Day 78: Public Garden

Well.  The weather has finally returned to the beautiful Bostonian summer climate we all know and love.  Highs of 75, balmy evenings, sweet breezes. In the morning when I walk to my car I'm greeted by little petals falling from some of the trees, kids' laughter, and a stray chirper or two.  Sometimes I have to remind myself that it's a perfectly fine endeavour not to be on the "go" all the time, and just to enjoy these things.

During our break at Calliope rehearsal this evening, we seemed to hit that perfect moment of twilight, extended in the summer, where all the greens of the trees seem to be nearly glowing, and a friend had the brilliant idea of taking a short walk during the 15 minutes we had.  Though I had spent every Tuesday evening last summer in this same spot at rehearsal, it did not once cross my mind to walk the fifty paces to the public garden next door.  So tonight, we wandered over for a bit, with barely enough time to make it across the footbridge and back, and it's something I wish to repeat.  I always forget that next to Boston Common (which is nice, but not breathtaking), there is a nicely landscaped area around the pond in the public garden.  It's really quite different.  I think the first time I checked it out in earnest was when J. was visiting from Oregon a few years ago.  Why is it that so often it takes a visitor for us to be tourists in our own city?  I'll have to remember this advice to myself once I move to San Diego.

Day 41: The Arboretum.

Today was going to be completely a waste, or so I thought when I woke up at 11. Excessive awake-ness lasted throughout yesterday night to this morning until about 8am, when I finally finished uploading pictures from the scavenger-hunt-to-end-all-scavenger-hunts.  However, surprisingly enough, it was by no means a waste.  Around noon, I got a message from my former housemate inviting me to do something low-key and outdoors-y, and we settled on going to the arboretum -- neither of us had ever been before.  E. came with, and the three of us drove out past JP to the Arnold Arboretum and climbed to the moderately tall hills, one spiraling upward, one a straight shot.  With a couple of rest stops under some weeping-willow-esque hemlock trees of some sort (so perfect they looked like Disney World fakes, honestly), and a nice view of the city at the top, it was a very pleasant afternoon.

Afterwards, I headed back to do some work outside with my old housemate, who still lives in my former back yard which is beautiful this time of year -- it has a garden and pluot tree! Then I met up with some girls from my class at MIT whom I hadn't seen in awhile. We headed to Park, the new restaurant by the Kennedy School that I tried a couple of weeks ago.  The risotto did not disappoint, and the company was lovely. Finally managed to make it an early night, mostly out of desperation!