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.

Lobster Ravioli

Tonight I met up with a former T-Mobile co-worker. We went to the North End and had dinner at this great little Italian place, Giacomo's. I didn't get a picture but you can read about it: http://www.boston.com/news/necn/Shows/tv_diner/restaurant_reviews/giacomos/

It was a tiny place, jam packed, noisy, and you could smell how good it was all the way out the door. They don't take reservations and you have to wait outside until a table clears. They don't take your name, you just wait outside and if a table opens up that matches how many people you have in your party you're in. Ziad had been there once before and said the people outside stare at you while you eat and it makes you feel like you need to hurry up and get out so they can have their turn :-)

I had lobster ravioli and it was beyond good. This was the first time I've actually really eaten lobster. I've had bites of it before but this was an actual meal. My friend had a lobster and shrimp fettuccine which was excellent as well.

Tuesday's are Terrific!

Had a busy day at work. Spent the evening with Kristin. Helped her move a shelf up to her apartment. It must have been a site to see us trying to heave this 80 pound box up to the third floor. We were laughing pretty hard. We ate at an Irish pub that was so cozy. I had a Farmer's Cheese sandwich..it looked sooooo good..I took a big bite and my eyes started to water and my mouth started to burn. Horseradish! OMG! I couldn't go on with it...so I ate my french fries instead.

I saw an interesting outfit today on the bus...this lady came in wearing a cow print skirt (actually looked like real cow hide, you could see the hair). It wasn't the regular Midwest black and white cow...no my friends...it was the Boston uptown tan and white cowhide. To accent the ensemble she had on blue argyle socks and brown lace up shoes. It was sweet!

It certainly is Monday

Must be the season for rear end accidents. First Andy and now I just found out my brother was rear ended this afternoon on his way home from work. He's ok thankfully and we aren't sure about the extent of the damages other than he's got a case of whiplash. The girl that hit him was on the phone...and apparently isn't familiar with the concept of stoplights.




Cambridge Firehouse #2

Knitting is Nifty

Sunny Sunday

I've been messing around trying to add a links section to my page because the template I picked originally did not have the links section. I've been working with it for a few hours and I finally figured it out. In the process I picked another template but I did get it to work with my original template too which made me feel like I accomplished something already this morning. For those of you who know all about doing this I realize it's probably not a big deal...but for me it's a pretty big deal damnit! :-)

Have fun checking out the other blogs!

Giant Cows are Cool

Found something new here in MA...Turkey Hill Ice Cream. They have a funny commercial and a funny website www.giantcowsarecool.com . Alex left this afternoon for a few days in St. Louis and I'm experiencing life alone in the city which might explain why I find the giant cows are cool website amusing! :-) I moved my computer into the living room for the few days that Alex is gone so I can watch TV and surf at the same time. I started a new book a few days ago called The Shop on Blossom Street. My mom sent it to me. I like it...going to spend tomorrow getting acquainted with it. A few months ago I read The Secret Life of Bees. I highly recommend it. I loved it, loved the writing and the story itself.

Too much body hair? Never fear...my blog will make you as smooth and famous as David Beckham!

I like to roam the blogs of others at blogger.com sometimes, but what I don't like is that three out of four sites are an advertisement for laminate flooring, body hair removal, or some other such thing (actually happened in that order this morning when I was looking).

I get enough of that crap on TV and in my junk email....why do I have to be subjected to it here too? Am I missing something? Is it really someone's personal blog dedicated to helping the rest of us remove our unwanted, unsightly, excess body hair or is it just another ad?

Hardly any body hair on David B.

Friday Friday Friday

Looking down from The Pru and Andrea at The Pru










Tonight in Harvard Square I broke my rule and gave a beggar my leftover change for some reason and when I dropped it in his tattered Styrofoam cup he said, "Thank ya sista, nice haircut". I had to laugh because if you know anything about the hair drama I've gone through in the last month you will know how much agony said haircut has caused. I don't feel special though, I'm sure he says that to all the girls :-)


Last night we went to the airport to pick up Andrea. As we waited at the doors watching the international passengers pass through I noticed this man dressed completely in black, totally bald, with a longish black beard and glasses. He was standing at the end of the walk way where passengers could go either left or right to meet their families. I watched as he directed people for about 20 minutes...just like a traffic cop with confident, purposeful hand movements and verbal directions I couldn't understand. As I watched him I realized he didn't appear to have a badge and both Alex and I thought it was odd. It was driving me crazy because I began to think he didn't work at the airport at all and yet everyone was following his orders without question.

So finally he moved from his spot and started talking with two women and then he walked away carrying their suitcase. So I went over to the women and asked them if he worked at the airport. I told them he looked like he worked there and I had a question (of course I didn't but I wanted to find out what was up). They told me "No he doesn't work here at all, this is his first time in the U.S. and he is Finnish". Sooooo it proves you just have to act like you're in charge and most people will follow without question. Nice that it happened in an airport too isn't it?

Pictures of the day are one's Alex took while taking Andrea around and this evening in Harvard Square...





If you look really closely you can see our apartment building from The Pru










We thought we'd struck it rich when we found this on a billboard but no such luck! :-)




Mennonites in Harvard Square singing Christmas Carols...not what you'd expect but goes to show you will see anything in Harvard Square.

Jello costs how much?

While waiting for the bus yesterday our neighbor Gert and her friend Dottie (from 18L) sat down next to me. They were chatting it up about the high price of Jello and bananas at the Star Market. Gert recognized me after I said hi to her and she introduced me to Dottie, who remembered me from Gert's Jean Nate' story. They then started talking about their friend's cat who was so big he "looked like a small dog". Dottie said, "Well you know he's altered and when they are altered they get bigger than normal". I'm sitting there thinking she means genetically altered or something but when she asked me if our cat was altered I realized she meant spayed/neutered. I had never heard it called altered before...made me laugh.

Has anyone seen the commercial for the toe nail fungus medicine? It's a cartoon and shows the nasty fungus character lifting up the person's big toe nail and crawling inside to join his fungus friends. Not only is it a hideously gross commercial but when he lifts the toe nail up like a car hood I feel a hysterical scream welling up inside from the image and the thought of the pain...even if it is a cartoon.