Memorial Day Weekend Fun

Saturday: Spent the early afternoon with a brunch invite over a good friend’s house. So nice to be invited and so delicious! Good chatting too.

Sunday: Pool invite up north, hung out, didn’t get to use the pool because it was too cold, but fun to see Molly again. The fire pit was relaxing though.

Monday: Today was the “get stuff done day.” Gardening and getting lobster rolls from Cousins Lobster food truck down at the Bubbling Brook ice cream place in Westwood. It was pretty good! I got the Connecticut style roll while LD got the lobster quesadilla. The gardening did take a while though, getting the plants, readying them, and placing either in the pots, raised beds, or hung depending on what kind of plant they were.

Saturday Morning City Bike Ride

Took a picture of this church before the ride.

This morning was the annual spring bike ride that the city of Cambridge puts on that I try to do every year. This year’s theme was a tour of Cambridge’s off-leash dog areas. We also stopped at Fresh Pond for a water and restroom break and to hear from a guest speaker about the City’s biggest dog and wildlife hotspot. The ride was really good, mostly level terrain, with a police escort. If you weren’t near the front though I don’t think you’d actually know where the parks were because there wouldn’t be anyone to point it out to you as you rode by. This was a good 11 mile ride with about 115 participants. The best parts were the dogs that came along for the ride. After it was all over I headed to place a saw on Chronicle last week in my neighborhood that I wanted to try out, a Rwandan couple that has a coffee shop and serves coffee from their homeland, I must say it was pretty good! Would definitely go back and try some other things.

Below Listing:

  1. Cambridge city bike ride start
  2. Doggo on the ride
  3. Rest stop
  4. Wildlife by the Charles
  5. Back on the road
  6. Only time we can bike this underpass
  7. Again
  8. Drinking coffee from Rwanda!

May the 4th Be With You!

Started out the day walking a trail in Wellesley that I’d been meaning to do for quite some time but never got around to it until today. We had to be in the area so I decided to take the oppurtunuithy to get some steps in. The Fuller Brook Trail is really beautiful. Such a lovely trial to walk and enjoy.

After that I decided to treat us brunch over at The Cottage.

It was also Somerville Open Studios weekend so I decided to relive visiting the Museum of Modern Renaissance.

Time to Start the Garden!

Went to the home improvement store yesterday to get some plants and get a feel for the beginning of our garden season. We also had to get a CO2 monitor since the last one decided at 2:30 in the morning the other day to wake us up and let us know it finally reached it’s end of life. So there I was, groggy and 2:30 am trying to figure out how to shut the damn thing off. I got it eventually although it took me a few minutes. No wonder I was tired later on that day. Anyways, we got some plants, including a lemon tree which I’m apprehensive about keeping alive but we always wanted one so we’ll give it our best shot. We feel pretty good about the yard work we started to do today.

Finding the Daffodil Fields

Finally got a chance to check out the Daffodil Field over down in Dartmouth. It’s at the end of a short hike over a scenic trail to get there. I believe there’s also something similar somewhere in Rhode Island which may be worth checking out some time. Anyways, according to local lore, the daffodils were planted by Raymond Pettey in the 1940s to sell during WWII when the U.S. was unable to get bulbs from Holland. The war ended and the flowers remained!

Hiking the Mattapoisett Rail Trail

This scenic and spectacular mile that crosses the Mattapoisett River estuary, salt marshes, and Reservation Beach at the head of Mattapoisett Harbor connects neighborhoods and conservation areas with car-free biking and walking. I also caught a glimpse of an American Oystercatcher, a first for me!

This one is so awesome, especially where the river meets the sea!

The last few pics for from Ned’s Point Light which isn’t too far from the rail trail.

Mr. History Post #7: The Viaduct!

Canton may be best known at the moment for Karen Read, but this awesome structure precedes her by 190 years! The Canton Viaduct, a stone arch bridge that spans the Neponset River, was constructed in 1835 as part of the rail line connecting Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, and it remains in use in the 21st century!


Ended up watching some really old 48 Hours rerun and they had this story on about an event that happened in Falmouth down on the Cape back in 1979. I found it so interesting I had to download the book about the events so, Currently Reading: The Year We Disappeared.

Mr. History Post #6: The Echoing Bridge!

