Knit Sisters

If you come to visit us in Boston, you will have to visit the large number of 17th- and 18th-century “burying grounds” with which Boston is richly endowed.

It’s frankly non-negotiable.

We are historians by trade so we are fascinated by these memorials to early Bostonians.

Certain individuals have maintained that we are just morbid and temperamentally macabre, but they will not be invited back.

This Columbus Day weekend, we have been delighted to host Red and her mother (who you will remember from the Outer Banks adventure of early August).

Red here comments to her mother on how much she enjoyed the last four cemeteries we just visited and how eager she is to visit a few more. At least, I think that’s what she was saying…

Alex, meanwhile, contemplates the grave of Joseph Tapping. By the time Tapping was Alex’s age, he had been dead for two years.

It is a sobering thought.

Here’s the detail of the carving on the Tapping stone:

Time and Death put on their boogie shoes.

What with all these rather grim reminders of our own mortality, a trip to our nation’s oldest continuously operating pub was clearly in order:

Said oldest pub is the one to the left, but the one on the right isn’t any spring chicken. These pubs are located directly across from Boston’s quite affecting and powerful Holocaust Memorial, which probably hasn’t hurt business either.

Then it was off to Quincy Market:

Paul Revere used to have lunch at the food court inside here almost every day. He especially liked the surf ‘n turf combo, including as it does one selection from the land category and two from the sea category.

Stick around folks! We got a million of ’em. And we’ll be here all week!

Red enjoyed some fried dough with extra powdered sugar:

Happiness on a plate.

Speaking of reminders of one’s own fleeting days on this planet, did I mention that I used to babysit Red when she was a baby? Now she’s here in Boston looking at colleges. Because she’s actually going to college next year.

How is this possible?

When I was a kid, I used to hate it when adults said things like that.

But to everything there is a season:

At the end of our long day out in the city, we returned home for a revivifying spot of tea. Fortunately, I had, at Alex’s request, just knitted some highly functional hexagons to serve as a teapot trivet and matching coasters.

The yarn is Main Line from Knitpicks, 75% cotton, 25% wool, in colors “Red Velvet Cake” and “Cocoa.”

I must have been feeling peckish when I put in my order.

The idea for the hexagons and the basic instructions came from Norah Gaughan, whose wonderful book arrived shortly before our guests.

So many delightful arrivals, and such a lovely weekend.

Burying grounds and all.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 9th, 2006 at 12:05 pm and is filed under Pathological knitting or "I can quit any time". You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.