New England Fall Imagery

What can I say... fall is absolutely bueatiful in New England. Even though I arrived after the peak colour had past, I fell in love with Boston all over again. Fall greets you as you fly in and throughout your journey around New England.



It is so hard for me to imagine that at one time the entire area had been stripped of trees and there was a serious shortage of wood for cooking, heat, and building. I can't imagine this land without trees, for me its what makes New England what it is. The leaves, weather, and trees is are so linked with America's symbolic Halloween and Thanksgiving images, even if few of us live in an area that matches. It was a treat to be here at this time of year.

Now, as lovely as the trees are, you must keep in mind that temperatures are brisk. There isn't the wind here as you have in Wellington, but the tempartures are low and there is enough wind to make you crave a warm drink or good food. I didn't actually get to stop into several of my favourite spots to warm myself, but I was so happy to see that they are still there!



Before venturing on to see more of the city.

Boston Changes

On my last day, I took some time to just wonder around Cambridge to visit old haunts. I was amazed by how much change I saw in only a year...The alley by Club Passim was paved. I used to love to sit on the curbside listening to the folk music on sold out nights watching the rain drip and pool in the willy-woggy cobblestone. It used to look more like this:

But now is all smooth and bland... I am sure its better in some ways, but I loved how it was.The Green House restaurant, known for its mile high cakes (and honestly so-so diner food) is now boarded up. I don’t know if they are remodeling or what, but I loved to go in there. It just seemed like one of the few remaining bits of old Harvard Square – there didn’t seem to be much left of the old style Harvard Square by the time I moved there and now even more of it seems gone.
And shock of all shocks, Someday's cafe in Davis Square is no longer there.

This for me was where I would meet up with Traveler to study at the end of a long day in Grad School. It was a second home for me. Others I know think of it as the place you went to chill after a movie at the Sommerville Theatre. You can still hang out there, at it was already getting a bit cleaned up before I moved, but its now a completely different place. At least Johnny d's and diesel are still there.
Trav's old job location is now the American Red Cross
and the famous chocolate place in Harvard square is still there, but the space has been completely remodeled. Gone are the long velvet drapes and steamy tight spaces. The drinks seem smaller too – which given the wonderful richness is probably not completely a bad thing. Still strange. This was one of the first places I popped into when I first visited Boston back in the late 90's. I didn't even know I would be coming there for school, but had an inkling that this would be a spot I'd be passing through throughout my life.


I guess you can never really go back... unless you are okay with lots of change. Its easy to forget in a place like Boston that feels so historic how much change actually happens there.

Transit update...

Yes I am a transit dork. I LOVE public transport. I love the adventure of not driving. Yes I too have 'a ha' moments when driving in my car, but I don't learn as much about people and myself as I do when navigating public transport. It is very much a civic space for me, albiet more a flow of people than a set place, but it seems that it is essential for people to have places where they gather and be forced to interact a bit. Maybe this is why I love open air markets, ferries, trains, buses, and the like. The mixing of people with the goal of doing something other than mixing with people seems to be a productive way for us to at least notice that the world doesn't revolve around us and see a bit of the diversity we live admist.

That said - wow lots of changes here in Boston in the year and half since I lived here!
You can't miss these changes when you arrive by plane. The silver line has been extended all the way to the airport now and there are new 'charlie' cards for payment. No longer do you need to take the 22 bus to the blue line to the orange or green line to the red line! All the transit maps have of course been changed, but also I saw big improvements in signs across the boards. There were heaps of electronic signs stating destination, times, etc.


Some things were the same.. and I now feel less embarassed about being a tourist in my home country. I freely snapped pictures of T stops that were once an integral part of my every day routine.

Kendall – with its interactive musical pipes and metals clangers
Harvard – with is gradually slopping ramp that everyone runs down to catch their train in spite of the signs begging you to 'walk not run.”
The red line's journey over the Charles is still one of my favourite communiting moments in all the world.

Porter Square still has the windmills and insanely long escalator.

I also snapped a photo of the new Charlie card machines making a mental note that ever station has an American Flag (see below). I just don't see New Zealand's flag everywhere the way I see the American one here. And then security approached me about taking the photo. They asked what I was doing and I said "just taking photos of the station." They said that it is fine to take photos of station, but that that wasn't what I was doing. I guess where I was looking was not part of the station in their mind. I don't really know what the problem was. In the end they just dropped it. Its moments like this that made me feel very strange about America.
Maybe I don’t have enough of a criminal mind, but I just don’t see how taking the above photo is at all subversive or threatening to America’s security. But maybe they are nervous about us transit geeks because public transit does go a bit against the idea of us all getting in our cars to drive frantically between shopping and leisure and earning opportunities which at least some in power may have invested interests in us all continuing to do. I don’t know, maybe they were just bored. Maybe there had been a bomb threat early this year. It just seems so strange to me that my behavior was considered threating at all. I guess not too many people love transit enough to want to take photos of it....

I also snapped a few photos of the other major transit options in Boston... cars and walking.
It was also nice to see this horrible intersection in my old neighborhood finally fixed with the installation of a 'rotary' (as roundabouts are called here). This is one change I am thrilled to see.

Dance night... my Great Gatsby Evening

Another thing I miss about Boston is the swing dance scene. Well my friend Lili made sure that I got a good long drink of it last Saturday. Not only did she take me out to a local dance...

... but she also let me tag along to a house party for an acquaintance's birthday party. It was this incredible house and space, with wonderful people and incredible dancing. I have no words to describe this party. It was a dream event that I hadn't ever let myself fantasy about. It is something that I could see my friend Erin organzing if someone lent her the house. If anyone wants to organizing a 30th, or 40th or any birthday... well you know what, I'm not picking, I'm happy to attend any such event any day of the year!

And oh do want to be able to freely move my body to music like that someday.

Visiting Friends

I also got to visit many friends. I picked up my friends' wonderful daughter Abby and got to stroll through the fall leaves with her on the way home. I just love a girl who's not afraid to play hard with tights on!

She's also recently discovered the joys of writing. There were a few of her amazing stories about bats and caves that are well populated with animals with simple to spell names. It is so cool to see someone breaking the code of writing, and to remember how far my own writing process has come (and haw to go!).

Her brother, Matt, is just as amazing with his creativity. He is always creating comics on napkins, social study tests, and back sides of printed papers. At brunch he also was wowing us all with his math quizzes and tricks.
We hit the StellaBella toy store in Inman square, which brought back all sorts of memories for me. How a toy store can be so emotional for me I don't know, but at least its fun!

And then I ended my trip, by seeing off Matt and Abbey to school. Abby even let me take a photo of us before she walked out the door. Her older brother was a bit more in a hurry to head out. But I found myself shedding a few tears watching each of them make their way to school. Its so hard to be so far from watching such great kids growing up... then again seeing old friends how much I've grown in this year overseas, something I also wouldn't want to give me.

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Some friends are just familiar building with stories – not only for me, but for all the other people who've passed through.

The building where I used to work in grad admissions... and later watched the Boston Marathon from.
The Middle East where we first tasted Foo'ma Dama, a current staple in our household. A few of our favourite CD's were bought here following live shows.
There also is my favourite lunch buffet at the Central Square Tibetan Restaurant. Yes, I am a dork, and I wanted to remember my meal that I've waiting a year and a half to enjoy. The spicy sauce wasn't as amazing as I remember, but the great conversation with a friend more than made up for it.

And of course Emerson College where I had a wonderful grad school experience. It was so great to bump into former classmates at the conference and hear about their current life adventures from babies to travels!