Quin-zee

Yesterday, Katie and I made our way down to Quincy (pronounced Quin-zee here in MA) for opening day at the Adams National Historical Park. It was pretty crowded there (because of opening day combined with the HBO series most likely) but we had an enjoyable time visiting the Adams' church, John Adams and John Qunicy Adams' birthplace and their later home (The Old Home).

The church was beautiful. Adams donated the land and much of the granite that was used to build the church.

View from the outside.

View from the inside.

One thing I learned which I hadn't known was that both Adams were Unitarians, rejecting the deity of Christ. Both were very influenced by the Enlightenment and felt that God could be 'proven', but the deity of Christ could not. Adams did read the Bible first thing every morning, but apparently he was reading a Christ who was not the Son of God, but a great philosopher/prophet/teacher. While this country was greatly built on Christian foundation and by Christians, it is interesting to realize how some of the key men were certainly outside what would be called orthodoxy (Jefferson, Franklin).

Inside the church, there is a crypt which holds the remains of both presidents and both first ladies.
































After the church we went on the National Historical Society tour. It's a 2 hr tour taking you to the birthplaces and their later home (all for $5! can't beat that!).

















The birthplace of John Adams. Next door is the birthplace of John Quincy Adams.

The Old Home was a bit less modest than the birthplace home and was in the Adam's family for many generations, and thus contains additions in the house from many generations. One of my favorite parts was the library upstairs, which was where Adams spent much of his time and penned all those letters to Jefferson which are now so famous. It was a large room with a big fireplace. Must have been a great place to read and write. That room was only surpassed by the new library that was built a couple generations later, a dream of John Adams (to protect the books from fire). The building now contains 14,000 books. Those old books covers look so much cooler than the covers these days. It was two levels of books with a huge table in the middle and comfortable chairs around the room. Unfortunately pictures weren't allowed inside, but here's the outside:

















Library on the left, Old Home on the right.

An inside picture from the website:

Springing Forward

The first day of 70 plus degree weather in 6 months brings a welcome reminder of why we love living in Boston! The baseball season has started, the early flowers are blooming, and we're even trying to get back in shape by running the local paths. We've been drawn out of the house more than usual. Tuesday we went for a walk before dinner and couldn't pass up a Belgian beer and the best mac'n cheese Jon thinks he's ever had at one of our favorite restaurant/pubs - the Publick House.

Below is proof of the change - Tulips on the side of our house:


Exhibit #1 on why to purchase renter's insurance:

This 9-alarm fire four doors down on Wednesday has definitely been the news item of the month. The propane grill on the top porch started the blaze. Since the fire, our landlord moved their grill off the porch and on to the grass. Lesson learned!

In other news, Monday is Patriot's Day aka Marathon Monday which gets the entire city a three day weekend. The running of the Boston Marathon is quite the happening around here. It seems in Boston, when they want a day off, they find a new holiday to celebrate. March 17th is evacuation day - a convenient holiday to celebrate the British Troop evacuation of Boston and get St. Patrick's Day OFF! Unfortunately, our jobs will not be allowing us to watch thousands of people run 26.2 miles.

Long Hiatus Coming To An End

So, been a long hiatus here in blog-land. The world is thawing here up in Boston, and with it will hopefully come more common updates on the blog.

Been a busy time as usual since the last update. Katie has been working a lot, coming to the end of a long stretch of some tough rotations. The light at the end of the tunnel is finally coming closer! Next year's intern class has been chosen, and after the next two weeks Katie will have a little easier weeks with some elective time and some much needed vacation! Been a long last couple of months though, for sure. I have been busy traveling a bit. Flying at least every two weeks, often once a week. Fortunately I've had some freedom in my schedule and have been able to work around Katie's

Traveling has also included NJ the last two weekends. Two weekends ago we were in NJ celebrating Mom Niederer's birthday. It was a very nice time seeing family and stopping by Christ Community and seeing friends and enjoying worship there.

Mom ready to enjoy her b-day cake.

Last week I headed down to NJ for the wedding of some friends from Rutgers - Viren and Sarah. It was a great time seeing a couple of old friends that I hadn't seen in years who also came to the wedding. It was a unique experience - a Hindu ceremony followed by a Korean ceremony. It was interesting seeing the cultural and religious differences between those and the classic western Christian wedding. One thing that stuck out was the emphasis on family. You weren't just choosing to enter into a life long relationship with one other person, but were entering into a relationship with an entire family. The wedding was larger than just two people's individual choice. Another difference was the groom giving piggy-back rides to the mother, mother-in-law and bride. Them Koreans make the men work for that marriage!

Viren and Sarah during the hindu ceremony.

Viren giving one of his mothers a piggy-back ride with Sarah in toe.

Well, looks like panning out to be a nice sunny day here in Boston today. I guess that means it might be time for an end to the hiatus from running also!