Boston by Proxy

Calypso has gone to Boston to nanny my cousin's son for a week or so while my cousin the chiropractor is going through some intense training for software allowing her to go paperless in patient records. 

Calypso has never been to Boston before and she is a brand newly licensed driver.  She drops my cousin and the boy off at work and school then drives back to the apartment for an exciting day of cleaning and cooking and errand running.  Today was her first day there.  She called me in freak-out mode after becoming very lost on the mile and a half trip back to the apartment.

A meme which has been distributed widely may explain why she got so lost.  The frustration of being in unfamiliar surroundings was augmented by the angst new drivers default to so easily.

She confirmed that she did in fact feel as if the city was flipping her the bird....and I don't mean Larry has taken up gymnastics in his retirement from basketball. As an aside, I vastly prefer getting around Boston because it's a short city as opposed to NYC which is very tall...meaning when I walk around Manhattan I feel like I am walking through canyons and not being able to see the sun is disorienting to me.  Boston feels more like walking around neighborhoods. 

She was nervous about having to find her way back in reverse when afternoon came around.  I suggested she google a map and take a walking tour noting landmarks and such so she'd feel more confident.

I am sure by the end of her time there Calypso will be feeling more confident but in the meantime this is the impression of the city which she posted on FaceBook.

Lessons and Observations in Boston:
1. Everybody drives a Prius.
2. Bicycle lanes are not for driving in. Oops.
3. If you smile to someone while walking, the best reaction you'll get is confusion. At worst, they'll walk as far away and as quickly as possible, and somewhere between the two is a grimace.

Being full of encouragement, I added in a comment, "4. There are few public toilets so don't take walking tours if you are very pregnant or have a small bladder."

Fortunately, Calypso is neither pregnant nor bladder impaired.

Back to Boston

As much as I loved seeing the Museum of Fine Arts ad deCordova Sculpture Park I also enjoy wandering around towns and cities just to find interesting architecture.  Lisa was very sweet to indulge me and said she enjoyed seeing her home in a new way.  Here are just a few shots from around Harvard Square and Brookline.

I'm sure I looked kind of funny getting into the contortions necessary to capture the reflection in the door.

This building just made me smile.  It looks like a face wearing a pointy hat.

More reflections in the window of the First Unitarian Church.

On to Brookline.  I am amazed by the masonry skill required to care such delicate looking leaves.

Another face, this time in the door.

Here's the church and here's the steeple.  Only thing is I didn't see people.

More gorgeous masonry.

deCordova Sculpture Park

Since I so thoroughly enjoyed the MFA, Lisa suggested we spend some time at deCordova Sculpture Park. She and Jacob have been there before and he loves the place. Jacob is also a fan of the show Work of Art in which artists are given an assignment and judged on their results in competition with one another. We spent a beautiful morning with a clipboard so we could give our own scores to the works of art we saw in the park.

This is called Rain Gates by the artist.  Jacob and Lisa dubbed it Dream Doors during their last visit to the park.  Jacob was having a rough time with some things so Lisa told him to go through the doors and walk into happier feelings.  That time it worked.  This time Jacob told me he was walking into nightmares when he went through the doors but he was strong and taking care of the bad things he found.  We spent a good deal of time romping around this piece together and talking about dreams.  It was a very good conversation.  I love when art does that. We gave this work some high marks for beauty and sparking imagination.

I wasn't able to find markers on everything so I don't know the name of this.  Notice the container with a stick at the end.  Each end had those and visitors were encouraged to use the sticks on the sculpture which functioned as a large xylophone.  We had a lot of fun racing around it chasing each other while we dragged our sticks along the tubes.  The sound drew several other people.  After we were done playing it was fun to step back and watch the expressions of the other people who discovered it.  Not a single person failed to smile ear to ear.  High marks for simplicity and joy factor.

I've read about yarn bombing but had never seen it before.  Throughout the park there were several spots that had been yarn bombed.  I liked the whimsy of it.

