#47 Boston - There is Lawlessness Everywhere! - April 28, 2006

Beware of Tiny Ted Koppels – that is all I can say! You may now consider that I have gone off the deep end – ok, I’ll give you that. Not out of the realm of possibilities. None of these quotes though can be attributed to my ever increasing befuddled state of mind, this time I am blaming someone else. And that would be my wonderfully kinetic and spirited friend Pauline, who along with her husband Ulandt, my friend and colleague Ginna, her 2-year old son Sean (who we all fell in love with), and the dancing trio of Denise, Natasha and Jaco joined me for a hiking weekend in Franconia. Rick (host) and Phoebe (host dog) again opened their family’s spacious home up in New Hampshire to the whole horde of us and we were ready for a weekend of outdoor activities, consumption of miscellaneous alcoholic beverages and general merriment. A beer- and wine-infused Saturday evening with a kick-ass game of charades was not only educational – the challenges ranged from “no pain” (pedicure) to “what the heck? (“The Retirement of the Concorde”) and outright “you must be kidding me”. Case in point, yours truly had to act out both “The Golden Gate Bridge” and “The London Bridge”. Apparently I sucked at being a major engineering project, because all I got was “Martha Stewart” and “Fertilizing the Lawn”. Well, we can’t be good at everything, right? Main thing we had fun, and that we did.

After a late-night arrival on Friday, and armed with a solid breakfast and six million granola bars, the motley crew headed toward The Basin at Franconia Notch, a 30-foot-wide and 15-foot deep glacially formed pothole at the base of a waterfall. (http://www.planetware.com/picture/laconia/franconia-notch-basin-us-nh029.htm) This was the start of the Cascade Brook Trail, which was our attempted hike. Our immediate goal was Lonesome Lake, at 2790 feet a nice little achievement. Breathtaking waterfalls accompanied our little expedition up the backside of Mt Cannon. Rivers had to be crossed, trees bridging a seriously raging brook had to be balanced and after a most pleasant lunch at the lake, and a quick rest stop at the AMC hut (which was only slightly delayed by a child care emergency involving a diaper and duct tape) we were brave enough to tackle the final stretch up the mountain. Our efforts were countered though by treacherous terrain, snowy and seriously steep and icy paths, and after encountering a couple of hikers who recommended strongly against risking the rest of the hike, we happily made our way back down.


All in all we racked up a nice eight miles that day, and the whole gang was pleasantly exhausted. Pictures from the hike will come in a separate email tomorrow from work, so stay tuned. Some of the pictures you will see are from our friend and hiking companion Jaco LeRoux, who is phenomenally gifted photographer – YOU MUST check out his website (www.jacoleroux.com)!

Sunday in Franconia was a free-for-all day, it rained outside and the level of coziness inside the house just invited for a lazy day. Which is what most of us did, except Pauline and my sorry self – we just had to go running, up the hill, of course! Up and Up and Up! It was nice to discover the back roads of Franconia, and even get in a little trail running (a first for me, but I did like it). We got langourous for the rest of the day, and all headed down for Boston around mid-afternoon, since the weather really did not show the tiniest sign of improvement.

Not far from Rick’s house in Franconia is also the location of the Robert Frost Museum. Frost, often declared as “America’s Poet” (http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/192) lived here with his family permanently from 1915 to 1920 and also spent many a summer there. The Museum is not open yet, but this will definitely be a spot to visit during one of our future trips to the granite state. From his 1923 collection of his poems called New Hampshire, a little poetic morsel for your enjoyment:

Dust of Snow

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

What a super weekend it was, and of course I had to pay for it with the WEEK FROM HELL. Anything you could imagine going wrong did, small stuff, big stuff – let’s see shall we? Confidentiality agreements went missing, toilets were overflowing, vacation request got rejected, fire alarms were going off, infantile behavior by colleagues was followed my managerial reprimands, the wireless set-up on laptop was not working, I was buying a washing machine from a colleague that then did not fit down the staircase of my tiny little house, so I then had to return the washing machine with a rather peevish look on my face, let’s see - anything else?? I don’t know, it just went on and on and on….. I just wanted to lie in my bed, pull the sheets over my head and be done with it!

The only good thing about this week is that it ended, and it was followed by a very nice weekend, about which I will write next week in all its glorious detail, you better believe it!

It is time to go my friends, movies are awaiting – for those of you who chat with me about movies, I am happy to report that I finally did finish all 3 ½ hours of “The Seven Samurai” and have been released from Akira Kurozawa’s grip to enjoy other movies as well.

On that note, Sayonara, and Happy May Day to my friends in Germany and wherever they celebrate the International Workers Day!

Pet:)