ABC Wednesday: B is for Beantown!

What else could it be? Boston, Beantown, Home of the Bruins, Red Sox and hopefully soon-to-be Patriots football team! Boston, capital of Massachusetts. Ex-governor Romney running for president. Home of Boston College (yeah!) - the only college football program most represented with college grads on each of the 2 teams vying for the Super Bowl.

PS: Wish there were a way to add music to this blog. Oh well, this will have to suffice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iARe58XFGuU&feature=related

Salada Tea

This month I have taken Friday's off - which is a usual day off for Ty - and we have decided to make this a 'day trip' day, and get us out of the house's renovations. We were suppose to visit Portsmouth NH but due to phone calls and morning delays - well, we didn't want to make the trek of over an hour to reach our destination. Having remembered seeing enormous bronze doors from the now defunct Salada Tea Company on one of our evening jaunts a year or so back (when I was sans camera), we decided to venture off to see these mammoth masterpieces. So, with thoughts of seeing these doors up close and personal, we made our way to downtown Boston.

Upon our arrival we were met with construction men and hats. Even trying to conjole the construction workers to admit us into us into a hard hat zone, we unfortunately found this sign. Disappointed we moved on to our Plan B - the Museum of Fine Arts (another post for another day!).

I did manage to find some photos from the net which might give you an idea (albeit these photos do not do justice to the massive glory of these bronzes) of these hidden gems in Boston.

"The Salada Tea Company’s original U.S. headquarters and manufacturing plant, built on Stuart Street in 1917, incorporated ornate and enormous doors designed by British sculptor Henry Wilson in 1927. Twelve feet tall, weighing in at two tons, the doors depict the cultivation of tea in Ceylon, now known as Sri Lanka."

Finally - It's a movie!

Thanks to the patience of my son, I have finally figured out the imovie feature. From photo, to slideshow, to movie -- Here's Boston. Hope you enjoy.

Wordless Wednesday

Granary Burial Grounds - along with Ben Franklin and Sam Adams is -- Mother Goose!

Just down the street from the State House and to the side of the Old Park Street Church is this 1660's final resting place of a few of Boston's famous statesmen.

Happy Belated 4th!

Hope you were all able to relax and enjoy the 4th of July festivities in your town...wherever that may be. This was Boston.

PhotoHunt; Flags

These photos are taken of the Old North Church. I couldn't just give you the inside of the church where the flags are hanging. So you have the front, side and back of the church as well. Happy weekend to you all!

Boston, My Home Town

It's great to be in Boston when it comes to sports. At least the Sox won yesterday. Orioles should be a challenge. The Bruins won over the Canadians - historically a duelling team rivalry. And, what can you say about the Celtics. Ty is a big basketball fan so we get to at least a home opener in basketball. (photo courtesy of Boston Globe)

When is Home, HOME?

Most of you know that Ty moved from Hawaii to Boston in June. After 7 months, is Boston home? We have this discussion frequently. I mean, yes, physically the move has been made - lifetime items have been shifted through, boxes shipped, territory in a home has been mapped out for personal, private space.

But, there is an entire psychological component to one's thinking that prepares the psyche to imagine a place as a home. Is it when you know all the local ad jingles, or when you can find your way in an unfamiliar place, or when you secure a driver's license from your newly-adopted state, or gain permanent status in your job? Is it ever really home?

The adaptation seemingly has gone smoothly for him. Not sure I could have handled it so well. I was in Hawaii for over two years and came home to say "goodbye" to Boston to move everything out to Oahu permanently and didn't do it. A number of factors entered into my staying in Boston but it was a tug of mind for me.

So, when is home HOME?

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Brr... please send me some warm thoughts, bloggers who are in the land of the sun, warmth, any place that's not cold -- anything would do.

Mostly Cloudy, 18°F at Logan Airport
as of 6:55 PM:

2° F Real Feel temp
13 mp/h Wind speed
W Wind direction
37% Relative humidity
30.12 in Barometric pressure
10 miles Visibility
Tanning Index: 1 of 10

I especially would like to draw your attention to the Real Feel temp and the 'tanning index'- are you kidding? Come on, today a '1' is a wind burn - not a tan.

Feels Like Home- West Meets East

You just know it when it happens. Like an pair of worn jeans, it just feels good...

Today is the 3.5 month anniversary of my fiance's relocation from Hawaii to Boston. (I know what you are asking ... it's for l-o-v-e, as he says.)

An ongoing discussion is 'adjustments' -- to each other, to East Coast living (weather, pace of life, local idiocyncracies, accents, directions, locations, job seeking) to pets. He seems to have just flowed naturally into it. Of course, having an easy disposition and great outlook on life sweetens any adjustments.

I think you reach a point at any relocation where you just KNOW when it feels like home. Funny how that happens. You just know.

Boston, my home town

Beantown, the City of Champions, the home of the Cod .. whatever you call it, it's where I hang my hat ... these days .. Boston. Born and spent most of my life here with some brief hiatuses to my second home, Hawaii.

In the cool evenings of September in Boston, when the warmth of the day is becoming a memory, the feel of autumn begins to tug at your memory. On the East Coast we are fortunate that Nature repeatedly gives us a kaleidoscope of rich colors to view this Earth.

So, as not to forget that summer may be an Indian Summer, and not to rush the new colors of fall, here are some of my favorite photos of New England. Aloha!