What a great time to be in New England:

• Red Sox Clinch a playoff spot this weekend.
• New England Patriots are 3-0 and looking good
• Lots of Excitement over the Boston Celtics
• Fall Foliage are showing up everywhere
• Metro-Boston's Apple Picking Farms are opening up.
• The Big E is in full swing
• The Economy is doing really well in New England.

Planning a trip to New England for the Fall Foliage season?

White House Inn of Wilmington
178 Route 9 W, Wilmington, VT
(802) 464-2135

The spirit of Mrs. Martin Brown is said to haunt the historic White House Inn of Wilmington, Vt. Both staff and guests have reported unexplainable cold spots, doors that open by themselves, and visible apparitions. One guest reported being visited by an elderly lady in the middle of the night, who sat in a chair by the bed and exclaimed, "One Mrs. Brown in this room is quite enough!" The guest's name also happened to be Mrs. Brown.

The Inn itself includes a vast attic with creaks included, a dungeon-like basement with dark areas and coal boilers, a locking iron vault and even a hidden staircase.

Halloween weekend features a "Haunting" with a ghost hunt and seance.

Why is it that a driver on 95/93/128/Mass Pike:

• Goes on the highway without checking for traffic
• Drives well above 70 MPH
• Goes in and out of traffic with no single changes
• Cuts people off while talking on the phone

Then:

Expects people to "let them off" the highway when they are in the middle lane within 20 feet of their exit?

Why is that???

Also when did it become a rule that, if you have a brand new luxury car, you can go fast as you want on the Mass Pike?

In an email that I sent two years ago today...

I attended the 7:30 service at Our Lady Help of Christians this morning and it was a full house. The church looks a little different since the last time I was there. Small portions of the ceiling white wall has been taken down. New this week are several scrolls on the walls of people that were buried at OLHC.

The biggest news of the weekend is where Father Fleming will be going after Our Lady Help of Christians closes. He will be the first pastor of the Holy Family Parish in Concord. Yup, Father Fleming will be staying in Concord. He received a large applause at this morning service when he announced the news, altho some appear to know already.

Next weekend, October 17th will be a special celebration at the church where former priests of OLHC will be invited to the church for the last time. Also next weekend Deacon Chuck Clough will preach at all the masses, his last homily at OLHC.

Additional Information: http://www.olhc.org/

Today is the first full day of spring!

It wasn't that bad of a winter in New England. There wasn't that much snow to shovel, and the snow that did fall never lasted more than a week.

A sure sign of Spring in New England is the Boston Marathon, which occurs in mid-April.

Other notable spring events in New England:

• Swan Boats return to the Boston Commons.
• Red Sox Baseball
• North End Resturant open outside dinning.
• Concord, Lexington, Acton - Minuteman March

This morning I got up early and went to Concord to get a haircut at my favorite barber shop. I got there at 6:30. I assumed that the barber shop opened at 7, but got their early to do some banking and at least be first in line.

When I went to the original Barber Shop I couldn't see the hours, so I walked down to Barber Shop 2 and ran into my favorite barber, Bob. He recognized me and asked if I wanted a hair cut. We then walked back to the original Barber Shop. (That's where he works)

The Barber shop doesn't open until 7, but he was nice enough to get my hair cut right away. I got a quick hair cut and despite the heavy traffic on Route 2, was able to get into the office just after 7:30 this morning, around my normal time.

Nothing like having a early morning hair cut to start the day. :)

The West Concord Barber Shop hours are from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

Yesterday I visited the CambridgeSide Galleria in Cambridge Massachusetts.

There were lots of people at the mall, but parking wasn't a problem as there was plenty of parking on the 'B' level. Many stores were pretty crowded but it seems most people were at the Food Court.

The Apple store was pretty crowded with lots of people buying iPods and Mini-iPods. I also saw some people with some G5 boxes.

