Final Things

Our last skate, Ruby sweetly teaching Lily  to keep her hands on her knees to get the right position. The day was minus 12 but the sun was shining.  

Our last lunch; bagels, ham, eggs, raspberries (a luxury in winter but cheaper here than in summer back home), it's been our standard lunch for 3 months now. 

Our last dinner at Dumpling Cafe;  xiao long bao, greens, steamed dumings, scallion pancakes. Chinatown is always a winner for our family. 

And finally the daunting task of packing. Extreme temperature changes make it tricky to figure out what to leave out and what to put in so we'll probably be cold on the trip to the airport and hot when we arrive. We'll cope. I'm trying to focus on the positives of returning. Mostly I've come up with loose leaf tea and my sewing machine! I've travelled before and missed people desperately, but with email and Instagram, I've barely had a chance. I travelled a lot on my own when I was younger and I think loneliness often leads to homesickness. But with five constant companions for the past three months I've had no opportunity for loneliness. It will be lovely to see family and friends again, and I'm going to make a real effort to ensure that the effects of this trip last a good long while. How I'll do that I'm not sure but I'm going to try.  Any tips?

Great White

 We've made the girls keep a daily journal since we left Melbourne. Their entries vary in detail and length but I hope they'll appreciate being made to keep them years from now when much of the day to day has faded from memory. Grace starts nearly every entry with 'today was fun' and ends it with 'and then we had showers and went to bed'. Nina meticulously records her meals. Ruby writes hers like a letter to a friend. 

For me, this blog is the closest I've come to keeping a journal of our adventure. It took me a while to realise that it has become a journal or sorts  as I generally don't blog the day to day of our lives and never intended this to be a quasi diary. But I think I'll be grateful.

Today we went to the New England Aquarium. We'd avoided going til now as neither Craig nor I are huge fans of aquariums. I really don't like the overpriced and tastelessly decorated Melbourne Aquarium and couldn't bear the Sponge Bob theme in Sydney. But this one was beautifully done, with excellent penguin exhibits and a 23 foot central tank containing a coral reef and loads of fish, rays, turtles and even a couple of Moray eels.   We went to an IMAX film about great white sharks, somewhat bizarrely narrated by Bill Nighy, which had a conservation theme and largely avoided over dramatisation of their capabilities as predators, concentrating instead on their vulnerability to over-fishing.

The weather was so cold we elected to take two trains rather than walk the relatively short distance (about a mile or less) to Regina Pizzeria in the North end. Fortunately Boston's public transport system is so efficient that both trains were ready and waiting for us. The T is, like all public transport systems, somewhat maligned, and it's true that the stations and trains are not things of beauty. But, when it comes to public transport, give me substance over style every time. The ticketing system appears to work seamlessly, all stations are staffed which avoids the need for heavy handed inspectors and security, we've rarely waited more than 5 minutes for a train, even when the weather has been terrible, and when there are delays they are quickly resolved. The stations and carriages are clean, if a little run down. Melbourne could learn a lot. 

We love the North end. I'm sure locals would say it isn't a patch on what it once was and has lost all it's authentic character, but as outsiders, it is charming. Small winding streets, old buildings, intriguing glimpses into tucked away courtyards and alleys. Lots of small shops, mostly with an Italian heritage and plenty of restaurants including Regina Pizzeria which had been recommended to us by a hot dog vendor in Salem. We had a couple of huge and excellent pizzas in a great old wooden booth and then got take out dessert at Bova's bakery. We sampled chocolate mousse cannoli, pecan slice, vanilla cupcake and assorted cookies. In my view, not as good as Modern pastries, and I wasn't a huge fan of those. Perhaps I'm missing something or sampling the wrong things.

Another brisk walk home from the station in freezing conditions. It's impossible to stop the kids, especially Grace and Nina, from going out of their way to walk in snow drifts, run their hands along walls piled high with snow, stomp in slushy muddy puddles. All warnings that they might slip over fall on deaf ears, even though inevitably someone does end up in a heap on the footpath. We should probably just give up. I'm forever warning of the dangers of too much snow play leading to wet gloves leading to freezing hands all day. Perhaps I should just let them spend a day with cold hands but frostbite seems a high price to pay to learn the lesson 'listen to your mother'. So I pack spare mittens and repeat myself a hundred times in a frustrated mantra. But only for three more days. Sob.

Last Days

Today is Martin Luther King day. Boston makes the most of its MLK connections (he did his PhD at BU) by putting on various events which mostly seem to be breakfasts. The Museum of Fine Arts has an open day with various arty activities for the family which you can see in the photos above.  It was also the last day of a big Sargeant watercolour exhibition which I'd been wanting to get to, but it was so crowded that I couldn't really get near the paintings. The Museum was full of people and kids and that was nice, but it wasn't especially relevant to MLK or what he stood for. I made the kids watch the 'I have a dream' speech on YouTube but to be honest I think their primary interest in it was because it is 'famous'. 

