Boston

A short time back, K and I drove up and spent some time in Bean Town.
I have read about Boston, who studying American history has not? But to stand in a city so pivotal and integral to America, freedom and liberty was wonderful.

We drove up through Connecticut and stayed near a casino where we ate at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. We love his restaurants and this one was no disappointment.

Then to Boston. It is a big city, but it drizzled on us off and on for the time we spent there.
The first stop was Old Ironsides. She was one of the most complex models I built as a kid. Undefeated in naval battles with the British, cannon balls bounced off her hull giving her the name. She is the USS Constitution, the oldest still commissioned warship in the world. She was de-masted and undergoing deck repairs, but I realized yet another life long dream/goal by standing on her decks. All the personnel on board her were in period garb and told involved stories about what life was like in Colonial Times on a US warship.


CannonsThe Deck, covered during renovations

A ladder to bellow decks, watch your head!

Then we were going to go to the North Church, to see where the lantern were hung to signal Paul Revere to ride. But Boston is a confusing town. We got lost, my blood sugar tanked so I was useless as a navigator, the Tom Tom GPS was lost and I could not read the map. We left town and got food.
A great brew house pub with marinated staek tips that were wonderful.
Day two took us to the Aquarium and an Imax movie.

A walk to Faneuil Hall brought us to a wondrous mall with shops and vendors, restaurants and food food food.
We saw CHEERS, but opted not to go in.

We walked the Hall and the surrounding area looking for a place to eat. Karen wanted shepherds pie, I wanted a lobster. We settled on a place:

Durgin Park
340 Faneuil Hall Market Pl
Boston, MA 02109

It was not quite the atmosphere we wanted but oh my was the food good.

I ordered a 1 1/4 lb lobster whole. It came and I made quick work of the tail, legs and claws. When our darling waitress came back, I told her this was my first whole lobster. The incredulous look on her face was priceless. She could not believe I had never had a lobster before. I toldl her if she put a whole dungenesse crab in front of me I would know exactly what to do, but I was lobster lost. She had me crack the carapace and pointed out the edible and non edible. It was delicious.

We spent one more night and then headed home through Rhode Island, adding one more state to my inner Magellan's delight.

We stopped at Battleship Cove in Fall River MA, home to the USS Lionfish, a WWII submarine we got to walk through, the USS Massachusetts, a big beautiful Battle ship, two PT boats, the Joseph P Kennedy destroyer and a former East German ship. That was a grand day. The exibits and walk throughs were fantastic.

USS Massachusetts

USS Lionfish

Then home, with a ride on a ferry boat across the Long Island Sound.

It was fast and wonderous. We can't wait to go back.

C

The Reason...

I started this blog with the intent of chronicling an amazing journey across the USA. When we arrived here in NY, I then used it to point out things that I noticed were different between the east coast and west coast way of life.
I have bitched and complained in a petulantly whiny way about what I do not like out here. I will continue to do that.
And I have posted pictures and tales of a few trips. I have yet to post about Boston, or the WWII submarine and the USS Massachusetts.
But what I have failed to do is post the reason, the real reason, we left God's own heaven and moved to the outskirts of hell...
I have asked permission from all parties, warning them that they will be on the interweb and that it is a big place to put pictures. Everyone of adult decision making age has agreed.

M, at age 5, is a rascal who gets very moody and melts down amazingly well if things are not to the script in his head. He is a real joy when all is right in his world. His vocabulary and conversation skills blow me away.
But then again, all my nephews and my niece have dazzled me with their language skills.

This is T. He is about 2.5 and he was slow to learn to talk. Just after we arrived here, he was diagnoses with normal pressure hydrocephalus. His head was too large for his age and the pressure inside his brain was normal but odd. He can identify every letter accurately, can count to 10 only missing the number 9. He is a love and has a smile that I crossed a continent for.


M and Grandma. Grandma is the energizer bunny. One brain surgery, one minor stroke, one new kidney. Her purse is the lost room at Area 51 I am sure.

Three generations.
Grampa, K and T. Grampa is twice retired and is a trove of trivia and lore. I enjoy this man. He is truly a curmudgeon and I know my friend Nicole would love him too.

The mom of these darlings hates having her picture taken so I did not and continue to keep her un-photo'd. I did not ask the Boys dad if I could post his pic so I am leaving that out for now as well.
And there is one more nephew, J who I did not ask for permission and I have no good picture of. He is 15 and a math brain, excellent student, soccer player and loves to kick my ass playing Halo 3.
We recently went to the latest Harry Potter film with J and his father, who is K's brother in law from her first marriage.
The boys are the reason we came. When it gets shitty, when I am so done with rude ignorant asleep lemming that I want to cry and go climb into The Cascade Foothills and not come out again, I remind myself that we are here for the nephews, and how much fun they can be.

There you go, the reason, or should I have titled this:
The Reasons

Be well.

Juxtaposition

For the first time in many many moons, I went to a dentist.
When I was a kid, my dentist was an older man who had great teeth and was very kind and gentle. Outside his office window was a tree. It was, of course bare in the winter and leafed out beautifully in the summers.
In the Great Pacific Northwest, outside my dentist's office window was a great array of shrubs and a few smaller trees. I would watch the small birds flit around and sit in the trees.
This dentist had a tree outside the window as well. That dentist was also older than me, grey at the temples as well.
A common theme it would seem.
The venetian blinds were closed so I could not see any birds. But the leaves could be seen through gaps here and there.
But the thing that threw me off, it seems to happen more and more often now, the nice young dentist was younger than me.
There is a new gaggle of baby doctors (not pediatricians) has started at the Hospital and they are all way too young to be doctors.
But I stepped out of the dentist office to a hot ass muggy afternoon and was momentarily disoriented. I could have been stepping out of either of my last dentist offices in either city I grew up in.
There was a brief moment when I did not know where I was, when I was...
But as I came around to the oppressive muggy humid New York Long Island summer, I could smile and be happy.
No cavities.