Mr. History post #6: The bridge that echoes! A National Historic Landmark, this handsome stone bridge, built in 1876 by the Boston Water Works, contains the Sudbury Aqueduct, with a pedestrian walk on top. Visitors standing under the arch can make echoes and view the deep river gorge, waterfall, and steep hemlock-covered banks. Spectacular views atop the bridge! Crazy to think this is basically next to Route 9!

Mr. History Post #5: Harvard Square Edition!

Up first, the Harvard Lampoon Building. Sometimes referred to as the “Lampoon Castle,” it was built in 1909 by Edmund M. Wheelwright, who took inspiration from the local architecture of Jamestown, Virginia. From the front it bears an obvious resemblance to a human head wearing a Prussian helmet. At the top of the building is a four-foot copper ibis, the mascot of the Lampoon. This ibis has been stolen and returned several times since 1909. Same famous peeps who worked here are Conan O’Brian and Colin Jost.

Since I was in the area I also swung by the puppeteer tiny bronze. The bronze statue is a replica of the “DooDoo” puppet used by street performer Igor Fokin. Igor Fokin was a puppeteer from St. Petersburg, who delighted passersby on the streets of Cambridge with his hand-carved marionettes that frolicked and danced to traditional Russian music. Fokin passed away of heart failure in September 1996, and the sculpture and accompanying plaque were commissioned to pay tribute to Igor and all street performers.

Finally passed by the old theatre. I haven’t been to the square in years, it’s looks almost the same, but a lot if it is very different.

Feeling Springtime!

We noticed a bunny checking out and hopping into one of the pots last night out on the back deck. You know what that might mean! Lots of baby bunnies have been born in that pot. I wonder if it’s generational – like, was this bunny actually born in that same pot, and is returning to continue the trend? Or is it just some other rabbit looking to use the pot? Does anyone know?

Currently Watching: Started watching Good American Family on Hulu – based off the Natalia Grace story (what a doozy that was), It’s … a little weird.

Mr. History Post #4: The Viking Tower

The viking tower in Weston. Beginning in the mid-to-late-1800s, a food chemist, inventor, and major donor to Wellesley College named Eben Norton Horsford became obsessed with the idea Vikings were in New England around 1000. We know Leif Erikson and other Europeans visited North America before Christopher Columbus. However, Horsford deeply believed Erikson had established settlements in the Boston area.

Some maps from the 1500s refer to New England as “Norumbega,” and there were stories about explorers seeing mythical cities and houses made of gold. However, much of that information appears to have been misconstrued or invented. Most of Horsford’s assertions about Vikings in present-day Boston were rooted in bad science. Evidence from his “archeological” digs didn’t provide solid proof of links to Vikings.

In any event, Horsford had the money to erect various plaques and statutes in the Boston area to memorialize his beliefs. Along the banks of the Charles River in Weston near Waltham he erected Norumbega Tower. The tower stands at the site Horsford believed housed a fort protecting the legendary Norse city of Norumbega. Horsford asserted that the city of Norumbega was located just downriver in Watertown, where he erected a memorial plaque.

Again, there was never any real evidence of a Norse fort or city here. Perhaps more than anything, the tower is a monument to how money can shape history. Thanks to Wikipedia for the write up.

Mr. History: Entry #1 The Oldest House in America!

Starting a little something new here on the blog, although maybe not really because I’ve posted stuff similar to this before. Ladydoc is always calling me Mr. History because I get intrigued about certain things and how they came about. I’m always reading plaques around the states and stuff to learn about the local history. So I figured I’d start with something really close to us to get this new venture off. The oldest house in America. that’s still standing! Anyways that’s kind of cool. So much history right in our back yard!

A Happy Little Cape Getaway Weekend

We had a nice little weekend getaway down the Cape to help celebrate LD’s birthday month. Here’s some of my highlights. I will say it was an awfully windy weekend down there but it was beautiful. Some fun stuff we got to do were some Chocolate Sparrow trips, dinner at a great place we like called Island Blue Crab (where our favorite Bulgarian waitress works), hanging out in such a cute little Airbnb right next to the water, grabbing another Dedham Pottery item to the collection, checking out the sunsets and just overall chilling out. Even set up a future trip in the area for August already! More pics from the trip over on the Instagram account.