#32- Boston - The Week of a Thousand Years - January 13, 2005
My friends,
Greetings from Boston, where it currently rains cats and dogs and whatever else, the temperature is in the mid 60s, but the weather reports says that it could drop to 27 and snow later, so who knows? I have seen people jogging in shorts, and looking down at the Charles River Esplanade I notice a group of small lakes and river systems forming on the soccer field. Just looovely!
It has been a taxing week at work, one that I do not care to repeat, if felt like a thousand years crammed into every day, with some egregious behavior on the part of some folks that I don't even work with directly. I have a tough time dealing with unwarranted arrogance and imperviousness directed at me, and I got plenty of it this week. Relief is on the way - a nice three-day weekend with some fun plans and hopefully ample opportunity to forget about this ugly past few days. Tomorrow I signed up for snow shoeing lessons with the Boston Ski and Sports Club (out at the Weston Ski Track) and on Monday I am joining them heading up to Wildcat in New Hampshire (http://www.skiwildcat.com/) for some downhill skiing. My first lesson, this oughta be interesting. Sunday has been noted down to be a day of leisure and relaxation, and maybe a little walk around town.
Last weekend (when we still had snow), I headed out to the Weston Ski Track (http://www.ski-paddle.com/skitrack/skitrack.shtml) for my crosscountry skiing lesson with Charles River Recreation. It was the ne plus ultra of fun!! Victor, our ski instructor was at least 70 years old but in pretty snazzy shape. We learned first how to balance on our skis without poles and then continued on, eventually learning how to go up and down hills. That was my favorite bit of the day - my new friend Cheryl and I kept literally jogging up the hills with our skis and "oooooiiiiii" down we came again. Additional entertainment was provided by two extremely clumsy and bungling women in our group, who spent more time falling all over the place than actually standing up on skis. The ski track itself is great, literally 15 minutes outside of Boston (in summer it is a golf course) and while we were taking our class, it started snowing! It was just so great, winter wonderland! Eventually though the snow turned into nasty, icy rain and we headed to the little clubhouse, where my friend Arlene was already waiting with a cup of hot cocoa in her hands.
My Sunday plans got canceled, and so I improvised - I got my hands on a book called "Victorian Boston Today" that lists 12 walking tours around Boston highlighting Victorian era buildings, authors, landmarks. I decided to do the Black Heritage Trail in Beacon Hill (http://www.afroammuseum.org/trail.htm) - I never get tired of exploring Beacon Hill, and this was a particularly interesting tour. The walking tour leads you through what used to be called the North Slope of Beacon Hill - the site of the first African-American Neighborhood in Boston. Slaves were hiding in underground railroad alleys, and some very prominent leaders of the abolitionist movement lived in this part of town.
Beacon Hill never seizes to amaze and charm me - just when you think you have explored every nook and cranny, you again discover a new little gem. My new favorite spot is a little courtyard-size "park" on Temple Street across from Suffolk University. A few lovely park benches arranged in a semi-circle in a very charming setting - I can see myself sitting there in summer with a good book (and some ice cream of course!).
My friend Deborah from California was in town to see family, so I headed out toward Taunton, Mass in the late afternoon to hook up with her and her family. The drive there took me past the New England Patriots football stadium (http://www.gillettestadium.com/), which is quite an impressive site! It was a very low key and fun evening where we all crammed into her cousin's living room and watched several DVDs of "Will and Grace".
This week, I again went back to the gym, and I am happy to report that the Christmas cookie damages are slowly reversing. On Wednesday I headed to "Fajitas and Ritas" with Stephanie and her husband Dan to celebrate his new job and yesterday night I attended the Appalachian Mountain Club's Winter Soiree. A fun event, and afterward a whole pack of women who I hooked up with galumphed over to the "21st Amendment" (the pub next to the State House). Apparently our governor Mitt Romney had just given the "State of the State" address, so the place was chockful with young crisp Republicans! What an eldritch sight that was! Needless to say it was fun in there, and I think we might have convinced one young Rep to join the AMC. He probably thought that any organization that has that many women in it, can't be that bad!
Alrighty then, this is it - see my little tidbit at the end for some more Boston humor (courtesy of redsoxdiehard.com) - this time about the pronunciation (if you want to come and visit - practice, people! practice!).
pet:)
Boston English - Pronounciation
"We don't speak English. We speak whatever they brought over here from East Anglia in 1630.
The Bawstin accent is basically the broad A and the dropped R, which we add to words ending in A - pahster, Cuber, soder. For the broad A, just open your mouth and say AHHH like the docta says.
So car is cah, park is pahk. If you want to talk like the mayah, repeat after me: My ahnt takes her bahth at hahpast foah. "
Greetings from Boston, where it currently rains cats and dogs and whatever else, the temperature is in the mid 60s, but the weather reports says that it could drop to 27 and snow later, so who knows? I have seen people jogging in shorts, and looking down at the Charles River Esplanade I notice a group of small lakes and river systems forming on the soccer field. Just looovely!
