Massachusetts et al........

So....we are in Massachusetts.....and have been for the past week and a half. It's been a busy time, a time of some sleepless nights(what's new), a time of worry, a time of exploration and wonder, a time of exilaration, and a time of relief. The weather has been good, although we landed in Montreal in a snowstorm and had blowing snow on our drive down to Mass. However, since then, it's been cold and sunny with a bit of rain and a couple of warmish days. The air is very dry.....lots of moisturiser needed...on lips and skin....and lots of water needed to go into the body.

I have a few observations of Massachusetts......

• Lots of big houses and expensive cars (especially in small exclusive towns like Concord)....but the houses are nice, stylish and historic for the most part and lots of the cars are Volvos!!
• People are, for the most part, nice and friendly and usually have been north of the border or know someone who has been north of the border.....but there are some still, who don't have a clue about our wonderful country.
  
• Development of housing.....(at least in the outlying areas)...our leaders could learn a thing or two. Lots of trees, no clearcutting.....it's as though lots are sold and the homeowner clears only what he needs and leave trees around .....they are everywhere.....no clearcutting here. But then, that's the New England charm....the autumn colours....so they preserve it. But the concept is a good one. The housing is interesting, unique, fits with the landscape. None of these chicken coops of all the same shape and colour, that go on endlessly.
• Still with trees.....they are everywhere, especially along the highways.....we even found a huge Target store all by itself surrounded by trees with the roads in and out through trees. The DHL office was in a industrial park opposite a fairly exclusive residential area and the industrial park was landscaped and surrounded by .....TREES!! So much nicer!!
  
• U turns....they are legal here....people do it all the time....especially at advance left turn signals....in some places it's the only way to get where you want to go.
• Some of the driving habits here boggle the mind.....like....when you see that the traffic on the opposite side of the interesection is stopped and hasn't moved for some time....why would you travel through the intersection and end up stopped in the middle, thereby blocking traffic going the other way (we were one of the fuming blocked and of course, told ourselves that "We would never do that in Canada....would we???) We extricated ourselves by dashing across two lanes of traffic following a similar fuming motorist into a small opening in traffic when our light was green.....Yaayy!!!.

We are taking the day off heading into Boston tomorrow with Stella ....so I'm sure more observations will be forthcoming.

In the meantime....back to packing and sorting out last minute details.

Slainte!!

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