Pot Pourri

Just signed up for membership in the Trustees of Reservations. It will be nice to have an environmental and conservation organization in town again! OK, truth by told, I became a life member in the NRT shortly before my recent defenestration-you'd think life members would get a gold membership card or a welcome donor note, but thankfully I wasn't holding my breath.

Maggie and I are planning to visit another Trustee property in Canton tomorrow called Signal Hill. Why? It's going to be hot, and its 300 feet shorter than their Moose Hill property! Although it does have the dreaded M symbol for moderate rather than easy walking. We'd go fishing except I haven't had a bite the last three times out.

 For those of you who thought that the old Glass House at the Shovel Shop would remain a steel skeleton, word has reached this outpost that the swatches for the new siding have arrived. This old building is being repurposed in three ways. First, four bays on the north end were removed to make way for the new sewage treatment plant. The middle section will have the metal siding we have become used to restored. The southern two bays will remain open with its roof restored as a walk through on the site. The metal siding will be something called antique bronze which to my eye doesn't look that much different from what was there. Two other subtle colors will be used on the upper walls of the building. I'd show you the swatches, but nothing causes controversy like choosing colors. You can see them live at the Historical Commission Meeting a week from Tuesday.

We are entering a dark age of literacy. Ten second sound bites and "thoughtful" pundits have ruined our ability to get the point of subtle prose, the nuances of irony, the joy of getting what a really smart author is talking about. We need help. A big step in the right direction were emoticons like ";-)" for readers who weren't sure you were joking when you called your boss Mr. Potato Head in an e-mail. However, we need more. I particularly feel the need for a punctuation mark to represent those sarcastic air quotes that I use all the time in conversation. I mean did you really catch the ironic use of the quotes in "thoughtful" above. How about "thoughtful". Think about it.

Now that we are marching towards "communism" with Obama Care, my conservative friends are telling me the next giant step will be the Attorney General's approval of Easton's ban on public smoking. Once that happens there will be no stopping the commies from banning the public consumption of ice cream because it causes obesity. I'm already seeking opportunities in the sugar-free shaved ice industry, but my conservative friends tell me due to government regulations the ice will come in one flavor, you'll have to buy it from the federal government, and chances are by the time it's delivered it will have melted. Oh, wait a second, that's Obama Care, I really need to pay better attention to the dialogue, or is that diatribe?

I'll Take Cheese Sauce with that Ice Cream, Please.

Move over, Wolverine. I am a mutant also. I learned in passing yesterday that as much as 90% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is lactose intolerant as adults. Due to a freak genetic mutation I and up to 95% of the population of Northern Europe can digest the sugars in milk as adults. I would have preferred flying or even really big crime-fighting claws, but let me tell you about the milk thing.

About a month ago I participated in a beta-test of Ancestry.com's new DNA program. Unlike the CSI cheek swabs, I had to spit into a sterile cup to get my DNA sample. Turns out spit is composed of liquid and foam and the foam doesn't count for DNA. By the time I was done I had a new appreciation of camels who can spit even in desert conditions. Anyway Ancestry has previously offered testing of mitochondrial DNA, the kind that is passed from mother to mother without mixing and Y-chromosome testing. Both were expensive. The new beta-test looks at a very large number of DNA markers to try to find out where ancestors came from. Since traditional historic genealogy shows that 90% or more of my ancestors back to 1500 come from Great Britain, I thought that the genetic results would be similar. However, the DNA test can "see" ancestors going back "thousands" of years.

So what did I find out besides my eligibility to be in the next X-man film? My DNA is 16% Scandinavian, 37% British Isles, and 47% Northern European. As more results come in from other people in the Ancestry program, these percentages are likely to change. Surprisingly, there are already people in the database who have an 80% or higher British Isles score so there is some leakage in my family tree somewhere-probably my great-grand mother who I blogged about recently who may have Dutch heritage. At this point I don't know what genetic markers separate the three groups although there are some dizzily complex indications in Wikipedia based on older Y-DNA testing. The different area designations check back to mutations in a last common ancestor. The current information from Ancestry is general and relatively conservative only suggesting common ancestors back to 8,000 years ago. Older studies suggest that some genetic markers in Europe may trace back to common ancestors as long ago as 30,000 years in the past. It seems that these three groups have a lot in common like a very high percentage of the mutant milk drinking gene.

