Boston welcomes Kim

After the FAWCO Conference, my friend Kim came up from Houston to spend a few days in the city about which I've bragged to her since we became friends back in Holland. Kim moved back to the States from Holland in July and it was an exciting reunion to which we'd both been looking forward for months.

After a looooong nightmarish trip - Houston to Boston, high winds preventing a first landing so on to Hartford, CT then back to Boston with landing gear actually being engaged and retracted, again because of high winds, to Newark, NJ to spend several hours in that lovely airport, and finally back to Boston the morning after she was to arrive - but Kim made it to my home city of Boston!

I was born in Boston and lived in and around the city for most of my life. I wanted Kim to get a sense of my roots and my attitude - and boy did she! My charming (dreaded?!) Boston accent (paaahhhk the caaaaah in Haaahhhvaaad Yaaahd) was out of the can - and I'm still having trouble putting it back. Brings out the 'feisty' in me. "You want some o' this??!!" I, naturally, gave her the grand tour, including much of the Freedom Trail and a ride on the Boston Beantown Trolly, to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, to the North End to Paul Revere's House and the Old North Church, and much more - including an afternoon drinking Guiness with St. Patrick's Day revelers and then an authentic Italian dinner in the heart of the North End followed by canoles from Mike's Pastry - yes, all fat and calorie free...

I taught Kim, although she resisted (to no avail), to say things like "Maaaa's Baaaa" (Mars Bar in my local tongue), Fenway Paaak, and "Yankees Suck" which the locals definitely appreciated. Boston lived up to its reputation of a city full of friendly, welcoming people who impressed both Kim and me. Here's a film of our adventures through this fair city :)




It was so nice to be in a place where I know what to do, where to go, how to act - speak the language...familiarity is such a comforting thing. And customer service!!! And Dunkin' Donuts coffee! Ah, and good old-fashioned, American-style customer service ... good stuff! Do I miss Boston? Absobloominutely!!