Food, snow, retirement,

Ever since they built a hotel in this city to take advantage of the proximity to Boston for out of town travelers, restaurants, cafe's, hair facilities, fast food places etc. have popped up all over the relatively small central square. Three of the restaurants are really quite good in fact they rival some of the much more expensive places in downtown Boston. 

There's a local television restaurant show called The Phantom Gourmet and they visited my personal favorite, Raso's. It's located about a mile or so from here. The ambiance is a bit plain though it is comfortable with a great staff. We've been there many times and though there is an emphasis on Italian food it's also a bar and grill. The food? Top shelf! The location is a street that's not particular picturesque though there is a nice shot of part of the Boston skyline in the distance. It's full of auto repair places, auto dealerships, shipping companies and various other businesses. It is quite old though dating back to the founding of Boston (1630) as it was known as the highway to Boston. It's one of the four oldest roads in my city which also dates back to 1630.     



We had a bit of snow last night, about an inch. No big deal but still a nuisance. It's been a fairly mild winter so far. Nothing like two years ago. As bad as it was then (2014) it was small potatoes compared to the legendary blizzard of '78. The entire northeast including New York city and New Jersey was hit hard. Locally we had just had a storm about a week before, late January, that dropped 21 inches of snow on the area. Then early in February we got hit with 33 hours of snowfall, 70 mph winds. Rhode Island got hit worse with 40 inches. There were 99 deaths and 500 injuries. The coastline was hit hard with 17 foot waves. Highways became large parking lots. These are not my pictures.

It's almost been a month since my complete retirement and I have to admit it's been an adjustment. Apart from housework and laundry, I've had to find other things to do. Hanging around and falling asleep on the couch is only good for so long. Apart from going back to you know where, Arlene and I have talked about making more day trips like we used to do until 2010. We've talked about day trips to New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont. I've never been to Vermont. We have no desire to go to Connecticut though I'm sure it's a lovely place. And then there are plenty of places to see right around here. Until about 10 years ago I never really appreciated where I live. To be sure this is an expensive place to live and I hope I can afford it in the future. If not, there's always New Hampshire about 25 miles away.

Well there is laundry in the dryer. The sun is out and there may be a trip to Raso's tonight. Perhaps some linguini Julia.
I'm outta here.