5 Things I Miss About Boston

In honor of the tradition (5 Things I Miss about TX, 6 Things I Miss about Helsinki) - here's the latest installment of what I've left behind...

1. My Hairdresser. I never understood people who went on about their hairdressers until I met Juletha. Ah, Juletha, who transformed my disobedient and ordinary do into glamour hair with a few swift swipes of her steady razor. Juletha, who brought extraordinary color to my dark tresses. She'd been trained in Bumble & Bumble salons and was a downtown salon lady until she had her son and wanted to work more flexible hours closer to home. Fate brought her to Green Tangerine in Burlington and then fate so cruelly tore us apart. *sniff*
2. A decent local paper. The San Diego Union Tribune hardly rises above the Pensacola News Journal in their content or lack of biased coverage. Its great to keep up with local issues and events, but their adoration of Qualcomm is not even slightly hidden as is their disdain of Nokia. Its tough to compete with the Boston Globe.
3. The lack of creepy crawlies. Its been warm recently and it seems the big black beetles, their hairy legged friends and other tiny critters are testing to see if Spring has arrived. Even though I grew up in Florida surrounded by a bounty of tropical bugs, they make me squirm -- and, I'm really trying not to so Peanut doesn't become as squimish.
4. Verizon FIOS. Oh how the lame and outrageously overpriced monopoly of Time Warner Cable here annoys me. And, don't get me started on the outages.
5. And, for the little ones: Ms. Gina's Little Acorns preschool that Peanut loved and the Burlington library which had a great puzzle, block and puppet playspace.

Go Sox!

This place is just nuts about its baseball team -- especially now that the Boston Red Sox are in the world series against the Denver Rockies!

Ever since we moved here in mid-May, it was not uncommon to see people all around town sporting a Sox t-shirt, sweatshirt, baseball cap, tattoos, etc on game day. I remember the first time we were at the library for storytime and half the moms there were in Sox-wear!

I thought Dallas would have been a hotbed for supporters of its home teams, after all, the Cowboys are legendary, too and Texas is certainly a state where towns live & breath by the football season schedule. But, the displays here put those fans to shame!

When we took our Duck Boat tour of the city, our driver/captain could hardly get a sentence or two out before he had to refer to the greatest baseball team - ever. And, anyone who dared to identify themselves as a Yankees fan was offered a special view of the Charles River....a very up close and personal view.

Go Sox!

Aspen Dental - where 4/4 of our patients suffer from periodontal disease

(DO NOT GO TO ASPEN DENTAL!

THESE SO-CALLED DENTIST OFFICES ARE SIMPLY THERE TO FLEECE YOU.)

Thank goodness I made my annual check-up and cleaning appointment at my local Aspen Dental clinic and not just at a regular dentists office!

How else would I have known, that I, too, needed a Stage One Deep (not deep, deep) Cleaning Management Plan to cope with my stage of previously undiagnosed periodontal disease?!

I found my way to Aspen Dental from the list of providers my dental insurance plan works with. Evidently Aspen Dental is a hot one for them as I scrolled through page after page of names of dentists associated with the numerous Aspen Dental clinics around us.

OK, that made me a little leery. It already sounded like a quickie lube chain,but I figured all I need is a cleaning to get the tartar scrapped off my teeth, so, it should be alright. Right?

Aspen Dental Woburn sits in a strip mall off the interstate. The interior seemed clinicy enough. I had plenty of time to soak it in as I sat waiting for 45 minutes in the waiting room. Plenty of time to peruse the notice on their new oral cancer screening program which they hope will one day be as common as mammograms, pap smears or PSAs. I agree, early detection of cancers is important, but when the screening is a "TM" and presented on a sheet with statistics obviously intended to frightened you, I begin to wonder.

Finally, in for my X-rays because you see, Aspen Dental requires that you first make an initial appointment for X-rays and a evaluation to determine what level of cleaning you need before you can come in for the actual cleaning. OK, so, my dentist in Coppell did this, too. There I also thought it was a colossal waste of my time and a chance for them to double-bill the insurance, but I supposed this is just the way it works nowadays.

But, these were to be no ordinarily wing-bite X-rays. The technicians announced I will be having 18 x-rays! She claimed it was the normal "FMX" that everyone has every 3 - 5 years (so infrequent due to the large amount of X-raying required!). Its needed to review the health of not just the teeth, but roots as well. OK, fine, let's do it.

