Livin Life Based on the Tide Chart Part 6 of 7

Onto St. John. St. John is the stinkiest city I have ever been to...just a warning. Irving has a paper mill right in the middle of town...and unfortunately it permeates the air you breath. We stayed at the Vintage Bed and Breakfast. This was a nice place and conveniently located, but it was clear to us that the innkeepers really don't love innkeeping. They were nice enough people, but they had self check-in and we didn't even meet one of the owners until it came time to pay when we were checking out. Aside from all that......St. John was alot of fun. We went to the St. John Pride parade. It was raining and there were probably 100 people tops....including those in the parade and watching....but it had a nice small town feel to it. We went to the Pride dance on Saturday night and even got to slow dance to Anne Murray. We also stopped by St John City Market, listened to some music at Market Square and had a yummy dinner at Beatty and the Beastro. Now...to explain the image above. We spent the night in St. John because we had heard about this really neat phenomenon that occurs in St. John when the St. John River and the Bay of Fundy meet during high tide. They call this the Reversing Falls because the water literally changes direction. Like alot of other things in the Bay of Fundy....you really need to see this during both low and high tides to get the full effect. The above image was taken during high tide. Low tide was alot more calm. Wow...what a whirlwind St. John was. We were only there for one night, but saw a ton of stuff. One other thing to know about St. John is that there doesn't seem to be alot of people there. Overall it was fun, but it was also a little wierd. It was stinky, our innkeepers weren't happy to be innkeeping, and there weren't alot of people on the streets. One night was enough for us.

Livin Life Based on the Tide Chart Part 5 of 7

We spent the next two nights camping at Fundy National Park. It was fun even though it poured one night and was freezing cold. It is true what they say about Canadian National Parks. Fundy was clean and had great amenities. During the day we went to Hopewell Cape to see the flowerpots. You need to visit the Hopewell Rocks during both low and high tides to get the effect.....and it is totally worth it to spend a day waiting for the tides to change. You can walk on the ocean floor during low tide. This is what they mean by high tides....hence...."livin life based on the tide chart". See the images below....then you'll know what I'm talking about.


Low Tide


High Tide

We stopped off at Cape Enrage on the way back to the campground. Cape Enrage is neat too. They have a pretty lighthouse and rock climbing.

Livin Life Based on the Tide Chart Part 4 of 7

We hit the road for Fundy National Park and Hopewell Cape and made some stops along the way. First we got lost and ended up in St. Martins where we discovered this really cool cave. See above. It seems you can explore the cave during low tide. No such luck for us...it was high tide when we found it. We also did some poking around the Fundy Trail Parkway. There we saw a beautiful waterfall that we needed to climb down this scary rope ladder thing to get to.....and some small flowerpots.....that were teasers for our trip to Hopewell Cape.

Livin Life Based on the Tide Chart Part 3 of 7

We spent the next few days in St. Andrews New Brunswick. We arrived late the first night and checked into the Montague Rose. Our hosts were very friendly and the bed and breakfast was very nice. We were hungry and they recommended a place to eat called the Harbour Front. The folks at the bed and breakfast might recommend this place, but we wouldn't. We had an awful experience. First we were greeted by a gruff waitress and then three scary raccoons on the deck. Yikes! We moved inside and were served frozen fried scallops and tarter sauce that had already been opened and used by another patron. Yikes again! We ran into some nice people on the street who informed us that there were only three good restaurants in town. We woke up early the next day and had a yummy breakfast at the bed and breakfast and then we took a trip to Kingsbrae Garden. The gardens were beautiful. We had a good lunch at an oyster bar in town and then headed over to the pier for a late afternoon whale watch. We saw some cool things on the whale watch including a bald eagle, seals, some finback whales, Campobello Island, a herring weir, and a salmon farm. The next day we hung around town and drove over to Ministers Island during low tide and took a tour. You can only drive over during low tide...because...if not...you could get stuck over there. Kinda cool huh? Hence the name....Livin Life Based on the Tide Chart. The Bay of Fundy has some of the highest tides in the world. That night we had an amazing dinner at the Rossmount Inn (one of the three restaurants the person we met on the street told us about). This truly was an incredible meal. We were happy to have finally found an exceptional meal in St. Andrews. We left the next day for Fundy National Park. Stay tuned for more on that.........

