Caution: Rain Causes Puddles - August 22, 2008

The citizens of Vermont, or actually the officials up there must think we are all idiots, and maybe we are, but this sign in Ascutney, Vermont took the cake - "Caution: Rain Causes Puddles". Well, somebody call the press!!! Not that we don't appreciate a little friendly advice, but I feel now thrown into the same group of bright citizens that needs to be told not to microwave your poodle, because that just may harm the dog.





My friend Rick and I decided to disrupt our hiking pattern and for once head to Vermont instead of exploring every corner of New Hampshire. Not that we went too far into Vermont, the area around Mt Ascutney borders precariously close to the granite state. The weather promised to be reasonably decent if we got there early - thunderstorms were forecast for the afternoon. I have to insert a quick note about the weather here - this must be the suckiest summer in a long time. For a while it seemed we had one t-storm per day, and the only good thing resulting out of this sorry and soggy excuse of a summer is that it will lead Massachusetts to have a record cranberry harvest this fall.

Back to the hike - http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Mt%20Ascutney&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi - Mt Ascutney is a wonderful mountain to hike, it offers such a great variety in terrain and some excellent views. The summit itself is less spectacular, but the West Ridge affords stunning vistas, and a platform for hang gliding enthusiasts (http://www.vhga.org/images/AscutneySetup.jpg). We managed to stay ahead of the storm, and also miss a bear, that, according to some hikers we met, scared them pretty good by traipsing across the trail about 20 feet away from them. The most amazing thing to see in the woods were the gazillion mushrooms who were out there - (thanks to the record amounts of rain this summer) - all shapes, sizes and colors were represented. Unfortunately some of them were in an advanced stage of decay, and filled certain parts of the forest with a seriously nauseating smell. Yuck!!

We did pretty good in terms of time, and my foot did not complain at all. I have been doing somewhat better; the plantar fasciitis is not completely healed, but the foot recovers quickly after exercising, and for the past three weeks I have been able to get in some short and sweet morning jogs - about 1-2 miles. You cannot imagine how much I missed running, and just to have a little of it is wonderful. I also immediately dropped six pounds in three weeks - my previously snug clothes appreciated the newfound flexibility.

The summer, crappy as it is, has been zipping by and I have barely an evening to myself. Not sure how that always happens, but there are so many things to do in Boston, the fun never ends. Speaking of fun - just a word of advice - stay off the Valium!!! My wonderful doctors put me on the little happy pills a while ago to get rid of some chronic pains I had, and while it was fun for a couple of days, the drug confused that already slightly disordered brain of mine even more and there were some moments that seemed much more funny to others than they were to me. Now I know the docs all mean well and try to help you, but these days they hand out pills as if it was candy, and no one tells you that when you are on a friggin' sedative, you may have withdrawal symptoms once you stop - boy, did I have a strange and scary week after coming off the stuff! Shaking, rubber-legged, weak, dizzy spells, palpitations - the first couple of days I was convinced I was either having a stroke or multiple sclerosis, both scenarios that would have not made me particularly happy. I am well now and feeling reasonably normal (as normal as I'll ever feel), so no worries.

In order to get the good health juju flowing and improve my life in general, I had asked my friend Sonya to come and Feng Shui the little home in Cambridge. What a fun thing to do and so therapeutic! I have been de-clutterizing the home, we are re-doing the bedroom completely with some nice earthy colors and the paint process will start soon. In addition to the good vibes, I have picked up and old habit of mine, and started cooking again on the weekends - last Sunday it was five hours straight, and I had such a good time. I made a chicken dish with a leek-mushroom-goat-cheese sauce, whole wheat pasta with a four-cheese sauce; cream of leek soup, Indonesian Bami Goreng, banana bread, waffles..... there was no stopping me. Anything that could be turned into food, was turned into food. Wonderful smells filled the house and the freezer is so full, that you could not even fit a single popsicle in. Life is good.

Aside from the home-bound activities, I have been quite busy. The weekend of August 9th, I headed out to the lovely town of Concord, Mass (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Concord+MA&gbv=2) with a walking group (through www.meetup.com ) - our little outing was supposed to get us to Great Meadows, but our slightly addled guide had not checked out the route beforehand. There were constructions sites and numerous other obstacles, so we did a lot of backtracking, never made it to Great Meadows (http://www.fws.gov/northeast/greatmeadows/), but ended up taking a tour of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord. Not the famous cemetery from the movie (that one is in NY state) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleepy_Hollow_Cemetery,_Concord - this one is a lovely place nevertheless and quite a few famous people are buried here, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, Henry David Thoreau and of course most famously, Nathaniel Hawthorne - all of them with their final resting place on "Author's Ridge". The evening was spent much less confused and in lovely company at a farewell party of my running mate John Warren and his wife Ginny, who moved to Los Angeles and threw a nice little shindig to day goodbye.

