Please Come to Boston Reprise

A little over two years ago I set out to visit Catherine in Boston. Two years. A very long time ago, and also not that long ago. This visit was enhanced by Sarah's presence. We drove, and I must tell you that the 8 hour drive to MA was less stressful and felt like it took less time than our drive to Philadelphia a little over a week ago.

We pulled away from Sarah's apartment building at 5 a.m., and were on the NJ turnpike by 6:15 (to which I said: "how in the heck are we in New Jersey Already?!"), and were pulling up to Catherine's door by 1:00 p.m. Thanks to S's creativity, we were treated to her recently compiled "Please Come to Boston" cd mixes (volumes I and II), and when not grooving to that, we cracked up listening to David Sedaris's Dress Your Family in Denim and Corduroy on cd (ready by the author).

When we walked into Catchka's sunny apartment, we were greeted by the warm sweet scent of pumpking loaves (which our dear C enhanced by including chocolate chips!). Big hugs all around, and then...

We began our weekend adventure at Louisa May Alcott's house in Concord. We took the tour of the actual property with 80% of the Alcotts' actual furnishings and artifacts. I have to cop to never having read Little Women, and yes, I do consider this a failing on my part. I am familiar with the premise, I saw the movie, but did not have the great fortune of having my girlhood influenced by the wonderful book. Louisa May Alcott was always most noteworthy to me because she knew Emerson (and Thoreau), whom I consider to be one of the most quotable thinkers/public figures, second only to maybe Churchill. I knew that she and her family were transcendentalists, but that was about it.

After walking in and out of their rooms, seeing her desk, her handwritten pages, and in some cases, the clothing she (or her sisters) wore, she became very real to me, and I was charmed by her writerly life.

Also, the intrigue of this: She totally had a thing for Emerson!

On Saturday, The rain poured, but it did not, it could not dampen our spirits. After a delectable sushi lunch at a shopping plaza, I accompanied Catherine into the Gap to pick up some sandalwood perfume, and we both came out with chocolate trench coats and matching corduroy hats. I cut quite a nice figure in that ensemble with my new boots. I had just been lamenting my lack of a fall coat, and this purchase was truly serendipitous because the trench was marked down about 55%.

Sarah ventured over to an Asian art store where she got a lovely ceramic bowl with a painting of bamboo in the center of the dish.

At Pier 1, where they were having another tremendous sale, I got wooden salad spoon& fork servers, pumpkin bread room fragrance, and deep red olive oil bottle (Catherine got the same one!)

I had been craving a skim pumpkin latte from the coffee monopoly (Starbucks) for more than 24 hours at that point, so we took shelter from the downpour inside the spacious cafe in Davis Square, took impromptu photos, and ate yummy desserts (S and C both got Chinese pastries at the shopping plaza; I got us a chocolate peanutbutter stack to share from Starbucks).

Once we were again ready to brave the elements, we headed across the street to the Used Book Store, where we easily spent an hour or more, poring over the thousands of titles. I added to my Jane Austen collection by picking up Emma; not wanting to leave out Toni Morrison, I picked up the never-read-by-moi Sula; Kafka reasserted himself, so I grabbed a volume of his short stories; A totally spontaneous purchase chosen both for the title and the first line, Stephen McCauley's True Enough rounded out my purchases (along with about 6 black and white photograph post cards).

You'd think we were done, but we weren't. Another hour in CD Spins, where I got a used copy of the Jude Law remake of "Alfie," Craig David's (British R& B) "Born to do it," and Erykah Badu's cd single of her song "Tyrone," which tickled me to no end about 8 years ago whenever I heard it.

Rounding out the night at a local BBQ joint, I felt tremendously tired, but also very satisfied to be with two people I love so dearly, knowing we had another full day to explore (and drop more cash).

Sidebar: I must say for the record that Boston has more truly attractive men per city block than any other city I've visited. I probably noticed that on some level two years ago, but I was otherwise engaged where that sort of thing is concerned then, so I wasn't aware of it in the same way I was this time.

It was poignant and significant that we were able to eat ice cream at the shoppe where Sarah and her cousin, the summer she was 13, went (often? a few times?). Her aunt and uncle used to live in a rather large house in Arlington Heights (not very far from C's place in Somerville), which were also able to find and drive by, just up the hill from the ice cream parlor.

On Sunday, the weather that had been tropical the day before, turned bitter and cold. The air snapped and the little rain that did fall was more like hard pellets. After breakfast with a childhood friend of Sarah's (and her husband and baby), Catherine pointed her car in the direction of Rockport, where we knew we would find incredible chowdah. It was somewhat miserable to walk about, but we managed to visit quite a few shops, and posed for several pictures in front of the whitecapped surf (love those Rocky New England beaches).

Sarah was kind enough to buy me some fig & ginger jam at one of the quaint stores. She and Catherine both got these lovely handbags at a place called "Oriental Pearl." I would have purchased one, but I was getting low on dispensible cash by then.

At Ellen's, we each got a bowl of clam chowder and half a blt (I added my leftover zucchini muffin from breakfast to the table for us all to try). We got hot cocoa to go. It scalded, but the heat was comforting in the bitter cold. Sarah finally got her coveted silver claddagh ring.

This morning at 5:30 we rose with our alarms, and made quick work of leaving Catherine's house and Boston under the cover our darkness. And save for several stops to use the bathroom, our trip was uneventful and completely devoid of traffic. We were back in baltimore by 2 p.m., just about 8 hours exactly from when we left.