Buckets of Joy and Loads of Love: October 2010

We have a family tradition. We love to gather together to watch Biggest Loser. We find ourselves shifting things around to be home just for this two hours. Most nights around here, post-dinner, we won't be snacking ~~(minus Dad's late night bowl of cereal).~~ Well on Biggest Loser Night, during the first few ads, someone jumps up for an apple, yogurt, etc. We seem to be hungry while watching these people exercise. What is it? Some nights we find that we are obsessed with our snacks. This past Tuesday was one of those nights. The show began, the kids begged Philip for a snack. He asked them did they want yogurt, apple...the usual. We all started saying we wanted a "real" snack. It was the day before" pay- day" around here which means the pantry is bare. He remembered that I may have extra cookies in the freezer. He returned with a bag of cookies and icing. We all screamed no not cookies ..."We want chocolate!" He began to look for cake mix and I sent him looking for the ingredients to a chocolate chip pound cake. We all agreed that the show was 2 hours and the cake could be made in the first hour and enjoyed for the second. Why does that show cause us to be so hungry? And why do we find ourselves wanting to be so bad with our food choices? We were so excited to hear the oven timer beep...we jumped up and ran to get our plate of cake. All six of us! We are building memories as well as waist-sizes!

Well we may be the Pirates who don't do anything (most of the time), but Philip and I finally got away together (and we did see Boston in the Fall)! It was a crazy and busy time, but we enjoyed our time away together. ~~(my opinion of course...ask him his)~~ This trip was a series of first in our 19 years of marriage. We agreed that experiencing first at 19 years was a good thing. First time to fly together, first time to see Boston, first time to ride the subway for Philip...I'm sure there are more first, but those are the highlights.

Our first adventure out of our hotel was to a crowded old restaurant on the water called ...No Name Restaurant. It was a crowded, upstairs location, but it was where we had our first cup of chowder. It was delicious. Neither of us thought we liked clams, but they changed our minds.

We decided there that I would try to document everything for the kids. We took pictures of food and places so they could experience Boston too.

Since Philip really was in town for continuing education (The Academy of ENT People...I'm sure there was a more official name because I saw the banners, but I can't remember it), we spend our mornings touring all things Boston. Philip attended classes in the afternoon. I took the time to enjoy the Blue Horizon channel...a channel with nature scenes and sounds. Needless to say, I napped! At night, we found new restaurants to enjoy.

Day One lead us to Flour Bakery/Cafe.The kids had watched a show on Food Network where Bobby Flay recommended this bakery. We were excited to find on our iPhone map that the location was a half of a mile away. We took a stroll on Sunday morning to find this place. After walking in what seemed like a deserted business area, and passing a resting homeless man several times, we found the right road and discovered Flour! We enjoyed the Sticky/Sticky Bun that Bobby Flay recommended and a Dried Fruit Scone. We also had some of the best coffee. We sat in the crowded cafe, read the menu and watched the people who strolled in on a Sunday morning. It was a relaxing way to begin the day. Our time was up and we walked back to our hotel in time for Philip to attend class.

Philip came back after his first round of classes with excitement about the topics he learned about. We quickly got ready and grabbed a cab to the North End/Little Italy. We decided that Italian was the theme for our evening meal. We walked up and down Hanover Street (where Benjamin Franklin once lived) to read the menus of the many Italian choices. We settled into a quaint, little restaurant called Il Villaggio. We enjoyed Lobster Ravioli and Chicken Sambaticco. We agree that these were two of our favorite dishes. The streets of Little Italy were crowded. We encountered bakeries not only filled with fresh pastries, but people. We saw older men sitting at cafe tables outside of stores visiting. It was reminiscent of scenes in movies where the older Italian men gathered to shoot the breeze. The old buildings housed restaurants and shops below and then homes above. It was a very interesting area.

Day Three found us walking the Freedom Trail. We started by taking a cab to Feuneul Hall. We discovered this area that was now shopping mall and food was once a livestock/fresh food market. Where Philip grabbed a huge breakfast, once was a place people came to buy fresh fish or a cow. We stepped outside to find the red line of the Freedom Trail. (Ok it wasn't that easy and we walked in circles a little first, but eventually we began our tour). We walked back through Little Italy towards Paul Revere's house.