This is a detail of Eve Celebrant.  We saw Lilith in the MFA and Eve at deCordova.  I liked that she was carrying a pomegranate instead of an apple.  The come hither gesture also seemed appropriate. 

In amongst a small stand of evergreens I found a group of these guards of the forest called Cones.  I think it would be easy to miss them because of the way they were obscured but I'm sure that was intentional.  They were arrayed in rows and standing at attention but they seemed a friendly, perhaps a little weary and glad for company, as well.

After a little army of pinecone people I found a metal forest.










There was another small grove of trees.  Amongst them were fallen knights in various positions with no markers.  All you Monty Python fans out there will understand why I call this None Shall Pass.

The artist called this Jacob's Dream.  I wasn't all that impressed and Jacob didn't seem to be either.  His happiest dreams involve cats and Harry Potter, not twisted blobs of metal.  Not the highest marks here.

Finally, just as it was time to be departing I found this work entitled The Merry-Go-Round of Hidden Agendas.  The windmill on top moved with the wind propelling small figures with speech bubbles around the track and through the various houses.  The speech bubbles contained one statement on the outside with another perspective on the inside.  It was a pretty fascinating piece of social commentary.  I gave it high marks for creatively getting its point across in a very clear way.

Museum of Fine Arts

Join me as I wander through the second floor of the MFA.  What a glorious way it was to spend my Friday afternoon.  One of the first things that impressed me was the detail of inlay work on an English cabinet by Bruce Talbert from 1875.

Visit to a Museum by Edgar Degas.  I was enjoying seeing an actual Degas painting up close and personal until I read the exhibit text that quoted the artist as saying he wanted "to give the idea of that bored and respectfully crushed and impressed absence of sensation that women experience in front of paintings."  Talented painter, member of the Big Pile of Dicks Brigade.

Eddie baby, I present the following evidence in contrast to your notion.  This room took my breath away.  On the right wall are a collection of works by Claude Monet.  Directly in front are several Van Gogh paintings.  On the left is a group of Renoirs.  There were sculptures by Degas and Rodin in the room.  Being in a single room containing so many works by so many artists I have admired, being able to see these things up close and personal as opposed to only in books...it was spiritual.  There was, in fact, a great overwhelming sensation of awe, which prevented a hasty exit from the gallery, for this woman.  Take that, Degas!

After that mountaintop experience I entered a gallery of quite different works.  Nothing like a beaded figurine of a naked, banana-wielding woman astride a Holstein to bring you back to Earth.  Ladies and gentlemen, I present Dairy Queen by Liz Manfredini. Again, no dearth of sensation, just a hearty giggle.

This one I had to show Logo.  It's a Dale Chihuly piece called Seaform.  Chihuly is a famous glass worker based in Seattle, which is generally known for its art glass production.  I thought it was funny that I had to come to Boston to see a Chihuly when I had spent 10 days in Seattle back in September.

Here is more hand blown glass. Endlessly Repeating 20th Century Modernism by Josiah McElheny.  It was a large four-sided display with dozens of bottles arranged to be reflecting infinitely.  I could have wandered around it for an hour or so just studying the shapes and patterns in the reflections.  It was fascinating.

Here we have Lilith by Kiki Smith.  She was perched on the wall high above my head, Lilith, not Kiki.  I wonder what old Edgar would make of her.  She looks like she might bite his head off if he made any disparaging comments in her presence.  I feel more kindred with her legend than with the story of Eve. I like her.

I freely admit, some modern art perplexes me.  There was one piece that was a photograph of a photograph.  The exhibit text for it spoke of how the artist took a picture of someone else's famous piece and the debate over whether or not using another's images is art of plagiarism.  About that time I was seized with a particular sensation. (See, Monsieur Degas, women have all sorts of sensations when looking at art!) When I found what I needed I took a picture of that image.  Oh look!  I am a modern artist now!

