Purple Vespas, fried clams and Dame Julie Andrews

It's raining outside, and hopefully turning my little seedlings into big, strong plants.

Look how big they've gotten!

I'm inside, bundled up at my desk drinking green tea, snuggling with Rue and thinking about the past few weeks. I thought I hadn't written about all the things that had been happening because so very. many. things had been happening but when I sat down to write I didn't know what to say.
Writer's block of a sort, I suppose. But really, I just have so much to say that I don't even know where to start.
So, in the immortal words of Dame Julie E. Andrews, we'll start at the very beginning. It's a very, very good place to start.

Boston!

I love Boston maybe best of all in the spring, so I always try to go up around my birthday. Spring in Boston means the marathon, it means the Commons are in bloom, and it means Sullivan's at Castle Island (aka Sully's) is open for business.

Yum.

Sitting in the fresh, spring air looking out at Southie's beaches eating piping hot fried clams and crinkle fries (is that actually what they're called or do I just call them that?) is one of the more delightful things in this world. Totally worth the long wait in line. Besides, what fried food shack worth its salt doesn't have people overflowing out the door?

Boston has tons of beaches but the ones in Southie (the South End, for those that don't know) are my new favorites. They have great old beachhouses, and the restaurants in that area are a mix of old Irish pubs and newer, hipper places. The houses are beautiful, too.

Sometimes I like cold, windy Northeast beaches even better than tropical ones. Sometimes.

If fried clams didn't smell quite so good I would have gone and found out what this cool building was. A museum, I think.

One of the things I love most about Boston is that some place sprawling and green like this is only a two minute drive away from the heart of the city.

South Station.

The biggest draw, for me, of course, is my lovely friends.

This is the only picture I got of my Lovely Boston Host.

My Boston friends are the same kind of weird as me- and I think it's very important to find and hold on to people like that in this world.

For example, my friend who grew up in Jersey (which I think gives him a greater appreciation for Boston) and I are more than happy to take the two long T rides, bus ride and 10 minute walk just to go to the zoo and hang out with our friend the gorilla, whom we have named Joan. I miss Jersey Friend a lot. That kind of dedication to non-traditional friendships is hard to find.

There's also my beautiful business major friend who doesn't mind if we're the only people on the dance floor at a club. I miss her a lot, but I can't wait to visit her when she moves to Dallas this summer. Her apartment building has a pool.

And my Lovely Host for the weekend and I bought a purple Vespa our second year in college and named her V. Any time we didn't have to be in class (and sometimes when we did) we'd go on Boston adventures- check out new neighbourhoods, bakeries, coffee shops and parks. Late night adventures were the best- people spilled out of bars and shouted hello to the two funny girls driving a purple Vespa, in heels, in the middle of the night. I miss my Lovely Boston Host and V a lot.

Boston may be freezing in the winter, boiling in the summer, and it can sometimes seem hostile to non-locals but it's a great place to be young and fearless. There are nooks and crannies that you can call all your own, even if you just go for a weekend. I miss Boston a lot.

P.S. I found out what that building was- it's the Castle Island Historical Site. Here's a little bit about it.

P.P.S. I was going to write about Louisiana today but there's just too much. Soon, though. With online photo galleries and everything.