Andare a Zonzo

I guess it's time for me to mark my territory here on mcclurelife.  

Back in college, I went on a two-month trip to Europe with others in the architecture program.  It was a great trip, but we did make the trip with Prof. Zorr.  Zorr was a strange bird - he would make some kind of weird siren sound when he saw something he didn't like, and an equally weird yet distinct siren sound when he saw something he liked.  He wore the same outfit everyday - a white turtleneck, khaki pants, and a blue blazer.  Except for Fridays, when he came in a ratty pair of overalls and a blue sweatshirt jacket.  Every week.  This was our tour guide through the grand boulevards of Paris and the canals of Venice.

So Zorr came up with this "theme" for our tour:  Andare a Zonzo, which he translated as "to walk around aimlessly."  You ask me, a bunch of college students don't require structured aimlessness, it just kind of happens.  

It was an interesting theme, and part of me wonders if ole Zorr just didn't want to come up with anything for us to do, and so stuck with a theme of not having one.  The weird thing was, I feel like I was able to really get a better feel for the people, the city, the food, etc. when I wasn't given a minute-by-minute itenerary. 

Now we're in a new city, and it feels a lot like wandering around aimlessly (which Zorr called "zonzoing.")  We get lost every time we venture outside of our known area, and it's frustrating.  But, we are getting to know our city, our people, just by driving/walking around.  We've discovered the best things when we didn't plan on it, when we weren't in control.  There's something helpful (and hopeful) about that.

 - ashley

Mary, Mary, Quite contrary...

So we were able to secure a small plot of earth in the Fenway Victory Garden area near our apt. A little history on the area is that it's the oldest continually run public garden in the United States, beginning in 1940's. It's also an Frederick Law Olmstead designed project and part of the Emerald Necklace, a series of connected parks within the Boston area that he did in the 20's. His firm also designed the Highland Park area of Birmingham. Anyway, we are pumped to get to be a part of making our neighborhood beautiful, but also getting to know the other people who have spaces down there too (and hopefully save some $$ on groceries). Apparently, there is even a fensfest, which is like a huge bbq during the summer. 

So we arrived at our new space Saturday to find a great surprise of flowers already in bloom in our little space, thanks to former 'owners.' Though we are to do all the work in our area, it's still just a rental, so we planned on reusing as much as we could. Luckily, there was also a brick pathway we dug up and re-formed so that we could make room for all the veggies we want to plant. And there were even several tools left, which totally rocked b/c we left so much of that kind of stuff in Bhm. Here's how it looked when we arrived on Saturday...

My favorite part of our new space. TULIPS...and lambs ear. :)

After about $100 and 8 hours of work later, this is how it looked when we left today...

Oh, and the area we covered up will soon be our vegetable patch, so we moved all the other original plantings that weren't near the tulips over to that side as one big grouping.

Below is a pic of my favorite garden in the FVG. This guy has been at it for years.

So that's a little bit of what we did this weekend. What did you do? I would love some comments on what to plant.  I am really missing my Cheryl and SuSu and their green thumbs living  right next door! Particularly some tomato advice. I also have swiss chard, spinach, mesclun, carrots, broccoli, summer and winter squash, basil, and of course, rosemary. I do want to plant a few more flowers and such...

Out of Office

So today seems a little brighter. I think moving my "office" to ULA Cafe is better than sitting inside our dark little apt every morning. I linked it here if you want to check it out. ULA! It's funny--I'm less than 1/2 mile from the Sam Adams Brewery from my studio (and is on the other side of the building from ULA), but you'd never know it b/c it's such a modest building in the middle of a neighborhood. Somehow I would expect some neon somewhere, but maybe old Sammy is just a step above the rest...The whole area around here is very unassuming as well. This particular place reminds me of the Pepper Place area, but bigger...and this little cafe was such a welcome oasis from the myriad of Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts on every corner. Blech. If America runs on Dunkin' then we are screwed.

I don't have much to say this morn, as I usually end up figuring out what I'm writing as I sit here, much like how I process my thoughts in any conversation. Nothing comes to mind that I should bore you with today so I'll write more later.

Maybe I'll try to figure out how to post pics...? Don't be hating on them either, I took some where we still didn't have all of our junk put up yet. It's hard to go from 1500sf to 600sf! Comments on each pic is below it...

