FENWAY COURT (PALAZZO) AKA ISABELLA GARDNER MUSEUM, BOSTON

Fenway Court is one woman's vision to house an unparalleled collection of art with an inner courtyard that imitates Venice's grand Palazzo Barbaro successfully. From every corner of the world she collected sculptures, paintings, fabrics and autographs. Juliette balconies abound, and the ground floor gallery, where a guard ushers you in if the room occupancy allows, is filled with art made by artists that took her and others as their muse. The light is low to protect many rooms, and some paper collections are a discovery only to be made by uncovering the cloth on the display tables, stating that covering cloths can be removed. I uncovered a letter from Marie-Antoinette to the Treasury Officer, asking for payment of her bills, and some poison tipped arrows gifted to Ms. Gardner. That is a story I would love to hear, but I am sure such an unusual gift would have thrilled this enthusiastic patron. 

This is the museum with the sad history of a theft of 13 pieces, made sadder when you hear that the collection is to remain unaltered and never replaced. The theft left a mark is such circumstances, and they honour her will with empty frames where they presumably stood. 

Her collection includes Giotto, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Fra Angelico, Singer Sargent, Manet, Degas, Rubens, Whistler, Zorn and many more.. There are at three portraits, all memorable, of Mrs. Gardner herself. My favourite is one by Zorn where she is making a dramatic entrance into their room in Venice to announce how wonderful the fireworks are, and invite the room (her husband and the Zorns) to come watch. 

A not-to-be-missed collection well worth the price of admission!

THE BARKING CRAB: THEY THINK EVERY SHOULD HAVE CRABS!

Just steps away from the Mayflower is a little wharf restobar that serves amazing crab cakes. It's slogan made me laugh! Not usually what you would wish, but after eating here, I dare say that I want crabs too! We were lucky enough to have a booth at the window with a view of  the canal. A nice ambiance and solid seafood. Just skip the salad!

Barking Crab

Perfect crab cakes for an appetizer.

Very mediocre strawberry salad. Probably my fault to order a salad in a seafood bar, but I really wanted the fibre. Greens were great, pralines perfect. The strawberries were soft but the dressing was the major problem, with not enough salt or spice. Correctable, but underwhelming. 

View from the window (Fort Point Channel)

Water by water

TOOTHPASTE TO BUY AND WHY I LOVE HOTELS

Revere Hotel depannage. When I realized that I had arrived without my cosmetic bag, I asked the front desk if they had a toothbrush, and this is what they brought up. How grateful am I!

I love the flavour vibrant mint! 

DURGIN PARK, ESTABLISHED BEFORE YOU WERE BORN

Menu of Durgin Park in Quincy Market, Boston

Warm sweet cornbread with butter at Roadfood's recommendation, Durgin Park

Fish chowder. Very nice on a cold evening. Next time I would pick clam chowder, with a little richer broth. 

Boston beans with spices reminiscent of pumpkin spices and sweeter than I thought. 

Coffee jello with whipped cream!

The perfect bite.

Life-changing indian pudding. 

BOSTON IN THE FALL

The Public Gardens 

Original wall art

Arepas - a sweet corn patty with mozzerella cheese (S. American) from the Copley Square food cart. Delicious!

Street pretzel

Painted cobblestone near NU (Northeastern University)

Appeal to the Great Spirit in front of Boston's Fine Art Museum

First Church of Christ, Scientist

Boston's Marathon through the boroughs (Boston, Brookline, Newton, Wellesley, Natick, Framingham, Ashland, Hopkinton) 

Reflecting pool at The Christian Science Plaza

200 Berkeley St., Back Bay, Berkeley Building

Berkeley Building, home to John Hancock Hall and Dorothy Quincy Suite. An art deco skyscraper built in 1947. 

