#36 Boston - "Hemlock Willy and the Bristly Locust" - February 10, 2005
Today, class - we are conducting a lesson in botany - we will discuss New England shrubs and trees until they come out of your ears! "Hemlock Willy" is actually the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, a pest haunting local hemlock trees here (so I don't feel too bad about mutilating its name), and wouldn't you know it, the little sucker has its own website! http://www.fs.fed.us/na/morgantown/fhp/hwa/hwasite.html.
The bristly locust is another one of my new friends that I acquainted with this past weekend. It all started quite innocently with a "local walk" by the Appalachian Mountain Club at the Middlesex Fells, a beautiful nature reserve just a few miles outside of Boston. The weekend weather was picture perfect, snow on the ground and sunshine all around, cross country skiers were out in force. I was a little weary at first, expecting a very touchy-feely new age-y "let's-communicate with-the-plants" kinda walk, which in some ways it was, but I have to tell you - this was one of the best outings I have ever had. A good omen for the walk that our trip leader's first name - I am not making this up - was "Boot"! Following his lead, we trampled into the woods, and it was just amazing to me how often we walk through the woods without noticing much of what is on display there.
We learned the difference between white oaks and red oaks (smooth lobes versus pointy ones) and looked at six million pine trees (did you know that their needles grow in bunches and depending on how many are in a bunch, you can tell what pine tree it is?). Under the motto "If in doubt - smell it" we discovered that you can tell many trees by rubbing off a little bit or bark and take a whiff - black birch for example smells like wintergreen gum! You can distill its leaves and its bark to extract the flavoring. Beer can also be made from black birch, I might have to inquire some more about this. Cherry trees smell like either stale cigars or almond oil, Sassafras smells like lemon verbena - there was no end to it!
All varieties of maple trees were investigated by yours truly, the snake-y looking hickory trees and no marcescent tree was safe from our inquisitive minds. Boot was absolutely phenomenal, he brought goodies with him that were made from some of the plants (Cherry cough drops, Clark's teaberry gum [ttp://home.swipnet.se/roland/teaberry.html], Sassafras candy and he had a story on him for pretty much everything and everyone we saw that day. The group ended up singing the 1959 Lonnie Donegan song "Does the Chewing Gum Lose its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight" (If your mother says don't chew it, do you swallow it in spite? Can you catch it on your tonsils, can you heave it left & right?). Sassafras has also some interesting stories associated with it - apparently it has not only carcinogenic but also hallucinogenic capabilities, but you have to eat enough of it to kill a horse, so don't get too excited yet my friends. When the British discovered that the Native Americans used it for medicinal purposes, they brought it with them to Europe in hope it would cure syphilis and other contemporary ailments, alas, it did not cure anything for that matter. I found one Web site stating that "a teaspoonful of the oil produced vomiting, dilated pupils, stupor and collapse in a young man". In Louisiana, the leaves are used as a condiment in sauces and for thickening soups; while the young shoots are used in Virginia for making a kind of beer. Mixed with milk and sugar, Sassafras Tea, under the name of 'Saloop,' could, until a few years ago, be bought at London streetcorners in the early mornings. The award of the day and my personal favorite though went to catbriar, a shrub with thorns and tendrils, that seemed to have provided inspiration for the invention of barbed wire!
Boot, the naturalist, also red poems to us - fitting to each occasion. My favorite from Ogden Nash quoted in front of a juniper tree (The berries are used for the production a volatile oil which is a prime ingredient in Geneva or Hollands Gin) called "A Drink with Something in it".
"There is something about a Martini, A tingle remarkably pleasant; A yellow, a mellow Martini; I wish I had one at present. There is something about a Martini, Ere the dining and dancing begin, And to tell you the truth, It is not the vermouth -I think that perhaps it's the gin. "
In other events this past week, on Friday night my bad conscience drove me to quickly sign up with Boston Cares and volunteer at the 2nd Annual Helping Hearts Masquerade Ball organized by Bread and Jams, an organization that provides services to the homeless. All decked out in my black ball gown, long opera gloves and a Venetian mask, I headed over to Cambridge to Morss Hall at MIT. The event was rather interesting, and we could actually enjoy it fully, as they had way too many volunteers - we wined, dined, I actually played along with the Silent Auction, acquired a nice lamp and generally had a great time. I even got my picture taken for the Improper Bostonian!
On Sunday it was time for some exercise, some jogging along the Charles River, which has begun to defrost a wee bit, and some ice skating at Frog Pond with my friend Ruth. I had to get out as I knew that I would be sitting in front of a TV all night watching the SuperBowl! There was a superb event held at my neighbor Claire's with several courses of the most exquisite home-cooked food. While the game was not the prettiest, who cares! WE WON, WE WON, WE WON, WE WON, WE WON, WE WON!!!! Can you spell D-Y-N-A-S-T-Y??? Three SuperBowls in 4 years, not too shabby my friends! Tuesday featured a parade here in downtown Boston, where one million folks crammed into our tiny streets (apparently lots of these folks were at home "with the flu" - right?).
The week has gone by in a jiffy, and a gazillion activities are on my list of things to do. Last night I attended another MIT Euroclub dinner, this time in Cambridge at Jasmine, a Thai restaurant at One Kendall Square. Tomorrow night I am volunteering (through Boston Cares) at the Boston Classical Orchestra in Faneuil Hall (http://www.bostonclassicalorchestra.org/index.html) and on Saturday I am heading (for the first time) to the beautiful state of Maine (http://www.visitmaine.com/home.php). The Boston Ski and Sports Club is having a Winterfest, where we can cross country ski, snow shoe, go skating or tubing up at the Sunday River Resort.