If you plan to visit the mall, you might want to eat at 'The Cheesecake Factory' or 'California Pizza Kitchen' both validate parking tickets.

For the next 10 days, the town of Topsfield will be a busy place with the famous Topsfield Fair in town. I had the opportunity to go yesterday and can offer these tips:

• Go Early. Lots of people get to the fair after 11 pm. Plan to arrive before 10 am.
• Bring some warm clothes. The temp goes down later in the day.
• Watch the RCMP Show!

This past weekend I traveled to the Cape for the the Fourth of July Weekend. Here are my notes about the traffic:

Friday Night: I got on the Mass Pike around 5:30 via Newton Corner on ramp. There was no traffic anyplace on the Pike or on 93 south. I suspected this because most people took Friday off and headed down to the Cape earlier on the day. There was a little congestion on 3, at the lane merge and a few other places. This seemed to be a typical traffic situation and not a result of holiday traffic.
Once I got to the bridge, there was a very minor backup at the rotary, about 2 cars in front of me were waiting to get on the rotary. Route 6 was a breeze all the way, even the lane drop after exit 9 wasn't backed up.
I arrived at the house shortly before 7:30.

Monday Night:I left the Cape around 4pm, the mid-cape seem to do fine as getting on from exit 12 was no problem. I ran into heavy traffic right after exit 4 on ramp. This continued all the way to the bridge. Route 3 was fairly light with moderately light traffic.

Yesterday was a sad day in the 100 year history of Our Ladies Help of Christians church in West Concord. Fr. Fleming receive news that the church was one of the 65 parishes that will close in December. This comes as a surprise since the church is fairly active, it raised $17,028.85 to build 4 homes in Haiti.

According to the Associated Press:

Parishes on the list to be closed may appeal to O'Malley. If that fails they can appeal to the Vatican, but only on procedural grounds, not simply on their belief that their church should remain open, said the Rev. Christopher Coyne, an archdiocesan spokesman.

You can learn more about Our Ladies Help of Christians by visiting their website.

Hard to believe but it was -6.2 degrees this morning in Concord Mass. Today's cold weather has broken all records in New England. WBZ was reporting -10 at their studios in Newton. All the digital thermostats in Concord recorded record lows overnight.

I tried a trick that I saw on TV last night: I heated some water in a coffee mug for 4 minutes in the microwave and then went out side and threw the water in the air. About 80% of the water disappeared and the remaining about hit the ground. Its a pretty cool effect.

Over 330 schools in Massachusetts closed or had delay openings. Which is unheard of since this usually happens around a major snow storm. Most Superintendent of Schools didn't want their students to be waiting for the bus in the freezing temperatures. I would suspect that movie matinees will be crowded today. Expect big numbers for Disney's Teacher's Pet, which is the only G rated movie that opens today.

There is also talk of rolling black outs in New England! I was wondering what happened to former California Governor Gray Davis. The reason for the black outs is because the high amount of Natural Gas use to heat homes and business has caused some of the Natural Gas power plants to close. The power plant closures and the increase of power, due to the cold weather, has put a strain on the power grid. I don't think this will be a problem due to the large number of school closings.

This morning it was -3 in Concord, Massachusetts and local weather forecasters say today will be the coldest day in more than 20 years! As cold as it may get today, tomorrow its expected to be even colder! I'll have to buy a book on Global Warming, and see why this is a problem.

Today's photo isn't accurate of how cold it is, since the heat from the house makes it appear warmer than it is.

New Traffic Lights
In downtown Chelmsford new traffic lights were put in this past week. This is sort of an odd type of thing to do in New England, in the middle of Winter. These lights are replacing a really bad four way intersection of Route 4 and 27. I am not sure if it will help the morning commute, but it should help make my evening commute better.

This morning it was 1.6 degrees in Concord, Massachusetts. Today's high is expected to be about 10 degrees! The cold weather has hit all of New England and New York. Local weather forcasters were quick to point out that the temperature in Alaska will be warmer than in Boston, Massachusetts.

