three kilos of turkey bacon) it was time to head toward Bretton Woods again, this time the boys decided to go cross-country and Elaine and I opted for downhill. I wanted to apply my newly acquired skiing skills, and after a slightly jittery beginning, I did quite well considering the typical New England skiing conditions (Motto - "It's dicey when it's icy"). I have some learning to do, but I am getting there! Practice, practice, practice!
Back in Boston, as mentioned, the week has been a bit hectic. Tuesday night I joined Ellen and Patrick for Boston Cares ushering duties at the Huntington Theater - the play was "The Hopper Collection" by Mat Smart, the story of a married woman who is obsessed with having once met New England artist Edward Hopper (http://images.google.com/images?q=Edward+Hopper&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLJ,GGLJ:2006-10,GGLJ:en&sa=N&tab=ii&oi=imagest) . I actually ended up leaving half way through the play - periods of yelling and the woman screaming like a buzzard alternated with utterly boring scenes - just not how I want to spend the evening.
So - I am heading home now! The upcoming weekend will be taken up with packing, and a little Half Marathon on Sunday - "The Run to Remember", which honors policemen and firefighters fallen in the line of duty. I am heading out to Europe (Netherlands, Germany, Spain) on Tuesday for about ten days, so my next write-up will be sent from the ever charming city of Amsterdam.
On that note, Goede Avond!
pet:)
posted by My Boston at
5:04 PM
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