move-in day

September 1st is known as move-in day or Allston Christmas in the Boston area. College students and their parents arrive en masse. At precisely noon, anything left in the fridge or on the living room floor is placed onto the street. 

Wandering Beacon Hill, we were surrounded by moving vans.

I came to Boston (and Nova Scotia) for a celebration that was called off after I booked my flights.

Fortunately I have friends in the area. Wonderful friends. So I came anyway.

Lisa and I explored Cambridge and ate Peruvian food at Celeste.

We devoured peaches from her neighbor's tree and juicy apricots at the Armenian deli.

Perhaps these are pluots. I've never had better, even at Andy's Orchard.

Did I mention the baklava bar? My suitcase was already full of Nova Scotia wines. We weren't even hungry.

Later we met Daisy who brought us Breadboard's famous cream cheese kolaches. No wonder people go to Texas for them! In between we drank matcha sodas. Then it was time to stretch my legs. The last time I was in Boston (visiting Lisa, Daisy, Lydia, and QueeLim) was 2007! I headed for Neptune Oyster Bar, but they had a 3-hour wait. Move-in day parents!

The big dig is still very much in progress. But there are parks too. With swings.

The public market sells a dazzling array of foods, and yarn. Tempted by knishes and ramen, I wound up enjoying a very respectable kofta plate.

Have you seen a better looking cupcake? I might have to adopt this for my next hair color.

Lisa dropped me off on Beacon Hill, to go hear Steve Wonder, fresh from Aretha's funeral. I had booked a room on Chestnut Street at Beacon Hill Friends: the Quaker community. 

18-22 adults of all ages live here. They also offer two rooms, a block from the Commons. I chose the George Fox room.

Everyone loves the old elevator.

This is the airy meeting hall. Quakers come from all walks of life. I have gotten to know a few through peace marches.

Massachusetts is full of history, including the abolitionist movement. Yesterday I went on a guided tour with the National Park Service of the black freedom trail.

The oldest house in Beacon Hill belonged to Colonel Middleton, who fought in a militia called the Bucks of America in the Revolutionary War. Beacon Hill wasn't always wealthy.

John Kerry lives in this townhouse.

The tour ends at the African Meeting House, a building that has served as a school for black children and at one point, as a synagogue.

Highly recommended tour, for a perspective on what it was like to be black in a free state before the Civil War, especially in the era of the fugitive slave act.

Our ranger was very clear about bigotry. States' rights, he commented, were always about one thing. He also noted that racists are cowards.

The Museum of African American History next door had a terrific exhibit on Frederick Douglass and photography.

Douglass was the most photographed American of the 19th century, more than Abe Lincoln. He understood how to shape a public image and used photo portraits to combat caricatures that undermined social reforms.

Are you hungry yet? Daisy and I headed for Whole Heart Provisions, an amazing vegan restaurant in Cambridge.

Then we headed to the MIT Museum.

The museum is small, but the exhibits were rich and a bit overwhelming. They are showing the sketches of the father of Neuroscience, Santiago Ramon y Cajal, on loan from Spain.

The collection including thousands of sketches made in 1904-1930 of the microscopic cells in brains and tissue. Many were from animal autopsies. They are quiet beautiful in their own way.

The hippocampus, named literally for a sea horse.

Many of them resemble Miro sketchs.

They aren't fancy, except for the frames.

Highly recommended if you're nearby.

The man in his lab

The show also included some modern imaging of brains. This animation was projected on the wall. The little girl, with bells on her shoes, loved it.

Newer imaging techniques allow scientists to observe brain activity while we're still alive. This is contrasted with Ramon y Cajal's sketch.

A time lapse over 6 months showing a mouse with Alzheimer's. How do they know a mouse has Alzheimer's?

The next hall had simple moving sculptures by Arthur Danson. 

So fun. Then it was time for boba. Except they were out of boba. I had an artisan strawberry coconut matcha shake. I would go back to Cambridge for another of these. Daisy got a matcha sesame, equally good.

I strolled back toward Boston along Main and then Vassar. MIT has a lot of industrial and modern architecture.

This Frank Gehry building is kind of cool and also a bit of a disaster. The round section has rooms that can't be any normal shape or size. 

Finally cooling off.

My last stop before daylight faded was the rooftop garden at Kendall Square, by Google, where there are flowers and honeybees and giant dino kale. There's a ping pong table and this cute picnic set. It was kind of lonely. Not clear people know it exists yet.

I prefer this roof deck at the Beacon Hill Friends, where I am sitting now.

I headed back over the Longfellow bridge, surrounded by students and families posing for photos and moving in, starting a new year.

But for me, the time has come to move on. Heading home from a delightful detour. Until next time...