Hi Deb, Josie, Valerie, Lori, and Judy--
This morning I did RK with 1 lb. gloves (55:10).
We had a lovely little vacation in Boston. There was a special luncheon before the concert on Friday afternoon with a lot of interesting things on the buffet. I loved the coconut crusted shrimp, the fried green tomatoes with a jicama slaw and lime crème fraiche, but there were too many other things to try and I wanted to have the mini mocha pot de crème for dessert, so I did not try everything.
The concert was all Beethoven: "Leonore" overture no. 1, Concerto in C for piano, violin, and cello, and Piano concerto no.5 in e-flat, also known as the "Emperor" concerto. The cellist (Alisa Weilerstein, barefoot in a strapless purple gown), the violinist Guy Braunstein, and the pianist Yefim Bronfman are all virtuosos and it was absolutely thrilling to watch them. If any of you are familiar with these pieces you know how gorgeous they are. The concertos are so beautifully structured and the final rondos pull everything together.
I would strongly NOT recommend our hotel--the Marriott at Copley place. The elevators were awful--so slow that sometimes the wait was 10 minutes or more. Very expensive. You had to pay extra for internet, 49 dollars per night for parking, and no free breakfast. The other thing this weekend was a Comicon gathering, and it was like Halloween in our hotel with young people traipsing about in crazy costumes to imitate their favorite characters. March madness was also part of the general zaniness in the lounges. We did have a very nice meal in the Legal Seafood the first night, which is right in the hotel (yay--lobster for me, cooked perfectly). Very high end shopping mall if you want to spend a lot of money on Chanel, Prada, Coach, etc.
DH and I spent a good four hours at MFA. The Audubon exhibition was wonderful and the Impressionism exhibition was really special for me. Many of the pieces in their collection are familiar to me only looking at slides or in books. There were two photography exhibitions, one of avant-garde European, the other American moderns. We really explored several more rooms and were pretty much exhausted by the end of the afternoon. Then we went to Strega's on the waterfront for dinner, which was TERRIFIC! There were nine of us, and the food was some of the best Italian food I have had. I had two appetizers, which was plenty for me: eggplant rollatini and scallops in an orange and Grand Marnier sauce. My usual Manhattan. I only had a couple bites of the desserts others ordered.
It was great to see sil's husband and children, mil and fil, and both of my sons this weekend. A mini-reunion. Many of my sil's friends were also there, as they were at the memorial service, and it was good to see all of them again.
Valerie, I did see the news about that mudslide, which looked terrible. You are very lucky!
Lori, I have the new EW with all of the news about Game of Thrones. Looks like a good, bloody season again.
Deb, it's freezing here again. When oh when will we get some warm weather. Max was happy to be home--he stays at a kennel which has radiant heating in the flooring, AC in the summer, and a door to go outside when he wants. The kennel owner really adores him because he is not a barker. Much better and bigger areas for the dogs than when we left him at the vet's.
Hi to Josie and Judy.