Livin Life Based on the Tide Chart Part 2 of 7

We left Bar Harbor on Monday and headed towards St. Andrews, NB. This is what we saw along the way......

We first stopped off at Schoodic Point, which is the less populated part of Acadia National Park. Schoodic was amazingly beautiful and my favorite part of Acadia. We also made a stop at this really place called Wild Blueberry Land.



Wild Blueberry Land is this really cool BIG blue blueberry that pays homage to this yummy berry. Wild Blueberry Land has blueberry pie, and blueberry coffee, and ten pound boxes of blueberries, and anything else you can do with this versatile fruit of nature.

Stay tuned for more information on our trip to St. Andrews By the Sea.....

Livin Life Based on the Tide Chart Part 1 of 7

B and I recently took a trip to the New Brunswick side of the Bay of Fundy. The next seven posts will give you a taste of what we saw.....

We started our trip with a few days in Bar Harbor, ME.



Bar Harbor was great. We spent a couple of nights at a great bed and breakfast called Aysgarth Station. If you need a place to stay in Bar Harbor...this is the place to go. Jane and Steve are great hosts...and they serve the best breakfast we have ever had at a bed and breakfast.

We also spent some time poking around town. We had a yummy dinner at Galyn's and also went on a whale watch. We ate dinner another night at Rosalie's Pizza and saw ten shooting stars. Perseids was going on and we were psyched to get to see it. We drove through the Acadia National Park one evening and got to see a beautiful sunset from the top of Cadillac Mountain. We ate the most amazing maple walnut ice cream at Jordan Pond Ice Cream Shop. This was probably the best ice cream we have ever eaten in our lives. It is definately worth a trip just to try to ice cream.

Bar Harbor was beautiful and we were bummed that we had to leave....but were also excited about moving onto the next leg of our trip.

Getting Back to My Roots

A friend of mine from high school lost her father last week. I went to the wake in South Boston to say goodbye to her father and to show my support. While in line to pay my respects I noticed that what seemed like all of Southie was there. In addition I also saw that the Principal and Vice Principal of my high school was in attendance. It was nice to see such a show of support for my friends family during this time.

A few days later I had a desire to walk around Castle Island and so we went. I spent alot of time at Castle Island as a kid and with this friend who recently lost her father.

That night we went to a Greek Food and Music Festival at the Dormition of the Virgin Mary Church in Somerville. We met a woman who had grown up in that Church and who seemed to know everyone at the festival. I realized at that point that I had completely lost track of the people I had grown up with in St. Williams Parish (now known as Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta Parish) in Dorchester. I felt a sense of sadness for my lack of connection to my roots.

I went to church at the Paulist Center in Boston this morning. As Mass was celebrated I was reminded of the Catholic traditions I was taught growing up in my parish in Dorchester. I acknowledge that Mass at the Paulist Center is celebrated very differently than what I had learned growing up, but the core of the beliefs and traditions is the same. I was happy to to feel a sense of connection to that.

This is all very wierd to me. I spent a good part of my life early adult years trying to erase alot of these parts of me. I deliberately lost my Boston accent, I wasn't in touch with many of the people I had grown up with, and I hardly ever took the trek over to Southie and Dorchester to appreciate the beauty of the neighborhood or the ocean. This all started to come to me when I had a conversation with the husband of my friend who had lost her father about where I was looking to buy a house. When I mentioned that I really wanted to buy in Arlington, he told me that Arlington lacked character, unlike Southie, Somerville, and Salem. I have a good friend who grew up in Arlington and she would be shocked to hear what he had said, but after more thought...I started to think maybe he was right. Arlington is nothing like Southie, Dorchester, or Somerville. This made me feel sad. I really want to feel close to my roots, be true to who I am, and to appreciate it. I have alot of good memories of my growing up in Dorchester and Southie and I hope to continue to celebrate that. Even if I get a ticket for double pahkin my cah on Broadway.

Liver Functioning OK

Just heard back from Laurie over at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). My tests came in and it looks like my liver is doing what it is supposed to. See my results:

ALT: 17
AST: 39

Yee haw! Lets hope I stay on this path for a really long time.

