I finish up this series with my third and final day in Boston.

This is the a research laboratory in downtown Boston.  We are upgrading the lighting and controls in the entire building.. it’s a 14-week project and the installers are about 1/3 of the way done.

Gaining access to the building is a long process. They do not want any C-19 being brought into the lab.  I had to submit documents, including a recent negative C-19 test result, to get pre-approval just to enter some of the rooms where the lighting upgrades are taking place.

In addition to the regular mask, we had to put on scrubs, gloves and safety glasses.

Inside one of the laboratories – we designed and built those hanging pendent fixtures in the Tijuana factory.  They were completed and shipped last fall, but some administrative delays, and then C-19 delays, pushed the project out to now.

Different styles of light fixtures, but the same basic work going on.  The folks at the lab are limiting each room to more than 3 people, and that includes current employees.  It is making things very difficult for the installers.  That portion of the project is outside my purview and I’m well glad of it.

Lots of machines with robotics.. making Lord knows what.

I returned to Concord for one, final day.  This area is also famous as the birthplace of Transcendentalism.  I remember being exposed to the philosophy of 19th century hippies in HS and, after returning home, I was heartened to see that both Holden and Josie have received the same education.

My first stop was to Concord’s Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.  This is not THE Sleepy Hollow Cemetery where Washington Irving is buried.. that’s in NY, but this site was opened in 1855 and is yet “active”.  Mr. Irving isn’t here, but there is a larger cast of famous writers that are buried here.

I’ve been dragging my family all over the world to see various cemeteries where all sorts of renowned folks are laid to rest.. Sleepy Hollow, much like at Westminster Abbey, conveniently places the (never rich) and famous in one particularly appealing knoll.

The Thoreau family grave site.  Henry David Thoreau is rear, right with the simple tombstone label “Henry”.  I learned later that during Henry’s time, his last name was pronounced “THO’ ROW”.. rhymes with Go-Pro with accent on the first syllable.

If I said it like that now, people would just think I’m uneducated so I’ll continue to pronounce just like you’re hearing it said in your head.

Nathaniel Hawthorne and family.

Louisa May Alcott and family.  Her house is right downtown, just a couple of blocks away from Henry’s.

The father of the movement – Ralph Waldo Emerson.  There are several houses and museums in town that focus on their lives and Transcendentalism.  I didn’t have time to get to these on this trip, but gives me incentive to return.

My final destination on this trip was to see Walden Pond – where Henry David Thorough spent two years, two months and two days in a small self-built house like the above (that is a re-creation).  He spent his days thinking deep thoughts, fighting off lice and chiggers, and wrote Walden.

When I got back to my hotel that evening, I re-read Walden’s first (and longest) chapter that laid out his main points.  In brief, he thought folks need to simplify, quit trying to keep up with the Jones’es, get back to nature, don’t worry — be happy.  Henry also espoused vegetarianism, never smoked nor drank, and there is no evidence that he enjoyed (ahem) the company of either woman, man or beast in all his life.

I am reminded of an old Johnny Carson joke.. “I know a man who gave up smoking, drinking, sex and rich foods.  He was healthy right up to the time he killed himself.”  Thoreau died at age 44 of TB, so I guess we never get to find out of his lifestyle choices were to work out for him in the long run.

Ahh, this is how I pictured Walden Pond in my head.  A place for quiet contemplation.

This is also Walden pond.  There are several large beaches and the place was hopping.  Now I know where all the Republicans (all 60 of them!) in Maskachusetts are congregating.  The Democrats are all holing up in their houses, looking out the front windows with visible scowls at anyone out and about.  Sorry, couldn’t resist the political cheap shot.

There is a lovely trail of 1.7 miles around the full circumference of the lake and I walked it.  About halfway through the hike, you can get off the trail and find the original site of Thoreau’s cabin.  The area was actually closed by the state park agency at this time.. it looks like they had some sort of erosion damage over the winter. 

Access to the site was cordoned and then ribboned off, but I was not going to hobble almost 2 miles and be deterred.  I snuck up the hill and spent some time exploring.. and had the place to myself.  Jim, this is where I was sitting when you called me that afternoon.

With that, I made my way back to the car, to the hotel, to the rental car agency, to the airport and returned to home to continue my “life of quiet desperation” in Georgia.