For now, this is it (bet you glad it's over after that botanical assault, eh?).
Lots of love to all of you!
pet:)
The bristly locust is another one of my new friends that I acquainted with this past weekend. It all started quite innocently with a "local walk" by the Appalachian Mountain Club at the Middlesex Fells, a beautiful nature reserve just a few miles outside of Boston. The weekend weather was picture perfect, snow on the ground and sunshine all around, cross country skiers were out in force. I was a little weary at first, expecting a very touchy-feely new age-y "let's-communicate with-the-plants" kinda walk, which in some ways it was, but I have to tell you - this was one of the best outings I have ever had. A good omen for the walk that our trip leader's first name - I am not making this up - was "Boot"! Following his lead, we trampled into the woods, and it was just amazing to me how often we walk through the woods without noticing much of what is on display there.
We learned the difference between white oaks and red oaks (smooth lobes versus pointy ones) and looked at six million pine trees (did you know that their needles grow in bunches and depending on how many are in a bunch, you can tell what pine tree it is?). Under the motto "If in doubt - smell it" we discovered that you can tell many trees by rubbing off a little bit or bark and take a whiff - black birch for example smells like wintergreen gum! You can distill its leaves and its bark to extract the flavoring. Beer can also be made from black birch, I might have to inquire some more about this. Cherry trees smell like either stale cigars or almond oil, Sassafras smells like lemon verbena - there was no end to it!
All varieties of maple trees were investigated by yours truly, the snake-y looking hickory trees and no marcescent tree was safe from our inquisitive minds. Boot was absolutely phenomenal, he brought goodies with him that were made from some of the plants (Cherry cough drops, Clark's teaberry gum [ttp://home.swipnet.se/roland/teaberry.html], Sassafras candy and he had a story on him for pretty much everything and everyone we saw that day. The group ended up singing the 1959 Lonnie Donegan song "Does the Chewing Gum Lose its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight" (If your mother says don't chew it, do you swallow it in spite? Can you catch it on your tonsils, can you heave it left & right?). Sassafras has also some interesting stories associated with it - apparently it has not only carcinogenic but also hallucinogenic capabilities, but you have to eat enough of it to kill a horse, so don't get too excited yet my friends. When the British discovered that the Native Americans used it for medicinal purposes, they brought it with them to Europe in hope it would cure syphilis and other contemporary ailments, alas, it did not cure anything for that matter. I found one Web site stating that "a teaspoonful of the oil produced vomiting, dilated pupils, stupor and collapse in a young man". In Louisiana, the leaves are used as a condiment in sauces and for thickening soups; while the young shoots are used in Virginia for making a kind of beer. Mixed with milk and sugar, Sassafras Tea, under the name of 'Saloop,' could, until a few years ago, be bought at London streetcorners in the early mornings. The award of the day and my personal favorite though went to catbriar, a shrub with thorns and tendrils, that seemed to have provided inspiration for the invention of barbed wire!
Boot, the naturalist, also red poems to us - fitting to each occasion. My favorite from Ogden Nash quoted in front of a juniper tree (The berries are used for the production a volatile oil which is a prime ingredient in Geneva or Hollands Gin) called "A Drink with Something in it".
"There is something about a Martini, A tingle remarkably pleasant; A yellow, a mellow Martini; I wish I had one at present. There is something about a Martini, Ere the dining and dancing begin, And to tell you the truth, It is not the vermouth -I think that perhaps it's the gin. "
In other events this past week, on Friday night my bad conscience drove me to quickly sign up with Boston Cares and volunteer at the 2nd Annual Helping Hearts Masquerade Ball organized by Bread and Jams, an organization that provides services to the homeless. All decked out in my black ball gown, long opera gloves and a Venetian mask, I headed over to Cambridge to Morss Hall at MIT. The event was rather interesting, and we could actually enjoy it fully, as they had way too many volunteers - we wined, dined, I actually played along with the Silent Auction, acquired a nice lamp and generally had a great time. I even got my picture taken for the Improper Bostonian!
On Sunday it was time for some exercise, some jogging along the Charles River, which has begun to defrost a wee bit, and some ice skating at Frog Pond with my friend Ruth. I had to get out as I knew that I would be sitting in front of a TV all night watching the SuperBowl! There was a superb event held at my neighbor Claire's with several courses of the most exquisite home-cooked food. While the game was not the prettiest, who cares! WE WON, WE WON, WE WON, WE WON, WE WON, WE WON!!!! Can you spell D-Y-N-A-S-T-Y??? Three SuperBowls in 4 years, not too shabby my friends! Tuesday featured a parade here in downtown Boston, where one million folks crammed into our tiny streets (apparently lots of these folks were at home "with the flu" - right?).
The week has gone by in a jiffy, and a gazillion activities are on my list of things to do. Last night I attended another MIT Euroclub dinner, this time in Cambridge at Jasmine, a Thai restaurant at One Kendall Square. Tomorrow night I am volunteering (through Boston Cares) at the Boston Classical Orchestra in Faneuil Hall (http://www.bostonclassicalorchestra.org/index.html) and on Saturday I am heading (for the first time) to the beautiful state of Maine (http://www.visitmaine.com/home.php). The Boston Ski and Sports Club is having a Winterfest, where we can cross country ski, snow shoe, go skating or tubing up at the Sunday River Resort.
For now, this is it (bet you glad it's over after that botanical assault, eh?).
Lots of love to all of you!
pet:)
posted by My Boston at
3:31 PM
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