Day 143: Mt. Auburn Cemetery

As today is the second to last day in Cambridge, I decided it warranted three pictures.  All three come from Mt. Auburn cemetery or thereabouts -- the first is a cozy picture of bikes (hi Yoshi!) just outside Sofra; the second, a beautiful gravestone inside the cemetery; and the third, a spiky chestnut propped carefully in hand, also within the cemetery.

After some mild putzing around in the morning (always advisable after one's going-away party), a bike ride to the part of Cambridge which could almost be considered Belmont was in order.  We went to Sofra, a cafe I'd never been to before, and which was simply delightful.  Also a sort of haven for kitchen odds-and-ends (think: dozens of jars labeled things like "fennel sugar", "pickled green garlic", "raw honey", etc.; oh hell, here's another picture, to the right).  Anyhow, it yielded some very delicious food, and it was right next to our afternoon's destination, the Mt. Auburn Cemetery, which I'd never been to before and which I now sorely regret.  I only had about 45 minutes or so to spend there due to a birthday gathering before Calliope stage call, and I could have spent hours.  Every time I go to Paris, I always want to visit Père Lachaise, and for some reason or other it never works out... cemeteries are often such beautiful places.  And somehow seem the opposite of morbid.  Very peaceful, I think.

After a brief rest, I headed to the birthday party of a former classmate, which was really nice.  Could only stay a minute before Calliope, but was good to see everyone's face one last time.

Tonight's concert went amazingly well.  By far the best performance I've ever been involved with during my (albeit short) tenure in Calliope.  Very hot, so the men didn't wear their jackets, but we managed to get through with no casualties throughout the steamy-rainy evening.  I think the audience really liked it, and lots of friends came, which is always a great feeling.

After, a few friends joined us (us = Calliope) at the Rattlesnake around the corner on Boylston.  The 'Snake had kindly put a sign out for us ("Reserved for the Band") which made us all laugh.  I got to say good-bye to all of the Calliope folks (M. nearly made me die laughing with her depiction of why you should never leave the east coast) and have a beer with some close friends, a great way to spend the last full evening in Cambridge.  Somehow at this point I have still managed not to crack... not breakdowns, not once.  One more day!

Day 125: Bike Un-Borrowers (Bike lights, big city?)

Bright lights -- big city.  Well, at least, bike lights, big city.  Always useful!  And brought to me by mine truly, E.E.  That is, upon arriving home from a long day at work only to dart off again to another full-length dress rehearsal (the life of a community theater actress is clearly not that glamorous--though it's a helluvalotta fun!), I found E. outside my apartment installing two lights on to my beloved Yoshi.  Having great friends around is like the opposite of having "borrowers" at your house -- and Yoshi certainly appreciates it.

Post-bike-light-installation, our lively troupe of four (D/E/"Pudney" and I) headed off to dress rehearsal #2.  Though it ended up being an extraordinarily late night (sadly prohibiting me from attending the birthday gathering of a former classmate -- happy birthday, Jak!), it was by leaps and bounds our best performance (the gap between Thursday and Sunday was huge -- but we closed an even bigger one tonight).

Tomorrow night we have off, and then final dress rehearsal on Wednesday.  Then it's four days of performing!  Thursday through Sunday.  Turns out my mom will be in town for all of it -- she definitely would have come to all of the productions of plays I was in as a kid, but she should get an award for continuing that tradition into my adulthood!

Day 2: Rosie's

Before I go on about day two, perhaps I should add a few details about day one.

Last night's Futurity at the ART was more fun than I could have imagined. The concept of the show itself was ... well, neat, and afterward a few of us stuck around to have a beer and chat with the cast members for a bit (mostly the drummer - his percussion contraption was fantastic).

We overheard someone from the cast mention Charlie's Kitchen and made the connection that on Tuesdays, Charlie's must have karaoke -- well, following a musical cast to the karaoke after-party is pretty darn cool, so we did it :).

Now for day two. This morning on my way to work, I stopped by Rosie's Bakery in Inman Sqaure to pick up a gift for my master's thesis adviser, whom I was meeting later in the afternoon -- a gift in the form of a banana bread. And of course the little journey included a delicious breakfast for me!

The other great and wonderful thing about today is that Cambridge Bikes called me earlier than expected to let me know that my new green bike has arrived (!). I picked it up after work and we maid our maiden voyage to class together.