A Big Day for Massachusetts

Posted on April 22, 2014April 22, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Yesterday was a big day for Massachusetts. It was Patriots’ Day. It’s not named for the New England Patriots football team, but the other way around. It’s named for those men who fathered our nation, the minute men, the rag-tag revolutionaries that won the nation’s freedom. Patriot’s Day in Massachusetts commemorated the “shot heard ’round the world”. The Battles of Lexington and Concord which marked the start of the revolution.

A trip to the Concord Green at dawn is a trip back in history as the battle is reenacted with muskets and Red Coats. It doesn’t last long but as the smoke from the muskets roll over the watching visitors it’s easy to be transported back to that day in 1775.

Two more modern events also take place on Patriots’ Day in Massachusetts.

Since 1959 the Boston Red Sox have been scheduled to play at Fenway Park on Patriots’ Day.

But the other big event is the Boston Marathon. This is so big that some people call the day Marathon Monday. Yesterday was especially meaningful because it was the first anniversary of the Marathon Bombings. For many people it was a matter of pride to make sure this year’s running was successful, safe , special.

I was going to meet my friends and co-workers at Mile 13 in Wellesley to cheer on the runners. One of my co workers was running. What makes her run so amazing is that she has been struggling back from an injury that only a couple of months ago had her bed-ridden. I can’t quite wrap my head around what an accomplishment this is!

I ended up missing it. I had to get my business cell phone fixed so I was stuck at the T-Mobile store all afternoon. 🙁 Sadly I had to pull the plug on my phone. It had been struggling on life support for several months and it was just time. It was so far gone that it took forever to get the contents moved from my old phone to the new phone but finally I was back in action. Unfortunately by then most of the runners had crossed the finish line.

The news reports state that The Marathon was a success and the Red Sox lost against the Orioles.

Life in the Hub goes on, the sun was shining and life is good!

Peeps are Here

Posted on April 19, 2014April 19, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Last year I was still working at my previous employer and that means I was going into an office every day. We were quite a social group and often had pot luck parties. Around Easter last year we had a Spring party and I contributed a “Peeps Sunflower Cake”. Some of my long time readers may remember it.

Since I no longer go into an office regularly and when we do, lunch is usually delivered, I haven’t done any baking since Christmas. (I’m supposed to be losing weight. Just ask my Doctor). But a few weeks ago I ran across a recipe for another “peeps cake”. I cut it out and left it on the end table.

Every night I’d look at it sitting there. Some nights I’d pick it up and read it. Oh I was tempted to try it. It looked so pretty.

Well I finally gave in. The problem was that once I got into it I realized I didn’t have the right size cake pans. It’s a 4 layer cake and even if a 9″ pan worked I only had 3 pans. I could use the 9″ pans and have skinny layers or I could do the right thing and get 4 new 8″ pans. I’d already been to the store and had all the ingredients. It would be a shame to quit now.

So off to Michael’s Craft Store I went. Sure enough, they had 8″ cake pans. They aren’t cheap! But I consoled myself that I’d have them for future cakes.

I baked the cake after work and let the layers cool completely. In the morning I frosted and decorated the layers. And here’s the end result 🙂

I do love being creative!

What’s Your Favorite Easter Candy?

Posted on April 17, 2014April 17, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Easter is almost here. I remember Easter Sunday services. They were a big deal when I was growing up. We always had on our EASTER Sunday best.

You see there was our Sunday best but on Easter we really went all out.

We had hats (Easter bonnets) and white gloves and the first time I was allowed to wear stockings and pointy high heels was on an Easter Sunday. I remember one year Jackie Kennedy had made pill box hats the fashion so that year I had to wear one on Easter.

I went to church every Sunday. I was active in the choir but my Dad only went to church on High Holidays…Christmas and Easter. I remember one Easter I had the Easter Sunday Solo. I was scared to death but so proud that both my Mom and Dad were in the congregation that day.

After the church service we’d all stay for the traditional Easter Egg hunt.

Up in the Adirondacks it was not unusual for snow to still be on the ground where there was shade. Snow banks and snow patches were perfect places for those colored eggs. I wonder if my old church still has Easter Egg hunts.

Back home we got our Easter Baskets. They always had a chocolate bunny as the center peice but the really special Easter candy was a sugar egg. I never see them anymore. They were so pretty and delicate. They were almost magical. Eventually the egg got eaten just like the chocolate bunny and the jelly beans but part of me always hated to eat something so pretty.

As an adult I could almost believe that I dreamed it up but I remember the way the sugar melted on my tongue. It was like eating a sugar cube. But I could never find them anywhere. Then about 6 years ago I found them in a little candy shop in Old Saybrook , CT. I said I’d go back to get one at Easter but I never did.

Recently I did a search on the internet and I found them. There weren’t too many places to get them and they are really expensive but they are just as beautiful as I remember.

So what’s your favorite Easter Candy?

A Really Special Lunch

Posted on April 8, 2014April 8, 2014 by Dusty Roads

It’s been pretty quiet around here. The cats play and keep me entertained. The workload has picked up as we move into the spring busy season but the vacation planning seems to be complete and I haven’t started prowling the neighborhoods yet.

But I did have a very special lunch on Sunday. March 3o, 2013 was the day that my department at my old employer was dissolved. Go to Malden, MA or take a lay off they said. I took the lay off along with many others. The ones who stayed have the daily pleasure of commuting from south of Boston through the city to Malden in the north. Not a fun commute even on a good day.

The thing about this department is that we were all “long timers”. I was 6 weeks away from 10 years and one of my co-workers had 25 years in. We were a family and now we were being scattered to the winds. I didn’t mind leaving the company. We were overworked and underpaid while they told us how lucky we were to have a job and what a great place to work, the party line, but I knew I would miss my friends.

We agreed to meet after 1 year to see how everyone was doing and so we did. On Sunday we got together at a nice restaurant for brunch and a chance to catch up. Almost everyone made it. One person had moved away , we didn’t have contact information for another and 2 had conflicts but everyone else was there.

It really did feel like family. Everyone looked great. Everyone seems to be working, maybe not in their favorite job but at least they have landed on their feet. It was a really fun afternoon. There’s talk of doing it again next year. I hope we do. It was really special.