I Follow George Carlin's Parenting Advice

We took Chloe up to Russell Orchards a couple of weekends ago. There's a theory in the medical community that since children who grow up on farms tend to exhibit less allergies, then exposing your kids to a farm enviroment gives their systems a little boost. Of course, George Carlin has been touting this theory for almost a decade, but I wasn't about to dunk my baby in the Charles River to test it out. Plus this way I could boost her immune system and buy a bottle of pretty good raspberry wine at the same time.
BTW, besides peacocks, ducks and an 800 pound pig, this place also has great Pick Your Own crops. Here's a great link to a site that indexes all the PYO places around.

I Follow George Carlin's Parenting Advice

The Secret's Out.

Pretty soon you are going to overhear some HYT on Essex St talking on her cell phone about her “cute” condo in NOBO (North of Boston) that was a “steal” at $400,000. Consider yourself warned.

It’s not that I don’t love living here, because I do. My litmus test of Salem's changing demographics is the weekend crowd at Taste Of Thyme café and lately there have been a few too many people snapping their fingers at the staff. People! This isn’t the South End. Chill out.

And personally, it kind of bugs me when people walk in and sit at a table and plunk down their big Starbucks cup. It's kind of like walking into a brew pub and bringing in your own beer.

The Secret's Out.

More than just seagulls and lighthouses

I took Chloe to the Peabody Essex Museum to see their new exhibition; "Painting Summer in New England". It was pretty much what I expected, pretty paintings of dunes, people in dunes, sunsets and sun rises. It even had a painting by Maxfield Parrish, the Thomas Kincade of the early 20th century. There were a few surprises though. Having never seen an Alex Katz painting in person, it was interesting to see two canvases that were the size of a barn. In the last gallery of the exhibition (there were 5 in all, wear comfortable shoes), there was a slightly modern-looking/Impressionist oil painting of a typical Boston brownstone that turned out to be G-Spa at 33 Newbury St. which is a property of the real estate company I work at. Small world.

The PEM has recently won the honor of being voted one of the top 10 art museums for kids in the country. When my parents moved us here from South Carolina, I vividly remember going to museums in Salem as a kid. They tried to take me to the Salem Witch museum, but the presentation with the lit-up tableaux and glowing red pentagram scared the crap out of me, so we ended up at the PEM in it's former incarnation as a dusty, neatly labeled version of Grandma's Attic. The object that still sticks in my mind is a tiny dessiccated monkey's head and torso sewn onto a dried fish tail with it's typed gray placard that read "Japanese Mermaid".

Hopefully Chloe's first trip to a museum didn't warp her mind like that did. She really got into an Alex Katz seascape. And she loved the Van Eyck-like self portait by a painter who depicted himself in his boxer shorts holding a baby in his lap. I think it reminded her of the struggle mankind faces in our postmodern society.

More than just seagulls and lighthouses

Hello and welcome to Salem Living!
I decided to start this blog for several reasons:
1) My husband and I have lived in Salem for a while now and it's the first place we've lived that has something cool going on all the time.
2) As a new parent, I'm constantly trying to find resources out there and if I find something useful, I want to share it.
3) Salem's going through a lot of changes right now and I think it's a good idea to document it somehow.

Hope you enjoy the postings to come and if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, I'm always listening!