Another interesting thing that comes with the Ancestry report is other members who potentially share common ancestors. You've seen it on CSI: genetic testing proves two people are long lost siblings. Or in my case long long long lost 4th to 6th cousins with 95% certainty. I've got two of those through my British genes. My other backgrounds yield only 5th to 8th cousins. Fourth cousins share one (or more) great-great-great-grandparents. Claims have been made that almost everyone in America falls into that 5th-8th range which means so far that part of the test hasn't yielded much useful information.

Old fashioned genealogy brings in all the complexities of historical research. Genetic genealogy now adds all the complexities of a new science. Somewhere in the overlap is one answer to the question of who we are-the nature part in the old nature versus nurture argument. I just may need something stronger than a glass of milk to sort it all out. Maybe Professor Xavier can help at X-Man Headquarters.

Visiting a Trustees Property

The Trustees of Reservations are coming to Easton with the purchase of the Governor Ames Estate. I thought it would be fun to start my exploration of walking adventures with one of their nearby properties. The Trustees have many sites across the state. Many are free while others have a fee which is waved for members. An annual membership is $47. When the Ames property opens, it will be free for all.

The Trustees website www.thetrustees.org has a list of properties. Each property has information and a list of symbols that tell you what's what at the location. Maggie at 12 (the vet says 13) is my age if you translate dog years to people years. She has been walking less lately and insists on wearing a polar dog fur coat year round so I chose the Eleanor Cabot Bradley Estate in Canton because it had the easy walk symbol and the dog walk symbol. The Trustees want you to police dog waste, but I didn't see the useful pick-up bags available at Borderland and Sheep Pasture.

The website promised I would be transported "back 100 years to a bucolic world of majestic homes, elegant gardens, carriage rides, fields and woodlands – all the amenities of gracious, turn-of-the-century living in the Neponset River Valley." At 90 acres the property is about two-thirds the size of Sheep Pasture and absolutely tiny compared to Wheaton Farm and Borderland.

The estate is located on Route 138, but I decided to give my Garmin a workout and surprisingly it sent me up Route 24 to Route 128. The reason for this became apparent when I got off Route 128 at the 138 South exit. The estate's entrance is about one second off the exit overpass. Look quick for the small sign or you'll miss it. Apparently many people do since there were only two cars in the lot when I arrived at 7:30 on Sunday. As I was getting Maggie into her gear and slipping on my EcoRangers Survival Kit Backpack, someone approached with a large dog and left. He was the last person I'd see on my visit. Perfect!

The "majestic" country home of the Bradley's was built around the same time as the Ames estates at Borderland, Stonehill, and Wayside (the Town Offices). It's nice, but it doesn't measure up for an Eastoner and its closed to the public.  Surprisingly the mansion's formal "elegant" garden doesn't measure up to our Queset Garden. Let's stop the tour for a moment and reflect that Queset Garden was a jungle just a few years ago and thanks to a town-wide effort the place is now a masterpiece. If the Bradley Garden is a point worth mentioning, our garden is a hidden gem. I recently toured some nice folks from Pennsylvania and they were blown away by the garden and its surroundings.

Kitchen Garden

Luckily, the estate has two other gardens-a lovely kitchen garden and a small working farm that is run by City Harvest. City Harvest runs a Community Farm not a Community Garden which is something I'll explore in a later blog. The farm and its hayfields formed an attractive vista so I set out to follow the Carriage Road along the edge of the farm. There are three miles of carriage road and trails on the estate which breaks down as 60 acres of woods, 15 acres of fields, and 15 "developed" acres around the mansion.

