Two more days...

...then it's off on vacation. Today I'm doing all final laundry as it is unusual for me to have a Saturday off. It's usually a late night till 9 p.m. I just came back from having a hair cut, at the last second I decided to get them all cut. (OK I know that's an old lame joke.) As I sat waiting my turn I read a Sports Illustrated article on the Marathon bombings. I have to admit as I read that the tears were welling up in my eyes again. This is all still quite fresh in everybody's mind. All the events that happened took place quite close to here. I was even in Watertown the day of the Marathon checking out the location of a registry of motor vehicles, though they weren't open because of the Patriots Day holiday. It seems in their great wisdom the registry has stopped informing you when your drivers licence expires. I was driving around with an expired licence since this passed December. The closer registry, the next city over, had been closed. It was after I arrived home from Watertown and and turned on the radio that I learned of the bombings. Watertown was where the 200 round shootout occurred, where the older wounded brother was run over by the younger and killed and where 16 hours later the younger brother was found in a boat in someones back yard. I learned of another personal connection to all this. Not only did Krystle Campbell grow up around the corner from me, (Her family still lives there) and not only did Arlene's daughters grow up with her, went to school with her and played with her when the were kids, Arlene's brother, who works in conjunction with the state police was the guy who towed the boat out of the yard after the second bomber was captured hiding from the law. And the kicker to all this is that one of Arlene's daughters goes to the marathon every year to cheer the runners and hand out drinks of water, decided to give it a miss this year. She would have been on Boylston St. near the finish line. 

As I said, reading the article brought it all back and I could feel the emotions building as I sat and waited my turn. Then I read a line that made me swell with pride again though at this point I don't remember who said it (not a local) and it's not a direct quote, Bostonians, even more than New Yorkers, can be obnoxious in their pride about their city. And as a local I have to say it's true. We can be obnoxious about our city and I am guilty of this as well. We are down the road apiece from the biggest city in the country. Our sports teams are often locked in battle. Is there a bigger rivalry in sports, when both teams are doing well of course, than Red Sox-Yankees? Our local pro sports teams have done well with 7 championships in the last 13 years. New York City has more people than the entire state of Massachusetts. But if any New Yorker ever reads this I will never bad mouth New York City. On the contrary I like the fact that I can live in Boston and have the largest and most important city in the U.S. about 200 miles away. I got to see my second all-time favorite musical group, Cream (Beatles#1) live, re-united for the first time since 1969 after a meteoric rise in two and a half years, rivalling The Beatles. They would only play in one U.S. city and it wasn't Boston. It was New York in 2005. They later broke up again over the same old crap, but I got to see them and they were still the same power house group except, if they were American citizens, they would be collecting social security. Eric Clapton did OK for himself though. Hey! Thanks New York!

To tie all this endless rambling up, Yes we locals can be obnoxious about where we come from. I've had it thrown in my face once, by someone from another state and he was right. On the other hand I didn't really start to appreciate the area until I got my first digital camera, and that wasn't all that long ago. I just took it all for granted. There no way to measure what citizens, in what cities have the most pride. It's subjective and yet it is true that we here in the Boston area and state, have plenty to be proud of. 

And now to sound even more obnoxious, my lady and I will be flitting off to Martha's Vineyard. Once again we are lucky to have this little get away reasonably close by. Now going to Martha's Vineyard is not particularly glamorous. Aside from a couple of seaside towns where the whaling mansions are and well off people live, most of the people you meet are working class, whether locals or main landers. You'll never get near where the rich people live or summer.
Still at this time of year and in early fall there is a peacefulness on the island. The weather is pleasant, most of the time, and you literally don't have to elbow through 50,000 people over the over the course of the summer. You know the best part of the trip for me? It's the 45 minute ferry ride. You're now out in open water for a bit and you definitely know that you are leaving all that every day bull back there, for a little while at least. A big decision will be where to have lunch or supper or which one of the six towns you want to visit. Then there is the calming effect of the ocean. Maybe because of where the island is located along the coast, but every time I've been there the ocean has been quite calm. I believe I booked a tour of the island. We already did this once before. It's not all that long, an hour, hour and a half. Here's one of my favorite pictures of a sunrise. I have posted it before but I like it.

It's been about a year on the button since I had my little mishap of stepping into a drainage ditch behind a sea wall while taking pictures similar to the one above. In fact it was the same day, a little after this one was taken. Fortunately the upcoming little trip will be taken at a leisurely pace. I don't really care if it rains like hell! OK that's a big lie. It looks like we may have to deal with a shower or two, so we might get wet. Who cares? Of course this all hinges on you having brought more than one set of clothes.

So if all goes according to plan I shall be reporting in a time or two from down there. It is 91 degrees as finish writing this at 3:25 Saturday afternoon. I am just beginning to feel like my vacation has begun. It's been 9 months since the last one. I think I'll have a beer.
I'm outta here