Home sweet home

Sorry for the delay in posts. Two of the five of us have been puking this week. If that's not a wake-up call to obtain a washing machine, then I don't know what is!

Now that I have my bearings, I can actually tell you where we live. We're in Malden, Ma, which is a Northern suburb of Boston. Although keep in mind, Boston suburbs are not Detroit suburbs. Our street, and most of those around us, are full of big, 2-family (and sometimes 3 or 4) houses. I think most of them are upstairs and downstairs situations, as opposed to side to side duplexes. We live on the 1st floor of a old green house. Our back yard consists of driveway, a garage, and a marble patio with grape vines above it. Our landlord is currently installing a marble floor in the garage. Yes, you heard me right. We're not sure either. Flannery and I can think of more pressing home improvements that could be done (like marbling our smarmy bathroom floor or grimy kitchen floor . . . . ). Our tiny front yard is a square of bushes surrounding a hydrangea tree/bush. There are LOTS of hydrangea here in Malden. And lots of impatiens and begonias here. And lots of white rock, and statues of Mary, and stone bunnies, and armed forces flags. Our neighborhood is populated by old Italian grandmothers and Brazilian immigrants. We're not really sure who lives on our actual street, however. We think they may beam (think Star Trek) to work and back. We never see anyone. Very few cars go up and down the street, very few people are ever out walking, and nobody is EVER on their lovely, huge front porches. There is a park, one very short block away from us, that's full of all sorts of people. Half the kids are usually speaking something other than English. Collin loves watching the varsity girls soccer practice. In fact, he rode his tricycle right off the sidewalk while gazing at them the other day.

Other than the Malden Public Library (where Collin checks out only Curious George books), the sublime slush shop around the corner, and our park, we don't do much in Malden. Downtown Boston is a mere 15 minute T (train/subway thing) ride away. The T station is a mile walk/bike/bus ride from our house. And just as Jeff predicted, I LOVE good public transportation. If anything kept us here, it would be The T. More on Boston later . . . .