Thanksgiving was...

... a wonderful day. The food was fabulous. Besides the typical Thanksgiving ingredients, my sister, a wonderful cook, made some of our favorite side dishes that our mother used to make. I don't quite know what kind of squash it was but it was sliced about a quarter inch thick and baked with onions and who knows what else. Just so tasty. Then there were the roasted peppers, cleaned and sliced into strips, mixed with olive oil, garlic and onions. Yum! My other sister baked a ricotta pie and a blueberry pie. I'm not much of a cook but I did make a shrimp platter and some pepper shooters. They are just cleaned out cherry peppers (hot or sweet) stuffed with imported provolone that's wrapped in imported prosciutto. They were wonderful if I do say so myself. 

After we ate I called Arlene, who had Thanksgiving with her daughters, and went to pick her up. It's not far. If you walked it would take 10 minutes. The rest of the evening was filled with laughter. Sometimes I was the butt of the jokes or my brother in law, none of it mean. Yes there was wine. 4 bottles which we dispatched without any problem. We are Italian after all. We like our vino. My brother in law Jim, and I also had a few bottles of Samuel Adams. I'm also sure that when Jim and I departed the room at any time we were the butt of the jokes. We could hear them laughing in the next room. There really was a lot of laughter, so much that at times it even hurt. I sure hope that everyone out there had as good a day as we did.

Boy I have a lot of pictures. I'm still going through them. I'm at around 2007-2008. Now I know I have posted many of these pictures over the years so this is the final round up for these. I have been making slide shows to post. The first two featured here are of Boston and Cambridge. Then there are photos of Cape Cod and New Hampshire, Maine and western Massachusetts which is actually quite a beautiful place. Quite rural compared to where I live. Of the 6.7 million people in the state, two thirds of us live in the yellow area on the map below.

  There's one place that I haven't been to since the 70's. That's the
Quabbin Reservoir in about the middle of the state. A buddy and I would go fishing there in the 70's It's the principle water supply for the Boston area. It's man made back in the 1930's. Four towns were flooded. They moved everything. People, homes, cemeteries. It's quite beautiful and in places looks prehistoric. I suppose Arlene and I will eventually get there.

I also have pictures of Southern California from 1979 and 2006. Most of the 1979 pictures are from the Mojave Desert where a boyhood friend of mine ended up while in the Air Force. Truthfully I was not impressed with the desert. My friend on the other hand loved it. Then we made a side trip to Las Vegas. Yes it was hot and quite colorful. I took pictures from the back of a motor cycle. I haven't located them yet and I don't think they are all that great. I went back in 2006 to see another friend who moved back there. Her mom lived in Chatham on Cape Cod and here dad lived in Southern California. She lives in Newport Beach. Now being an ocean kind of guy I loved the coastline and the beaches. They are quite beautiful but truth be told I could take it or leave it for the rest of it. Where I want to go (someday) is the north. San Francisco in particular. That city has always fascinated me and I think I could live there.
Here's a collection of downtown Boston pictures including the Boston Common and the Boston Public Gardens. I think I got some of the pictures mixed up. The two parks are across the street from each other. The Common was established in 1637, the Garden about two hundred years later. The Common is 50 acres and the Garden is 25. Below the Common is the first U.S. subway station. Martin Luther King and Pope John Paul have given speeches there and Judy Garland gave her largest concert there on 1967 with over 100,000 people in attendance. This is also where the British were camped when the left for the battles of Lexington and Concord.



Right across the street are the Boston Public Gardens and they border what is called Beacon Hill. It's where the statehouse is and where John Kerry "lives" when he's not travelling around doing his Herman Munster impression.

Then there's Cambridge, where I have worked and still work on a part time basis. It's right across the river from Boston. I have a love hate relationship with Cambridge. Some of the people there do have a tendency to look down there noses at others but I would be lying if I said I never spent any time there. I spent a lot of time there in my late teens and early 20's. Harvard Square is one of my favorite places. I remember seeing "Alice Cooper" before he (they?) became famous and Chicago before they hit it big. Both free concerts on the Cambridge Common. The book stores and record shops were also a draw. There are many beautiful homes there. I drive by Longfellow's house every day on my way to work.

So that about sums up this edition. I have been lounging around all day and it's time to beautify myself so I can make a public appearance. I have to buy some bread. This coming from a man who spent 8 hours working in a supermarket yesterday. I never claimed to be a genius.

Hurry back Beth! I miss you!

I'm outta here.