Back from Massachusetts!
Mar. 23rd, 2026 03:55 pmI have returned from my travels! In fact I returned a few days ago, but have been busy with post-trip errands/releasing Diary of a Cranky Bookworm/convincing the cats that I still love them despite CRUELLY ABANDONING them; and therefore have not had time to post.
Lovely trip! Started in Boston, where I stayed with![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
skygiants and genarti and watched the Alec Guinness Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (emotionally destroyed me, will post about it later) and also various movies from TWO perfectly timed film festivals, one featuring films by Katherine Hepburn and the other featuring Spunky Girl Reporters, about which films I will ALSO post later. Crushed that I didn't get to see Katherine Hepburn as a Girl Athlete in Mike and Pat but I simply could not spend ALL my time watching movies. Other Boston highlights:
1. At long last, I visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner! Loved the mix of artworks from different places and periods and media - an entire corner devoted to lacework! some excellent tapestries! beautiful musical instruments, and I so hope that sometimes the museum has concerts where these lovely instruments get played. Loved the lack of labels so you can just drift about absorbing without getting bogged down with facts. Delicious Italian Renaissance courtyard. A bit disappointed that you couldn't wander through the garden the way you can in the Cloisters. Happy to report that for once the museum store had postcards of almost all my favorite paintings!
2. Much good food! We picked up cakes and chocolates at Burdick's, croissants at Lakon Paris, and a Pi Day special of FOUR pies, three savory and one sweet. Also an amazing afternoon tea at the Courtyard Tea Room at the Boston Public Library, followed by a repeat visit to all the murals (I think the Galahad cycle is my favorite although Sargent is also spectacular) plus a side trip to a room with some delightful dioramas of Famous Artists at Work.
3. The USS Constitution! A very suitable excursion for Year of Sail, especially on point because the ship just got a little cameo near the end of Hornblower and the Hotspur. Loved being actually inside the ship and seeing the hammocks crowded in, the galley in the middle of the deck, the lieutenants' little cubicles and the captain's larger quarters with an actual bed, albeit quite a narrow one, note that down for fic purposes.
And then away we went to meet up withasakiyume at the Yiddish Book Center, where skygiants and genarti handed me over for the second part of my journey. We toured the Yiddish Book Center, made a cranberry-pecan tart, visited Bright Water Bog--
This link takes you toasakiyume's entry with pictures of the ice forming on the bog. It also mentions eating the cranberries cold from the bog water and the absolute delight of a swing hung between two pines by the waterside. Absolute thrill. Nothing in the world like a swing.
We also hit up the Smith College Spring Bulb Show, a welcome infusion of color and light after a long cold winter. And we made some of the decadently rich hot chocolate from Burdick's, hot chocolate so thick it's practically chocolate sauce (in fact I ate/drank most of it by dipping croissants in), and watched Cartoon Saloon's Wolfwalkers and My Father's Dragon, about which more anon...
Simply a delightful trip!
Lovely trip! Started in Boston, where I stayed with
skygiants and genarti and watched the Alec Guinness Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (emotionally destroyed me, will post about it later) and also various movies from TWO perfectly timed film festivals, one featuring films by Katherine Hepburn and the other featuring Spunky Girl Reporters, about which films I will ALSO post later. Crushed that I didn't get to see Katherine Hepburn as a Girl Athlete in Mike and Pat but I simply could not spend ALL my time watching movies. Other Boston highlights:1. At long last, I visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner! Loved the mix of artworks from different places and periods and media - an entire corner devoted to lacework! some excellent tapestries! beautiful musical instruments, and I so hope that sometimes the museum has concerts where these lovely instruments get played. Loved the lack of labels so you can just drift about absorbing without getting bogged down with facts. Delicious Italian Renaissance courtyard. A bit disappointed that you couldn't wander through the garden the way you can in the Cloisters. Happy to report that for once the museum store had postcards of almost all my favorite paintings!
2. Much good food! We picked up cakes and chocolates at Burdick's, croissants at Lakon Paris, and a Pi Day special of FOUR pies, three savory and one sweet. Also an amazing afternoon tea at the Courtyard Tea Room at the Boston Public Library, followed by a repeat visit to all the murals (I think the Galahad cycle is my favorite although Sargent is also spectacular) plus a side trip to a room with some delightful dioramas of Famous Artists at Work.
3. The USS Constitution! A very suitable excursion for Year of Sail, especially on point because the ship just got a little cameo near the end of Hornblower and the Hotspur. Loved being actually inside the ship and seeing the hammocks crowded in, the galley in the middle of the deck, the lieutenants' little cubicles and the captain's larger quarters with an actual bed, albeit quite a narrow one, note that down for fic purposes.
And then away we went to meet up with
asakiyume at the Yiddish Book Center, where skygiants and genarti handed me over for the second part of my journey. We toured the Yiddish Book Center, made a cranberry-pecan tart, visited Bright Water Bog--This link takes you to
asakiyume's entry with pictures of the ice forming on the bog. It also mentions eating the cranberries cold from the bog water and the absolute delight of a swing hung between two pines by the waterside. Absolute thrill. Nothing in the world like a swing.We also hit up the Smith College Spring Bulb Show, a welcome infusion of color and light after a long cold winter. And we made some of the decadently rich hot chocolate from Burdick's, hot chocolate so thick it's practically chocolate sauce (in fact I ate/drank most of it by dipping croissants in), and watched Cartoon Saloon's Wolfwalkers and My Father's Dragon, about which more anon...
Simply a delightful trip!
