I love a Parade!

While many Bostonians spent most of yesterday in front of their tvs watching the Patriots and then the Red Sox kicking butt, I was outside at the JP Lantern parade. Every year, the community of Jamaica Plain hosts this "spontaneous celebration" right before Halloween. It is a wonderful tradition and really fun for everyone.

Our group of friends gathered at JR's house beforehand, and then walked down to Jamaica Pond. This year, we had a significant number of children in our group. When we first started going to the lantern parade, it was a group of young adults and now, we are bringing our own children with us. I guess that we really are growing up!

There were loads of people down at the Pond, many of whom were in costumes, including two men dressed as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson carrying metal and glass lanterns (they were my favorite.) I didn't wear a costume. In fact, I wore two coats as it was rather nippy. There was live music and beverages and a variety of different lanterns to buy. Halfway around the Pond, we were treated to a performance by some young Morris dancers, which was really sweet.

After we had made it around the Pond, and were treated to the sight of an amazing autumn moon, we headed back to JR's house for hot apple cider and crisp. Yum! I had missed the lantern parade last year, but I was so glad to get the chance to go this year with my wonderful friends. It is events like this that make me so glad that I have such a great urban family.

Go, Sox, Go!

So the Red Sox have taken the first two games of the World Series. And a base was stolen last night.

You know what that means? Free Tacos for All! Perhaps Montezuma's Revenge will replace the Curse of the Bambino?

Autumn in New England

What started out as a beautiful weather week here in Boston has really degraded quite quickly into doom and gloom. It looks like it is going to pour any second. Hopefully, any rain will be over by the time the baseball game starts. Go Sox!

Here is a little sample of the gorgeous fall day that we had on Sunday. These shots are from Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain, a Victorian garden cemetery here in the city.

Momma, Don't Take My Kodachrome Away

The 'rents were in town this weekend, and we went up to Concord, MA on Saturday where I managed to actually take some pretty decent photographs. We had a lot of fun and thoroughly enjoyed a beautiful fall day.

We Could Be Bouncing of the Top of this Cloud

Sauce and I went to see Tori Amos last night at the Orpheum, and we had an absolutely killer time! She is promoting her new album, American Dolls Posse, and played a lot of songs off the album as well as her older material, including killer versions of "Crucify", "Take to the Sky" and "Jackie's Strength". I was really impressed with her voice and enjoyed the costumes and lights, not to mention, her band was really tight. This is the fourth time I have seen Tori live (twice with a band and twice on her own,) and, while I think that I prefer her with just the piano and organ, I still think that this tour is really worth checking out. Cause man, does that woman rock!!!!!!! (And you need to see the fantastic physical shape she is in... her ARMS... WOW.)

The improv was CLASSIC, especially since she acknowledged that the Orpheum is a rat-infested pit. Seriously, the opening act was on stage in bare feet, and I poked Sauce at one point to say, "I hope he has a hepatitis shot." That theater really could use some TLC; if nothing else, the rows could be a little further apart for those of us with longer legs. The Orpheum has the potential to be a lovely theater, but, the management doesn't seem to be giving any indication that they care. I wish the city could do something about that; the theater is should be a registered historical site.

I having been trying the DL last night's Boston show from Tori's Official Bootlegs site all morning and have been experiencing major problems with the DL part, although the site had no problem taking my money. After fighting the site, I found out that I was not the only person having problems. I would hope that the fix comes through soon and that Sony gives the fans some sort of bonus for the frustration we have incurred.

I also found that I couldn't buy tickets for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones Hometown Throwdown on Ticketmaster this morning. There was no way all five nights were sold out at 10:10 am. Now it appears there is a website issue. JR was going to head down the Middle East at lunchtime to try to buy tickets there. I hope she can get them because we want to go! I love seeing live music!!

