We enjoyed a visit to the superb Peabody Museum in Salem with brother-in-law Steve. A very interesting collection of Native American art, old and contemporary, and early American art; also a step Chinese home called Yin Yu Tang that came from a small rural village west of Shanghai and was reconstructed inside the museum. Built in 1790, lived in by eight generations of the Huang family over 200 years, most recently in 1982. Twenty to 30 people lived in the house at one time. About 40 percent of the objects in the house belonged to the Huang family, another 45 percent were from homes in the region with similar histories. Way cool and reminded us of a old traditional building with a dark wood interior surrounding a central courtyard that we stayed at in Hoi An, Vietnam.
During an unexpected return to Somerville (long story), we drove past the group house I lived in several lives ago (1983) at 34 Avon street (I remembered the address) which looked spruced up since my day.
On to Charlestown which also has spruced up since my day, complete with an outpost of the excellent Tatte bakery on Warren Street where we had excellent hot chocolate and a morning bun. We were in the shadow of the towering Bunker Hill Monument with streets lined with attractive colonial-era- looking homes and alluring shops on Main Street that I wish I had time to explore.
But we were there, instead, for an event for my book Our Diaries, Ourselves at the Charlestown branch of the Boston Public Library! High school friends kindly showed up.
We all went to dinner at the very atmospheric Warren Tavern, circa the 1780s, where revolutionary leaders George Washington and Paul Revere dined. (Good burger and Cobb salad, centuries later!)
TakeBetsywithyou 