The Start of Our Walk

The Carriage Road leads gently downhill with beautiful views of the property's central hill including a huge bank of ferns. It's a cool and shady walk once you leave the hay fields something Maggie definitely appreciated. The hay fields are exactly that. The hay at Sheep Pasture and Wheaton Farm is laced with wildflowers because very little effort has been expended to improve the hay beyond cutting it annually. This is great for wildlife and adds to the charm of those spots. The hay at the Bradley Estate is serious stuff, as close to "amber waves of grain" as you're likely to see in this area, with a beauty all its own.

  
The Carriage Road is well maintained and gives you the feel of what it must have been like to tour the estate in the old days. "Well maintained" doesn't mean the Trustees have done any better fighting poison ivy than the rest of us, but invasive species don't jump out at you at every turn like they do at Sheep Pasture. This probably is a result of a combination of factors: a more active management, a more mature trail edge that has not let invasives gain a foothold, and the lack of an Olmsted to seed the property with things like barberry and honeysuckle.

 On the Carriage Road

The Trustees provide a map of the property on the website, and you can pick up a print version at the parking lot, but in general the paths form a big circle. Unfortunately for the unobservant, the Carriage Road dead ends at the bottom of the property so you either have to retrace your steps or take to the woodland trails to return up hill. Now inside every EcoRanger Survival Kit Backpack there is enough equipment to MacGyver a small helicopter, but Maggie and I decided to try the uphill wood trail with the warning sign about ticks and poison ivy. After a water break off we went.

Sun Dappled Woodland Trail

The wood trail had poison ivy aplenty on its edges, but it seems we escaped both the ivy and the ticks. In reality the trail was broad, and without the signs of wear you can see at Borderland. There was a fair amount of animal sign. The only problem was the non-aerobic nature of the walk. Maggie kept walking-she'll quit if things get too much for her in summer and hitch a ride-but her pace got slower and slower. There weren't a lot of dog smells for her to check out, but she did want to explore the animal tracks and sign we found. She's always been skeptical of forests and proceeds with caution with a stop, look and listen attitude lest a lurking dragon pounce from a tree. And, of course, it was uphill. It really was a lovely trail lined with pine needles and bird song. To be truthful, a really steep uphill is a challenge for me, but except for a short patch near the mansion, the slope was as easy as advertised.

"I Don't Care What You Say, It's A Dragon Skull"

So is it worth leaving home to see the Bradley Estate? If Sunday morning was typical, it's a great place for a quiet walk with just you and nature. The Trustees recommend setting aside an hour an a half for a visit and that seems about right. Change in elevation gives you something you won't find in Easton and there is a variety of habitats. In Spring there are a number of flowering shrubs and trees to see. To be fair to the Formal Garden, there is an Allee that leads off into the woods that was planted with flowering trees that must be very pretty in season. The area around the mansion is closed to the public for weddings on Saturdays and some Sundays from 1 pm from May to October, but the rest of the property is open from dawn to dusk. If you click on the Quest Box at the website for the estate, you can download a poetical tour guide which can focus a visit with kids. Definitely worth a visit which might be combined with other Trustee properties in the area. I'm planning a second visit.

Some Restaurant Ideas

First there was Cantonese Chinese, next Sichaun Chinese, then Thai cooking, today the “in” Asian cuisine is Vietnamese. I’ve been heading to Randolph to get my fix lately, but now there is a wonderful new Vietnamese restaurant, Pho a Dong,  in Brockton on Belmont Street on the left just before the Diary Queen.

