Alright, back to some regularly scheduled programming.
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been back in Boston for
almost a month now- the time has definitely flown. Although I have largely been
working, I’ve gotten a chance to do some fun things, which I’ll detail below.
And this weekend was a long one, since July 4th fell on a Friday, so
I got extra chances to do fun things, which was nice. :)
So, without further ado, here are the highlights of my
summer so far:
1. Watching the World
Cup
It will probably come as a surprise to a few of you that
I’ve been watching, and enjoying, the World Cup. Soccer isn’t exactly the great
American pastime, so its popularity is at something of a minimum in the States
to begin with. In addition, I’ve never really been a ‘watch sports’ type of
person, unless I was watching rowing races. But something about this World Cup
caught my interest, and I’ve enjoyed watching the games so far.
It probably also has something to do with the fact that my
lab has definitely caught the World
Cup fever. My grad student loves soccer in all of its forms, and his enthusiasm
seems to have spread to the rest of my lab. We’re all guilty of streaming the
games while we were waiting for experiments to finish, and in some cases even
in the background while we were working. In addition, we went to the pub on
campus for the two major United States games, which led to my first alcoholic
beverage in an actual establishment whose main purpose was serving alcohol
(just one beer, and it was not horrible tasting, which I was surprised by).
Although we were terribly disappointed when the U.S. got knocked out of the
tournament, no one’s enthusiasm for the game has diminished, and several of the
people in my lab have made plans to watch the last four games of the World Cup
together. I may be a bandwagon soccer fan dragged along by my lab, but I’m
enjoying the moment while it lasts.
2. Visiting the Rose
Garden
There are a few places in Boston that are remarkably quiet,
and the Rose Garden is one of them. It’s a short walk from where I’m living
right now, which makes it a perfect place to visit when I decide that I’m tired
of hiding in the air conditioning, but don’t actually want to go to far, so
that I can return when the oppressive heat gets to be too much. (I’m really not
cut out for the heat... I’m pretty sure that if it were possible for humans to
melt I would be the first to go).
Although it’s really not rose blooming season right now,
there were still a couple of roses in the rose garden, and I managed to snap a
few pictures, which are included below. I have no idea what any of them are
called, but they’re pretty. It was incredible how many different types of roses
there were... I’ve been to the Rose Garden in Seattle before, and I think there
were more roses there, but I was too young then to really appreciate the work
that goes into making all of those types of roses. Now that I’ve got some more
plant facts under my belt, I know how much work it would be to design a new
rose species, and I’m astounded by how many different species there are. People
are constantly amazing me in new ways.
I really liked the way that these roses were sort of patchy- each petal has several
different shades on it.
This rosebud was just too perfect not to take a picture of.
A view of the garden as a whole- I can only imagine how gorgeous it is when all the roses are actually in bloom.
3. The Arnold
Arboretum
In the same vein as the Rose Garden, although slightly less
centrally located, is the Arnold Arboretum. It’s much larger though, and
contains quite a few more plants than the Rose Garden. I went with one of my
friends, and we saw everything from grape vines, to several species of
clematis, to a 277 year old bonsai. Since we went on the weekend after the 4th
of July, I was very much reminded of the fact that that tree was cultivated
prior to the United States being a country. And it was such a tiny tree! It was
a little bit mind-blowing.
The Arboretum was very peaceful, and an excellent place for
a picnic if you ever get a chance. It was also surprisingly easy to reach from
Boston- one of the lines on the T (our subway system) goes almost directly
there. It’s definitely somewhere that I’d like to go back to; it would be an
excellent location for a lazy day of a nap/read cycle.
4. The Fourth of July
Fireworks
Due to various weather conditions, the fireworks actually
happened on the 3rd of July here in Boston. The third hurricane of
my three years in Boston decided that this weekend would be a good time to roll
through, and the celebrations had to be adjusted accordingly. It actually
worked out really well- I came home from work and chilled for a while before
streaming the pre-fireworks music on my laptop, since I didn’t want to deal
with the crowds on the Esplanade. When it was time for the fireworks, we all
headed outside to watch, which was pretty incredible- I think it was probably
the closest I’ve ever been to fireworks (not counting our family fireworks on
Lake Tapps... but those, while up close and personal, aren’t on nearly the
scale of Boston’s fireworks.) I was once again awed by the relative ‘magic’ of
what we can accomplish with controlled chemical explosions.
I think those are the main highlights of my past month...
I’ve started a sailing class, but haven’t actually gone on the water yet, so
that will have to wait for a few weeks from now when we actually get on the
water and we see whether my 5.5 years of crew skills transfer to sailing at
all. I’m guessing they won’t, but holding out some hope that I’ll magically
have water vehicle skills and be a pro sailor. We’ll see what happens there.
I have some things to finish up for work now, so we’ll have
to leave it there for the moment. I hope you’re all having wonderful summers so
far!
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