Yesterday we went souvenir shopping at Fanueil Hall and Quincy Market. The top picture is just a sample of the sweet treats on offer.  I loathe toffee apples. From childhood memory the apple is always disgustingly soft and tasteless after the super sweet toffee.  

The second photo is of a house we pass on our way to the station. I see it twice most days, but realise I won't see it, or any of the other fabulous houses in our street, again after this week.  They are all colours, blue, green, pink, yellow, brown and white, with different trims, some super ornate, some restrained, many three storeys and all wooden. I love them.

Third picture down is Grace's overalls. The only reason they are not on her is that she's in bed. These overalls have been a huge hit with the 3 younger girls, who have worn them pretty much daily since they arrived.

Fourth picture down is the icicles on the tree outside our bedroom. The weather reporter has just announced that it's a 'return to the big freeze'. Snow is forecast every day until we leave, with temperature highs ranging from -12 to -7. I feel it's only fitting. I'd feel almost robbed to leave Boston on a balmy note.

The Museum of Felted Wool Jewellry

If you like handcrafted jewellry and sipping tea while looking at handcrafted jewellry then the 'Museum of Felted Wool Jewellry' is just the place for you!

Take a look at our beautiful jewellry while drinking free refreshments.  Try your favourite peice of jewellry on and share a laugh with a friend or family member.  Meet the crafters and have fun all day long.

Bracelet of Water

Headband of peace

Braclet of Faith

There was great debate over whether the final piece should be devoted to justice or hope.  Which would you have chosen?

I was hoping for the ring of truth but no, it turns out it's a bracelet

Have we been taking the kids to too many museums?  I guess it's not that surprising that they decided to make their own.  The opening ceremony was a song and dance routine which required a lot of chanting of 'i'm a crafter' 'yeah' and so on.  I am a crafter but I'm not sure that chanting it in a quasi-rap is quite my preferred way of expressing that fact.

Our experience with museums has been a bit mixed.  Ones aimed at kids are a hit with them but interest me less.  The ones that I want to spend hours in hold their interest for only a fraction of the time I want there.  This results in a slightly rushed and anxious visit - I don't want to dawdle over the early musical instruments when there are are ancient and modern masters to be viewed and the pin has been pulled on the Lily-grenande.  

Tea Party (of The United East India Tea Company Variety)

Nina about to commit treason

The rigging of the 'Eleanor' - authentically sail-less

On the 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK we commemorated another famous moment in American history with Boston connections  - the Boston Tea Party - at the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum.  This relatively new museum was a surprising delight.  Two of the three ships have been faithfully recreated, with the third in production.  The museum is staffed by humerous young folk in costume who really know their history and seem to genuinely enjoy being in character.  We attended the meeting at the Old South Meeting House where Samuel Adams roused us all to action, we stormed the Eleanor, went below decks, and tossed the tea overboard.  If Boston Harbour wasn't exactly a teapot, we at least had a sense of what it all would have been like.  I learned lots of interesting things - like the origins of the expression 'sleep tight' and that a crew of 8 to 10 men had only 4 bunks between them.  The captain of the 'Eleanor' was a Tory and took the tea on board in support of the king, knowing the potential for trouble unloading the cargo in Boston.  The ship's owner was a patriot and participated in the tea party aboard his own ship. 

Handing over the money for the tour, I expected it to either be terribly cheesy or horribly dull, but it was neither.  By the time our tour was over, and we'd had tea and scones in the tea rooms, it was dark outside.    

Luckey Climbers

We visited the Boston Children's Museum, which this year celebrates 100 years of existence.  The centrepiece is this great climber (you can see Lily in it above ), designed by architect Tom Luckey who is apparently pretty famous for designing playgrounds and installations for kids to climb all over.  There was lots to do but we chose the one day of the year that they were closing early to host a private function - the launch of some swish new car.  Banished outside we watched them set up the marquees with huge bowls of lollies and giant lollypops.  A kind woman slipped her hand under the marquee, tapped Grace on the foot, and passed her a handful of bubble gum.

Later we had afternoon tea in a cafe in the financial district and I was taken by these edible gardens outside a very corporate looking building.  There were silverbeet, chillies, various cabbages and some edible looking greenery as well as flowers.  I'd like to think that passersby are encouraged to take a few chillies or a head of lettuce home for dinner, but I suspect not.

Ginkgo

Sorry if you are not that in to slightly blurry photos of gingko leaves.  We went to Boston Common yesterday during an unseasonably warm and sunny day.  It seemed that most of Boston had the same idea and we shared our little picnic spot on a carpet of ginkgo leaves with families, lovers, squirrels and even a lesbian wedding straight out of Ruby's drawing - two lovely brides, both in white (one long and traditional dress, one short cocktail dress with a blue sash.  lovely!)

Many people seemed to be getting professional photos taken.  We speculated that perhaps they were having family portraits done for those American style Christmas cards that I have heard about.  Not infrequently the family groups were in matching colours - black pants and red tops for instance.

George Washington was wearing a Red Socks t-shirt and there was a large group of Uni students on a scavenger hunt.  There were (good) buskers and though we had intentions of going to some historic sites, we couldn't seem to leave.