Saturday was an unreasonably gorgeous day (and I had a rather extensive errand to run), so instead of spending time in the shop, I had an Adventure. (I declared it a Day Off for Personal Reasons.)
I’m afraid I don’t have any pictures yet — I made a small tactical error, so I have no way of transferring files from my Shiny! New! Camera! (I love late holiday presents) to show them to you — but here is what I did:
Got on the inbound train at Harvard Square. (There are no outbound trains on weekends until March.) Thought very hard about what I was going to do, came up with two options, and instead got off the train at Charles MGH. Walked down whatever that street is, looked in the window of several antique stores (actually went into one, where I found myself wishing that I had bought a stereoscope at the really-more-of-a-junk shop where I got quite a few interesting things in my childhood; one of the other ones had a chandelier with blue porcelain roses that matched almost perfectly the one I got for less than two dollars at Unique Thrift lo these many years ago), stopped in at Rugg Road, which was … distressing, actually, and my take-away lesson was that I really need to make scrap paper grab-bags.
Then I walked for a while. I took a lot of random turns, arbitrarily, attempting to navigate sort of … towards the harbor. I had, you see, a goal. It turns out that a lot of sort of improvisational navigation will, eventually, lead one to the harbor. It just may also lead one to walk all the way around Government Center and what passes for a CBD here. I have no idea how I ended up at the Garden, so don’t ask.
Fortunately, the Garden is close to where I was going. I think it only took me an hour to weave my way down to something that was at least recognizably harbor. Of course, then I had to walk halfway back around Boston to get to the correct wharf — and I missed the ferry by two minutes because there are two T stops, and of course I found the wrong one first. That’s ok, though. It was warm, and sort of sunny, and tourist-watching is hilarious.
Also, I did successfully get on a ferry from Long Wharf to Charlestown Navy Yard. It was an excellent trip. Short, but also inexpensive; this means I should probably write some kind of letter to the MBTA about how much less awesome it would be to live here without the ferry. There are some really excellent views to be had, and it’s kind of soothing. I mean, don’t look too closely at the ferry. It’s a little rusty. But water! Water is awesome! Open water! Well, kinda.
And then I had to walk through the Navy Yard to get back to the shop (I left most of my stuff there, although sadly not my pocket knife, so no trip to the Constitution for me). That was fascinating. The decaying warehouses are fascinating; there’s definitely interesting history in there, and some really great signs. There’s also some extremely cool buildings for sale, and a large-blade research facility (wind turbines, I assume). As well as something that looks suspiciously like grain silos but may in fact be a construction supply place. There was, once upon a time, a sugar company. It’s long gone, and the sign is faded to illegibility, but the site demolition sign from Massport is still there. Also there are old train tracks — once upon a time, they led to all the warehouses (including the one I work in), but now they’re just there. Going nowhere.
Anyway. I’m glad I got to go out on the harbor. I hope there’s a way to save the ferries — they’re one of my favorite things about living near a large body of water.
And on Monday (technically still today!) I did the first batch of three broadsides in an edition of 125. Hahahaha. What was I thinking? Wait until I tell you about the process …