Besides living in the self-proclaimed Witch City, yet another aspect of my tortured relationship with Halloween is my birthday, which falls a few days before and inevitably gets colored (darkened) by the proximity. It’s not quite as bad as having a Christmas birthday, but close, especially for me. There’s generally a big storm on my big day too–but not this year, thank goodness. This year we have family in town to celebrate their first Salem Halloween, but there was no way I was going to be their guide, so I left them to my husband and fled to Boston for the day. I went to the Museum of Fine Arts for the William Merritt Chase and Della Robbia exhibitions (the women!), then to the Antiquarian Book Show (the prices!) at the Hynes Convention Center, and then I just walked around the Back Bay and Beacon Hill, as the weather got progressively warmer over the day. Oddly enough, I found myself enjoying the Halloween decorations on the stately brownstones and townhouses: very creative and such a contrast to the architecture! Maybe I like Halloween after all (just not in Salem).
Back Bay:
Just one book from the show at the Hynes in keeping with the theme: next post I’m going to write about a beautiful ($45,000) incunabulum I had never heard of before (if I can find out enough about it).
Beacon Hill: who knew that Louisburg Square was Halloween central? This first house was amazing.
October 30th, 2016 at 8:58 am
Hope you have/had a nice birthday!
Those are great photographs. I have to admit they are better than those I’ve seen in Georgetown, which is famous here in DC for its Halloween enthusiasms.
I saw the Merritt Chase exhibit here at the Phillips Collection in August–the first weekend after I was allowed to walk and 2 months after foot surgery–I was so determined not to miss it!
October 30th, 2016 at 9:12 am
Thanks Laura–you’ve brought back a memory of trick-or-treating at the embassies in and around Georgetown during my college days–we drove down from Baltimore where I was at school. Looking back, I think I was too old to be doing this but I did it! Hope your recovery has gone smoothly.
October 30th, 2016 at 1:14 pm
That must have been fun! I once went with a friend taking her kids trick or treating so I could show off my costume. She was dressed up too. I think her kids were just a tiny bit annoyed with us 🙂 Foot surgery was just boring bunion surgery, which I wasn’t going to let stop me!!
October 30th, 2016 at 11:05 am
Wishing you a belated birthday and many happy returns! This is quite an entertaining post, very different from your usual style but interesting all the same. Enjoy the weekend!
October 30th, 2016 at 9:08 pm
It’s funny. I’ve lived on the North Shore for 16 years and always stayed clear of Salem in October; What, are you crazy? But we moved to a downtown apartment (Lafayette and Derby) in September, and am really liking it. The atmosphere is great–people out having fun, dressing up, forgettâ DSC_0039.jpg ââ DSC_0045.jpg ââ DSC_0055.jpg ââ DSC_0072.jpg ââ DSC_0077.jpg ââ DSC_0088.jpg ââ DSC_0092.jpg ââ IMG_1764.jpg ââ IMG_1771.jpg ââ IMG_1774.jpg ââ IMG_1779.jpg âing their cares. I didn’t foresee the fun element.
Some photos I took attached.
Sean
On Sun, Oct 30, 2016 at 9:41 AM, streetsofsalem wrote:
> daseger posted: “Besides living in the self-proclaimed Witch City, yet > another aspect of my tortured relationship with Halloween is my birthday, > which falls a few days before and inevitably gets colored (darkened) by the > proximity. It’s not quite as bad as having a Christ” >
October 31st, 2016 at 7:07 am
Great, Sean. I don’t know why people can’t attach pictures on wordpress–I’m sure yours are great!