The Kookaburra's Kackle: September 2008

Monday, September 22, 2008

#13

The past few weeks were really wonderful staying with Gina, Mark, Adah, and Kate, as they were extremely hospitable and open to us. Seth and I tried to help them out around the house by cooking a few nights a week and watching the kids (and dogs) a little, but it was still hard not to feel like we should be doing more for them.

Gina had been great in helping to prepare us for moving into an apartment. We went out to BJs and Lowes last week and this weekend we staked out a bunch of garage sales in the affluent neighborhoods nearby. After living in her quaintly decorated house (cute and cozy, like a model home from "Southern Living" magazine) and observing some of her secrets, she has really gotten me motivated in buying vintage/antique style furniture. It will be really exciting to go to more garage sales once we get settled in, though I am sure dingy old Waltham won't be nearly as good as Westford.

We now completed our 13th move in about 9 months; yesterday we moved our last load out of Mark and Gina's place and spent our first night in our apartment in Waltham. We had spent about a week slowly collecting things and dropping them off on our way to Brandeis in the mornings, trying to reduce the move-in mayhem. We also spent the weekend searching craigslist for furniture and borrowed Gina's minivan to pick it all up and deliver it to our new place.

The apartment is not in a very inspiring neighborhood, but the trade-off is that it is located right behind the northern border of Brandeis--it is only a 10min walk to my classes, and about 15 to Seth's office. There is also a yoga studio and Hannaford's grocery store within walking distance, and Moody St (where all the 'action' is) is about 1-2miles away. The inside of the apartment is pretty neat: all hardwood floors, a large bathroom, a very cool sun-room, and a decent sized kitchen. I think once we get settled in and find some more furniture (like a table, some chairs, and a desk), it will be a great place to relax and get work done.

It is a wonderful feeling to finally be living in our own place--we really haven't had an apartment to ourselves since leaving Chapel Hill two years ago (although living at college in Canberra was close). We got to dig out a few of our old household items (well, the ones we decided to keep), and start to build a collection of things we probably won't have to sell any time soon. There are so many little things about living in a 'permanent' home that are easily overlooked and underappreciated. Some of these things are especially noticeable in the kitchen. For example, I can now buy a large bottle of a good quality sauce or oil and know that I can keep it until it is used up. I won't have to throw it away in a few days/weeks/months if I don't finish it. The neat thing about this is that I can build up a nice variety of kitchen supplies and experiment with ingredients (like exotic rices, grains, spices, etc). Also, now that we don't have to share living space with other people (which usually isn't all that bad) we will be able to 'stock up' on items we know we will need. This will greatly reduce our trips to the grocery store, which we used to have to make several times a week. However, the most significant thing for me, I think, is that this afternoon we will be able to unpack our bags. We packed them when we left Canberra in May, four months ago.

With luck, we won't need to move again until we actually buy a home.

Revolutionary

Seth's birthday was just eight days after mine, so I had some planning to do. Luckily, he decided to take advantage of our location at Westford and wanted to explore the neighboring colonial towns, so after our classes we drove to Lexington (not too far outside Waltham) and went out to Minute Man National Park. We walked along a part of the five mile long Battle Road Trail, which connects Lexington and Concord. The theme of the trail, lined with ripe Concord Grapes, is the battle of April 19,1775, which launched the American Revolution. It was great to get out there and enjoy the beautiful late summer scenery.

Battle Road Trail, Minute Man National Park

Snacking on Concord Grapes along the way

The next destination was Concord, where we briefly stopped at Old Manse, a historic home built by the Emerson family, rented out by Hawthrone, and visited by Thoreau. As the sun was setting we made the most of the remaining daylight and rushed to nearby Sleepy Hollow Cemetery--not to be confused with Washington Irving's Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in NY. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to get a close look, and we pulled a 'busy tourist' move by going strait to Author's Ridge, which contains the burial plots of the Alcotts, Hawthornes, Thoreau, and Emerson.