Then 15 mins later, I'm being led down the hall past the cubicles of dentist chairs to an empty one for me. In the cube, a wall poster of the stages of periodontal disease. Flyers of periodontal disease. A laminated USA Today story linking periodontal disease and heart disease. A brochure of Arestin (TM) antibiotic used to treat periodontal disease. A sample Rota-dent toothbrush and brochure. Hmmmmm, you think they're trying to tell me something? I suspected periodontal disease must be their speciality.

So, unsurprisingly, the dentist suggests I need a special "Deep, not deep, deep where we have to numb you all up" cleaning for my early stage periodontal disease. I make her explain in detail, point out on the X-rays exactly where this disease is. She fumbles a bit with mentioning the antibiotics and how I probably don't need it, but you never know until they begin to clean. The traditional part about cavities, etc, was quickly dispensed with.

From the dental cube, I'm taking to the "Appointments and Payment Planning" station. I see the lady filling out paper work with number like $800, $500 and $300..... and I'm beginning to get angry. I feel as if I've been set up all along and now comes the closer.

The $800 is the total cost of the Treatment Program Recommended by the Dentist. $500 is what my insurance would cover, leaving me to pay $300 out of pocket. That's outrageous I have to exclaim! Are they crazy, I think? I just want my teeth cleaned.

I'm fed up with it all and make the lady go through it line by line. Oh, what's this - a $150 toothbrush. "Yes, its recommended". I don't want it. "But, its what we suggest." I don't want it. "We recommend an electric toothbrush." I have one, I don't want it. Oh, and the $30 mouthwash - I don't want it. And, the $20, special paste - I don't want it. And the antibiotic which is not recommended for pregnant or nursing women - I don't want it.

And, then the follow up visit in 3-months with more over-priced mouthwash and special paste. Don't want it.

I refuse to sign the form outlining the program and related costs and my obligations to pay them.

I was just steaming as I left this schister scam clinic. My poor husband had to listen to me rant about it for the entire 20 minute drive home -- and many more times that day. And, now you had to suffer through my re-hash of it all. I could barely sleep last night thinking of all the dirty tricks they pulled.

I thought dentistry was an honorable profession! Its scams like this that drive up health care costs for everyone and mess up an already fragile system! Its schisters like this that take people for fools and steal their hard-earned money!!!

And, I'm not the only one to clue into this:
Boston Yelp
Aspen Dental scores single star in reviews
Complaints Board #1
Complaints Board #2

Pick a pail of apples

Its apple-picking season!

What fun! Some locals think its been a bit too warm to pick apples, but we enjoyed it so much, we've been twice!

Our first visit was to Belkins Farm (aka Lookout Farm), which claims to be the oldest continuously working farm in the US. The grounds were immense, very clean and full of fruit.

It was a cloudy Friday morning when we arrived which helped keep the crowds down. After purchasing our apple bags, we loaded up on the train which circled the massive orchard. At each stop, the conductor called out the apple varieties nearby. We opted for the stop near the playground, but found plenty of perfectly riped apples just a few steps down the aisle.

Peanut easily reached the dwarf apple trees with low hanging fruit. Tugging with all her might, she snatched a few. The books we read at the library about apple picking specifically said not to pull, rather to twist and lift, but we went for it anyway. Baby Tex bumped along in his stroller.

Our bags were quickly filled and we spent some time peeking at the animals and eating a small lunch. There were supposed to be food concessions there, but for some reason they were not open so be sure to bring your own!

Because Papa wanted to pick, too, we drove a bit further on Sunday to Tougas Farm. The weekend brought out the masses and by the time we wandered into the orchard around noon, many rows were picked clean! We still filled up our bags, and sampled some apple cider, apple cider doughnuts and apple crumble pie.

From our bounty of apples, papa and Peanut made two apple pies from scratch. And, last night, I made a batch of applesauce. Many more crispy and extremely flavorful apples await in the fridge. Perhaps next I'll make some oven-baked apples.....

On Walden Pond

One wonderful thing about living in New England is all the historical and beautiful places we live among.

The Walden Pond of Henry David Thoreau's Walden is just a short drive away and completely open to explore. To limit the impact of visitors on this natural gem, the number of park visitors is capped.

This past Sunday was a glorious day - just like you would imagine early autumn in New England to be - bright sunshine in a brilliant blue sky, cool weather mixed with a hint of warm currents. We headed over to Walden Pond with the intent of strolling around it, but ended up playing and picnicing on its sandy shore.

As we descended down the path toward the pond, I was shocked to see a couple of people swimming in the middle of it! The shock was two-fold: it was quite brisk out and this is a park! Once we reached the waterfront and sampled the water ourselves, it was easy to see why the swimmers were out. The water temperature was very pleasant especially at the lengthy shallows.