This is what you see when you walk into our apt and do a 180...
This is the view from our hallway into the living room. The kitchen is next to it, but apparently I didn't take a pic of it...yet.
This is the view into our alcove from the LR. This is also the room that you guys can shack up in when you come stay with us. I even put up curtains for privacy...haha. These pictures look so junky now that I've posted them...
This is my studio. Which IS junky...but that's how I roll. This is shot from the far wall from where you come in.
This is another shot of where the magic happens...
This is the outside of our building...I love that we have birds on it, which I found out are called Griffins. The irony would be conceiving little Griffin here sometime next year...or next. or the next...
And this is where we are relative to downtown Boston...
And a zoomed shot of what we see from our apt. 

So I hope you enjoyed the slideshow. I'll post some pics of the green monstah and some of the red sox action at some point as well. I know I have those pics, but I'm not sure where they are...

Oh, and I learned some html code for updating my website if you get the chance to peruse the store...www.olariastudio.com

...Rub a Dub Dub

A hot shower is one of the sexiest things there are in this world. And if cleanliness is next to godliness, then I am feeling pretty saint-like this morning. Blessed are the pipes that bring hot water! Okay, so I know I'm being really dramatic right now, but that's how amazing I feel after having previously gone two more days without a good, steamy shower...One of the many facets of Birmingham life I took for granted. Others like having my own washer and dryer and not having to dig someone else's undies out of the washer before putting my own in...or paying upwards of $5 just to do one load, half dried. Or having to go move my car from the amazing parking space I fought for just so city sweepers may or may not come by and sweep...(though that would have been a treat in Bhm...). 

I guess there are trade offs as well. There is a lot more 'music' in my daily world as I make my way around town here...walking, of course. They are often the moments I wish I had one of you guys here to eyeball with silent chuckles...someone who can appreciate them with me. ;) 

There is the guy on the Yawkey bridge right past the stadium that plays his electric guitar, mini amp and all, any time there is a home game. I have heard several renditions of motorhead, ac/dc (etc) songs over the past few weeks on my way to the trains, right down to the vocals. This guy knows his audience. Then there is the guy who sits in our particular T stop that loves to play the themes from the 1960's Willy Wonka on his cello, which ends up feeling as creepy as the boatride b/c haunting echo it has in the station. There is another man who has made a song out of asking for change next to the stadium, who actually has quite a range. Next we have the random jam fest of hippies and any passerby that will join in with sticks, spoons, tambourine, paper cup drum and the like at pretty much any common square you come to. In Davis square this past weekend, there was even a group of musicians playing an array of Old Crow and possibly some Avett Brothers in the square, but had to stop when someone wasn't staying in "D" long enough for the 'vocalist'...which I'm not sure was in any key at all. Finally, another favorite is the red line train stations, which typically have someone who seems to know a bit more about what they are playing (classical of course) and actually sound really nice...appropriate for all the classy people taking the trains from there up to Harvard and such. It almost feels like those scenes in Amelie. Beautiful. I love how eclectic it all is and am glad that I can understand this city a little bit through its music...

...And I'm CLEAN!

...More

Today is Patriots Day here in New England, our "extra holiday" of sorts--jealous? It should be fun, except for the fact that my husband still has to work today. Boo. There is a marathon and all kinds of festivities around the city, apparently...and of course, a game at the green monstah. Outside my window, I can hear the locals getting all riled up. I, however, have not gotten out of my bathrobe yet to go see what all the fuss is about. I know I should be out and about exploring my new city, which I have done a little bit, but I'm just not there yet. I'm not sure why I'm not. I hate that I sound like Debbie Downer here, as I have every reason NOT to be. It's just not as much fun to explore stuff by yourself either. I feel like every word out of my mouth is criticism of our new place. (Well, you would be complaining if you realized that "heat and hot water included" really meant heat no higher than a 60 degrees for winter months and water no hotter than 80 degrees at best). Coming from owning your own place (and all those problems you own with it), it's very hard NOT to get frustrated b/c you can't control even getting a hot shower. I think this is called transition and I don't think I'm very good at it. It feels like a huge step backward for us. I miss our house and our neighbors and our friends and I'm wondering why we moved here. Nothing seems better at all. But I have to wonder if it really was supposed to be better, if not just different, even in ways we don't like. We have fallen into the metropolis lie and lost our way. I know there are good things to see and I can't right now. I am reading this and know I come across completely over-dramatic but I have to be honest in saying I'm not going to just put on a happy face and be okay with it. There should be a top five coming later.