Tomorrows Patriots game against the Titans will not be another snow bowl, however at the start of the game the temperature may hit below zero. The three coldest NFL games on record were all won by the home team. Hope this is a good sign for tomorrow's game. Go Patriots!

I am predicting that the communte this morning and this afternoon will be lighter than normal. This is based on a theory that most people take the Friday before Christmas off to do holiday shopping. The Mass Pike was very quiet this morning, as was many of the back roads.

Red Sox & Alex Rodriguez
Most of the Boston media is reporting, this morning, that the deal to bring Alex Rodriguez to Boston is dead. My theory was that it wasn't ever supposed to happen. It was just a strategy that Theo Epstein was using to scare George Steinbrenner. The Red Sox had the best offense in Baseball in 2003, there is no need to add more strength to the offense. The main weakness was the pitching and they have fix that problem by bringing on Curt Schilling and Keith Foulke.

I think the Red Sox management knew that the Rodriguez deal was a long shot, but figured the publicity could help season ticket sales. We'll see what happens, but I don't think that 'Rodriguez' name has been printed on any Red Sox jersey.

Right now it is snowing in most of the New England States. Last night Concord got about 3 inches of fluffy snow.

I was driving through downtown Concord last night and took several photos of the snow coming down. It probably won't be til April when downtown will be snow free.

Many of the stores will be hurting this weekend since most people will be staying home. I'll probably use the time to finish reading 'Stagecoach: Wells Fargo and the American West' and watch a couple of DVDs.

Last night snow squall is causing big problems on the highways in Massachusetts. 495 and Route 3 were backed up for miles, in fact at 8:30 this morning Macolm Alter on WRKO suggested everyone stay off the major roads since they all had various types of accidents.

I drove over 495 and south bound was bumper to bumper. 495 north bound traffic was a little better, only a few cars were on the road, however they were going really slow since there was a lot of ice on the road. (At least 20 mph)

Route 3 wasn't any better, very heavy traffic heading south bound. The north bound roads did look in better shape than 495.

I would expect Gov. Mitt Romney will address how the state responded to the first snow/ice storm of the season in a press conference later this afternoon.

I wouldn't be surprise if Subaru and other all wheel drive dealers have lots of foot traffic this weekend. Lots of cars didn't make it to work this morning. :(

Tonight we had a traditional new england Thanksgiving at our house. We had a 15 pounds turkey with all the trimmings, and there was plenty of left overs.

Last year there was snow on the ground before Thanksgiving! Not this year! Today was a great day and warm enough for several neighbors to take a walk around the neighborhood after dinner.

Much of the metro Boston will be hitting in the low 70's today! What a great way to start the month of November! I am positive that this will be the warmest day of the month.

I have been working on updating my website to maintain a similar look and feel thoughout the entire site. The biggest challenge will be the Gulf War section, as that is the most popular portion of the site.

We had about 15 kids in yesterday's much hyped Halloween. I would say it was a normal year. The first trick or treater arrived around 5:30!

It snowed this morning for the first time in seven months! However the snow is not sticking to the ground in Metro West. Much of western Massachusetts woke up to about 2 inches on the ground. Most likely the snow will all melt before noon. Looks like we won't have a white halloween this year!

This past weekend I visited several towns along 2a and found some great shots. It appears that this was the final Peak weekend in Metro Boston. This is a Peak weekend for Boston and much of Cape Cod. However, I my sources tell me that the foliage season isn't that great on the Cape this year.

Local weather forecasters are talking about a possiblity of snow later on today in some parts of Massachusetts.This will be the first snow since mid April. This is a great photo opportunity with the snow on the fall foliage. If snow does falls in Concord, I'll head down to the Old North Bridge to take some photos.

