Oooohhhh. Aaaaaahhh.

My favorite yard and tree in Cambridge.

Head of the Charles

This weekend was very exciting for my neck of the woods. Right here in Cambridge/Boston, the Head of the Charles, or Charles Regatta was held right on the river that divides the two cities. Tons upon tons of people poured down to the river banks to watch the boats race against the clock.

I caught the first days events during a morning run and stopped on a few bridges to watch a couple heats pass underway. Age groups from youth to 70+, teams from all over the world, and former olympians all participated in the event. The pure numbers and stats are enough to get you excited, but watching the boats stealthily glide over the water, the teams moving in unison with one another and the coxswain yelling with all they've got from the front of the boat will make you cheer and scream with the best of em

Museum of Fuiiiine Art, Baybay

At last, I finally made it over to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. I wasn't sure what to expect. You don't hear people talk about the MFAB as something spectacular, or rather you don't really hear them talk about it at all. But I had made it a point to go, so with a free ticket from Rodolpho Machado, I coerced myself to take a little trip over to West Boston.

The museum is huge, not well laid out, but full of good art, apart from the building. The museum is located within its original structure, opened in 1876. There are lots of walls and columns and stairways, and really no visibility of the plan. Sir Norman and Foster have just designed a new wing for it that is to be built within the next few years, so perhaps that will modernize the museum a bit. For now, however, it is pretty closed in and lacks a lot of natural light.

I had a chance to run through an exhibit on Napoleon and 19th century French era art/clothing/design. I did literally run. What was more interesting were a couple of exhibits on Japanese art, one entitled the Art of Drama and Desire. This had a lot of the kiyok-e(?) art most associate with Japan. Lots of scenes depicting the brothels and geishas of the "floating districts," home to women of such work. The art was really delicate, for the most part, although there were a couple of pornographic scrolls placed along the back of the show room that were quite unexpected. Apparently, these were shown only at private house gatherings of the artist. Ha, I guess things never change.

Pick a Peck of Apples

"Let's go apple picking!" she said. And so they did. Or rather, we did. The skies were blue, the sun high, the weather just right; how could a group of happy kids not partake in the New England tradition of picking apples, straight from the orchards of the land??

Because one simply cannot resist, today, my roommate, Catie, and two friends, Doug and Kelly, and myself all journeyed to Hampton Falls, New Hampshire to do just that. With a reservation for a zipcar and directions northward, we set out to gather freshly grown apples at the orchards of Apple Crest Farms. A nice little fact about the place: it is actually the place that Cider House Rules is based on, too. A bit of history with a bit of seasonal fruit.



The drive there was lovely, lots of color bursting from the trees. From vibrant orange to golden yellow, the landscapes were exuberant.












With some loose navigating and a couple of costly mistakes, we finally made it to the orchard, with exactly 30 minutes to pick a full bushel/peck/whatever one would call a bag full of apples. We ran through the rows of trees, gathering the choice fruits and before long we had a huge bag full of the delicious things (cortland apples to be exact). Along the way we sampled a few dangling from the tree, and Catie claims to have had one of the best apples of her life, reason enough to make the journey...














There was also a festival taking place at the farm, but because of our limited time, we had to pass by quickly. Pumpkins, music, apple cider donuts, you name it--this place was fabulous. If only we had booked a bit longer with our honda element. Alas, we returned to Boston, apples in hand, a few rolling around in the car, and enjoyed the colors lining the highways once again...Ah, autumn in New England.



Above: Kelly with some corn; Pumpkins!

Summers at the Cape...

Because no summer would be the same without a trip to the cape (as Bostonians always like to hautily say), my mom and I had to catch a ferry to Provincetown to really make her trip to Boston worthwhile and lasting. Just an hour and a half ride from Boston, across the Atlantic Ocean, is the town which first greeted the pilgrims on their maiden voyage to the Americas. We woke up early Saturday morning and hopped on the P-town Fast Ferry, and arrived to a bright and sunny day, hanging over the small, quaint community of Provincetown. Photo: our hair goin crazy in the fast ferry's fury across the water.


Photos: Buoys!; Cape Cod, fresh off the boat.




As soon as we stepped off the ferry, we made our way towards Pilgrim's Monument, a tall obelisk-type building built at the turn of the century to commemorate the landing of the mayflower. We climbed to the top of the hill it sits upon, and then climbed all 252 feet to the very top of the monument. Out of the small windows we were able to look down below at the small town, a perfect bird's eye view of all we had left to explore during the remainder of the day.




Photos: Taking a break in some nice wooden chairs; Emerging fall colors.




After walking around the town for a bite to eat, we headed toward the western edge of town to rent some bikes and further explore the beaches and nearby terrain. After a bit of negotiating and a reluctant agreement to wear helmets, my mom and I were both situated on a couple of comfort 18-speed bikes, and headed down the 8 miles of bike path, winding in and out of the sand dunes which run along the coast line. We had a lot of up and downs, hill after hill we combated gravity, but we peddled along pretty well, only having to stop once and accept defeat as we walked our bikes up a hill.




