#19 Boston - A Castle in the Clouds October 14, 2006

Fall has arrived! Boston - actually make that Cambridge - woke up this morning to a brisk 44 degrees F (6 degrees Celsius), I have already spent half an hour sweeping up leaves from the walkway next to the house and then there is that wonderful, crisp, autumn air - there is nothing like it. We are happy here about the weather, as opposed to those poor folks up in Buffalo, NY who got 14 inches of snow this week. That might have made me happy, most of you know about my somewhat unhealthy obsession with snow, but I have to say fall is my favorite season of the year out here in New England. I still must go and purchase the obligatory pumpkin, and slowly get ready for the upcoming Halloween Festivities. I live now in "a neighborhood" (wow!) and expect trick or treaters en masse.

So this past weekend was all in the spirit of the season - well most of it anyway. Saturday, after slowly emerging from some well deserved slumber and at-home malingering, my friends Todd and Lynda picked me up for a little excursion. Our destination was Ponkapoag Pond, located in the Blue Hills Reservation just a smidgeon south of Boston (http://gallery.cs.umb.edu/gallery/albums/album340/Ponkapoag_pond.sized.jpg). The Blue Hills are known as the largest conservation area within a metropolitan area here in the US, and have emerged as one of my favorite destinations near the hub. More than 7000 acres, and it offers pretty much everything an outdoorsy heart desires, hiking paths, a wildlife museum, lakes, swamps, bogs, golf course, a historic weather observatory, swimming in the ponds in summer, ice fishing in winter, you name it. I myself am a proud member of the Friends of the Blue Hills (http://www.friendsofthebluehills.org/), a nonprofit that has been engaged in preserving this wonderful little slice of heaven for all of us to enjoy. We had a lovely walk around the pond, with some early display of foliage and extremely pleasant conversation. Aaaaahhhhh.....

Sunday, it was time to head north to hit one of the epicenters of leaf peeping in New Hampshire - sacrificing some zzzzzs (that some of us could have used), my friend Elaine and I grabbed Ella, the caaah, and rambled up to Moultonborough, NH for the Castle in the Clouds, a most maaahvelous place! (http://www.castleintheclouds.org/). Of course, we got lost just a tad on the way up, and almost ended up at the Sandwich County Fair, which was not yet in full swing, but the local law enforcement directing all the early bird attendees to a "parking facility" (a large section of grass next to some kind of abandoned barn) took this quite serious and barked at us for not knowing what we were doing.....

The Castle - yes. "Breathtaking Views and Fun For All This Fall" states their website, and they ain't lyin'. Perched atop a small mountain on a 5000+-acre estate, the rustic castle is spectacular, with views of Lake Winnipesaukee and Squam Lake, a multitude of hiking trails, 1000-ft high waterfalls, surrounded by foothills and mountains of the Ossipee Range dipped in fall colors as if painted by an impressionist artist. The castle, known to its owners as "Lucknow", was completed in 1914 as the home to Olive and Thomas Plant. Plant was pretty much a self made man who worked himself up to some considerable wealth - he called it quits at age 51, having millions in the bank, and this lovely house to boot. Apparently he was not as good with the retirement stuff as he was as a businessman, and lost most of his money (among others in the stock market crash of 1929); I think also that he and his wife did not get along that well later on (they occupied different wings of the house, that might just be an indication...), so they tried to sell the house, but no luck. After his death, the place went through a couple of owners, and is now in the capable hands of the Lakes Region Conservation Trust (http://www.lrct.org/).

It is a wonderful place to visit, not just the views, but the house is pretty cool in itself. My two favorite bits were the showers (this was modern stuff back then) who brought Medieval torture instruments to mind, and the little crawl space which led to Mr. Plant's reading room (I assume that's where he hid from that lovely wife of his - my gut feeling tells me that she eventually did figure this out, and probably had thoughts of locking him up there for good, but that's a whole different story)

Monday, well, that was different. It was a holiday, Columbus Day, which we do get off at MGH. So I had signed on to run the Tufts 10 K for Women, one of my favorite road races in and around Boston. 7000 gals running through Boston - great vibe, great atmosphere! That was the good part. The bad part? Hmmm, first of all, it was freakin' 85 degrees out there!! Too warm! Too warm! It is October, for cryin' out loud! Everyone was huffin' and puffin', and I for one bore a striking resemblance to a tomato. I finished at a decent time, but the minute I stopped, my left knee and the associated IT Band got pretty angry with me, and so I spent the next couple of days limping around. Too early, said the sports medicine team at MGH, and scolded me for running way too early after the marathon. I know, I know, it is my own darn fault this time, but I just could not help it. The excitement and the crowd got to me, and off I went! I hereby promise publicly that the "Halloween Hustle" 5K that I am signed up for on my birthday (October 28) will be walked by yours truly. To ensure that, my friend Renee has promised to come along with her dog Rufus, who is a Dachshund/Chihuahua mix and who has no intention of running, so there you have it. In the meanwhile I am allowed to do any other sport pretty much, swim, bike, paraglide, mudwrestling, tossing the caber - anything, but no running for four weeks (doc says so).

That pretty much sums it up for last week, everything else is going pretty decent, work is great, I am enjoying our new location in the Lawrence House (did I mention my new office has a window?). My health is improving a bit, the reflux/stomach issue seems to be settling down with the help of some meds, and a visit to the GI doc is happening soon and hopefully I can be up to my old shenanigans shortly thereafter, right?

The weekend is already in full swing, and I am now going to join - more on that next week - I will be heading to Moab, Utah, on Friday to attend the wedding of my friends Rani and Nate (http://www.discovermoab.com/).

Talk to you soon, in the meantime, be nice to each other, and get out there and play!

pet:)