You Can't Get Lost

 It started with a simple text.  Erik wrote: My reaction was immediate, although I did take time to look at the link describing the Boston Symphony Orchestra playing Mahler's 6th Symphony.  After the first word "Mahler", though, my answer was "yes.  Yes.  Yes!"  Erik did get 1st Balcony tickets, but wisely upscaled my request so that we sat much closer to the orchestra than the back of the balcony.  The hall's acclaimed acoustics took over the rest, we could hear the double basses as well as the percussions.   Boston Symphony Hall, considered one of the great music halls in the world. And speaking of instruments, there are a lot of them!  Being in the late Romantic era (historically right after Wagner), Mahler's symphonies are scored for some of the largest orchestras in classical music.  There were probably 110 performers on stage.   Among many others, it includes 8 French Horns, 6 trumpets, 2 harps and one or two celesta...

I set Friday aside to go to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.  I think it's my third time going, but its been over 10 years since our last visit.  All I really remember is that it is huge, full and I wanted to come back.  It was super easy to get to.  The bus stop for #87 is across the street from Erik's house and under the railroad track.  It might be 300 feet.  From the bus, it was an easy transfer to the E line subway which has a stop in front of the museum.   It takes a while to orientate yourself in the museum.  The map they provide shows the rooms, but only by room number and not what is in it.  You figure out that the southeast corner wing is the ancient world and the north central galleries are the European art.   I have been fascinated by Egyptology since we had a six week unit on it in sixth grade.  It may have been longer because my block teacher, Mrs. Hirsh, had a boarder who was an Egyptian importer, and she was...

 Over the weekend, we worked on the closet most of the time.  We removed the shelves, took down the cardboard ceiling and replaced it with Masonite, and Erik installed the light, switch and outlet.  Monday, we started mudding the walls.  As you can imagine, (I guess you have to, I didn't take many pictures), the walls and all the corners were not flush and smooth.  The walls were still lathe and plaster which tend to be irregular anyway, and being the closet, was not done carefully.  Over the rest of the week, we applied 3 gallons of joint compound inside that little space.  There was a lot of taping for corners, filling of holes, and "making the rough places plain."  Needless to say, this is not clean work, especially in such cramped quarters, so we were covered with old dust and new joint compound by the end of the day.   But we had something special going on that evening.  About a month ago, Erik ran into a friend, literally....

 So, this is late in arriving, but based on the list right before, I'm just going to back up and pick up from where we haven't been yet.  Got That? We were originally planning on going to Martha's Vineyard for the weekend.  Eliza's grandfather, a retired Business professor at Harvard, owns a place there.  The place, however, is comprised of five different living quarters.  There is the original house.  As the family grew up and expanded, he added three two-bedroom cottages.  As the families grew more and had kids, the noise was too great, so her grandfather built another house about 150 yards away so they could go to bed and wake up when they wanted in relative peace and quiet.   However, the weather was supposed to be rainy the whole time, so Erik decided not to go.  Another time. That gave us more time to start on the other project.  First, The House.   Kim, the neighbor on the left, said the houses on the block were bui...