USA the East : Massachusetts : '06 Jul: Lexington and Boston

July 19

Here's yesterday's farewell only 2 hours late due to the previous nights power failure. It seemed from the board of arrivals and departures that there was just a little leftover agitato, my flight being one of them.

And even though I was in a middle seat of a fully booked plane, I'm not complaining. Everything went along as well as you can hope under these conditions such as my seat mates were conscientious to share the arm rests, we chatted a little but not too much, and then it was over.

Welcome to Boston!

July 20 in the monrning

Les and Elizabeth have added some major Home Improvements to their already wonderful place. On the back of the house there is now a generous screened in breezeway and on the corner, connected to the breezeway and the deck outside their bedroom, is this killer space.

It's screened in too, and the breeze! and the sounds of the birds! and the smells of the trees!

A close-up of the peaked roof.

Elizabeth has also been gardening intently and wherever you cast you eye it is lovely. There are a number of these slate paths and garden patches.

Another example of her garden in the front of the house.

What the residential streets look like in Lexington. Spring brings fresh young green leaves and all the colors of budding. Summer is often hot and muggy but the trees shade the streets and the gardens are in full flower. Fall, ah, New England in the Fall.

But Winter. Forget about it. Managing these streets in winter is a daily reminder of the fragility of the human hip when, at considerable speed, it is smashed onto a frozen surface.

I took a walk into the main square in Lexington and passed this mostly modern graveyard right off Mass Ave. It took about 45 minutes to get to town at an ambling pace, and less than 30 minutes to get back by avoiding distraction.

Lexington has enormous amounts of land 'held in common' meaning open parks, a wonderful bike path, and plenty of historic set-asides.

The Munroe Tavern is located one mile east of Lexington Common. On the afternoon of April 19, 1775, the tavern served as the headquarters for Brigadier General Earl Percy and his one thousand reinforcements.

The British occupied the tavern for one and one-half hours. Here's the rest of the story of Munroe Tavern.

July 20 in the evening

David is in a play, the kind of community play where every parent of every participant is required to do a minimum 40 hours of service in respect of this play. That's a lot of work!

What we won't do even to the Founding Fathers when it comes to our children.

Following are four pictures of David, front and center!

The kids decided how they wanted their costumes to look and then the 'wardrobe parents' got it all together. The parents ran fund raisers, did the sets, did a major charities program (Elizabeth's main job) and there's more more more.

They organized and provisioned cast parties, organized rehearsal space, sold tickets, and ran the car pools.

David enjoyed doing it so much that L&E believe they would have done it again except that David will not be eligible next year since he will be graduating(!).

What fun!

July 21

I took the subway into Boston today to kick around for a few hours. I should also mention I took the subway from the airport ($1.25!). Since The Big Dig is back in crisis, as I'm sure you've read, traffic is worse than ever as if that was even possible.

The commercial heart of tourist Boston - here's the rap from Yahoo:

"A five-building complex that includes Quincy Market, there are more than 100 places to eat, shop and drink at this historic site. French merchant Peter Faneuil (pronounced FAN-you-wull) gave the hall that precedes the marketplace to his adopted home of Boston in 1742. It has been called the "Cradle of Liberty" because of the number of revolutionaries and abolitionists who delivered important speeches here. The hall is now a tourist center, but public meeting facilities are still available."

This is Faneuil Hall from the front, where I am standing in the big Government Square plaza.

There is a permanent farmer's market set up along here and in traditional big city style the vendors were all yelling 'next next let's get a move on here who's next who's next.' I was trying to stay out of the way of course but when this guy flashed the wave and a smile I was so excited I ran off 5 shots. The color comes from the red canopy that covers the whole market.

It is true you can buy a slice of pizza on any corner. I stopped in here and got a perfectly tasty slice with cheese and onion.

Then, not having walked 10 steps a woman comes up to me to tell me that the pizza I was eating was not really very good pizza and if I wanted a decent slice I should go to the such-and-such place up the street. But they're closed now for vacation. Too bad, she said, because their pizza is much better.

I don't even remember when I first started seeing cities and their painted icons. LA had Angels, Bilbao had cows. Here's an article about these city cows and an introductory paragraph:

"Dozens of cities around the world have embraced "art cows" since Zurich, Switzerland, held the very first cattle-grazing event in 1998. Art cows have been spun off to include other animals, such as pigs in Cincinnati and Peoria, Ill., moose in Toronto, bears in Belfast, Maine, and buffaloes in - where else? - Buffalo, N.Y."

Her clothes were just too perfect to miss!

One If By Land...

From the church's own website: "The Old North Church was built in 1723 in the Georgian style following Christopher Wren. In this rare and beautiful building - that is still an active Episcopal church - art, history and faith meet in a special way. It was from the steeple of the Old North Church that the two lanterns closely associated with Paul Revere were hung by Robert Newman, Church sexton, on April 18, 1775, igniting the War for Independence and leading to the birth of our Nation."

Paul Revere - an appropriate end to a quick walk around Boston.

I also walked down to the Charles river to enjoy the boats but the heat got the better of me and I made my way home.

(This is a post-script. When I got back L&E went to another performance of David's show since they had jobs they had to do. Soon after they left a thunder and lightening storm struck and I was there for about four hours of total blackout. No electicity! You know how I need my electricity! And the heat! And the 100% humidity! Nothing to do but go to sleep!)