The rest in short form - last Wednesday - dinner at Panificio on Charles Street (http://www.panificioboston.com/); Thursday a Red Sox Game with my friend Holly courtesy of the Suffolk University Alumni group (what a great game - the Sox clobbered the Texas Rangers - 9 runs in the second inning alone). Monday this week - dinner at S&S Restaurant in Cambridge (http://www.sandsrestaurant.com/); Tuesday night - enjoyed a free concert at Christopher Columbus Park with my German friend Dorothee (http://www.bostonharborwalk.com/placestogo/location.php?nid=3&sid=18) - music (From Sibelius to John Williams) by the Orchestra Symphonique des Jeunes de Strasbourg (turns out Boston's sister city is Strasbourg, France - about an hour from my home town in Germany) - fabulous, albeit windy performance (the score sheets kept flying away, which provided some enjoyable and confusing moments) - followed by dinner at Quincy Market (http://www.faneuilhallmarketplace.com/); Wednesday Lunch with German friend Ulrich at Quincy Market (again); business dinner at a French-Cambodian place , The Elephant Walk (http://www.elephantwalk.com/) on Beacon Street; Thursday night - volunteered at the telethon of our public television station, WGBH (http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/about/) - this time I got four calls!!!! It was a fun experience this time, I sat with a hysterical group of people and we kept each other entertained during the "staged" portions of the broadcast. The organizers provided us with a yummy dinner, courtesy of Somerville favorite, Red Bones Barbecue (http://www.redbones.com/) - hmmmh.....

Upcoming (if you are not dizzy yet): Tonight I am meeting a colleague and friend at the Cambridge Brewing Company (http://www.cambrew.com/) for a drink; tomorrow is a cookout in Marblehead with my colleagues from the translational research lab and Sunday I am heading to the Cape to meet up with my cousins from upstate New York. Monday I have a date with little Atticus (we're staying in for a movie) and Thursday I am hopping on a plane and go visit my friends Ulli, Gerald, and their charming daughters Louise and Siri in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

I'll leave you to digest this lengthy diatribe, but not before boasting a little about my latest photographic accomplishments - some of my photographs were accepted for the next MGH Cancer Center art exhibit "Illuminations" - 7 this time, and I placed third in a photography contest at the Boston Public Library's West End Branch. Very exciting news indeed.

Enjoy these last days of summer.

pet:)

Fenway Paaaaaak - August 4 2008

Yes, I have finally gotten the letter from the US Immigration Service, and the ceremony is indeed on September 17th in Fenway Park!!! Yeah! My friend Mike is going to be sworn in as well, and hopefully my friend Carol as well. It will be a fun day (unless it's raining, which would definitely suck). Stephanie is going to be with me and I can bring up to three people, so I will reach out to a few of you, and see if you are itching to get away from work and spend a day with me and the Green Monstah. The letter said I have to be there at 10 AM and that I should eat a healthy breakfast, as the whole hoopla will take five hours. Concession stands are going to be open, so one can get some good American ballpark food while being sworn in. This is definitely as good as it gets.

Gosh, it feels like such a long time since I have written, and so many things I want to talk about. I'll backtrack, which is best. This past weekend was one of the busiest I have had in a while, and it is always good if you start by taking Friday off. Makes the weekend so much more pleasant. I got up, hopped in the car and drove to Shrewsbury, Mass to pick up my friend Linda Deschenes for a day of fun. (I am mentioning her last name because I have four friends named Linda, one of them with a y - hi Lynda B!). Our first stop on the way was the Northampton Bike Trail (http://www.fntg.net/), where we stretched out legs a little and walked for a mile or so, before some serious hunger befell us and we just had to go for lunch. So we headed to downtown Northampton, which is a fabulous place with lots of ethnic restaurants, nice galleries and tons of places to stretch your credit card balance. Our choice for a meal was Zen (http://www.zennorthampton.com/), a wonderful Pan-Asian restaurant, which featured some lovely lunch selections, courteous wait staff and delightful atmosphere. Once we were pretty stuffed, we shopped a little and then headed to the town of Stockbridge to visit the Normal Rockwell Museum (http://www.nrm.org/), a wonderful place honoring America's most hardworking and prolific painter and illustrator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Rockwell). He painted the covers of the Saturday Evening Post for more than forty years, and passionately and accurately captured the essence of daily life in America. I love his work - it is so easily accessible, and my favorite picture is "The Rookie" (http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/PD--12549499/SP--A/IGID--1917220/The_Rookie.htm?sOrig=CRT&sOrigId=32&ui=8C8CE914E4784760866BA9DEF65ACCF3), which features five Red Sox players, including Ted Williams. We toured the Museum, visited Rockwell's studio, and also enjoyed a couple of other exhibits of art - "Raw Nerve! The Political Art of Steve Brodner" (http://www.nrm.org/page283), and "In Full Bloom - Design Garden Gates" (http://www.nrm.org/page305).

We left the museum, and headed to Stockbridge, which is your quintessential quaint and cute town in an area called The Berkshires, one of Massachusetts' true gems - located in the Western part of the state, if provides stunning landscapes, cozy little towns and villages, and tons of cultural opportunities - and is not only home to Tanglewood (more on that later), but also several theater festivals and museums. (http://www.berkshires.org/). We toured the town of Stockbridge just a wee bit, and stopped at the famous Red Lion Inn (http://www.redlioninn.com/) - a beautiful old inn that has been around for two centuries and whose front porch invites for some Class A relaxing, and whose two restaurants promise some very delectable fare and great ambience.