The recent rains on Sunday and today, along with today's heavy winds , is creating a much shorter foliage season than normal. This is because all the leaves are being blown off the trees. I recently uploaded some photos that I took this past Sunday. If you are wondering where I found the lone orange tree, you should take a walk along the Minuteman National Park trail in Concord.

Well tomorrow night is the big seventh game in New York, it all starts at 8:18pm. Clemons and Martinez meet again to add more drama to this series that is breaking TV veiwership records. This should be a fun game to watch and the winner goes to play against the Florida Marlins.

Well the colors of fall is finally here! The next few days are the best times to be in Massachusetts! I just spent 2 hours in Stow and Acton looking for all the bright color trees, and there's a lot to select from. Tomorrow, I'll be checking the colors at the Old North Bridge and downtown Concord.

The picture on the right was taken at the Stow Airport. They even have a better view of the falls colors around the airport. I discovered the nice selection of colors last year when looking for photo spots. Today was the perfect photo opportunity because of the bright blue sky and the bright colors on the trees.

Arena farms has plenty of pumpkins in the early part of October. They are even selling 190+ pound pumpkins at a $1 a pound!

Last night it was nearly freezing, however most of MetroWest has not received the first frost. This is expect to happen in the next couple of days. The only good thing about a frost is that there are no more bugs!

On October 1st Cambridge and Somerville joined 91 communities in Massachusetts to ban smoking in bars and resturants. Sate Legislators are exploring a possible statewide smoking ban.

Tonight is Game 5 of the ALCS game in Oakland. Will the red hot Red Sox continue their winning ways, or will the Oakland A's use the homefield to their advantage. It all starts at 8pm locally.

Bourne, Massachusetts held its annual Scallop Festival this weekend. It was features games and some arts and crafts. It cost $3 to get in and the Scallop Dinner cost $11.

My Review
This is a fairly small festival. This is certainly nothing like the Big E or Gilroys Garlic Festival. The festival is held in two large tents, one for the food and the other is for the arts and crafts.

If you have visited any of the larger festivals in New England, you'll be disappointed with this festival. However, at $3 its worth checking out some pretty cool Cape Cod arts and crafts. At least half of the artists are based on the cape. Also most artists have websites, such as the Cape Cod Traveler.

I walked around Concord and Stow this afternoon taking pictures of various trees that I knew would be turning colors in a few weeks.

Here's an interesting piece of trivia: The Old North Bridge has 163 pieces of boards that make up the top of the bridge.

Happy Labor Day 2003!
In about 12 days the Big E starts in Western Massachusetts. I attended the show last year and had a great time!

More....

Tonight I had a 1/2 Baked Stuff Lobster at Heart & Kettle in Orleans Ma. If you never had lobster this would be a good meal to try. At $10.99 its a good deal and you get a small amount of Lobster. Be sure to ask your server for melted butter.

If you are looking for a good lobster dinner on the Mid Cape, here are some suggestions:

• Lobster Claw in Orleans
• Van Rensselaer's Restaurant in Wellfleet

Also checkout Stop & Shop, they will cook the lobster for you and they typically have the lowest prices on the cape. If you looking for 3lbs or larger Lobster your best bet is the Nausett Fish & Lobster Pool. Currently it cost $9.99 a pound for a 3 lbs lobster at Nausett Fish & Lobster Pool.

At 6:30 this morning I played nine holes with my father at Captains Golf Course, in Brewster MA.

Note: If you plan on playing the Captain's Port Course back nine at 6:30 am, you will need sun glasses! There are a couple of holes where you are teeing off directly into the sun!

The Boston Business Journal recently ranked Captains as the area largest country club, as of 2003 it has 1,200 members. The word on the golf course is that they plan to add more members next year!

It took 2 hours and 14 minutes to get to Orleans Massachusetts from the Museum of Science. I left at 4:30 this evening. There was a one mile backup at the Sagamour Bridge. This was the first backup at the bridge I have encountered this year. Which I thought was weird for a middle of the week.