We visited a church yesterday and it was okay. They had a missionary speaker from Brazil there, which seemed to distract me from my anger about having to get another cold shower that morning. He spoke plainly, without the cool and regulated tones of pastors I've learned to tune out. Which is why I think I heard him...after telling us about his wife having had Alzheimer's for over 9 years and that this was his first 'break' from her in that time, he talked a little bit about having an eternal perspective in living...something I know I've lost sight of and what made me rethink my current wailings a bit. I know there is peace in that kind of hope. But looking back over the last few years, that seems to be the last place I go in my heart, in my progression of faith. Returning from Brazil the last time was so hard for so many reasons, but I think I just felt so awful, so much like a failure, and things got so dark, that I think I just gave up on following as persistently as I had in years prior. I felt so blind-sided; it didn't seem like it was worth the pain and part of me is ashamed for letting one person affect me so much. I think things just got a lot more cloudy and light for me too want to make definitions for how I was going to be, and I ended up just living in distraction, ignoring my own brokenness and shaming others for theirs. 

I have fewer distractions here, I'm seeing. It's easy to make the 'few' quite large...and quite ridiculous. And now that it's quieter, relatively speaking (there IS a stadium 300 yards from my apt window), it's hard to not listen a little more to His still small voice wanting me to converse with Him...kind of like we used to...but more. There's got to be more.

there are rox in my sox

okay, so crazy has descended upon our neighborhood. what was a mere mention in my former post has become a "holy shit" in my world today. i stepped out of my front door moments after my earlier post only to find strange and familiar sights and sounds around me: sox fans...by the drones. the aroma of dip cans and hot dogs filled the air amid the cold and sweaty mass rushing toward the stadium--filling every sidewalk and roadway this side of mass avenue. helicopters swirled above and tiny prop planes circled with their banner-ads and i almost thought i was back in panama city beach...yeehaw. it wasn't until the fighter jets did their fly-by that i was convinced how mad this city truly is. after re-routing myself to another t station for my downtown errands, (since my usual one requires me to walk down yawkey way, the veritable runway of crazy), i found the whole entire city to be consumed with these red sox. 

i like all kinds of sox and i'm not sure i'm going to be devoted to red ones more than any other kind. after all, what if i want to wear purple...?

Settling in...I think.

So I am about to unpack the last box and I have to say, moving from a 1400sf house to a 600sf apt is quite a feat for two people who can't (normally) throw anything away. And by two people, I mean one..me. But I have, and I still have a lot more to toss. Our little place looks a lot more homey, but you'll have to wait for pics until I figure out how to post them...or take the time. I still can't find our camera, so there's that...

This is a very cool neighborhood. This weekend Ash and I got to explore it a bit more. I think we may just make concentric circles out from here. Being that we live in 'the fens' we have to walk right past the Fenway ticket office every time we go to the trains...and tonight is opening night on the home field. They've been getting ready for it since last Tuesday and there has been an increasing amount of crazy swaggering around in its Sox gear. So, we have eaten at some of the best places, and they are even in our neighborhood...mexican, greek, italian, american bistro, sushi...and that's just Fenway. We did find the Ikea, in case you were wondering, but only for storage purposes, though I must admit a tiny bit of calm did wash over me as we walked through the familiar maze of royal blue and sunshine. ;) Sad. 

The people. We have met some of the nicest people here, surprisingly. Everyone talks about how rude north easterners are, and I'm sure they can be. Helpful would be the best word I could use to date. I anticipate future altercations, but so far, even having to continue to deal with municipal employees in Bhm for a couple of our wrap-up issues have been much harder to deal with than anyone I've met so far here at City Hall. I LOVE the accent or rather, that is always surprises me to hear it so thick and at times, a lot like Peter Griffin, which only makes me smile. It has made it's way into conversation-relay for both Ashley and myself instead of our usual "he/she said" accent and I'm sure will easily trickle into our dialect without our realizing it...kind of a bastardized cotney. Oh, I should mention that I've learned three new words this week that are all racially derogatory in ways I did not expect or know previously. All of which Ashley has told me I cannot repeat, no matter how fun they may be to say. Damn.

This blogging thing is hard for me...not knowing who is reading this. I haven't gotten to the point of not caring yet. There is what I want to write and what there is to write...what's more real or what's more real for me. So I think I'll stick to a little play by play for now and hopefully it will evolve. 

Bahs-tahn

Well, we're here...but that's about all I can say at the moment. I'm sitting in the middle of piles of our junk in what could one day become our living room. I spent the last four days with my in-laws in constant presence and am glad to be alone for a moment...unjudged. Moving in wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but parking is--our current tickets total $40 for day one. Sheeze! Good thing we sold our house before we left. 

My brain is really fuzzy with all this and I still don't think it's hit me that we are here...we are moved. Although you'd think it would have occurred to me what with all the disarray around me now.  I will post pictures when I have a second (and figure out how).