On the Mend

Today we definitely felt better than we have all week. I wouldn't say we're totally back to normal (Ellie still has a rattling cough that I'm a bit concerned about), but we were so tired of being couped up in this tiny apartment, so we got out and had a great day of fun! The weather up here is beautiful: breezy, 70s, low-humidity... it's hard to believe it's August!

We started the day with a treat for Rosie: a trip to Fresh Pond. The walk down there was a bit further than we realized, but even after about 3 miles, Rosie had plenty of energy to run around (no surprise to those of you who've ever met Rose Pose!) Rosie has had some trouble adjusting to being a "city-dog"... there's hardly any grass around here and she hasn't been off her leash in over a week, not to mention the 1 BR apt filled with sickies hasn't exactly afforded her a lot of play-space.

Anyway, this Fresh Pond park was beautiful and they allow dogs to walk off-leash (as long as they're under "voice-command"... not sure how they enforce that one!) Anyway, there was a nice 2 mile loop around the pond and Rosie did so well staying right with us. She met lots of other dogs and about 1/2 around the trail we discovered a doggie "beach" where dogs were allowed to swim. Rosie was so excited, she sprinted right into the water!



It was so funny because although tons of dogs walked past the beach, only the labs/lab-mixes wanted to get in and swim. It was hard to tell them all apart when all you could see were heads bobbing in the water.





Anyway, she had a blast and after all that playing, plus the 3 mile walk home, she was WORN OUT. In fact, as I was writing this post, I decided to take a picture of her just to show you what she's been doing all day since we returned from the park!


On the way home I totally did the tourist thing and wore my camera around my neck to take pictures of some of the beautiful homes we were passing. It's so amazing to me that you'll just be walking around Cambridge and see one house that looks pretty normal, then the next house will have a historical marker on it that says something like: "Built by so and so in 1809"! Here are some pics of my favorites along Brattle St. that we passed today:




This one is actually the Longfellow House, where the poet and Harvard Professor Henry Longfellow lived after his retirement:



They had "townspeople" mingling out front dressed in period garb, which I'll be honest with you, has always seemed a bit cheesy to me! Still, it was a beautiful home with amazing landscaping.


After lunch and nap-time, we headed across town via the "T" (the subway system here) to Beacon Hill. Beacon Hill is this super trendy little yuppyish area of town that was once and is still home to the "Boston Elite". There is no telling what the townhomes sell for in that neighborhood.... everything looks expensive! The reason we had to stop there today was because I wanted to hit up a children's store to get a couple of hair bows for Ellie. It seems that the kibbles weren't the only casualty in the splitting-open of the car-top carrier last week because the small bag I had packed with bows and other miscellaneous items is strangely missing. Anyhow, I use bows every day to keep the hair out of her face, so now that we're well and not spending all day laying around the house in our PJs, I figured it was time to get a couple of bows and start replenishing my stash!



The store we went to was so cute, but PRICEY! I saw the cutest little outfit that I thought I might get for the new baby to wear home from the hospital in December, and when I looked at the tag ($74.00!!) I quickly changed my mind! I guess they have to pay for that Beacon Hill rent somehow!

After our bow-hunting, we hopped back on the T and headed to the North End, which is kind of the unofficial Little Italy of Boston. We tried to eat at Bella Vista, the restaurant Jacqui Poitras recommended, but unfortunately tonight happened to be the once-a-year celebration for some patron Saint and the streets were PACKED! The guy at Bella Vista practically laughed us out the door when we told him we didn't have a reservation. Oh well, we'll try again another night. We did manage to find a really great place that was off the main streets and didn't have to wait too long. The food was actually really good and Daniel and I both commented that it really reminded us of a place we had eaten in Rome a few years ago. Just a few things have changed since then.... =)



Afterwards we walked around a little bit and Daniel let Ellie play in a nearby garden while I waited in line at Mike's Pastry Shop (another one of Jacqui's recommendations.. thank you!!)



... The line was long, but the reward was great!


YUM!