Of the paths around the pond, none of the them looked wide enough to accomodate our Mutsy so we went as far as we could and settled on the sand to eat lunch. Peanut could hardly keep herself from the rocks on the water's edge. So, the picnicing was left up to papa, me and Tex, who enjoyed his mushy sweet potatoes.

An older man soon approached us wondering if Peanut might be interested in a shovel, bucket and sieve. He explained that he cleans the beaches everyday and everyday he finds the same types of toys left behind. The rangers usually throw them away, but he likes to disburse them among the children on the beach. However, as a sign of our times, he refused to hand them directly to Peanut saying he only gives toys for children to their parents, never to kids. He didn't even really dare to speak to her.

On our way out, we saw a replica of Thoreau's one-room cabin; next time, we'll have to strap Tex into the baby carrier and walk to the actual site where Thoreau was inspired to start the back to simplicity and nature movement in America. I can't wait to watch the scenery change as we approach winter!

Quack, Quack!

Peanut & Tex's uncle from the Netherlands was here last week for his first visit to the US! He's just headed home last week after a leisurely drive down the coast to NYC with a friend. We think he'll be back.

Peanut certainly hopes so! Mama & Papa were simply swept aside when Peanut realized what a good time she could have with her uncle. At first, she referred to him simply as "This" - as in, "Let's go to the pool." "This come along, too?" with a little finger tapping his shoulder. By the end of his visit, she was very clear on who he was :-)

To get a quick look around Boston with the whole family, we jumped aboard the local Duck Boat Tour ! We arrived a half hour before launch, but it wasn't a minute too early. All the other passengers were also clambering up the ladder-like steps dropped from the back of the amphibious vehicle. The Duck Boats are renovated World War II vehicles made for moving from land to sea and back again. They played a major role in the Normandy landings. It gave me a strange sort of feeling imagining what those original passengers must have felt and now we were just leisurely riding around in the Ducks for fun.

We had a lively operator/captain by the name of "Hardly Davidson" who kept us entertained while also sharing a few stories about the city; the strangest was the tale of the Great Molasses Flood. After a loop on dry-land we headed around to a specially-built launching site on the Charles River for our splash-down. I had imagined a more dramatic race off the edge of the pavement, but it was still a new adventure.

Next time we move (because I just know we will), I'm going to make sure we hop aboard whatever sort of local city tour bus/trolley/boat/tram/amphibious vehicle within the first weeks. The little ones had fun watching the city whirl by and I learned a lot about the history, culture, politics and people of Boston in that short 80 minute tour.

Butterfly Place

Peanut being a girl, loves butterflies.

So, earlier this week we went to walk among the fluttering creatures at the Butterfly Place with a friend back from our playgroup in Texas who had moved up here more than a year ago!

The Butterfly Place is a privately owned indoor atrium where hundreds of butterflies float freely through (or sometimes just sleep in the middle of the walkways) their mini tropical forest.

What I didn't count on was how unnerving it could be to have a butterfly with an 8-inch wingspan come diving at you (Ok, it wasn't really diving, just fluttering) so you could really see the legs and fuzzy body. Maybe I hadn't had enough sleep the night before and maybe I'd had one too many cups of coffee that morning, but I was almost ducking and diving my way through the atrium.

Peanut's been talking about the butterflies all week and evidently the man who told us about the caterpillars also made an impression since she often mentions him, too.

Tex also had a good time, gazing up at the skylights on the ceiling and certainly seeing some of the butterflies (they were so big!) especially the one that landed right next to his toes in the stroller.

Did you know that each butterfly species caterpillars can only eat certain types of leaves? I did not! I thought was the flowers that attracted butterflies, but as the Caterpillar Man told us, its the trees.

3 Things I Love about the Boston area

1. Peapod! Back in the days of the Internet boom, I tried out the now long-gone Webvan and thought it was a marvelous idea back then. Sit at home, order your groceries online and someone brings them to your kitchen table!

Now, with two little ones and three flights of stairs between my car and the kitchen table, I think Peapod (BTW - a wholly owned subsidiary of international food provider Royal Ahold - the Royal part referring to the Dutch royalty) is absolutely one of greatest ideas of all time. I usually shop after the kids are in bed, pick a delivery time for the next morning and viola -- its as if little elves run up and down the aisles of Stop & Shop for me and magically bring it all home.

love, love, love peapod.

I also love that Trader Joe's and Wholefoods are found in nearly every community. From Coppell it took some work to get them, but now their treats are within easy reach.

