Conversations with Myself

see the Windy City HERE

what an incredibly boring flight American has to offer. Mom prefers this airline because they offer more leg room but that’s about all they seem to offer. Okay, you get a couple of beverages too. Big deal. You have to pay additional money to eat anything substantial and there is absolutely no option of in-flight entertainment. Unless you consider their free American Way magazine entertainment. I don’t. Even perusing the SkyMall catalog didn’t hold my interest. I need something more to distract me from this lousy mood. Freebie magazines and 2 glasses of orange juice just don’t cut it. This 4 hour 30 minute flight seems impossibly long. Get me back on the ground in Washington State already! I want to be home! I want to be back with Rob and the dogs. Thank goodness for the unconditional love of puppies!

Oct 27 Taking the train to Chicago, upper deck, yellow tinted windows, cloudy day, hint of blue, hint of rain. Metra trains have a weekend special- $5 pass to ride anywhere all weekend- a steal of a deal! So here I am. I’m not really sure where I’m going from here though.  Not sure what I’m in the mood for, it was hard enough getting myself this far!  Feeling lazy.  Yesterday we unloaded the Uhaul at mom’s new place.  It actually went quickly- we were done in just over 2 hours. That night they accepted an offer on their old (Walpole) house.  By Dec 14 it should be a done deal and they should both be happily settled into their new house.  Exciting!

I don’t want to generalize, but I will anyway.  Real estate agents, I trust them about as far as I can throw them. I actually had no opinion of them either way until last night.  Basically, mom’s real estate agent was encouraging mom to accept an offer that was much too low.  Its bad enough the agent readily agreed when mom suggested lowering the initial price after only 21 days (trust me when I say that compared to more of the similar houses on the market, theirs is definitely one of the nicer), but to want to accept an even lower price ($40,000 lower than the initial price) was just outrageous.  I suppose in a slow market, any money is better than no money, but I still think that’s pretty crummy.  The agent should be having the customers best interest in mind, not her own!

Okay, rant over.  Alls well that ends well.  Anyway, soon the stress of buying and selling will be completely over and they can focus on the stress of renovating their new place.

(a little later that day) Iced coffee goes down way too easy. Before you know it, your drink is gone and in 20-30 minutes, its diuretic effect is kicking in.  I treated myself to a large hazelnut iced coffee from McDonalds and before I knew it, 1/3 of it was gone. It’s pretty darn good.  Thank you McD’s of the Future (their claim, not mine) at the Navy Pier.  I’m waiting for the Buccaneer show to begin on the Family Pavilion Stage.  This is preventative medicine. I’m been walking since I got off the train, however far away that was.  I’m not too tired yet but give me a chance, I soon will be.  I have no plan for the day, which is why I probably ended up here. Since I didn’t know where I was going, when I hit the streets I unconsciously headed toward what was familiar and obvious.  First I ran into Millennium Park, which had some fabulous sculptures. Not knowing where to go from there, I headed toward the lake, which conveniently had apath bordering it.  Decision time- Field Museum or Navy Pier? Cheapness won out. Freebie Pier it is, saving the Museum for another day?  I have no plans after all and a week ahead of me!

New England Photos!!

Saturday Jen and I went to Salem to investigate our roots. What not a better place to do so than the Salem Witch Museum! Unfortunately 100’s of other witchy ancestors had the same idea and the line to get in reached several blocks. Considering how I have no patience for lines (thankfully Jen didn’t either), we decided to forgo the history lesson and just explore the rest of Salem’s Haunted Happenings instead. Lotsa people! Some in full costume, many in witches hats, everyone having a good time, including us.

Jen is a good friend. We’ve known each other since high school. Ever hear that quote ‘a true friend walks in when the rest of the world walks out’? That would be Jen, though the quote would be best adapted to say ‘a true friend stands by you when when the rest of the world is giving you crap.’ That would be the high school version and that would be Jen. Unfortunately after high school we lost touch for many many years, but the high school reunion brought us back together. Seeing her again felt like picking up right where we left off. She is still the awesome individual that I remember and it really touched my heart when she drove out to see me Tuesday night before I left. I don’t think we’ll be losing touch again- not if I can help it anyway! Who knows, maybe she feels completely different.

