Trick / treat

ah, halloween! unknown to us dutchies but such a big event here in the us. a month ago target already filled its stores with many hilarious costumes and home decorations... and at the lantern parade we already saw many children in halloween costumes. this thursday we witnessed the first adults dressed up while in the subway (sooo many of them! im wondering what percentage of the us did not participate in this event. this link provides a list with the most popular costumes; chilean miners, paul the octopus?!!) interesting.... but the pics i took were not sharp :( 

ah yes, are we boring! but i never enjoyed dressing up, and thus we did not go from bar to bar yesterday in weirdo costumes (instead, we were at the cemetery!). today we had a long walk around cold, windy boston, and saw some more people in costumes, mostly dead tired, hungover and hungry in the mc donalds... but also the pic i took there was boring. above... some children that are getting candy from firemen, in cambridge. yet the only child dressed up as a cute flower was of course hidden when i took this picture... but i like the boy sticking his head in the bag to see what he got....

just looked up what "trick-or-treating" is, as i didnt even know that. i knew it was going from door to door to get candy, but what is the trick part?  my friend wikipedia enlightens me: "Children in costumes, either in large groups or accompanied by an adult, travel from house to house in order to ask for treats such as candy with the question "Trick or treat?". The "trick" is a (usually idle) threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given."

i do hope the boy was satisfied with his treat from the firemen...... :)

Overload, maybe

clearly too much here... and on top of all those traffic signs, there is the us-flag, as you should never forget in which country you are... :)

generally i enjoy choosing a photo and writing something about nothing or nothing about something, im not in the mood today, nor yesterday...

ah well.... we went to the cemetery again as it was a beautiful, sunny day. ah, and the colorful trees from yesterday all lost their leaves entirely... this time we went by bike!! cant even remember when was the last time i was on a bike... :( (a real bike, the bike in the gym is just a stupid machine) oh my, i miss biking a lot... i used to bike to work every day for the past 4 years. and now? never, not even in the weekends.... also, i miss a proper washing machine. just tried to wash a comforter. well... after the wash, the upper part didnt even get wet, so then i turned it around and "washed" it again.  i guess we must be lucky we at least have our own washer. but why, why does the clean laundry often come out dirtier than it was before? seriously....
but that was enough whining... good night!

Fall colors

on the cemetery, last weekend. isnt that pretty? but more and more trees are entirely without leaves now. as opposed to yesterday, when it was like summer, its quite a bit colder again today and a strong wind...  so, soon no more fall foliage....

me? off to sleep....

Police explain

this picture was taken when obama was in boston. i can readily imagine how this lady is babbling on and on and on, but none of the police officers is actually listening... "officers, please explain me why nowadays.. blabllabla.." i didnt like the one with the glasses, he was on a motorcycle and when parking it in front of the convention center took the right of way and let a mother with 2 small children back away, while it was overcrowded there! this morning there was an article in the metro newspaper questioning whether police officers used excessive violence while arresting a 16-year old at  the roxbury college. this arrest was taped and can be seen on youtube. i myself dont want to watch the entire thing, but the beginning looks bad. ofcourse, i have no clue what this kid did, but fact is, he is only 16 and about 10 officers (!! were they taking turns on the beating?) were dealing with him at the same time. this part of the news report i found particularly stupid; "the teen allegedly grabbed the officers handcuffs and started flailing, which can be very dangerous", the Commissioner said. and: "3 officers were taken to the hospital". once again, i never hope to get into contact with "the emergency services".

other than that; today was a truly scrumptious day! it was like a sunny summer-day, only the trees gave away to true season we are currently in...

Truly bizarre

this photo i took on one of our walks through the fells reservation, close to our apartment in melrose. found the shadows on this fallen tree so pretty. didnt post it so far as usually i like a story around a picture (unless i really like the pic and it speaks for itself.. :) or when im lazy... ;) ), but couldnt imagine the story with this picture would be this weird....

my parents went on holiday last week. the day after they left i got an email from my sister with the subject "IMPORTANT!!!!" that worried me a little... 

she wrote me that a blossom tree in my parent's garden had been cut down; the person taking care of the house could not open the door to the garden and discovered a huge tree was blocking it. uuhh??! i think the tree is as old as me, and a real! big! tree! (not as big as the above one though). pretty too, although not nice to sit under, as many birds liked it as well, and the chance of getting shit on your head was pretty big. anyways, on the day my parents left, someone, somehow cut down this tree!! can you believe it?! else nothing happened (luckily), but there was no sign, no note, no phone call, both neighbors on holiday...

and now this big, cut down tree is lying there. my parents came back today and called the police, but they said that its not something to come over for (it is a big tree! i would have no clue how to get rid of it..). im quite curious, actually, what the police here in the US would do about this...

now i told my sister to take some pics.... so maybe i can post one here... :)

normally i never do this, but today i violate my own rules; below 3 pics of the actual tree, before and after, and its removal.... see, a nice, big tree... (photos taken by my father, in the netherlands)
:(

 

Its october!

even, its almost the end of october and today it was around 23 degrees. in the morning it was a little hot, almost, very humid from the rain we had last night. today was great, and we once again had lunch outside (too bad the remainder of the day was spent in the lab).... boston keeps treating me very well.. :)

therefore a sunny picture, although not from today. this was in gloucester. i like to photograph seagulls, but usually they are far too unsharp. there were so many of them, and when this little dog came running towards them, they all moved up a little. i do think seagulls are very lazy, you need some effort to get them off the ground. strangers already once remarked; why you taking pictures of flying rats!!

ah, and here the most amazing picture of a flying rat.

