**Warning. No Friday Review today (on hiatus until after the New Year) and there is not much knitting in this post. If you are just here for that, move on.**
OK. I am usually the person who goes in no matter how sick I am. I can always manage to be somewhat productive and for whatever reason, when I take a sick day I like it to be a mental health day. So Wednesday when I came in sick and got progressively worse (chills & mild fever), I persevered due to a late afternoon meeting that I was not going to reschedule. It was until the trek home that I felt like I was going to drop.
Traffic was crazy downtown so I trekked the 6 blocks to the subway to catch the bus further down the route. And then proceeded to wait 45 minutes for the bus which got caught up in the craziness downtown. It took me 1-1/2 hours to get home and I was ready to drop. So Thursday I stayed home. Sometimes a day at home on the couch is just necessary! And today I feel almost 100%. Yeah!
So back to my trip East. It was a good time and I love spending time with my family. Especially my 6-year old nephew who is a bit of a neurotic. I always try to do something special with him when I visit. This time it was a trip in to Boston with my Mom and a showing of The Nutcracker. My sister even let him skip school for it!
The train in is always fun. Though it was a bit long. Apparently some shocks were shot on one of the cars so they couldn't go fast almost doubling the normal 50-minute ride. Not unbearable but there were a few "Are we there yet?" towards the end. I had decided early on that I wanted to head to Harvard Square for lunch. I like to walk through the school and just like the area. And there is a very convenient yarn store! So off on to the T we went, marveling at the hellacious increase in price. My mom insists that the last time we were in town the fare was still under a buck, not the $2 it is now. Still one of the best transit systems around.
Once we cross the river into Cambridge, the first stop was Woolcott for my souvenir trip yarn. And to educate my Mom a bit on why I only like "nice" yarn now. I chose a skein of Classic Elite Alpaca Sox. And my nephew, who had informed me he wanted a hat, chose some teal wool. As a quick ahead, I made the hat the next day which turned out a wee bit big as I was winging it. He was bored with the idea by then anyway. It will probably never grace his head.
Next it was off too lunch. After sitting down at this lovely tavern, we had to get up and leave as they didn't have a single thing the kid would eat. He is an extremely picky eater and pretty much lives on chicken nuggets, hot dogs and fruit. No sauce on anything either. So we wandered a bit before sitting down at the Border Grill, a weird Cajun/Mexican place, that had the needed nuggets. Food was good and the margaritas were strong so we were happy.
As we left the restaurant, it started too snow. Normally I detest the white stuff but it was rather pretty this time. And it made a beautiful back drop for our visit to Boston Commons. My picture skills were sucky this trip but since the nephew generally refuses to be photographed, it didn't really matter. As we walked, the kid picked up every chunk of packed snow and proceeded to smash it into small pieces. How easily entertained are the young. We walked over to the ice rink but skating is not my forte and I didn't want to have a sore butt. Plus the kid gets super easily embarrassed in public.
Instead we walked over to Macy's to shop for a bit before heading to the show. This shot of the snow falling down in the night is my favorite. At the store, I went a bit loco and bought my nephew a $50 purse to give to his mother. I couldn't resist. It was shaped like a dachshund, just like the wiener dog that seemed to sit in my lap every time I sat down at the house (Padme the dog). I am not a small dog girl but it grew on me over the 5-days. Anyway, when I saw the purse it just made me laugh. And because her son will be the one to give it to her, she will have to carry it around! That's just how presents work with your kids.
Then it was off to the Nutcracker. I do wish we were a bit more dressed up but since we were walking around all day, that wasn't very feasible. The Opera House is a lovely venue and it was great seeing all the cute kids milling about. And when we got to our "cheap" seats with their impeded view I was stunned. We were 7 rows back from the stage on the left. We could see everything except the Christmas tree. It was amazing!! I had never seen the show except bits and pieces on PBS so it was a treat. Caleb loved the first half, especially the rat king dying, but all the dancing in the second half did him in. He was ready for it to be done. To be honest, I was too. Ballet is nice but unless it's telling a bigger story, it wasn't doing much for me after the first 10 minutes.
When it was done, we trekked back to South Station for the train ride home and were all snuggly in our beds by midnight after a great day out.