After finding some relief I proceeded into the hall for Asian art.  While I appreciate the amazing skill required to produce this lovely little 15th century piece called Devotee, the sensation I have is an overwhelming urge to nudge her either enough to topple her or to right her.  She looks like she could use a good chiropractor.

This is 1st or 2nd century BC Greek torso of Aphrodite.  I found it affirming because she does not have washboard abs and yet was considered the ideal once upon a time. Once upon a time, at my thinnest and most fit, I still had that soft belly paunch. It's nice to know some culture would have appreciated it.  We won't discuss how much that paunch has grown in middle age..moving on....

I loved he detail work on this gorgeous American mandolin.

I am a fan of Antiques Roadshow.  I've learned a lot from it.  There was a group called The Saturday Evening Girls around the turn of the last century.  They were immigrant girls instructed in pottery decoration as a means to supporting themselves.  This piece is by Sarah Galner, who was one of the more respected artists.  I have a thing for trees.  Trees + pottery + plus art education enabling women to earn a living=an empowering sensation Degas can stick in his pipe and smoke.

Fishing Party by Fitz Henry Lane.  I also have a thing for the moon.  It seems rare that a landscape painting highlights the moon as opposed to a glorious sunset or dawn.  I just love the light in this piece.

Closeup of a chair back.  Aside from the obvious skill in producing this carving I just chuckled thinking of this being in someone's parlor.  It seems like it had potential as metaphorical furniture. "Come into my parlor," said the spider to the fly...

Finally, I was ready to leave but not before capturing the rotunda ceiling.  Gorgeous, no?

Once outside I found this warrior imploring the Great Spirit.  I gave thanks myself for such a wonderful afternoon.

As promised I will give some updates on the fun I had while in Boston.  I arrived Thursday evening to my cousin's house.  She and her son welcomed me with pizza, which was fantastic since I was pretty hungry.  She then asked me, "You up for a massage, cuz?  Because I scheduled you for one tomorrow morning, my treat."  Ladies and gentlemen of the blogosphere, I respectfully submit that when your visit starts that way it's an omen of great things to come.  Friday morning began with massage, followed with a quick visit to my cousin's chiropractic office, continued with a ride on the T (I'm a dork who loves public transportation), included some excellent time at the Museum of Fine Arts (more about that tomorrow), and concluded with a truly wonderful, if not somewhat bizarre (but I'd be disappointed had it not been) visit with Suldog and HIS WIFE.  He has already given his account of the visit, now it's my turn.

As he mentioned over at his place, he gave me walking direction from the Fenway Station to the MFA.  It was quite detailed and got me exactly where I wanted to be with the bonus of a nice walk and less time spent in transit meaning more time in the museum.  The part that made me laugh was the phrase referring to "a small patch of woods."  Now, I adore Suldog and his wife, both.  I would trust their advice with regard to traveling safely about Boston since they are born and bred there.  However, they are cityfolk and I live on a VERY heavily wooded acre of oak and hemlock trees.  Without exaggeration I can tell you that when we moved here we REMOVED over two dozen trees (which were either diseased or weakened in some way as to be hazardous to the house) from our single acre.  Even after that, we still have such a dense stand of trees we cannot grow a lawn for lack of sunlight, it's mostly moss in our yard.  The alleged "small patch of woods" seemed to be a handful of strategically placed trees for effect.  I believe mention was made that I could have been mugged in the woods.  I dunno about that in broad daylight.  I guess if they say it's possible they know what they are talking about but I have had an actual black bear on my very own front porch so this small patch of woods didn't seem to give any more cover for nefarious deeds, and in fact less, than the average alley.

As Suldog has noted over at his place, he picked me up at the station nearest his workplace at the end of his workday and my time at MFA.  I was also treated to a tour of his office at Marketing Messages where I met some of his coworkers who seem equally deranged as he is (in other words, it seems like they all have an awful lot of fun at work).  I am not entirely sure it was an actual workplace though.  I suspect it may have been an asylum because he showed me some well-padded rooms.  He claims they are "recording studios" and the padding was for the acoustics.  I'm told it's best not to upset people suffering with mental illness so we will just allow that story about recording studios to stand unchallenged.