Ocean view

this was somewhere in rockport, when we were just driving around. it was soooo beautiful there. these houses were all perfectly located.. but i would find it a little too far away from everything, and ordering everything online is a little boring, no.. ? :)

i finally figured out how to get larger pictures on my blog. it was easier than i thought, just googling around and following step-by-step directions on this blog. ah, without google and wikipedia i would be sooo much dumber!!

therefore, just this pretty view...

Enchanting leaves

 this morning we went to the wyoming cemetery here in melrose. this graveyard is more than 100 years old. many cemeteries here you can enter by car, i find that sooo weird.. (but it is a very big cemetery)! we parked somewhere outside and had a walk. it was very pretty with all the colorful leaves, and there were soooo many of them.. :)

Lantern parade

this little girl is no anomaly in this crowd. she was one of many children in halloween costume. yes yes, it is not yet halloween; it was the yearly lantern parade around jamaica pond in jamaica plain. this parade began in 1984 when people gathered to make a journey with their candle-lit lanterns. around 4,000 people arrived at the pond around sunset, and all children were dressed up in their halloween costumes. it was soooo cute!
as the website spontaneous celebrations says: "The Lantern Parade has it's cultural roots in Japanese lantern making and Dutch tradition. It reflects our dedication to building community by exploring old and creating new cultural traditions." eeehhmm, dutch tradition? really? i do remember we had "lampionnenoptocht" (lantern parade), and the lanterns were from colorful paper, on a long stick. (here they were made from cut off soda bottles.. :)) but is it a real dutch tradition? (also, i do not remember whether i ever joined such a parade other than as a spectator) and wikipedia lets me down on this one....
anyways, it was real pretty to see all these small lights going around the pond, and it was a beautiful part of boston we had not yet discovered...

Many dream...

.. few manage it. (actually that is a sentence from the book im currently reading, it is said when the main character's house is on fire and he says "there is a dog as well. stuck in the house unless she's learned to fly". it is a book by annie proulx, postcards. i didnt read much american literature before, but i am catching up pretty well, currently. i like this book and writing style, it gives me a good view of the american life, although rather dark..).

above was last sunday. this area is around the place of "our" favorite supermarket. it is a run-down, industrial area. it was actually the first time we went somewhere solely for the purpose of taking pictures. it was not much of a success, i wasnt happy with any of the pics i took. i liked the building above, but the car was in the way... a little later i saw why it was parked there; they were having a photoshoot! while i took a pic of the scene, the mother of the model asked whether i wanted to take a pic of her daughter as well.. then she told us that they are originally from brasil, and that they (she?) hopes that her 17-year old daughter becomes a real model. however, a professional photoshoot was sooo expensive, so now a friend was taking pictures of her. in the end she added; ah, yes, if she would make it... then i dont have to work anymore!!!

On shoes

i am fascinated by the shoes american women wear. either they are like above, super high heels that i cannot imagine ever to be able to walk on normally, or big white ugly sport shoes. i do not see much in between, or maybe only these 2 extremes catch my eye. the big white shoes i never understand. sometimes a woman is so well dressed, but then i see her shoes... everything for comfort?! at the same time, for a party, or wedding, they suddenly are able to walk on impossibly high heels.. :)

the people in the picture above belong to the latest wedding i pictured. they were waiting while the bride & groom got their pictures taken... maybe now the guy has a picture of them at his desk, as to never forget he has a wife... ;)

a few months back i actually had the idea to take pictures of legs/shoes. but then i found out someone i once met at a party already did that, and even got a book published about that. curious? here is the link. is anything ever original? i guess everything has been said and done already before. some are just more succesful than others... :)

Pool closed

this picture i took on sunday. i liked the ominous sky combined with sunshine, and the rain i expected actually never came. the previous weekend i also took some pics around the pool, all not to my liking, and also this one does not reflect the beauty i saw when walking around it! the pool has been closed since a while now.. :( leaves started to accumulate, and with the sun it was soo pretty! yesterday morning we saw that they were taking out the leaves, and when coming back from work last night the pool was entirely covered. not at all pretty anymore and so suddenly the picture above looked a little more appealing to me than when i could still look outside and see it for real.. :) (haha, that goes fast).
anyways, im currently obsessed with crooked pictures (thats a new word for me. sounds funny). i easily misjudge the horizon level and then end up with something i thought would be nice, but... is crooked! aarrghhh. practise!!
back to the pool; it will be months before we can swim there again. and before that i will experience my first "real winter". brrrr... im now confined to the gym for my exercise, and find it extremely boring.. beeeughhhh.

