Boy, if I get up any earlier, I won’t even have time to go to bed… Kidding, not that early by many early risers’ lights. But certainly by mine.
And the days are full. Yesterday, dinner prep all morning, plus baking bread. Then at noon or 12:30p.m., we headed out. Piled into the van, drove first to the beleaguered-by-street-reconstruction favorite gas station to fill up. Business has been so bad for them that the attendant answered he’s looking for another job when I asked how all that road work is affecting the station. I pointed out that I made a special effort to get to his, though, which brought a wry smile. Obviously one customer isn’t going to make up for the several dozen who decide to fill up somewhere else. And since I don’t drive my car much, it’s even worse.
Then off we went, to Storrow Drive and on to that part of Cambridge where Mt. Auburn Cemetery is. It was cold yesterday, still overcast. The drizzle had ended, but the air retained a damp chill. Really not your typical New England summer / July weather. We admired the Sphinx and its inscriptions, in Latin on one side, English on the other, celebrating the victory of the Union over the Confederacy, specifically the vanquishing of the evil African slave trade. We climbed to the top of the Washington Monument (or Monument on the Hill). We couldn’t visit the Chapel (again). We oohed-and-aahed over the little wild life forms which populate the cemetery, from large-ish cranes to itsy-bitsy chipmunks. E. was especially taken by all the animals; Ax. was constantly in deep discussion with A. Typically we’ve all been in deep discussions with Ax.; he’s up for that constantly, so that’s where we go.
After the cemetery we drove to the Arnold Arboretum, which was a hassle to get to (several wrong or missed turns, requiring hoopy illegal u-turns, etc.) and which frankly was a bit of a dud after the cemetery. I would have gone to the Waterworks Museum in Newton (great industrial archeological heritage from a time when public works were representative of civic pride), had it been open. It wasn’t. Traffic coming home was pretty bad in spots, but overall the oncoming traffic, while we were still driving back toward Boston, was worse. Once we got on Rt.1 and were traveling away from Boston, in sync with commuter traffic, it got really bad for us, too. So I opted for Rt. 1A, which was a good choice. Fewer people going home that way. As we hit Wonderland or thereabouts and then eventually passed the shore in Lynn, the sun came out. Beautiful. We finally got home at 6p.m.; I felt wiped out, but immediately continued with dinner prep, plus set up another bread. We finally ate at about eight (8 at 8, ha); I didn’t get W. from the Depot till about 7:45p.m.
This morning it’s sunny, expected to be warmer (but still cooler than “normal” – fine by me). It’s also the Grand Prix bicycle race this afternoon, so we’ll go downtown to watch. The workers didn’t show up for two days running, but they’re here today.