The terrain was beautiful, much like parts of Texas with juniper-like pine trees, except the ground was covered by a nice and gritty sand. As our energy waned and the beach called out to us, we took an hour to lay on the beach and sleep in the sun. Photos above and below: the beaches of Provincetown.







After biking, we just kept on keeping on and headed over the rather fortuitously located Provincetown museum, designed by my firm, Machado & Silvetti. 5 minutes til closing, we scurried inside and explained our point of visiting. A rather enthusiastic museum employee shared with us his love of the building and eagerly invited us inside to view the building. We didn't stay too long, as they were about to open their doors for their annual fancy-schmancy fundraising event, but we had just enough time to take a couple snapshots and admire the building up-close. Photos below: exterior of the museum--lots of beautiful wood-cladding; a wonderful detail on the lower half of the building--essentially concrete poured to resemble wood, which was incredibly delicate (not overdone or cheesy).






A really beautiful painting in the museum that looked amazing against the avocado green wall.










After visiting the museum we grabbed a delicious dinner at a waterside restaurant, Fanizzi's, and indulged in some seafood fare, including but not excluded to clam chowder and fish and chips. The day quickly came to a close, and we had to say our goodbyes to the Cape. A beautiful day, one that we can hopefully relive once again, if not in this lifetime, perhaps the next...

Momma Simpson meets Boston, at last!

Finally, after months of anticipation, my mom arrived in Boston, late this past Friday evening. So many weeks of planning and excitement, it was wonderful to get to see her after being away from Texas for almost four months. Because her birthday was just a week or so prior to her trip, we took the opportunity to celebrate her birthday on her first evening in Boston, with an appetizing meal of Coast Cafe soul food and a flower cupcake.

My roommate, Catie, also celebrated with us and helped to make Happy Birthday a bit louder, as well as make the cupcake disappear more quickly. My mom was extremely happy to finally meet her, too. The birthday celebration was complete!



The next day we took off to Provincetown (see following post), and then spent the next two days seeing Boston. We walked the Freedom Trail, explored Boston, both south and downtown, as well as the Cambridge area. It was wonderful having my mom so close, which made it all the more difficult to say goodbye...A weekend I will never forget, thank you momma for an amazing visit!

A Circle in a Square

Thanks to my handy, dandy Boston Metro which I read every morning on the way to work, I found out that the Boston Aquarium was hosting a free student night this past Tuesday. Because admission to this famed institution is normally a whopping $20 smackaroos, I hopped at the opportunity. The nighttime setting was wonderful for the building, and the light really emphasized the angularity of the building. This is a shot from the outside, near the Boston Harbor.

Once inside the aquarium, I wondered around, trying to figure out the basic plan design. And I was delighted at what I found. The building parti is essentially a circle inscribed in the center of a square. The circle, extruded, is a massive four story cylindrical aquarium, stocked full of fish and sea animals. Hugging the cylinder is a spiraling concrete ramp, which allows up-close views of the creatures. Then, wrapping about that and hugging the exterior walls of the square floor plan is a rectangular ramp. I had a lot of fun just walking up and down, up and down. Unfortunately, there were far too many students there, most probably from Harvard or MIT and were quite obnoxious--so I got my fill of the building and left the rest for the kiddos...But seeing the building was well worth it.

Boston Harbor Islands

This past Sunday, Michael and I decided that it was high time to take the ferry over to the Boston Harbor Islands--a clustering of islands about 30 minutes from the Boston Bay. We hopped on a cruiser around 2 in the afternoon and sped across the water to Georges Island, which was once a site for a fort. The abandoned barracks still remain and are open for people to explore, crawl, and meander through them.




Photos: One of many open barracks; spider web!






A special exhibit created by Office Da, another architecture firm in Boston that also has a Rice Intern, was up and installed in one of the barracks, as well. We both wandered around the island searching for the exhibit, and when we finally found it we were greeted by a long, sinuous form made of translucent plastic modules, all held together by nuts and bolts. We crawled through and around it, sang a couple christmas songs, and bounced on our merry way.




There seemed to be many more islands worth exploring, however, we had to return to the mainlands before we had the chance to do so. Next time, a grand picnic and a kite would make the trip to the Harbor Islands well worth a second visit.

Beantown, Jazz!

A free jazz festival, three stages, and complimentary refreshments??? Unheard of, except in the city of Boston! Stumbling down to Columbus Avenue, Michael and I found lots of free music, foods, and crowds of people enjoying it all. After eating some free cotton candy and pretzels, we settled on a big grassy lawn to listen to some big band jazz and snooze a bit in the sun.