2. Being near the water - We've been to the Atlantic shore several times and often stroll around Horn Lake to see the geese, ducks and swans.

3. Scenery & History -- Some places around here are just so beautiful and picturesque it hurts!

And, anyone familiar with American History surely knows places like Lexington & Concord where the Minutemen militia bravely fought the British. Well, I can go to Lexington & Concord any time - they are just around the corner. We've been to the Minuteman National Park - walked the very roads they galloped and seen the very taverns where they conspired!!! I'm a bit of a history nerd, so I think this is all very glamorous :-)

The Atlantic Shore

One of things we were most excited by when moving to Boston was the idea of being close to the water again! Peanut's papa & I are both water people so it was hard being land-locked in the heart of Texas.

Over the weekend, we made the 45 min drive out to Hampton Beach, NH, and cruised along Highway 1A to Portsmouth, NH.It was a wonderful feeling to dig my toes into the warm and course sands of Hampton Beach while papa and Peanut walked along the waterline. The beach was ideal for families - still fairly quiet, clean sand, easy access to parking (25 cents/10 minutes!) and a long lazy coastline. Behind the beach stood rows of houses and seashore restaurants, shops, etc. Lifeguards watched over the few brave swimmers.

After playing in the sun, we stopped at Little Jacks for lobster and steamers (steamed mussels). Peanut stayed away from the seafood calling the lobster a "monster" and focused on tucking in all the french fries she could grab.The Highway winds up the coast past mansions, State beaches, a retaining wall which is popular as a sunning alter and salty marshes on the inland side of the road.

Glimpses at a few harbors showed deep gorges that must be filled with the tides. We didn't see it come in, but it must be a sight to see the sea levels rise and fall by several feet.

Oh, give me a home.....

...any home, just a home, please!! We've been searching for our new house nearly non-stop since we arrived a month ago and I'm at the point of just saying 'Yes, yes, we'll take it whatever the price -- please just make the home tours stop."

House hunting can be a overwhelming process for anyone, but with a toddler and infant along as further opinion makers it can quickly wear down the most fervent home shoppers. Though Peanut and little Tex have been just as patient and spirited as you could ask. Peanut often asking in the mornings if she could "see houses with Mr. Tom" that day, and then exclaiming "nice yard" or "big house" when we pulled up to the next property. Tex -- well, most of the time he just slept as we carried him up and down staircases.

Going from the new housing developments of Texas to the older, wilder housing of New England has been a jolt. My punch list for homes has come to include such local particularities like:

• lead paint - if the house was built before 1978 (or in the years shortly thereafter when builders and stores still were depleting their paint supplies), there's a good chance its there
• mold - our inspector says 30 - 50% of homes here will have mold in the attic or basement. Some kinds can be re-mediated and your home certified "mold free".
  

• septic systems - for houses not on public sewer (which btw limit the use of garbage disposals)
  
• basements and sump pumps - basements are expected here. Some are finished (ie, just like upstairs living space), some half-finished (maybe have a floor and some wall panels) and others are just concrete
  
• capes (see top photo), colonials (second photo), split-levels (third photo) and ranches - the main housing styles
  
• well water - for houses not on the public water system
• radon - a cancer-causing radioactive, invisible gas emitted by the granite in the ground. Radon tests are done for air and water. If high levels are found, you can install a radon mitigation system.
  
• oil vs. propane vs. natural gas vs. forced air vs. electric heating - oh, the options! Electric is expensive, natural gas requires access to a city gas line, propane & oil are delivered to a special holding tank at your home and forced air is what I'm accustomed to. On the cooling front - most homes we saw don't have central A/C and rely on window units given....
• 110 v. 220 circuit breakers - your home has at least 220
  
• how to count parking spaces - many homes don't have attached garages or they just have one. A surprise considering the snowy winters when I'd imagine EVERYONE would want a garage. House listings describe parking by counting how many cars fit side-by-side in the driveway in front of the house or just offer off-street parking.
• noise pollution - after the first few days out we learned to look up addresses on the map to check for proximity to major interstates, highways, railroad tracks and busy thoroughfares since older housing is not in subdivisions built away from traffic.
  

Shown around Boston by New Yorkers

Memorial Day weekend we headed into the city of Boston to take a tour as some friends from New York were in town.

We loved it! Boston is a very green, open and walkable city. The NYers compared as the "country-cousin" of the Big Apple.

The sidewalks even had enough space to roll with our Baby Truck comfortably. When Peanut was done sitting, she could easily walk along side us without getting trampled or underfoot of the others.