There was further evidence of his derangement though.  After the visit to work we had a little time to kill before picking up HIS WIFE from work and heading out to dinner.  HE said he was going to take me to his house and tie me up in the basement.  When I asked him he admitted he intended to starve me, flay the skin from my carcass, and make himself a skin suit because it seemed that was what his wardrobe was most lacking given I had blessed him with his very own tie dye socks during my last visit.  So here we are outside the Suldog Estate.  I never did see the basement.  Heck, I didn't even see the inside mainly because there was some concern about the alleged disorder of the place.  Suldog needs to show this post to HIS WIFE so she can know that I am the last person on Earth who worries about whether or not someone's house is in perfect order.  Though if they come to visit I promise to put sufficient effort into making sure they won't catch any diseases from my house and I might even dust.


We hopped back into Roddy the Wondercar and sped off to pick up Suldog's WIFE.  We swapped tales of phobias, government tracking of citizens, whorehouses, and other topics that might lead otherwise sane people to doubt our general well-being.  Listen!  Just because large bridges make me think about driving off the edge and he doesn't like EZPASS doesn't mean we are a couple of nutbags who ought to be shut away inside "recording studios!"  That evidence would come at dinner.

sculpture as warning to unruly children?

At last we met with Suldog's WIFE, who is an absolutely wonderful person.  We debated whether or not to have wine or mojitos.  She was of the opinion that since they were dining with Lime we should all have mojitos.  That's logic that's hard to argue with so we all toasted the evening with minty, limey, alcoholic yumminess.  Over dinner they asked what I had seen at MFA and what were my favorite parts.  I'll share that in more detail tomorrow but then they asked me if I had seen the Big Pile of Dicks sculpture outside the MFA.  It's not called that of course but they tell me that to see it leaves the unmistakable impression of a tangled mass of disembodied male members.  I had seen the giant baby heads but missed the Big Pile of Dicks, much to my disappointment.  I tried googling an image by searching the relatively safe  phrase "sculptures outside the MFA."  It was fruitless and I was afraid to google "big pile of dicks" for fear something like this might turn up.  Don't worry, it's safe for work but it's really terrifying.  You've been warned.  On a more positive note, googling a big pile of dicks sounds like something that could be not entirely unpleasant for the recipient of said googling.

The meal was delicious and involved much laughter.  If you read Suldog you know he is one funny guy.  He's even funnier in person.  If you read him you also know HIS WIFE is a great lady with her own fantastic sense of humor.  What you don't know is they are even funnier in person.  If Suldog is chaneling a smarter version of Curly of the Three Stooges, HIS WIFE channels Bob Newhart.  He is complete zaniness personified and she is utterly dry in her delivery.  The two of them together are total hilarity. 

These two riotously funny people welcomed me into one of their weekly rituals involving scratch off lottery tickets.  The tickets they buy look like this.  A player is to scratch off the bank of letters at the bottom and then uncover the same letter in the puzzle.  Depending upon how many words you complete you win more or less money, or no money.  The twist Suldog and HIS WIFE add is making the sound of each letter as they scratch it off.  For example, when Suldog got R (AARRRR-ARRRRR-ARRRRR) he enjoyed sounding like a pirate.  When he got A he did his Fonzie impersonation (AAAYYY-AAAYYY-AAAYYY).  HIS WIFE sounded like a stutterer (BUH-BUH-BUH) or a hesitating engine (PUH-PUH-PUH).  Initially I was a little discouraged because got X and Q.  Really, they were not fun letters to sound out loud.  Things picked up though when I uncovered A, O and M.  I opted for the short vowel sounds though (AAAAHHHH-AHHHHH-AAAAAHHHH, Oh-OH-OOHH-OOOOOOHHHH!!!!!!  MMMM-MMMMM-MMMMMM)  Suldog was overheard saying to the waiter, "I'll have what she's having."  As Suldog described it, we sounded like a table full of retarded nymphomaniacs.  HIS WIFE remarked that even one of her own family members won't play this game with them but that I enjoyed it with previously unseen gusto in an initiate.  Whether I should have or not, I took that as a compliment. Any opportunity to be absurd is a good one.  I'd like to add "retarded nymphos" would be a very groovy name for a rock band, as would "big pile of dicks."