It only took 1 hour and 57 minutes to get from Orleans to Concord with zero traffic at 4pm today.

It took 3 hours to travel from Orleans to Concord at 8pm today! That includes the 1 hour and 06 mins travel time from Orleans to the top of the Sagamore Bridge! The traffic was backup from exit 2 to the bridge. There were some traffic congestion around the exits from exit 6 onwards.

I drove up from Cape Cod via 495 this past weekend for the first time this year, I wanted to avoid the Hanover Traffic mess. I noticed that the 495 southbound lane had heavy traffic near the Tweeter Center where a James Tayler concert was about to start. There was no traffic in the northbond direction. TIP: If your going to any event at the Tweeter Center use I-495 North.

Also had the opportunity to have Fried Clams at Sir Cricket and the Lobster roll this weekend. Both were very good. However, the clam portions seemed smaller than usual. This could be the 'seasonal factor' that is, you get smaller portions of food during the busy time of the year.

No traffic this weekend getting off the bridge! Left the house at 6:18 pm and arrived in Concord around 8:40 pm, made one stop off the Cape Erricksons Ice Cream.

Left the parking garage near Fleet Center at 5:33 and made it to the Hanover split at 6:18, under very light traffic for a warm Friday afternoon. No Traffic at the Sagamore Bridge.

After getting a rough quote from the Auto Repair shop and it appears that it is time to look at buying another car.

On my way into work this morning I passes a very strange sign near Mass Eye & Ear Hospital:
Caution: Entering Alcohol Free Zone.

Can anyone explain the logic behind that sign? Maybe it would be logical to say:
Caution: Leaving Alcohol Free Zone.

I did eat at Sir Cricket's Fish & Chips yesterday! The Clam rolls are pretty good and the resturant was crowded at noon time. It appears to be a favorite local spot for Orleans residents.

At the '400 Club East' in East Harwich the meat lasagna is very popular and sells out quickly!

It took 3 hours to travel from Orleans to Concord at 8pm today! That includes the 1 hour and 06 mins travel time from Orleans to the top of the Sagamore Bridge! The traffic was backup from exit 2 to the bridge. There were some traffic congestion around the exits from exit 6 onwards.

It takes 35 minutes to go from the Orleans Rotatory to the Sagamore Bridge, assuming zero traffic. It takes 1 hour from the Mass Pike on 128 / Route 3 to the Sagamore Bridge.

Today was the first day in 2003 that I didn't wear a jacket. It's in the 50's today. There have been warmer days, its just that I decided not to wear a jacket today.

You have a better chance at getting a free sample at Starbucks at 1:30pm. That's their quiet period of the day. :)

I had an American sub at New London's Pizza today. Really wasn't that much different than the Italian sub that I normally have, I think it had more onions.

In front of the West Concord Pharmacy they put on little rabbits and Easter eggs. Its funny because its right next to a Christmas reindeer.

The weather has gotten warmer and most of the snow has melted where the sun shines on it all day.

Starbucks in Burlington had a lot of sitting place, however it would have been nice if it was next to a Barnes & Noble like Framingham. Didn't see any wall outlets.

A new Starbucks is opening up in Acton. They are conducting interviews at the Concord Starbucks on March 20th and March 21st.

The Concord's Starbucks closes at 10pm on Friday and Saturday nights. Its very quiet in the store after 6:30...

The White House is painted using Keeler & Long paints. Keeler & Long makes paints that can withstand a nuclear meltdown or last for years on electrical transformers.

The only way to cancel an Earthlink account is via Phone. They reward you with a 30min wait, and some really bad on hold music.

The Concord's Starbucks was very busy at 9:15 this morning. There were long lines in the store and customers waiting in their cars looking for a place to park at one of the ten available parking spaces.

Cumberland Farms in downtown Concord sells regular gas for $1.65, while the Mobile Station sells regular at $1.75.

If you ever need the hours to the Downtown Concord Library.