Perfect Day

Today was a perfect day. We woke up at the crack of dawn to volunteer at Waltham Fields this morning. Waltham Fields is a farm that grows food and donates it to food pantries and soup kitchens in the area. We harvested tomatoes and peppers and did some weeding too. I think harvesting the peppers was my favorite part.....then the tomatoes....and finally the weeding. We both got super dirty. And let me tell you...there is something very freeing about being filthy and not caring about it. I felt a little like Pig Pen. We had a great time this morning, but it reminded me about all the hard work that folks like Amanda, Andy, and company put into keeping the farm going. I don't know how they do it every day. I volunteered for three and a half hours and my entire body ached. I'm thankful for all the work they put into it.

We left the farm and grabbed a couple of sandwiches and salads over at Panera Bread. We tried to eat our lunch at Walden Pond, but couldn't get in because it was packed. We went to the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Garden instead. This was my first time at the DeCordova. What a neat place. They have cool art inside and the rest of the grounds are filled with amazing sculpture and places to walk and picnic. We ate our tasty lunch on a bench, walked around, and then hung out under a tree for awhile.

After leaving the DeCordova we made our way to Lizzy's Ice Cream in Waltham. I love Lizzy's. They have yummy grape nut ice cream.

On the way home we stopped off at Waltham Fields, grabbed some veggies for the week, and picked up the iced coffee container we had left there in the morning.

Today was a long day, but it was as close to perfect as you can get. The weather was beautiful.....we got some exercise in.....and we hung out outside and had the opportunity to celebrated art and nature in a variety of ways. I wish everyday were like today.

Up North DownEast

Last week we spent a few days visiting family up in northern ME. Check it out......



Our first stop was the Harbor Fish Market in Portland, ME. B wanted to pick up some lobsters to celebrate her mother's birthday on Thursday. We got the lobsters and got to see them cutting up a gigantic tuna. Cool! We also had lunch at Mims. No seafood for me....I had chicken. The next place we landed was LLBean in Freeport, ME. I'd show you a pix, but there weren't any worthy of sharing. I did get myself a new fall coat though.



We saw a Hazy Mt. Katahdin.



And a windmill filled Mars Hill. I thought of Don Quijote.



We arrived in Northern ME and had a fun filled birthday pool party. Even though it was too cold to go into the pool in the early evening. You need a jacket at night in Northern ME.



We had a yummy dinner too. I didn't eat any of the lobsters though....it was a hamburger and corn for me.



When the party was over we continued to visit folks over the next few days, hang out, eat lots of ice cream and swim. On the way home I spotted a female moose, which B says is called a cow, on the side of the road. Wish I had a picture for you. Sorry...maybe next time. I did manage to take a picture of Debbie's though. This is one of my favorite places to eat up in Sherman, ME. Check it out next time you are headed north or south on Route 11 in northern ME.

Returning to Say Thanks

I saw a story yesterday on NECN abouta woman who returned to Brigham and Women's Hospital six months after being disharged to say thank you to the staff. This woman almost died in a horseback riding accident and has the folks over at the Brigham and Women's to thank for her being able to walk down the hall on her own two feet. Like this woman...I also have to thank the amazing medical staff over at the Brigham for saving my life. It has been 14 years since I spent five weeks on 12C at the Brigham, but not a day goes by that I don't think of someone I met there. The week after I was discharged, back in 1993, I went out and got some water guns and Hershey Kisses to send to the nursing staff on the 12th floor. A couple of months later I went back to visit and say thank you. I remember my nurse (Karen St, Martin) running up to me, grabbing my cheeks exclaiming "Look at your color!". A few months later I was back again as a patient (liver biopsy) and Paul Farmer dropped by my room. Dr. Farmer was been my doctor that summer, he heard I was back in the hospital, and wanted to stop by to say hello and bring me a rose. I was thankful then....and even as recently as two years ago I got to tell him again. Two years ago Dr. Farmer was receiving an award at my church and I went to see him speak. I was sure to stick around at the end and say hello. I re-introduced myself, and he said he remembered me and gave me a hug. I said thanks again and burst into tears. I cannot thank the staff over there enough......I owe my life to them.......

Stay tuned for a photo tour of our trip to Maine......