Historical home at Concord

Extremely tall corn stalks at Old Manse

Concord's very own Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

As it was getting late, we drove to Bedford for dinner at Cafe Luigi, a casual and bustling Italian place. Even being a Thursday night, it was packed with a 30min wait! The food and cute atmosphere, however, definitely made up for it :o)

Kimball Farm ice cream was closed so we missed out on dessert, but when we got back to Westford Gina had surprised Seth with fresh baked gingerbread cupcakes--it was a good thing she did, or he would have been totally out of a birthday cake!

Our guest room in Mark and Gina's basement

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Mobsters and Cannolis

For my birthday a week or two ago Seth was nice enough to take the afternoon off (I skipped my later class) and we took my first trip downtown. Along the way we stopped at a humongous bookstore/warehouse thing in Newtown (the New England Mobile Book Fair). I didn't make it past the gigantic cookbook section, but from what I saw of the rest of the store--lots and lots of inexpensive books--I was totally floored. I tricked Seth into buying two books for me as 'birthday presents'.

We parked in Brighton and visited Seth's sister and nephew. Chrissy and Erik were sweet and surprised us with a home-made card and a little cake--so cute! Seth and I then took the T downtown and we walked around Government Center, Quincy Market, the pier, and cut back through the Italian North End. Around this area we passed near parts of the 3 mile long Freedom Trail--which I am dying to walk some afternoon--and had a quick glimpse of Paul Revere's house, which looked like it was turned into a gift shop (unless I wasn't looking at the right building...).

Quincy Market

Paul Revere lit the lamps of this church to warn of the oncoming British troops

We stopped for dinner at one of the many fantastic Italian restaurants, Antico Forno, where we had some of the best pasta I think I've ever had. You know how when you go into an Italian place, order pasta, and it comes out in a colossal plate and it is impossible to even make a dent in it? Well, this was no exception, except that we both ate our entire plates, plus two baskets of bread. After skimping on lunch we were that hungry, and it was that good. For dessert we crammed in one of the famous Mike's Pastry cannolis and washed it down with Dunkin' Donuts coffee. A delicious ending to the day.

Dinner in the North End

Mike's Pastry, busy even on a Wednesday night

Our 'goodies' at the end of the day

A melding of two pastry kings: Mike's and Dunkin' Donuts

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Walden

This long Labour Day weekend at Mark's house in Westford has been fairly relaxed, though much excitement was had after discovering a wonderful nearby Asian grocery store and the local Market Basket, a New England supermarket. All I have to say about Market Basket is "oh my god, it's cheap". If we end up living near a Market Basket and a Whole Foods--which is not exactly cheap but does supply certain necessities--I'll be totally content. We have also been doing our dog-sitting duty by taking care of a deaf, geriatric black lab and a poopy yet happy beagle.

Pumpkin

Brunch with Mia on the patio

Seth and his guitar in the 'rustic room'

On Sunday we spent the late afternoon in the nearby town of Concord (pop 17,000), which is only about 10 miles from where we are staying in Westford. Concord was not only the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, the Alcotts, and birthplace of Henry David Thoreau, but the Battle of Lexington and Concord was where the first shot was fired during the American Revolution ("the shot heard around the world"). Unfortunately we did not spend too much time exploring the history (aside from wandering around the streets in search of a place to park) and we headed right to Walden Pond, where Thoreau spent two years of his life, providing inspiration for him to write Walden.

The far end of Walden Pond (Concord, MA)

The cramped beach at Walden Pond (what would Thoreau have thought of this?)

The site of Thoreau's house

The pond was actually really nice, despite the crowds of people gathered at its tiny beaches. We followed the path around the pond, which was only about 1.5miles long, and dodged nasty mosquitoes the entire way.

Here are a few pictures from the past several weeks, continuing on from Seth's home in New York, then my place in North Carolina, and back to Massachusetts.