It has been a taxing week at work, one that I do not care to repeat, if felt like a thousand years crammed into every day, with some egregious behavior on the part of some folks that I don't even work with directly. I have a tough time dealing with unwarranted arrogance and imperviousness directed at me, and I got plenty of it this week. Relief is on the way - a nice three-day weekend with some fun plans and hopefully ample opportunity to forget about this ugly past few days. Tomorrow I signed up for snow shoeing lessons with the Boston Ski and Sports Club (out at the Weston Ski Track) and on Monday I am joining them heading up to Wildcat in New Hampshire (http://www.skiwildcat.com/) for some downhill skiing. My first lesson, this oughta be interesting. Sunday has been noted down to be a day of leisure and relaxation, and maybe a little walk around town.
Last weekend (when we still had snow), I headed out to the Weston Ski Track (http://www.ski-paddle.com/skitrack/skitrack.shtml) for my crosscountry skiing lesson with Charles River Recreation. It was the ne plus ultra of fun!! Victor, our ski instructor was at least 70 years old but in pretty snazzy shape. We learned first how to balance on our skis without poles and then continued on, eventually learning how to go up and down hills. That was my favorite bit of the day - my new friend Cheryl and I kept literally jogging up the hills with our skis and "oooooiiiiii" down we came again. Additional entertainment was provided by two extremely clumsy and bungling women in our group, who spent more time falling all over the place than actually standing up on skis. The ski track itself is great, literally 15 minutes outside of Boston (in summer it is a golf course) and while we were taking our class, it started snowing! It was just so great, winter wonderland! Eventually though the snow turned into nasty, icy rain and we headed to the little clubhouse, where my friend Arlene was already waiting with a cup of hot cocoa in her hands.
My Sunday plans got canceled, and so I improvised - I got my hands on a book called "Victorian Boston Today" that lists 12 walking tours around Boston highlighting Victorian era buildings, authors, landmarks. I decided to do the Black Heritage Trail in Beacon Hill (http://www.afroammuseum.org/trail.htm) - I never get tired of exploring Beacon Hill, and this was a particularly interesting tour. The walking tour leads you through what used to be called the North Slope of Beacon Hill - the site of the first African-American Neighborhood in Boston. Slaves were hiding in underground railroad alleys, and some very prominent leaders of the abolitionist movement lived in this part of town.
Beacon Hill never seizes to amaze and charm me - just when you think you have explored every nook and cranny, you again discover a new little gem. My new favorite spot is a little courtyard-size "park" on Temple Street across from Suffolk University. A few lovely park benches arranged in a semi-circle in a very charming setting - I can see myself sitting there in summer with a good book (and some ice cream of course!).
My friend Deborah from California was in town to see family, so I headed out toward Taunton, Mass in the late afternoon to hook up with her and her family. The drive there took me past the New England Patriots football stadium (http://www.gillettestadium.com/), which is quite an impressive site! It was a very low key and fun evening where we all crammed into her cousin's living room and watched several DVDs of "Will and Grace".
This week, I again went back to the gym, and I am happy to report that the Christmas cookie damages are slowly reversing. On Wednesday I headed to "Fajitas and Ritas" with Stephanie and her husband Dan to celebrate his new job and yesterday night I attended the Appalachian Mountain Club's Winter Soiree. A fun event, and afterward a whole pack of women who I hooked up with galumphed over to the "21st Amendment" (the pub next to the State House). Apparently our governor Mitt Romney had just given the "State of the State" address, so the place was chockful with young crisp Republicans! What an eldritch sight that was! Needless to say it was fun in there, and I think we might have convinced one young Rep to join the AMC. He probably thought that any organization that has that many women in it, can't be that bad!
Alrighty then, this is it - see my little tidbit at the end for some more Boston humor (courtesy of redsoxdiehard.com) - this time about the pronunciation (if you want to come and visit - practice, people! practice!).
pet:)
Boston English - Pronounciation
"We don't speak English. We speak whatever they brought over here from East Anglia in 1630.
The Bawstin accent is basically the broad A and the dropped R, which we add to words ending in A - pahster, Cuber, soder. For the broad A, just open your mouth and say AHHH like the docta says.
So car is cah, park is pahk. If you want to talk like the mayah, repeat after me: My ahnt takes her bahth at hahpast foah. "
posted by My Boston at
8:48 AM
1 Comments:
Thanks for the nice comments about the little park at Suffolk University. I work at the University and it is indeed a quite pleasant space to enjoy an afternoon with a book. Beacon Hill is a very familiar place with mmany hidden treasures. Your writing superbly captures the spirit of the places.
If you have not visited the Boston Athenaeum, I suggest that you do. I am a member there and would be happy to get you inside one of this city's (and perhaps the country's) finest private library. It too is on Beacon Hill and has an astonishing history.
email me if you want a tour...gcomeau@suffolk.edu
By
Geo., at 7:50 AM
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