Summer 2007

I last posted on May 31st and said I would give blogging another shot. Well...silly me hasn't posted since then....so here you go...another attempt at blogging on my part. B also recently told me that she likes blogs with pictures on them. So....I'm trying extra hard with this photo. I cannot tell a lie. This is an old photo. I believe these are some wild strawberries we picked in Auburn, ME back in 2006. This summer has been nice and filled with just as many fun activites as last year. We went to Boston Pride back in early June, and celebrated my birthday at Oleana, at a Red Sox game, and eating pizza with friends. On June 14th Massachusetts legislators voted in favor of gay marriage in Massachusetts! Yee haw! Elke came for a visit at the end of June. We went on a Charles Riverboat Constitution Turn-Around Cruise on July 4th. This was totally cool and definately recommend it for next year. We got visitors from up north and went to the Lantern Festival at the Forest Hills Cemetery with some family and friends. We went to Ogunquit recently and spent last Friday night at the Best Harry Potter Party Ever We had a fun time at Artbeat on Saturday and hung out at the farm on Sunday. Overall it has been non-stop. I'm tired just thinking about it and am looking forward to a little break from the on-the-go routine very soon. However...it has been fun. Stay tuned.....

Checking In

The few folks who read my blog have been asking me if I have given up on my blog. For the most part I have...but I'm going to give it one more shot......

We went to Provincetown to celebrate our 6th anniversary last weekend. We had a great time. We stayed at the Oxford Guesthouse on Cottage Street in the West End. If you get a chance to stay here......definately do it. Stephen, Trevor, Pete, Potter, and Jessye are super. I think this is my new favorite place to stay in Provincetown. The gardens were amazing, breakfast was yummy, our room was beautiful, and they had tasty treats out all day long. We had a series of fluky mishaps with telephone service and air conditioning, but they definately went the extra mile to get everything back up and running as quickly as possible. These guys are really great at giving people their space, but also fostering a welcoming environment. On Saturday night they had a cocktail party for the guests. I see why they won the Pink Choice award last year.

We did alot of other fun things in Provincetown too. We went on a whale watch and saw some cool humpback whales. We went to the beach and I got a sunburn. We ate lots of good food at Spiritus , Fanizzis , Terra Luna, Clem and Ursies and Lorraines. We did some shopping. We went to see Jennie McNulty at the Post Office Cafe. She was funny. We spent some time with a few friends too. We did the whole Boatslip, Pied, and Vixen bar circuit. Had fun at the Pied, but could have done without the other two. The streets were filled with roving gaggles of beer drinking girls like every Memorial Day weekend in Provincetown, but I think we did a good job at trying to achieve some peace.

On another front......the Boston Public Librarians will be distributing informational leaflets outside the Boston Public Library Foundation Annual Gala on June 8th from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. They will be gathering at the corner of Boylston and Dartmouth Streets at 6:00 p.m. to give out information relating their unresolved contract negotiations with the City of Boston relating to staffing, salaries, and health care. Join them to show your support! For more information email saveourlibrarians@gmail.com

Mini Egg Mayhem

I love Cadbury Mini Eggs. Every year I wait around for the Easter season to start....so I can get my fix of the mini eggs. Sadly they are only available once a year. Brenda knows about my love for the chocolate eggs and brought me home a super huge bag of them last night. Yummy. Unfortunately.....I have already eaten about two thirds of the bag. Once I get started....I cannot stop. I don't eat chicken eggs.....but I love these chocolate eggs. My favorite are the blue ones.....they look like robin eggs. How pretty. So much for my diet...it went right out the window this week. I'm going to gain the 30 pounds I lost right back if I keep this up. Not to mention that I have been blowing off going to the pool and the gym....and I also consumed great quantities of girl scout cookies and onion and garlic chips on Monday night. Maybe it has something to do with it being 9 degrees outside. It probably has more to do with my lack of self control. I seem to have given it up for lent.

My Uncle John

My uncle John passed away last Thursday. It was a surprise for all of us. He had a heart attack in the shower. He was only 49. This has been hard for me and my family. I hadn't see much of him in recent years, but have a lot of good childhood memories that include him. He spent a lot of time at my apartment with my mother and I shortly after my parent's divorce. Sometimes he would babysit. I remember watching tv (most likely the Love Boat) with him and laughing about the afghan my grandmother had made that had a lot of holes in it. She made it with love and it was warm, but we couldn't figure out why it was warm because it had so many holes. The holes were part of the pattern. We laughed so hard about that. Another time he came over and made us breakfast. This was a special occasion. I don't remember what he made us, but I do recall it involved eggs and milk. He loved milk. He drank more milk than anyone I had ever seen. John was a very sensitive person with an enormous heart. He loved his children more than anything else in the world. He will be missed.