Big bowls of noodles or noodle soup  filled with vegetables and meat form the heart of the cuisine and the broth at Pho a Dong is exceptional. Here’s a picture from the foodspotting website with their excellent grilled pork:

Asian cuisine has rice and dumplings, but the Vietnamese took French baguettes and turned them into the perfect sandwich. There are dozens of combinations and Pho Dong has started with just three simple versions: a grilled beef, a grilled pork, and a Vietnamese cold cut. The veggies and seasonings make Vietnamese sandwiches unique and very tasty-the friendly staff will ask about the hot peppers-get them, they've got a great taste, but get them on the side because they are hot. Here's a picture:

At $3.50 it has to be one of the biggest bargains in Brockton! Is it the best Vietnamese sandwich I've ever had? I still would give that honor to N&H Saigon Sub in North Randolph a tiny shop that can take more risks to be authentic due to the large Vietnamese population there, but Pho Dong's sandwich is a close second.

 

Meanwhile back home in Easton three restaurants are doing some interesting things. I’ve always felt that the bar menu of small plates and appetizers is the best thing about the Stone Forge. For some time now the restaurant has been offering half price appetizers after 9 pm. My favorite is the pan seared tuna normally $10, but after 9 a bargain at $5. A great, if noisy, spot to stop after a program at the library or a meeting at the Town Offices.

A daily bargain is the offerings at Soups on Center. A great summer soup is the cold Carrot-Ginger. Fairly new are the specialty sandwiches with customers names. Two great vegetarian wraps are the Tom Cat and the Ali Cat. My gift for alliteration got twin hot dogs with peppers and onions renamed Ed’s Double Dogs. Become a regular and you’d probably get a special named for you. Don’t forget the cookies and ice cream.

 

I love a good lobster dish although I haven’t cooked any at home since my last one grabbed the outside of the cooking pot when I was tossing it in. Maguire’s has just added a new twist on lobster called lobster tacos. It's soft tacos with lobster seasoned with Southwest spices. The diner then gets all the fixin’s to make a taco-cheese, guacamole, sour cream, rice, corn and black bean salsa. Surprisingly, the taco ingredients enhance rather than obscure the sweetness of the lobster.

Fox 25 brought Frothingham Park alive today with it's weekly Zip Trip. Things that make Easton special from our outstanding school baseball team to Hilliards, Simpson Springs, and Flynn's Farm all appeared. You can check out pictures of the event here. The video tour of Easton is very funny!

The Easton Curiosity Shop Is Open Again

 "In my beginning is my end"

Welcome back!  I finished getting pushed out of  the NRT yesterday with a wonderful afternoon at Borderland with the EcoRangers. I loved working with the Rangers who ranged from 8-11.  I just believe the NRT presence in the community shouldn't end when kids finish sixth grade. We live in a town that is stepping up on conservation issues and local agriculture-why does the NRT lag behind now when it led in the days of its founders? Oh well, it was only a decade wasted, and it wasn't as if people didn't tell me it wasn't going to end well when I was going in.

Borderland is a special place in my life. I began my community service there when Hazel Varella got me a gig typing the Oakes Ames diaries before the place was even a state park. It was fun sitting at a typewriter (!) working with the amazing Ken Jackson, one of the great people I've met through the Historical Society. On the day of the park's dedication, I got a behind the scenes look at the famous George Plimpton, the grandson of Oakes and Blanche Ames. In a double irony, Hazel's granddaughter Emma was one of our EcoRangers and when I returned home,  Arts and Letters Daily directed me to a wonderful remembrance of George Plimpton by his son in the New Yorker.

Here's an interesting tidbit from Scientific American. It turns out that finger length is statistically gender specific. Most men have ring fingers that are slightly longer than index fingers while in women it is just the opposite. Now not all men or women share this pattern, and here's the interesting part. Based on a study, women with longer ring fingers are less likely to get lost than women with the more common pattern. Men with their normal finger pattern also do well on the "lost" test-further proof no doubt on why we never stop to ask for directions. It turns out that finger length and brain development are determined by the amount of the hormone androgen at a certain point in pregnancy.

Tomorrow a review of a wonderful new restaurant in Brockton and some great choices in three Easton restaurants. In coming days, Maggie and I will be touring state parks and areas managed by our newest neighbors-the Trustees of Reservations-to find the best summer day trips and the best managed conservation properties.

"In my end is my beginning."