I do regret not visiting my friend Paula who lives in Worcester. What was I thinking?? I let the traffic stress me out. Traffic, even in the greater Boston suburbs, was too much like city driving. People waiting until the last minute to brake, getting right on my tail, and basically there being just too many cars on the road! Mom was really nice in letting me borrow her car, but it also caused a bit of increased anxiety because the last thing I wanted to do was mar her car! Initially I was supposed to rent a car and actually had 4 separate reservations that I eventually canceled one by one. As mom would say, ‘oh well!’

We left Wed morning. Dave in the Uhaul, mom and I following in her CRV. Overall I would say the drive went quite well. The first 4 hours were a bit tedious as I was stuck in the passenger seat. After our second gas stop though I kicked mom out, took control of the vehicle, plugged in the ipod and turned up my music loud! At that point it was a much enjoyable smooth drive! Driving, driving, driving…I do enjoy driving. We did encounter a hellish traffic jam outside of Chicago but I’m not going to let that little hiccup destroy my experience (though it did help that mom was driving then- I let her drive home the last hour- which worked well for me!).

I have been slacking about writing.  I’ve been so busy doing stuff- there is so much to see and do before I leave!- that I’ve been spending my time doing it rather than writing about it. I will take a mere moment now though to update you on my activities.

First of all, I was definitely right when I thought I was overextending myself on that day I had Concord, Lowell, Seabrook, Leominster, and Worcester planned.  Nevermind splitting the day up into 2 days…..It’s been 2 days and I’m still working on it all!  There is so much to see that everything takes longer than I imagined.  One day I started at Walden Pond (beautiful in autumn), then I shot up to Seabrook, figuring I should get to the Science Center before it closed.  The colors along the coast of New Hampshire were amazing, so I ended up spending much longer there than I imagined.  There goes day 1.

Day 2 I decided to concentrate on the rest.  Headed up to Concord and again, got lost in the history and the beauty of the place.  The White Hen Pantry (when you run out, run out to White Hen….) and even the Five and Ten remain the same, but my old elementary school, Thoreau Elementary, has been tore down and rebuilt as a brick structure!!!   Shocking!!  (just a side note, Tom Tom One GPS is very wrong when it comes to indicating the center of West Concord).  After this surprise, I headed up to the town of Concord proper to play tourist.  In my wanderings, I ran across the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.  It’s less than a mile from downtown Concord yet I don’t think I’ve ever been there before….which is even more surprising when you realize that my favorite author- Henry David Thoreau- is buried there!  After roaming around the cemetery, admiring the old gravestones and the colorful trees, I hopped back in my car to visit the Old North Bridge…

“By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.”

Thank you Ralph Waldo Emerson (who is also buried at Sleepy Hollow) for those words.

After my dose of Revoltionary War history, I headed up to Lowell for a different kind of history- a hint of the Industrial Revolution. I absolutely love the old mills.   Okay, I doubt would have loved working there in that era, but to see them today, I think they are gorgeous.  Proud sturdy old buildings.  I visited the Lowell National Historical Park including the Boott Mill.  I don’t think I’ve ever been in the Boott Mill portion of the park before, and I’m so glad I made it this time.  The Boott Mill is one of the oldest restored mills, and the bottom floor of the museum includes working looms.  Working!  Running, noisy and dusty, weaving textiles just as they did many years before.  It was just incredible.  To stand there amidst the heat and the dust and the noise, I could imagine being there 100 years before, working ricidulously long hours for little pay, losing my hearing, being tired and cranky.  Hmmmmm, what was 100 years ago for us is still occuring in 3rd world countries.  Now there is something to think about.

Okay, I didn’t really think about that until just now.  I was being too impressed and in awe of the machines.  Again, so much to see and before I knew it, it was 4:30 and time to head back to Walpole.  What happened to Leominster and Worcester??  When will I get a chance to go there??

I also wanted to mention that last weekend at this time I went to Battleship Cove in Fall River MA.  Battleship Cove is home to the battleship USS Massachusetts, the destroyer USS Joseph P Kennedy Jr, and the submarine USS Lionfish, among other helicopters and boats.  Each of these boats is open to the public to walk through, climbing up stairs and through hatches. Heck, groups can even sleep on board (as Rob did when he was a young boy scout)!  It is also a fascinating place and I easily explored each vessel for several hours.  Well worth the $12 entry fee!!!

Today I am heading to Salem with my old high school friend Jen.  The Salem Witch Museum to be exact.  Doesn’t that sound like the perfect place to go in October?!