The Freedom Trail

The wedding went well--but on my mind at the moment is our trip into Boston today. We traveled along part of the Freedom Trail to see sights like Paul Revere's house, the site of the Boston Massacre (though there wasn't much to see, except in a nearby museum), Faneuil Hall and its nearby market, Boston Common, and the Old North Church, among other places. We also visited three different graveyards, where the graves were at least 300-400 years old, buried in the 1600s-1700s. Many of the slate gravestones had been chipped and weathered with age, some sunk into the ground from unstable soil. The people buried in these graveyards ranged from the revolutionaries such as Samuel Adams and John Hancock, to African Americans and a few of their leaders, such as Prince Hall. There was also everyone inbetween--6 month old children, 90 year old men (which was an unheard of age back then), couples buried side by side, various important masons, etc. Many of the graves seemed to be sized by the age and importance of the person; the babies had tiny gravestones, and the older and more important people had larger gravestones. It was amazing to realize that so many of these people had died from diseases that we can cure easily today.

Photos: Above: Custom House Tower from a side street. It was a great day, and if it hadn't for the moderate wind leftover from Hurricane Ike, we would have been sweltering.

Right: Gravestones at the Copp's Hill Burying Ground. As you can see, some of the slate slabs have shifted position or been broken from age and weather.

Of Dogs and Gods

We made it to Manchester, NH yesterday evening. Thankfully we quickly found our bags, and after renting a car, drove out to Newington. It's such a peaceful place here; you can easily lose yourself in a large mug of peppermint tea and a good book. I love getting ideas for good books from my aunt, who we're staying with. She has a huge dog, named Casey, who enjoys chasing wild turkeys and the neighbor's cat when she gets loose. When we got here, they were redoing the fence out front; Casey had bust a hole in the old wood. Her other hobbies are lounging on the couch (when we're not here... she's not supposed to) or eating from her enormous dog dish, which usually contains two whole wet food cans topped with table scraps or cheese--otherwise she won't touch it. As for what I've been up to, this morning, we ate at a great restaurant called The Friendly Toast. Their walls are covered in kitchy (60s) decor; some quite strange, but fun. Their french toast is amazing! After looking around a bit in Portsmouth, we went north into Maine and shopped at the outlet malls there, just over the border. Tonight it's dinner with the extended family, and my half-sister's wedding is set for Saturday!

Photos: Above: The North Church steeple in Portsmouth, NH. It was hit by lightning some time ago, and was recently redone. The brick buildings in this city are very picturesque, and I enjoy their historic beauty; it seems like the perfect example of a New England town.

Left: Casey, with her large Kong and some shoes to judge her size. I honestly think she gets bigger every time I come to see her.

One Hurdle Down... Many More To Go

I've kept going with that 500 word/day (excluding weekends) goal, and I've recently gone over 60,000 words and 200 pages. I'm also fairly close to the end of my storyline, as it is right now anyway. It sounds like a lot until you go to a bookstore and see those thick, juicy epic fantasy novels that are at least 300-400 pages. And I know this story will need a lot of revisions, certainly because of all its inconsistencies. But I'm going to keep plugging along... If I haven't said this before, a common reason why people don't get published is because they give up. So I'm not going to give up. We'll see where it takes me. And by the way, starting this coming Wednesday for about a week, I'm going to the east coast to be at my half-sister's wedding. I think I might try to blog a few times while I'm there, possibly take some pictures. Stay tuned!

Photo: The Eiffel Tower. Need I say more? Of course, this was when they were still battling to see who would host the 2012 summer olympic games, so you can see the colorful sign saying "Paris 2012" over the arch.