The American Revolution, Part 2

It was supposed to be a beautiful weekend so it seemed the perfect time to explore the area on my bike. As luck would have it, our program director sent out a list of local events and attractions this week. The Minuteman Bikeway was relatively close and free (again - relatively: we won't mention the cost of sitting on that hard seat for all of those hours). What better way to see the area and get some much-needed exercise?
I googled the directions to the beginning of the Bikeway which began at the "west side" of the Alewife station. Not being a good scout, I did not have a compass or a sextant or even a good sense of direction! I found a path on A side of the Alewife station, but I began to wonder if it had not been traveled since the Revolution until I saw all of the graffiti along the fence. The artist was definitely a modern-day poet. You could tell by the alliteration and repetition of words beginning in "f" and "s". I kept telling myself that I would turn around when I could, but that turned out to be well beyond my starting point. Following some other people on bikes, I discovered that the Minuteman Bikeway has no graffiti and that it has big banners announcing its location!
Now I know!
The first stop after I joined the trail was the Spy Pond. the picture is at the beginning of this post - doesn't it look exactly like the pictures of small New England towns? Now this is interesting:
Did you know that the pond is over 100 acres and that ships used to come into Boston to take huge chunks of ice from the pond as far away as Africa and South America? That does not explain the name, but it is fascinating.



There was no marker, but I am guessing that this is where General George Washington stopped to feed his troops after all of the tea had been dumped into the hahbor.

The Bikeway is 11 miles - I am not sure if that is round trip or one way, but I do know that it is uphill both ways and that there are some sassy young people in spandex who kept passing me, but when the ladies who were older and larger than I passed me, that is when I had to stop gazing around and defend my pride. Look what happens to you if you don't make it:


Given the 3 mile journey to the station and the 3 miles back PLUS the 2 miles (at least) that I traveled through the Hood, I think that I earned the 10 Advil and the nap that I took when I got back!

If you are interested in learning more about the bikeway, the link follows and anyone who wants to come visit is welcome to go with me to explore again!
http://www.minutemanbikeway.org/Pages/intro.html

I must thank Andy for his comment explaining to me that a piece of equipment in my apartment is upside down. I value input like his and hope that you will feel free to help me with my decorating faux pas(es?) as my good child has done! That is why we have children, after all.

Sweet, Sweet Children

Today is my birthday and it was a little difficult because I was coming back from a wonderful weekend with Bob and family, and facing a mountain of work to do this week. However, there were so many sweet surprises from our children.The flowers above are from all four of the kids. Em got the idea to send them and communicated with the other three children from Seattle to Boston to Chapel Hill to Raleigh. Meredith chose the flowers, Andy wrote the poem (which follows), Amy chose the florist and Em edited and organized. What a proud mother!
"Hope things keep going well at Hah-Vud.
Happy Birthday from near, fah and fah-thuh."

Amy and Sam took me out to this amazing Mexican restaurant where they make the most divine guacamole table-side. Notice Sam's sore shoulder from carrying the dresser (see pictures above)up to my apartment last night. If you look even more closely, you can see his bloody fingers from my attempts to help! Despite all of that, he paid for the meal!
Then, after Sam shamed Amy into getting out of the car (it is cold and you will note that she does not have a jacket), they gave me a container of cupcakes that Amy had made with a lovely candle that Sam lit from the back of the car. You cannot see or taste how delicious these cupcakes are - but they must be based on the wonderful-sounding peanut butter and chocolate cake described by the smitten kitchen blog. They are outstanding! And I say with gratitude - so are our children!