#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

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

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

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.

Seth playing a game of Castles and Catapults (or something) with his nephew

Seth's dad and niece (Cora) making cookies with our prized Aussie critter cutters

Tory (Seth's brother) and Chance (nephew)

Launching rockets

Looking for the rocket lost in the corn field

My cookie (modeled after Mr. Peanut)

Seth showing me a walnut tree

A black walnut (not yet ripe)

The nearby farm

There is something very unsettleing about a field of sun flowers, but I can't put my finger on it...

Day trip to the Windmill, full of local crafts and a great place for Amish spotting

Running down Seth's road

The boxes we mailed from Canberra (via sea) finally arrived in Raleigh (about 6 weeks later)

Running in Brighton (no wonder I got poison ivy!!)

The Charles River, Watertown

The wheels are turning but we're not moving (forward)

The past month has been like treading water--a lot is going on, but not too much progress is being made. Lots of little things keep creeping up which eventually hinder something we need or want to do (for example, two broken watches, parking tickets, lost car keys, a maxed-out credit card and no Dell laptop to show for it, etc.). The biggest annoyance for me is misplacing my day-planner, which has absolutely EVERYTHING in it. So while I would like to talk about what has happened the past several weeks, I can't be too sure of the details and dates. This is probably good, because I can now only provide the more memorable events :P

The week (or two) we spent in New York was such a breath of fresh air that it makes me already really want to go back. Though Seth was busy as usual, I spent heaps of time reading, going for walks to the end of the road with Seth's mom, eating lots of very delicious food, watching the Amish buggies ride past the house, wandering around Wegmans, petting the multitudes of friendly cats, and picking corn. Though it was early August and sweltering hot down South, it was cool and crisp every day in New York. Could a person want anything else?

We eventually had to leave New York and spend a day driving down to North Carolina, where we took just a few days packing and visiting wonderful friends and colleagues in Chapel Hill. We then piled back into the car and made the 14 hour drive up to Boston, hitting every major city on the east coast along the way (that day, we woke up at 3am to go for a short run then managed to leave the house just after 6am, which allowed us to avoid at least some DC traffic and NYC traffic). The drive should have only been about 13 hours but we got stuck in a small town called Perryville, where we had a very hard time finding an ATM to withdraw cash to pay for the last few toll roads. If you every find yourself in Perryville and in need of cash, don't waste your time with gas stations and go directly to the Food Lion!

Since arriving at Chrissy's apartment in Boston (well, Brighton, to be specific), we have been spending nearly all our time between Brandeis and Brighton, but we did manage an afternoon outing to Harvard Square in Cambridge. It wasn't as bustling as we were expecting, probably because classes were not yet in session. I still haven't been to downtown Boston, so I will need to make a point to see it sometime soon.

Yesterday Seth taught his first class--he did not start with any introduction and just launched right into full lecture mode and passed out the syllabus in the last minute or two of class. For each undergraduate to be paying over $36,000 a year in tuition, at least they will get their money out of having Seth as their professor! He will be teaching Classic and Romantic Music, a graduate proseminar in Music of the Renaissance, and doing lots of his own research. And until I find myself a job, I will be sitting in on Introduction to Economics (that's right, econ), and Art History (post-1945).

Besides this, we have been doing lots and lots of apartment hunting, attempting to wrap up more loose ends in Australia (like Superannuation, taxes, etc), and last week I got poison ivy down my lower legs. I have never gotten poison ivy and I thought I was resistant, especially considering I have a hard time identifying it and Seth always catches me before I wander right into it, so in theory I should have had it many times before. However, where we go running, near Hammond Pond, it is like an entire forest of the oily stuff. At least it doesn't really itch.

The past week and a half the Meyers were in New York, and Jens returned early. It has been nice to stay with them during this time. However, this evening Mark and Gina will be leaving for the Outer Banks for a week, and we will be dog-sitting for them out in the 'rural' part of town (about 30min west of Brandeis, or about 60min west of Brighton). This afternoon we cleared out of Chrissy's house and once again, everything that is important to us is in the car.

