Walden Pond

This morning, for some reason, I woke up early, 8:30 and decided to get on with the day instead of trying to go back to sleep. I went to Target and planned to go to a park in Belmont and finish reading the book club book...but instead I ended up in Lexington. I had a coffee, sat on a bench and read for about 45 minutes and then had lunch at Vinny T's. I had fried ravioli (hoping they would be like toasted rav...they were cheesy but not as good as STL toasted rav).

I realized I was pretty close to Walden Pond so I headed down Route 2 and found my way to Walden. I have been wanting to go to Walden Pond since I lived in Maine.

It was beautiful. When I got onto the trail and it opened up to the pond I almost wept it was so beautiful. Even with a few noisy tourists the whole place had a pristine silence to it. I started to walk the 1.7 mile trail when I met a woman named Geggy. She was a cute gray haired lady with cropped jeans and sneakers on and she was ready to walk. She told me she had been waiting for 30 minutes for her group to show up but when noone came she decided to head out on her own. She asked if I minded company on my walk and I said I didn't mind at all. As we walked (she sprinted actually) I made a comment about how quick she was. She told me with a smile she was over 80 and liked to keep active. She could put a 20 year old to shame she was so spry.

In talking with her I found out she lived in Belmont, was originally from Norway (still had a bit of accent) but had lived in the states for over 50 years. She then told me that before coming to MA she and her husband (who was in the horse business) lived in Lexington, KY :)

We made our way up to the site where Thoreau had his cabin and as we headed up the small hill she ran into one of her group members, the leader of the hike actually. The three of us walked and talked for a bit longer but I left them to take a more leisurely walk so I could take in more of the scenery. There were chipmunks everywhere, a few people swimming, some diving, men, women and kids fishing, and two people kayaking.

As I finished up by the bath house I heard singing and when I rounded the corner I saw a group of people on the stone steps in front of the bathhouse, about 30 people I guess. I sat on some nearby steps and read and realized what the group was doing. They were performing baptisms. I watched several people of all ages be baptized in the pond. It was very peaceful to watch.

Had I known where I was going to end up today I would have taken my camera. It is truly a beautiful place, the water is clear and not terribly cold. I will go back this summer to enjoy the beach and the pond, and plan on going back when the leaves start to change in a few weeks. I can only imagine how beautiful it will be.

http://www.walden.org/

Autumn

I miss that town
I miss the faces
You can't erase
You can't replace it
I miss it now

Nickelback "Photograph"

I love Fall but it does make me a bit melancholy. I'm going home at the end of October. It will be nice to go home and see family/friends. My mom sent me a charm bracelet this week full of charms representing IL. It was nice...but it made me cry a little bit.

Gas makes you what?

So I've been in training the past three days. I really enjoyed it and wish I could go the rest of the week but alas tomorrow it's back to the real world. Had some interesting people in class with me, it was fun. On the first day there was a discussion about gas/fuel and one of the guys said, "The smell of gasoline makes me hungry." Huh? I'm a food lover and I admit I like the smell of gas but it doesn't make me hungry. Does it anyone else?

Stuffed Pets

I found this weird website http://www.comfortpets.com/

We went to see Lewis Black and Friends last night, it was for the Boston Comedy Festival. Lewis Black hosted the show and we got to see him and four other comedians. The show was at the Majestic Theatre: http://www.maj.org/
Still working on posting more pictures.

More pictures

No funny bus stories today...just pics of Labor Day Weekend :-)

All Aboard the Crack express

More bus adventures...this is by far the worst. At the second stop this morning a man got on and since there weren't any empty seats he stood next to my seat. We are rumbling along in the bus and I turn my head to the right and what do I see? His underwear, ripped along the waistband AND a good three inches of his ass crack!

I couldn't freaking believe it...freckles and everything right there at eye level. I motion to the girl sitting up and to the right of me (she lives in our building) and I mouth the words..."I have crack in my face!" She laughed and I got the giggles but it was no laughing matter...crack is wack as the saying goes and it's really wack at 8 am smack dab in front of your face!

And the thing is...you know how when you aren't supposed to look at something or don't want to look at something all you can do is look at it (like if a stranger catches you staring you can't seem to stop staring) and so feeling trapped with no where to look I kept turning my head towards his crack. MY EYES, MY EYES!!

More Pictures

We had a fun weekend with Snooky. We were able to see a lot but at the same time didn't kill ourselves trying to get it all in. On Saturday we toured around Boston Common and the Public Garden, saw the "Cheers" Bar, Copley, the Hard Rock, and the outside of the Museum of Fine Arts at night (two America's Cup sail boats were out front...pictures to follow soon). Sunday we went to the JFK Library, beautiful day, beautiful library. Monday Snooky and I did the Freedom Trail (most of it) and ended up in the North End and got some sinful treats at Mike's Pastry and had more lobster ravioli at Giacomo's. Before we started the Freedom Trail we thought we had stumbled onto the Twilight Zone Trail because two bizarre things happened within 5 minutes of each other. The first involved a girl who was having a seizure on the sidewalk and then right after that we see two homeless men fighting. I looked across the street and one homeless guy had shoved the other guy's wheelchair into the street (again pictures to follow). Funny thing was...the guy who owned the wheelchair didn't appear to have a problem scrambling away from the guy who pushed the chair into the street. The rest of the day was relatively calm :-) Thanks Snooky for a great weekend, we can't wait to have you back!

Labor Day Weekend Pictures

Friday's ROCK

Alex is back from St. Louis. We are waiting with great anticipation for our friend Snooky, or as Alex says, Snookaaaaah, to come in tomorrow and spend the weekend with us! Here's a picture of us that she took a few years ago when she came to visit us in St. Louis. We'll keep you posted on our weekend activities.