We grabbed dinner, and then headed off to Lenox, Mass to Tanglewood, a park and music venue, which is not only home to a music and a jazz festival, but it is also the summer home for the Boston Symphony Orchestra (since 1937) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanglewood. Situated in the stunning green hills of the Berkshires, this is definitely a little slice of heaven - one can experience top notch classical music in an outdoor setting, either purchase lawn tickets for $19 or pay some more dollars for a sit underneath the rainproof Music Shed (which is what we did). It was my first time visiting and Linda and I first headed for the Seiji Ozawa Hall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Seiji_Ozawa_Hall_%28exterior%29%2C_Tanglewood%2C_Lenox%2C_Massachusetts.JPG) to listen to the Preconcert with members of the BSO - we sat on a blanket, ate our food and enjoyed some fab classical tunes.

The main event, and our purpose for making a whole day of it, was the Boston Symphony Orchestra and its featured guest for the evening, Joshua Bell, one of the world's leading violinists (http://www.joshuabell.com/). You may know him if you saw the movie "The Red Violin." I can honestly say that seeing him in concert was one of the most beautiful experiences I have had in my life - it was simply stunning. Tears were running down my face, the music was so beautiful and so was he (Mr. Bell is definitely easy on the eyes, if you know what I mean). The BSO of course, was exquisite as well and Linda and I were quite entertained by the harp and percussion sections which were kept very busy during Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modest_Mussorgsky). While his first name is Modest, his music was anything but, and the orchestra definitely infused the piece with the passion it required.

And that was just Friday!!! No worries, I'll wrap up the rest of the past two weeks as quickly as I can...... Thursday night, yet another concert, and in this case a repeat offense - Joshua Radin (remember my friend Josh? http://www.joshuaradin.com/) played at the Middle East, accompanied by two very talented female singer/ songwriters, Alexa Wilkinson (http://www.alexawilkinson.com/) and Vanessa Carlton ( http://www.vanessacarlton.com/). Well, what can I say about this evening? Loved the ladies, did not get to see Josh. Reason: Stupid Middle East place; 500+ people packed in a basement with literally no air-conditioning. Concert started an hour late (9PM), the bouncers again had it in for me, and one of them actually slapped me on the arm. No place to sit. Standing in a stuffy basement for 4 hours in 90 degree temps - naaah. So I left early, did not see Josh and was grumpy indeed. I did have a nice dinner though with Rick, Denise and her brother Eric at the Tavern in the Square (http://www.taverninthesquare.com/).

Wednesday - visit to my friends Hillary and Brian to meet their two-week old son, Atticus. I brought Chinese food, we ate tons, chatted away and Atticus and I became instant friends. Tuesday, birthday dinner for my friend Ken at the swanky Capital Grille (http://www.thecapitalgrille.com/Locations/Boston/Main.asp) - Halibut dish was too die for. Mashed Potatoes contained large amounts of butter, which is why they were the BEST ever!!! Saturday (after returning from Shrewsbury) - BBQ in Arlington at my friend Melanie and Cory's house, which was so nice and pleasant that I scrapped the plans for the rest of my day (apologies to the dinner group who had to go and see the new Batman movie without me......) and on Sunday I attended my friend Jo's birthday brunch, where we consumed large amounts of French Crepes, piled fruit on top and had a grand old time.

Well, what else did I do - the weekend prior I joined the Boston Walking Group in Wakefield for a walk around Lake Quannapowitt (http://www.visitingnewengland.com/wakefield.html) and because we were such good little walkers rewarded ourselves with the best muffins in the universe, courtesy of the Gingerbread Construction Company - http://www.gingerbreadusa.com/muffins.php. Those not-so little suckers are so good, I would drive to Wakefield any time just to buy muffins (it's a 30 minute drive without traffic). After I purchased a whole box of them, I headed off to meet Rick and Denise for a quick hike in the Middlesex Fells (http://www.fells.org/) and then headed home in this godforsaken heat we've been having. Next on the agenda was a performance by the Boston Opera Collaborative (http://www.bostonoperacollaborative.org/) who performed my favorite Opera "The Magic Flute" at the Boston Latin Auditorium . Boston Latin is famous you know, being the first public school in this country (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Latin_School), and the auditorium is very stately. However, yet again, NO AIR CONDITIONING (Petra does not like) and I was busy during the entire performance fanning myself with the program so that I would not pass out. Accompanying me were my friends Austin and Carol, and we warmed up beforehand with a dinner at The Brown Sugar Cafe, a wonderful Thai place, not far from Fenway Park.

Somewhere in that past two weeks, I also went to Jacob Wirth's to attend the German Stammtisch (http://www.toytowngermany.com/wiki/Stammtisch) and get a foot massage at the gym. And yes, I do sleep at night, 7 hours (unless my neighbors start packing again at 9 PM, like they did yesterday).

This is my update - hope this finds all of you well.

pet:)