Parental time-out

Grandma Kingsley offered to watch our children while Nathan and I 'disappeared' for 3 days and explored New England on our own. What fun!

We booked two nights in a bed and breakfast in Concord, Massachusetts. I LOVE THIS TOWN!! I would move here very happily. This little town has so much history it boggles me. The property we stayed in was owned by Louisa May Alcott's family, Nathanial Hawthorne, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was surveyed by Henry David Thoreau twice. We were surrounded by the homes of great historical figures. The house that stages the story "Little Women" is the house that the Alcotts lived in. This was right across the street from us. Nathanial Hawthorne's only house was right out our bedroom window, and Emerson's mansion was on the same street. Henry David Thoreau also lived here. It was amazing so be surrounded by so many homes of intelligent individuals.

The Concord museum had the entire contents of Emerson's study, even the window shutters. It was really neat to see. I didn't know too many details about any of these writers before we came. Now I can't wait to peruse their works. I am particularly impressed with Emerson and Thoreau. Nathan and I both received gift cards to Barnes and Noble for Christmas. We can't wait to go home and buy "Walden" and "Nature". There was a quote by Thoreau that really struck me. I can't remember it exactly, but basically it said that most men aren't really awake in life. Few people really live life with acute awareness of their surroundings. I realized that my own life had a certain element of apathy and therefore complacency. I theorize that this arises from the prevalence of media (whether the television or Internet) that spoon-feeds information to us. People don't think anymore, it's like the humans from the movie Wally. Nathan and I both resolved to be more passionately involved in whatever tasks we had before us. We both want to immerse ourselves in American philosophy more and we both are excited to create art again. We've already been plotting a wood carving on a scriptural scene.

We also visited the Sleep Hollow Cemetery, which was surprisingly beautiful. The cemetery was designed to also serve the community as a park and spiritual green space for contemplation, due largely to the influence of the Transcendentalist movement heralded by Bronson Alcott and Ralph Waldo Emerson. I've never encountered such a beautiful cemetery. The unbroken rows of headstones weren't to be found. The landscaping is such that the burial sites flow with the natural forms of the hills and valleys of the cemetery, and the entire site is filled with ancient trees and twisting roads and bridges. I'm sure it's breathtaking in the summer. I don't know how The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow became a horror story. It surely wasn't inspired by the cemetery itself. I saw nothing frightening and would liked to have lingered.

This was the Old North Church, the church where Paul Revere lit the two lanterns in the tower to signal the arrival of British troops by sea. It also contains the first statue ever made of Gearoge Washington and the pew box where Paul Revere's family sat when they attended church. Paul Revere rang the bells here when he was a boy.







We also went to Boston to explore the Freedom Trail. It's a series of historical sites within walking distance of each other. Sites included the home of Paul Revere, the first public school, several cemeteries where famous people are buried, several state houses and churches.