I Love Sedatives

I had an ultrasound and an endoscopy last week at the BIDMC in Boston.

I hate having ultrasounds. I hate lying on the bed and having them slather that cold jelly-like substance all over my abdomen. I hate the feeling of them rolling that microphone shaped thing all over my liver and kidneys. I hate having ultrasounds because they bring me back to a time in my life when my liver disease was bad and the chances of my needing a transplant were likely. They didn't do the doplar ultrasound this time. They said it looked like my last ultrasound. I have a liver. My gall bladder is higher than most peoples. My liver isn't as healthy as everyone elses. Fortunately things have stayed the same. I most likely will be keeping my own liver for awhile.

After my ultrasound I ran over to the 8th floor in the Farr building for my endoscopy. I showed signs of portal hypertension in my liver a few years back so I have an endoscopy every two years to check for varices in my esophagus. Fortunately everything checked out ok. I hate having an endoscopy, but I love the sedatives. I even told this to the nurse who checked me in. I think she thought I was a little wierd. Heck...I am wierd. Since I cannot really drink...and should stay away from illegal drugs.....the sedatives are the best I can hope for.

After my procedure I spoke to my doctor for a few minutes. She told me that she wants me to come in for a biopsy at some point. We will talk about it when I see her in May. I was a little surprised by this because I thought if things looked good then we wouldn't go this route. I guess I was wrong.

I had something called a fibroscan a couple of weeks ago too. Fibroscans are approved in France and the BIDMC is doing research to get it approved in this country. The fibroscan sends a little soundwave into my liver and measures how squishy it is. Squishy was the exact term my doctor used. My fibroscan came back as a 9.3 This is high, but not cirotic...this is good news. They can't use this score as an official measure of what is going on (because it is only research), but it does give us some idea.

I also had a bone density test on the same day as the fibroscan. They said I was dense. This is cool...it isn't the first time I have been called dense. I have a bone density test every couple fo years because I was on that God awful Prednisone for so long. Lets hope I'll stay dense for a long time.

Helping HepCats

The Football Walk For Liver Wellness is coming up on Sunday, September 17th. You can make a difference in the fight against liver disease by walking or sponsoring a walker. Learn more about walking at the Football Walk website. You can also contribute by sponsoring the HepCats. Thanks for your support!

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Birthday 2006

I celebrated my birthday last weekend. I turned 33 on Sunday. A bunch of us went to see Deep Sea (3D) at Jordan's Furniture in Reading and had lunch at Fuddruckers on Saturday. We also played a fun duck game. The movie was great. I highly recommend seeing it if you can. The food at Fuddruckers was good, but we had some issues making a reservation. They were going to charge me $3.00 per person to make a reservation...we decided to not do this and play it by ear...and it worked out perfectly. The duck game rocked. I even won a stuffed duck. As you can see...it was an intense game.

The rest of my weekend was fun too. Brenda took me to eat at Garden of Eden and we went for a walk around Castle Island. I love the mac-n-cheese at Garden of Eden. Sunday I had breakfast with my dad and then went to Woodman's in Essex with Brenda, Mom and Russ. The line at Woodman's was insane...and it was hot, but it was worth the wait. After lunch we had some yummy Carvel ice cream cake. Thanks Mom and Russ. I love the chocolate crunchies. We spent the late afternoon at the farm getting our share and picking strawberries. That night Brenda made me some amazing strawberry shortcake with the berries we picked. Overall it was a wonderful birthday. Thanks to everyone who made my weekend special.

On another positive note. My Mom went to the doctor today. They said her tests came back and they look great. She is still cancer free. Yee haw! It has been two years since the surgery where they put her back together. Doctors used to say that people with colon cancer who went for five years without it coming back were not likely to have it return. They now say that folks need to be cancer free for five years. Reason being that the medications they now use are stronger and stick around longer. Two years down...three more to go. I'm hopeful that she will continue on a healthy path.

Happy Pride

Happy Pride! Just a fyi...the Pride Parade and Festival will be delayed by 1 hour in Boston tomorrow. The parade is now starting at 1:00 p.m. in Copley Square. The festival will go from 1:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. on the Boston Common. Read more about it at the Boston Pride. Looking forward to seeing y'all!