Patriot's Day Weekend.

For those who are unfamiliar with the strange rituals of Massachusetts, Patriot's Day is a holiday we have. Apparently it commemorates "the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War." Now I had never heard of Patriot's Day before I moved to Massachusetts. I assume that Wikipedia is incorrect in their assertion that Maine observes this holiday as well. I'm 95% certain I never had it off during school growing up. Anyway, all that aside, Kate and I had a three day weekend and the weather was great. Kate and I took advantage of the nice day on Sunday and spent some time in the Middlesex Fells Reservation.

While I have walked around the reservation (which is steps from my apartment) Kate and I found some cool things that I hadn't seen before. There are a couple series of cascades, one of which Kate snapped a great picture of from above on a small stone bridge. Also of interest is a spring in a section of the park called "Virginia Wood". The spring is called "Crystal Springs" and consists of a grotto structure and a stone that has a pipe coming out of it. Both are pictured here, as well as Kate playing in the water. We had a brief engineering contest damming up the little brook of spring water. I don't think anyone will be hiring either of us to work on the Hoover dam any time soon.

Additionally pictured are some flowers, tree buds and leaves coming out from the decay of last year. Kate and I speculated that the bright green leaves seen in one of the photos were actually some mythical creatures that slept during the day with only their leafy hair appearing, much like the Mandrakes from Harry Potter. Apparently the Mandrake was based on a real plant (see wikipedia link) although they don't really resemble the screaming roots from the "Chamber of Secrets".

After our jaunt in the woods we walked to the Orange line and headed to the Pearl St. Restaurant for supper.

Kate left Monday morning since she had made some plans already... I ended up sleeping late (Big Surprise Right?) When I did wake up I decided on catching a matinee of "Smart People" which I found enjoyable. Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church (Wings/ Sideways), and Ellen Page (Juno) stared in this slice of life film about a dysfunctional family of odd balls. I'm not a big fan of Parker, so admittedly her involvement was a deterrent. She filled the role quite well in the end. Apparently it was originally cast for Rachel Weisz and honestly despite my lack of fondness for Parker she's a better fit than Weisz, perhaps primarily because she has some sort of personality (for the good or bad). Page's character was largely similar to Juno, however her Janeane Garofalo-like humor wins me over much as it did previously. Is she being type cast? Probably so, but can she play the part probably better than just about anyone else in her acting category.

After I got home I ate some cheese bread sticks, drank a couple of beers, and watched political commentary. Sure I never made it to the gym as I had planned, but I must admit, it was a hell of a way to spend Monday evening.

I hope everyone has a great week! Happy Spring!!