#42 Boston - Petraisms - March 24 07

Most of you who have spent some time with me know them, the Petraisms – statements such as “the ball is in your courtyard” or singing the song “Secret “Asian” Man” – I think some of you are secretly keeping a list, and are ready to pull it out at an opportune moment to embarrass me, preferably in front of a large group of people. I am on to you, my friends!!! I am not complaining at all, since I have been playing my part and coming up with new ones just like today when Stephanie, Michelle and I were wandering around the very lovely town of Salem, Massachusetts and I kept looking for the House of Anne of the Green Gables. What I meant and should have said was “The House of Seven Gables (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_the_Seven_Gables), as in 19th century American writer and Salem’s favorite son Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1851 novel, which starts with the words: “Halfway down a by-street of one of our New England towns stands a rusty wooden house, with seven acutely peaked gables, facing towards various points of the compass, and a huge, clustered chimney in the midst.”

How I threw “Anne of Green Gables in there, a book written in 1908 by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, even experts may not be able to explain, just yet another Petraism that found its way into the world. I was not even in the right century, for crying out loud and Canada?? The book is based on Montgomery’s childhood on Prince Edward Island up in Newfoundland – oh well, I was just a bit off-base, wasn’t I?

That aside we had a wonderful day in Salem, it is just such a peachy place to visit – http://www.salemweb.com/ . The Salem witch trials for one, which took place here in the mid-17th century, provide tourists such as yours truly with tons of entertainment – the Salem Witch Museum explains a little the story behind what happened to the 19 folks who got hanged and the one poor guy who got stoned to death. It is a miracle that in the hysteria that ensued during those days only 19 “witches” were killed, as many many more were accused – the reasons behind the erratic behavior of the afflicted, who were said to be possessed by the devil, have been grounds for speculation - the two most reasonable explanations being either the “Ergot of Rye”, a plant disease caused by a fungus, who seems to contain a substance that apparently has some similarity with LSD - convulsions, states of trance and hallucinations were the result, so there you have it! Another cause may have been some sort of encephalitis possibly spread by birds. Whatever the reason, this was pretty bad, and everyone went off the deep end a bit here. Actually, looping back to our friend Nathaniel here, he actually changed his name as one of his relatives was on the witch trial judges and our gifted author did not want to be associated with such humbug!!
We visited the Witch House, the only building in Salem that can be still tied to the witch trials (one of the judges, Jonathan Corwin, lived there…..), walked by the controversial statue of Elizabeth Montgomery from the TV series “Bewitched” (some of Salem’s residents did not take too kindly to having that non-historic eyesore in their town), saw “The Friendship”, a replica of a 1797 East Indiaman (a ship) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Friendship_of_Salem_-_Salem%2C_Massachusetts.JPG in Salem Harbor, and had a most wonderful Irish brunch at “The Old Spot” with scones and clotted cream, killer omlettes and a type of Boxti, Irish potato pancakes, which were very well received indeed.



My friend Michelle Sixta had come to town, so it was time to put on the tourist guide hat and show the West Coast girl my residence of choice. We had a fabulous time, starting off Friday night at the East Side Bar and Grille a few steps away from my house, a local place, which has deservedly been doing well. Saturday saw the two of us hitting the streets of Boston, wandering along the Freedom Trail (http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/), and on this historic stroll visting some of my Boston favorites such as the Granary Burying Ground, where Paul Revere, John Hancock, Ben Franklin’s parents, and a slew of other historical celebs were laid to rest. The weather played along, we ended up at Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, where I discovered a new culinary gem – Dale and Thomas Popcorn – apparently the Today Show called them “The Rolls Royce of Popcorn” and after downing a whole bag of their Peanutbutter and White Cholocate popcorn I wholeheartedly agree. Here is why they are good – I don’t usually even like popcorn!!! http://www.daleandthomaspopcorn.com/ . Boston Friends, you must try this!!! I have a little bit left in my bag, which will accompany me tonight through a home showing of “The Aviator” – this is really awesome stuff!


Another little Boston discovery is Beacon Hill Chocolates on the corner of Pinkney and Charles Streets – what a gem of a store, chockful of chocolate, the cutest little keepsake gift boxes (currently with Easter motives) – just fabulous. Fortunately within a very accommodating walking distance to my office… (http://www.beaconhillchocolates.com/)

Saturday night was dinner group at Amy and Dana’s in Malden, and boy did we have fun!! The dinner spread was phenomenal (pulled pork with the most bestest sauce ever, chicken enchiladas, spicy tofu and green beens, barley and vegetable casserole, for dessert chocolate fondue and cheesecake) and once Dana got out the $130 whiskey bottle, the mood reached its high point. Michelle was delighted about the llittle snow episode we had organized in her honor late last night, which made the drive home a little adventurous, but just a bit.

I needed this most pleasant weekend so much, the last two weeks aside from a couple of nice interludes (such as running the road race, the Ras na hEireann in Somerville at a decent net time of 27:27 - 8:50 min/mile pace), were a stinker of substantial proportions. I seemed to have been emitting some kind of pheromone that said “beat me up, kick me while I am down”, everything that could go wrong did, and some of these incidents were just too cruel to believe. I don’t know even where I should start to begin telling you, and you know what, I won’t. It is all done and over with, and I want to follow the wonderful advice of my literary friend Ralph Waldo Emerson –

“Finish every day and be done with it. For manners and for wise living it is a vice to remember. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it well and serenely, and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.”

On that note, have a great week, start it with fresh eyes and an open mind.

Pet:)