Love Your Television

I swore that I wasn't going to get hooked on any new shows this season, and I was also going to drop "Lost" from my tv line up. So I was down to "Heroes" on Monday and "Gray's Anatomy" (with "Ugly Betty" as lead in if I didn't have anything else to do) on Thursday with "Masterpiece Theater/Mystery!" on Sunday nights as my "must sees". Fortunately for me, I checked out "Pushing Daisies" last week, and, after viewing last night's episode, I am utterly hooked.

This is my new "Veronica Mars". The premise of the story, for those of you who haven't seen the show yet, is that mild mannered pie shop owner Ned has a special gift. With one touch, he can bring something dead back to life. However, the next time he touches the thing, it is dead for good. (The gift has another hitch. If Ned returns something to life for longer than one minute, something else has to die in its place.) Using his special power, Ned teams up with private investigator Emerson (Chi McBride from "Boston Public") to solve murder cases for the reward. In the first episode, Ned brings back his childhood sweetheart, "Chuck" (Anna Friel!!), who has been killed while on a cruise* so that they can solve her murder and claim the $50,000 reward. Ned decides to keep Chuck alive, much to Emerson's disapproval, and Chuck joins the two in their crime solving. Add to that, Ned and Chuck are falling in love and never can touch again without Chuck dying for good.

Okay, so the plot is a little bit out there. It really is all about these wonderful characters, who really are "characters". They are quirky and sweet and funny, and the writing is really clever. PI Emerson knits when he is stressed! Chuck's maiden aunts (Swoozie Kurtz and Ellen Greene) have a refrigerator filled with all sorts of gourmet cheese! Olive (Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth,) who works with Ned and harbors a big crush on the pie maker, bursts into song when her heart is full! As a child, Ned accidentally killed Chuck's dad! And Jim Dale is the narrator!

The style of the show, especially the colors of the costumes and the sets, is very "Amelie meets Edward Scissorhands." The show is just alive with color (something that won me over right off the bat.) The cast is really talented and does a great job preventing the material from being too over the top. Despite the show's premise, the way the story is played, everything is completely believable. The comparison that I keep reading is a "fairytale," and I actually don't think that comparison is too far off. There is something "Princess Bride" or "Stardust"y about the feel of the story, the way that it is told. But like those two films, "Pushing Daisies" is a smart fairy tale, which is another part of its appeal.

Of course, now that I love this show, it will be canceled.** But before it is, I really recommend that people check it out. It is incredibly good and makes me fill all warm and happy inside.


* ANOTHER reason not to take a cruise.
** Seriously, I love a show; it gets canceled. RIP "Veronica Mars"

An Apple a Day

While visiting my parents in Connecticut for the long weekend, I went to Rogers Orchard in Southington on the New Britain/Southington town line. The store is on the far side of the NB town reservoir. It was really obvious yesterday morning that we are having a drought in New England; the water line was lower than I ever remember it being.

When I was in junior high, my dad made my brother and I bike around the reservoir every day in the summer (because we were driving my mom crazy.) It was good exercise, but we also made it fun. We had a Fisher Price tape recorder locked into the paper rack on the back of one of our bikes, and we would sing along with the current hits we had taped off of the radio. "Don't Worry, Be Happy" was listened to every day. We would also ask each other deep questions, like "do you believe in ghosts? or aliens?"

Because it was at the halfway point around the reservoir, we would always stop at Rogers for a drink (we always got this sparkling juice called Fruitzer) and some chocolate nut bark. Once we had finished our little break, we would have a bike race up to the top of the hill where the fruit trees were and whoever won “won” a huge prize, like Pizza Hut for life. And a sports car.

I ended up buying a half bushel of Macouns and six cider doughnuts, which I shared with some of my work friends. Last night, I cored and baked one of the apples in a little cinnamon and sugar, and, this weekend, I am going to make apple squares using my mom's recipe. I am so glad that fall is here.

Public Service Announcement

There is a list with photos up on EntertainmentWeekly.com of Ultimate Male Hotties: 1990-2007.

The first person on the list: Christian Bale.

I HIGHLY recommend checking that out.