As nice as it is to be staying in comfortable homes and not necessarily have to pay rent (which can be ludicrously high), I do wish we had a place of our own to live. Since preparing to leave Johns in mid-December, we have moved approximately 12 times (in less than 8 months):

Johns --> Stephen and Kim's house --> Johns --> New Zealand --> Nick's house/Office --> Share house on Fenner St --> (*Seth goes to the US --> *Seth returns to Fenner St) --> Northern Territory --> Vietnam --> Hong Kong --> (Seth goes to New York --> Seth goes to Boston) --> (I go to Rochester, MN --> North Carolina --> *Boston) --> *New York --> *North Carolina --> Boston/Chrissy's place --> Boston/Mark's place

* = these are not moves, they were just big trips

The rest constitute a 'move' and not a 'trip' because we carried a significant amount of our belongings with us. At each move, we did not have a more permanent 'home base' or address or phone number where we could be reached.

New York is a State

During my last few 'rousing' weeks sitting at home collecting dust, I did manage to rattle off a job application (for a position at the Museum of Science in Boston), go to a few more Bikram Yoga classes, meet with Meghan for archery, visit with Monica Gray before her departure to Minnesota, and order a shiny new lap top (sorry, Acer). I can't wait for my new PC to arrive--though today I discovered there actually is a 'wireless button' on Acer, so now I can once again connect to WiFi and get lots of things taken care of without having to go to the public library!

Meghan at the range

Last Saturday I finally caught a flight up north, to Boston. I planned it just right so that I would arrive in time for a little girl's birthday party, the daughter of Seth's cousin. However, my flight path from Raleigh followed directly behind a storm and my flights were delayed and/or canceled. I arrived over 8 hours late, missed all the fun, and wasted a day.

In Boston I finally met with Seth and we stayed with his sister, Chrissy, and her family in Brighton. We spent the next three days looking at apartments, share houses, etc. in Waltham and Watertown, and by the end we decided to expand our search to the more bustling Cambridge. The most promising place we found was of course a bit expensive, especially with oil heating, so I think we will just have to continue our search later. We spent so much time looking at places that I never had a chance to explore Boston--besides meeting with Seth's brother-in-law, Jens, for lunch at the Prudential Center. One of our excursions, however, was meeting a friend of Seth's from UNC (Paul) who just so happened to live around the corner from Chrissy. It's a small and very weird world.

Near Prudential Center (Newbury St.). Gnomes.

Dropping a few things off at Seth's new office at Brandeis

Yesterday Seth and I took the train from Boston to Syracuse, with a 2 1/2 hour layover in Albany. The train was actually really nice, like a super deluxe bus, and I got to watch the stunning scenery of Massachusetts and upstate New York pass by through the windows. *Note: For those readers who are not familiar with American geography, New York is a large state which contains New York City. New York State is predominately rural and sparsely populated. Seth lives about 7 hours outside the city.* We were greeted by his parents at the station--it was really nice to see them, particularly since I have not seen them in about 3 years.

Riding the Amtrak through New York

We will be at Seth's parents' house for an undetermined number of days before driving back to Boston and North Carolina. It is so lovely and peaceful here--when I was in Australia and I thought of how nice it would be to return to the US, I would usually be picturing these farming communities in New York and certainly not the rich suburbs of the hot and humid south.

The albinos

I don't know if it is just dumb luck or if there was some sort of little-discussed nuclear waste spillage in the Triangle Area, but last week on my way out for an early run (July 15th) I spotted my second albino birdie.

Seth noticed the first bird during one of his runs in the Spring of 2006--a partial albino female cardinal. This was in Chapel Hill, and we followed her for a few months until she mysteriously disappeared. She was really cute but was pretty aggressive towards all the other females her mate attracted. He spent an awful lot of time singing. I bet she was set up.

*Photos taken by Seth Coluzzi, April 2006*

This second bird was a robin: white with an orange breast and with dark eyes. I saw it in my front yard then it flew into the neighbor's trees. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of it and I haven't seen it since. I will need to wake up early some morning and stake it out!

This picture is actually of a different robin, but it looks just like the one I saw:

* Photo by G. Ordy (Chesterland, Ohio in June 2006)*