I'd just like to say thanks to Suldog and HIS WIFE for an absolutely fantastic evening eating and laughing together.  I also promise if they ever make it to my neck of the woods I will show them what a neck of woods really looks like and we will find some other public place where we can create mayhem and consternation among the populace.  I won't even threaten to lock them in my basement, mainly because I don't have one.

Da Count-A Stroll Around Boston

Sunday after the food show Jacob had a birthday party to attend. Lisa offered to drop me off wherever I wanted and let me explore the city alone. I asked her to take me to Boston Common and I decided to hike most of the Freedom Trail which leads visitors to various historical sites around the city. The last time I walked the Freedom Trail was when I was pregnant with Diana. It was a hot summer day and there was a noticeable dearth of public restrooms. Although the company I had was pleasant the heat and constantly overfilling bladder made it less than delightful. This time I enjoyed a solo trek through the city and a brisk early Spring afternoon. It was far more relaxing and offered a peaceful time to wander with my feet and my thoughts. Today my count is mostly pictorial just to show you the city through my camera lens. The first two are actually from the day before at Castle Island but I was pleased with the results. Many of the pictures from various buildings are at odd angles or of specific details because some spaces are too tight to back up and get a full shot or else there were so many cars or other distractions that I felt would take away from the picture. It was kind of an interesting challenge.

This just struck me a humorous. I can't help but laugh when a statue has a pigeon on its head.

I love checking out different architectural details.

Park Street Church where abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison gave his first anti-slavery address.

Granary Burial Ground. Paul Revere is buried here as well as the 5 victims of the Boston Massacre. This marker was a little different and a bit more macabre than the ones I saw last year. It intrigued me.

King's Chapel. Built in 1688 on orders by King James II as an Anglican church, a Georgian chapel was later constructed around the original wooden building. Later it became the first Unitarian church in the U.S. I just loved the ironwork.

Old South Meeting House. It was used for public meetings and was the site for many events leading up to the Revolution. During their occupation, the British used it as a stable and hacked its furnishings into firewood. This picture also displays some of what intrigues me about Boston, the way old and new nestle into the city side by side.

Old State House Museum is the oldest public building in Boston. It is in front of the balcony supported by this brace that the Boston Massacre happened.

Old State House

Faneuil Hall was a meeting place and open market. Opposition to British authority grew from the seeds sown during impassioned speeches given here. After independence the abolitionist, women's rights, and temperance movements found audiences in Faneuil Hall.

Another example of old meeting new. On the right is the Bell in Hand Tavern which was established in 1795. On the left is another old tavern where some important historical figures presumably found liquid courage. I forget the name of the place and who sought solace there. I was too busy ambling around thinking and occasionally snapping pictures. The other historical tidbits I am taking out of the $3 tour map I bought. I sound like I know what I am talking about don't I?

Old North Church. It was from this steeple that the two lanterns signaling Paul Revere's ride were displayed. I didn't need the $3 guide to tell me that. I arrived here as dusk was falling and pondered how that beacon must have shown without all the other tall buildings around. Cobb's Hill Burying Ground was locked so there was to be no twilight ambling through that cemetery. The next sites were across the river in Cambridge. I decided perhaps it was time to head back home but thankful for the chance to wander the city and ponder its history. I am very much of the opinion that every American, if at all possible, should make a trip to both Philadelphia and Boston simply for the historical value of those places. I'm grateful I've had the chance to do so.

I-93 bridge. Sun was setting as I left the Freedom Trail to find the nearest T station to take the train back to my cousin's. I stepped out of historic Boston and back into the modern world, which does have it's own interest.