IMAGINE DRAGONS' NIGHT VISIONS

I don't have a huge repertoire of music. I grew up not listening to the radio, and to this day cannot tell majorly different music styles. The word unmistakable is often lost on me. I have confused Chicago with Pink Floyd, and have to concentrate not to confuse Tragically Hip and Rush. So I don't have the conversations some people do about songs. There are no details. No comparisons to another style or song. But music moves me, and I adore certain voices; admire many artists; marvel at great lyrics; and delight in a great song.

As I sat in a Boston Dunk'n Donuts waiting for my friend to get coffee with milk, I heard a beautiful voice sing a moving song, and thanks to "the Great Google", I found the lyrics for a song called "Demons", on the album Night Visions. I found the song on iTunes and was surprised to find a collection of songs that contained not one but three other songs I had heard before, but never identified. The voice I fell for was lead singer Dan Reynold's. The lyrics were heart breaking.

The first song I recognized was one I had first heard at my daughter's friends birthday party, fuelled by pizza, cake and Mini Pops Kids, Vol. 11, (a great album by the way) called "Radioactive". Other familiar tunes were called "On Top Of the World" and "Hear Me".  I enjoyed every song, but immediately loved the entire album, which is odd, because it used to be a rare thing to like every song on an album. This year, I have loved the entirety of two other albums (Katy Perry's Prism and Taylor Swift's 1989).

It's been a long time since I sat in my car and just listened to an album. I wished I had my old surround sound stereo and my car is the best system I have to listen. So I parked my car in the driveway and listened to this album. In Radioactive, I love his striderous inspiration. In tiptoe, I love the arcade sound of ?pacman. In It's Time, if I'm not mistaking, there is a banjo beat. In Demons, there is this crazy drum beat that I love. It repeats, but it seems so irregular, like a skipping heart beat. Listen for it! In On Top Of the World, there is a opening that sounds like whistling, although it is likely synthesized, and if I'm not mistaken, there is a jingle derived from this. The tracks under the vocals are varied and original (well, I think they are). There are instruments and sounds I struggle to place, and love that it makes me think. Every night starts with acapella and a bright piano underlines. In Bleeding Out, I hear that rhythm from Demons again, this time in a high octave in a synthesized, and a invigorating drumbeat that leads into clapping. Underdog feels like asian meets 80s synthesizer meets grunge. The lyrics are thoughtful and reflective. They reflect the roller coaster of emotions that is life. Overall, a unique fantastic collection of songs that satisfy. I may have to invest in a better house stereo system, or hang out in my car more!

I can't wait for the next discovery, but until then, I have Night Visions on repeat!

BRILLIANT INVENTIONS I USE EVERYDAY

Sometimes I compare prices, but some things aren't worth it. This bottle has a nice valve that makes it possible to titrate by drops how much soy sauce is needed. Other soy sauce may be cheaper, but it pours out when you don't want it to. Sometimes brand names are worth it!

Heinz has engineered a genius silicon valve in every soft bottle of its ketchup.  It never spills, and ketchup flows so easily that the new generation will never believe the tricks we needed to pull to get it out of the bottle!

The last time I bought a refill, I wasn't sure what to do with the foaming hand soap dispenser, because it didn't seem to function. So I cut the liquid with a 1:1 ratio with water, and the foaming was restored. This makes the refill soap last longer and create less mess. Long live the foaming pump. I don't understand how you work, but I love you nonetheless!

This unassuming bottle of EVOO has a little red banner with yellow font announcing a most important pop up valve. It's brilliant!

STARBUCKS FALL REVERIE

Pumpkin Spice Latte

MARTHA STEWART'S PIZZA IMITATING ART

I was at the library reading the March 2014 edition of Martha Stewart Living, and I was impressed by the article about edible art. I thought it was brilliant. Maybe it'll inspire your next pizza dinner!
Here are a few visuals:

