Category Archives: Massachusetts

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!)

First two days here are for work so had some lunch meeting dining. Good crab cakes at Row 34 (and ridiculously expensive parking – $42 for day) in Fort Point area, seaside in Boston with lots of glittering high glass and steel buildings (Including the contemporary art museum.) Flour bakery is a great lunch and coffee spot near my publisher’s office on Farnsworth.

Finn for seafood in Salem. Lunch today at Toscano in Cambridge – good pasta and thin crust pizza near Radcliffe’s Schlesinger library where I had a great morning looking at old diaries including one written on toilet paper. Single ply! Also went to an excellent craft gallery: Cambridge Artists Cooperative. And saw a sobering tribute to the people kidnapped in Israel.

Yes, a diary written on toilet paper!

There is nothing like old friends and it was a particularly wonderful treat to see old friends Art and Nell after some very trying times. On a warm fall day we wandered around several lovely towns along the coast north of Boston on Cape Ann (Gloucester/Rockport), soaking in the scenery and catching up after over two years apart.

We started at a little coffee shop in Gloucester, which seemed a tad less touristy than Rockport, but both are on breathtaking spots on the ocean. We splurged on a lobster roll (hot, buttered) at the Fish shack in Rockport, which has big picture windows overlooking the water and walked on the big rocks that form a walkway into the water. Lots of art galleries, old Yankee monuments and wood frame shingled homes.

In Marblehead, my favorite, we walked down narrow streets lined with multi colored (powder blue, navy blue, mustard yellow, rust red, Forest green) wood shuttered and shingled homes from the 1600s to the 1800s with historic plaques telling us who lived here and there (yeoman et. Al.). Our friends found a charming inn in historic Marblehead (Harbor Light) with an outdoor veranda overlooking the small garden and pool. (They also found a good is place in Gloucester: Ocean House Hotel at Bass Rocks.

Harbor Light was a Great place for an evening drink, admiring the sky and stars. The occasional flight heading to or from Logan, I gather. We had a good dinner at the popular Five Corners Kitchen in Marblehead.