Though this being a big city, Baby Trucks were not the hot, hip strollers. Virtually every family rolled with a Bugaboo or Maclaren.

We walked up Newbury Street with its fashion boutiques and restaurants to the Boston Common. On through the Common by the Swan Boats and the Frog Pond before looping back.

The next day, we checked out a small part of Cambridge and had a lovely brunch outside the gates of Harvard University. Cambridge is a world unto itself with leafy boulevards and unique home fronts. The streets were filled with a younger crowd - though we certainly weren't the only ones with little ones along.

New England - first impressions

Just some quick photos snapped out of our car window as we've explored the area in NW Boston and just across the New Hampshire state line in towns like Windham.

Certainly New Hampshire makes you believe the area could have been New Scandinavia as well with its granite rock lined highways , abundance of silver birches and greenery.

Or, New Netherlands with the rainfall we saw over the weekend!

Whatever you call it, it is beautiful up here. Everything in nature is still so green, so tender and so bright. Roads wind through the towns big and small making it necessary to be an active driver, but always giving you a new view around every twist. Many, if not most, towns still maintain a center established decades (if not a century!) ago around a white clapboard church with its soaring steeple, matching - yet modest - town hall and more recently added police station, fire station and library. It also caught our eye that many towns also had their own VFW (Veteran's of Foreign Wars) hall among the official buildings.

The majority of shops and businesses in the towns carry the names of their owners rather than that of a large national chain. Not that you can't find a Wal-mart, Target, Walgreens and so on, but they don't own every street corner. One exception to the rule is Dunkin' Donuts which has absolutely cornered the dough nut market here. If its a dough nut, bagel or hot cup of Joe you need, worry not! There is a DD just down the road - no matter where you are! Over the weekend, we had to see what the fuss was about and picked up our own 6-pack of DD. Good stuff :-)

While we miss the immediate warmth & a smile a Texan shared with you when you met them, I've run into many friendly people on my trips around town. Of course, there's nothing like a baby and a toddler in tow to get a stranger to talk to you, but I would say I've found the people around here open and helpful one on one.

Virtually connected already

Making our move, I have to wonder where would I be without email, google, websites, online forums and the Internet in general. I think I'd be anxiously awaiting the arrival of the postman every day hoping for an answer to a letter I had written weeks ago, trekking around town to find the library and settling in to our new home much more slowly.

Thanks to all those things electronic and digital, I landed in Boston armed with a an email inbox full of hints, pointers and people who could help us find our way around. There's the college friend married to a Harvard Law grad who put in me in touch with many of his school friends -- several who graciously offered to answer my many questions; the Dallas playgroup mom who relocated to Boston with her family a year ago; the Boston friend of a friend who now lives in Helsinki; the local list from Mamasource; the Boston Finns group; the Babycenter board; and the local city websites listing times for library story hour and mapping out the best playgrounds. In less than a week, I feel like I already "know" so much about the area and certainly do not feel so alone even if I haven't yet made many face-to-face connections.

We're New Englanders now!

When I started this blog, I never imagined we'd go hop-skipping so quickly from place to place! It was already a big undertaking to move from Helsinki to Dallas to become Texans, but here we are - less than two years later - calling Boston our new home.

Our move this past weekend went as smoothly as it possible could have. It'll be difficult to ever have to move without the support of a relocation company and program!

We said farewell to our house in Coppell Thursday morning as the packers came in and began boxing our belongings. We all headed over to the Gaylord Texan resort for our last nights in Texas. It was the ideal place with a chance to stroll past miniature versions of all the Texas highlights - the Riverwalk from San Antonio, the Alamo, the canyons we never got to visit and just the grandeur of this big state.

Friday, a big rig parked in front of our house and the movers began filling it up. Our two cars were loaded on into a tunnel between the boxes to make their trip northward.

We flew out without a hitch from DFW. In fact, compared to our first attempt to fly with Peanut & Tex, this was a cake-walk! I had virtually five people helping me and the little ones through security, the ticketing agent smilingly accommodated our seat change requests and we easily boarded the plane first. We were situated in the very rear of the aircraft in two&two seats in our own mini-section as the rear galley was in front of peanut and papa. They had their own bulkhead while tex and I relaxed behind them. The roar of the engine had a soothing effect on the little ones as they BOTH slept nearly two hours of the 3.5 hour flight.

Boston welcomed us with clear skies and brisk temperatures. Our drive out to Burlington gave us a quick glance at the harbor (WATER!!!) and a view of the city skyline. We're looking forward to exploring it all.