Prosciutto Mozza

Two Tomato Pizza

Mark Rothko No. 301

Eggplant, Pistachio, and Pomegranate

Escarole, Provolone, and Cherry Tomato

Jackson Pollock's No. 1

Mixed Mushroom and Scallion

Nicoise Salad

Picasso's The Guitarist

Squash and Brussel Sprouts

Kandinsky's Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles

PHO LIEN, COTE-DES-NEIGES

When I lived in CDN, I was a student, and it was rare but memorable event to go out. The place to go (except Tuesdays when they are closed) was and is Pho Lien's, a great little place with a great Pho (vietnamese soup) and, my favourite, Imperial rolls on vermicelli noodles. I don't know what they put in that little bowl, but it keeps me coming back! Pour it over, and enjoy the crunch of bean sprouts, julienned cucumber, shredded cabbage and peanuts with a bit of refreshing fresh mint, and crisp sections of imperial rolls broken over top for a perfect dish.

#20

LES GRAND BALLETS: KAGUYAHIME

This weekend I went to a show by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. I always buy two tickets and bring a date. This time it was one of my favourite companions, who is reliably enthusiastic about life, and music and dance, and particular to this ballet, drums. I had actually seen this show the year before with another friend who  loved the drums, but wanted to return, it was so memorable, with another who would enjoy. This time, not only was there a drum on stage, but an entire visiting music troop (?) called Kodo, playing traditional drums, the ryuteki (a bamboo flute), and sitting high enough in the orchestra to be seen, 3 costumed performers of a gagaku emsemble, bringing to mind another era with their traditional costumes and sober demeanours representing court musicians in a royal palace.

The premise of the ballet is a story I had not heard of growing up. It is based on an ancient Japanese Tale  It starts with a poor old childless bamboo cutter (this sounds a little like Gepetto and his beloved Pinocchio) who discovers a tiny creature (Thumbellina, anyone) inside a glowing bamboo stalk. She is beautiful, and he brings her home to raise her as his daughter. Her name means "she who shines through the night", and she is the Moon Princess. She grows up and many men fall in love with her. She gives 5 suitors 5 impossible tasks, and they all fail. Instead of bringing peace and wonder, her beauty disrupts the village and fighting breaks out. The emperor's troops, in arriving to reestablish peace, discover her beauty, and the Emperor Mikado wants to keep her as his own. She does not want to go, but in a visually gorgeous scene with flowing fabric like the waves of the ocean, Mikado keeps her against her will. But inevitably, like all things captured that ought to be free, she must be released, and once again returns to the Moon from where she came. From that distance, humans can look up and admire, without succumbing to the sin of covetousness.

There were two other spectacularly vivid scenes. The first was one that I felt. The large drums were on the same side as we were, and at E32 and E34, we were so close that I was no longer sure if my own heart was beating, the drums reverberating as such a rapid pace that I was overcome with the feeling of the Kodo beats, which literally means heart beat, or secondly, children of the drum.  The stage had two drummers. One seemed ordinary, but rhythmic. The one was giving his all, shirtless and at times drumming above his head; at other times half laying half sitting in front of a drum, abs flexed, and drumming his heart out. The ballerinas alway impress with their strength and muscle definition, but this guy gave everyone a run for their money in the fit department! The last scene (and don't forget, Mikado emprisoning Kaguyahime was another vivid scene) was a fight scene when the villagers, lit with strobe lights, flew across the stage at each other and across in each direction. It was breathtaking!

It is not often that I go twice to the same show, but this one was worth it!

5 WAYS TO FEEL HAPPIER BACKED BY SCIENCE

I was at the library reading October 12th Time magazine, and I found a nice article that expressed some helpful ideas for a more positive life.

Here are the five points Mandy Oaklander made:

1. Have fun, often! Intentionally create conditions in your day that will likely bring out positive emotions.

2. Act as though this is your last day on earth. If you shift your perspective, you will choose the things you value more.

3. Stay present. Instead of half listening to music, just listen to the music.

4. Lower expectations. This helps avoid disappointment.

5. Savour the great moments. Anticipate, appreciate, and relive them!

ILE BIZARD IN THE FALL WITH MY DAUGHTER AND PHOTOGRAPHER FRIEND