In isolation

it is still not cold (yet)! yes, in the mornings and evenings its chilly, but chilly in a nice and fresh way (dont they say "crisp" or something?). lunch outside in the sun is still possible, isnt that amazing?
this is at the boston common. i found him funny. it was so beautiful and sunny, and he had entirely isolated himself from his surroundings with his laptop, ipod/phone or whatever, and headphones. multimedia-kid.. :) (and now i sound like an old lady, as if i am not on the internet all the time myself!)

One day..

..he himself will be governor... :)
this was on Boylston, in front of the hynes convention center/prudential, on saturday when obama was in town. read this morning that 15,000 people gathered there to see a glimpse of him, and only 7,000 did. i took quite some pictures of the event, but this is the only one i truly like, and even this one is not entirely as i hoped... i need to practise more!!!

Wicked funny

another wedding yesterday, or wedding pictures for that matter, at the public garden (shortly before we saw another one as well, but this one was clearly more posh). i found the entire scene hilarious, really everything is wrong, and i am sure these people would not appreciate this photo at all.. :)
what was real wicked fun (a new expression for me but towards becoming a real american i should add it to my vocabulaire, i believe), and this really lived up to the definition of "wicked fun" was the movie we went to see last night; red (retired and extremely dangerous). with bruce willis, morgan freeman and john malkovich. my oh my! that was really funny.. and i recommend you all go and see it...
we went to the AMC Loews at/near boston common, and the movie theater itself was cool as well. it was enormous (bigger than "our" theater in revere), and soo american! should take some pictures there someday...

No glimpse

no glimpse, no look-a-like, nothing.... the closest i came to seeing obama was not today but last monday, at the top of a mountain called "gunstock" that we climbed in the shire (NH).
so, obama was in boston today at the hynes convention center, next to prudential. he was there to campaign for governor deval patrick; on november 2 are the congressional and gubernatorial elections (gubernatorial? i dont know what that is!). according to the newspaper it all started at 12.30. we were there well before that, but there was already an enormous, endless row of people waiting to enter hynes. apparently people had been lining up since 6 this morning!! no way we had a chance, and thus we stood at the entrance of hynes, watching so many people go in, although the row did not seem to get any shorter (7000 were allowed in; quite some people were unlucky). it was soo windy today, and sooo cold!! we waited there quite a long while, and i photographed a lot of overweight police officers, but no obama.... :( when someone finally asked a policeman he said; obama is long inside! they have underground parking here, ya know, sure he doesnt come through the front entrance..! and that was it...

On stage

staying in new york (didnt take any pictures this week) and the intrepid. i found this very funny, although i did not even know the meaning of "props". but luckily my IQ is always higher when the internet is working, and wikipedia tells me the following: a "theatrical property", usually referred to as "prop" is an object used or held on stage by an actor. A "prop master or mistress" is the person in charge of handling and buying/finding the props. but, a prop can have many other meanings, as listed here, and of course on the intrepid it actually refers to propellers..., the full text being beware of jet blast, intakes and props..

Girl running

with her dog. this was in new york, few weeks back. she looked very much new york to me, with the tiny little dog and her dress, running along the hudson. most funny was that we were at the exact same spot the next day, and she came running by with her dog again, but this time wearing another dress. too bad that time i did not have my camera ready...
ah, in the background the intrepid...

Moose tracks

we have this great little ice cream shop close to our house (not pictured above, it is not so photogenic; this one is in nantasket). one thing americans certainly are good at; delicious ice cream! and you get lots of it. the first time we went there we made the mistake of ordering a medium-sized ice cream. we didnt have dinner yet, and we didnt need one anymore after that.... i did not eat anything else the entire evening and was soooo full! i think a small ice cream here is still a lot bigger than a large ice cream in the netherlands.. (and you can take TWO flavors in a small..! 2!!). my favorite flavor is moose tracks. yum yum yum yum. not a flavor i would have choosen myself, but a real american colleague recommended it to me.. and i didnt want anything else ever since. it is vanilla icecream with chocolate fudge and tiny cute peanut butter cups. hmmmm.. want one now!! however.. most ice cream shops (including "ours") closed this weekend; its getting colder..... although today it was another sunny day, we even had lunch outside!!

Welcoming visitors

as seen at park street/downtown crossing. on the other side of the street is boston common, with the brewer fountain. nice! :)
yesterday we went to new hampshire, and upon entering that state we saw the following welcoming sign: "live free or die". we made jokes about that the rest of the day. we also imagined that being the welcoming sign to the netherlands ("leef in vrijheid, of.. sterf!!!" hmmm). right after that, there were state-owned liquor stores on either side of the highway, with a huge sign: "no tax, stock up and save!" now isnt that a warm welcome! then we climbed a mountain and enjoyed the fall colors (very nice, nicer than in boston, actually) and beautiful views. we didnt meet any NH people, luckily, what if they would determine whether we were free or... ?
today i caught up with my wikipedia reading and learned that "live free or die" is NH's state motto, adopted in 1945. the phrase comes from a toast written by general john stark in 1809. and yes, every state has a motto! the one for mass is: ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem that you ofcourse immediately translate into: by the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty. but i like californias motto best: eureka!!!