no coffee; pepsi.

no coffee; pepsi.
Originally uploaded by suttonhoo

Congratulations, Boston: You've joined the percentage of the world's population without reasonable access to clean drinking water.

It's not the exclusive group you might think »

Posting by cameraphone from Logan International Airport, Boston.

browser

browser
Originally uploaded by suttonhoo

Browsing used bookshops in Boston leaves me wanting nothing more for all the rest of my days than to find a good spot in a quiet corner where I can settle in and read.

Nearly had a fit at Commonwealth Books on 2 Milk Street when I found a copy of the book I've always wanted to read but didn't know existed: Malvina Hoffman's Heads and Tales. First edition. Signed by the author.

And even though I couldn't bluff my way through my excitement well enough to ask the shop clerk (the owner?) to knock the price down a little she did, without my asking, and said how glad she was to see someone excited over a book; said most folks only want to buy what they can plug in.

I'm afraid I'm complicit in, I told her. It's what I do for a living; and she startled before going on, full of hurt and forgiveness, like a grandmother who only receives visits on far distant holidays.

Well, that's all right, she said. At least you stop by when you can.

Posting by cameraphone from Boston.

Exhibit C

Exhibit C
Originally uploaded by suttonhoo.

Which shall remain unnamed, because I've forgotten the name of this place and now can't read it off my tiny handheld (maybe you can tell me?).

Posting by cameraphone from Boston where I'm waiting out the storm.

Update: Cantina Italiana. (Thanks, annicmcq.)

Exhibit B: Modern Pastry

Exhibit B: Modern Pastry
Originally uploaded by suttonhoo.

More pink & green Boston neon
shot along Hanover Street.

Posting by cameraphone.

Exhibit A: Ida's

Exhibit A: Ida's
Originally uploaded by suttonhoo.

It's early yet, and I'm working with a limited dataset, but my suspicion is: Of the neon that populates this fair city of Boston, pink & green predominate.

At least in the North End.

Posting by cameraphone. Shot these along Hanover Street (Exhibits B & C to follow shortly).

two if by sea

two if by sea
Originally uploaded by suttonhoo.

Old North Church where Paul Revere did his thing.

Sign on the door apologized for closing early due to blizzard conditions.

Posting by cameraphone from Boston.
In the snow.

copp's hill burial ground

copp's hill burial ground
Originally uploaded by suttonhoo.

In the snow.

Posting by cameraphone
from Boston, MA

yer out.

yer out.
Originally uploaded by suttonhoo.

Blizzard. Flight home canceled. Poking around Boston in the snow. Trying to follow the Freedom Trail -- marked, so they say, by a steady red line that snakes past Revolutionary War sites.

But snow is working to obscure that line some, so I'm pulling a J Alfred Prufrock, making my way through certain half-deserted streets, (Eliot wrote that here, right? or Cambridge maybe, next door.) sometimes finding an historical marker, sometimes finding a coffee shop -- like this one, the Boston Beanstock, where I'm fortifying with a tender tomato basil tart and a steamy joe before heading out again.

Happy.

Posting by cameraphone.

to boston & points north

to boston & points north
Originally uploaded by suttonhoo.

Massachusetts Bay on a particularly cold & snowy day.

Snow's dropping at the rate of one inch per hour. I'm hoping it holds up just enough to let me get home to Chicago, by way of Philly.

Ten inches in the forecast.

Posting by cameraphone enroute to Logan Int'l.

wagamama this

wagamama this
Originally uploaded by suttonhoo.

There is nothing better than hanging out with two people who are madly truly deeply in love for the very first time in their lives.

Quick dinner in Boston with my godson and his this-one's-forever sweetie before hoping my flight home for Chicago.

Just breathing that air made me believe in magic.

And the noodles weren't bad either.


Posting by cameraphone from Logan International. Homeward bound.