We followed the trail to the Old North Church where he placed the lantern to warn of the British troops arrival. We looked around through the Old North Church. We discovered where Thomas Jefferson once worshiped and where his descendants still own his family worship box. We learned that the families rented boxes to sit in for worship. In the winters, they brought in warmed bricks that they placed in a metal box in the bottom of their area. It kept the family warm for worship. We followed the brick road toward a cemetery where people who fought in the American Revolution were buried. We crossed the Charles River to visit the
USS Constitution, old Ironside, it was called. We agreed after our long walk that we should know more of our history and pay more attention to the detail of the museum, but our feet ached. We grabbed a cab and headed back for rest and Philip more learning about work.

Philip's arrival after day two of school found that he learned there are really good speakers and some who just shouldn't be allowed to speak. He brought in a piece of paper where he noted the speaker saying "um" about 250 times, but he stopped counting after than and they lady was still talking. We agreed that our education had been in the morning that day.

We decided to take some friends advise and head to a place called Legal Seafood for dinner. Philip had lobster on his mind and what better place than Legal Seafood. I enjoyed Lobster Bisque and a wedge salad. Philip got the stuffed steamed lobster. We agreed that we both felt like that poor lobster after we were done eating.

Our next morning found us really experimenting. We bought tickets to ride the subway. I had ridden in New York City years before, but Philip was on his first subway adventure. We were off to see Harvard and Fenway Park. We got on our first train near the hotel. It was the silver line and I commented how clean and lighted the bus seemed. We later transferred to the red line and realized we were finally on our real subway experience. We saw crowds of people of all types. We enjoyed the music of a cellist, and guitar/singer. When we began to hear the cello, we looked around assuming it was a speaker piping in a beautiful classical music. This is what we saw...

We arrived at the Harvard stop and walked up the stairs to find this beautiful old school. We just turned in circles to take in the beauty of this area. The leaves were changing, the people were just as colorful as the leaves, and the town surrounding the campus was interesting. We walked toward a cafe and enjoyed breakfast. We found ourselves walking around reading the signs on all the old buildings. The buildings in Harvard Yard were dated in the 1700's. The number of Asian tourist taking photos and finding Harvard a place of greatness was interesting. We entered the church and saw a huge marbled wall memorial to WWII students and staff who had bravely fought. We took a picture to share with Honey. The church resembled the Old North Church that we had seen the day before. We took in the campus bookstore and other small shops. We found that our time quickly was slipping so we headed back to the subway for our trip to Fenway. A few wrong train turns and a bit of rain kept us from making our destination stop. We headed back to the hotel just in time for Philip to make his classes.

I spent the afternoon resting and trying to memorize the images I'd seen at Harvard. I loved the old architecture, and the quaint community. I wish that we had more time to truly capture the history of Cambridge and Harvard.

We tried yet again to make Fenway. We had seen maps that talked of a twilight tour. Philip called to find the only tours were 9-4. We redirected our plans and decided to head to an icon-a place where "everybody knows your name". We headed to the original Cheers. We took the subway back to the Beacon Hill area. We walked along the brick sidewalk and looked into quaint shop windows. We finally found the bar that sparked the TV series. We headed to the basement bar to find it rather small and crowded. We quickly glanced around then decided to head upstairs where we grabbed dinner and a beer in honor of George Trippe.

Our last day had arrived, and we decided to end it where we began with breakfast at Flour. Philip had so wanted to try the homemade Pop Tart which we arrived too late for, but he did get a fancy named cinnamon roll. I tried his first days choice of the Sticky, sticky bun. We rush back to our hotel to grab our bags and head off to the airport. We decided one last subway ride was in order.

Cemetary

We discovered Boston in the Fall was a beautiful old town. It was filled with much history and it would be a place we could come back to visit. It is good to have "first" in your marriage even after 19 years. It makes enjoying life together an adventure. Philip tried really hard to make my feet bleed, but he still hasn't caught me yet. I can't wait till our next adventure!