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Be still my beating heart. The restaurant that taught me what fresh New England seafood is all about is coming to Atlanta - just around the corner from my office. Yes, Legal Sea Foods, that 50+ year-old institution begun by a nice Jewish family in Boston, is expanding to the A-T-L. Joining franchise locations in  Florida and the D.C. area, the 9,000 square-foot restaurant will anchor the still-under-construction  Hilton Garden Inn adjacent to the Georgia Aquarium - and no, whale shark nor beluga whale is expected to be in the menu. If I were one of the Alaskan King Crabs, I might be nervous however. I have such fond memories of going to the Chestnut Hill Legals when I was at Brandeis, from the ‘men only’ dinner my dad and I shared when he drove me to Waltham from Savannah for my freshman orientation week to the ‘impress the girlfriend’ dinner where my meager credit card limit had already been exceeded, resulting in a hasty sprint down to the mall to retrieve some cash from an ATM. I can already taste the steamers, chowder and  yes, the belly-included fried clams.  The only negative - opening is not expected until NEXT winter. I’ll be biding my time until then.

Tags: aquarium, atlanta, Boston, hilton, legal sea foods

We gathered the clan and headed into Boston on Friday of our vacation. Sam has been talking about meeting Mrs. Mallard and her ducklings for weeks now, those famous avian stars of Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings. He was not dissapointed! We explored much of the Boston Public Garden, visited the bronze statue of Mrs. Mallard and Lack, Mack, Quack, etc., rode the ’strange enormous birds’ (aka the Swan Boats) and swam in the Frog Pond - a great respite from the 90+ degree heat wave hitting the city. We also walked Newbury Street from the park all the way to Comm Ave - something I don’t think I’d done for almost 20 years. I’m not sure how I ever afforded shopping there back in the day. We met up with more extended family including Lauren and her husband David plus their kids, as well as Peggy and Mary who are now living in Sommerville. We capped off the day with some yummy ice cream at JP Licks, next door to the Newbury Comics, still going strong after all these years. More photos can be found here. 

Tags: Boston, Family, make-way-for-ducklings, newbury, sam

So for the first leg of our vacation, we stayed at Julie and Scott’s place in Swampscott. Amy’s sister is always the best host, and her two sons Austin and Mason are the best playmates for Sam ever! He loves chasing them around, which takes plenty of pressure off Mom and Dad. Highlights included simply hanging around and chilling, a fabulous backyard lobstah fest (from the Barnacle, of course), time spent at the pool at Kernwood, as well as a great outing to Devereux Beach in Marblehead with my brother Seth and his boys Caleb, Gabe and Zach. See the full slideshow here.

Tags: Boston, Family, marblehead, sagan, swampscott

So visiting Boston last week I was enjoying my morning coffee on Friday reading the Globe. Lo and behold, I learned that my favorite band from high school (yes, I’m that old) was playing two dates at Fenway Park over the weekend and yes, tickets were available. I had already given up on going to the November show here in Atlanta since Baby 2.0 would have just arrived. With a quick confirmation from Sam’s grandmother that she could babysit and a big ding to my credit card, we were all set for a trip to Fenway to claim our field seats for Saturday’s show. It was amazing! Although I’d heard their early shows were weak (Sting was heard to say they sucked), they had hit their stride by this time. All of them showed great musicianship - and it was great to see Sting’s battered bass guitar that he’d surely had since their heyday. More photos (taken with the iPhone and Curve due to ticket restrictions) are here. Their only misstep in my mind was their languid extended rendition of Roxanne. That was more than made up by great versions of Synchronicity II, Invisible Sun and Walking in Your Footsteps. And it was fitting to hear them end with the first song from their first album, Outlandos d’Amour.

Here was the full set list (captured one-by-one on my iPhone notes):

Message in a Bottle
Synchronicity II
Walking On The Moon
Voices Inside My Head
When The World Is Running Down
Don’t Stand So Close To Me
Driven To Tears
Truth Hits Everybody
Bed’s Too Big Without You
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Wrapped Around Your Finger
De Do Do Do De Da Da Da
Invisible Sun
Walking In Your Footsteps
Can’t Stand Losing You
Roxanne

Encore #1
King Of Pain
So Lonely
Every Breath You Take

Encore #2
Next To You

Tags: Boston, concert, fenway, the-police

As an early Father’s Day present, Jonathan hooked me up with BoSox tickets for their interleague series against our hometown Atlanta Braves at nearby Turner Field. Yes, I’m a Braves fan, but I’m a bigger Red Sox fan, and jumped at the chance to let Sam see them play. This was Sam’s third MLB game, the first at six weeks, and then again last Fall. As in the past, he was a bit overwhelmed by the crowd noise and the sheer number of people, but soon began to enjoy himself. The BoSox won, of course, pushing Atlanta further into a downward spin they have been in lately, this being their 16th loss in 19 games, and their worst record since 1990. In better news, this win -  along with the Yankees loss today - put the Red Sox into a tie for first in the AL-East. Woohoo. Photo gallery is here.

Tags: baseball, Boston, sam, Sports

Well, Sports Illustrated made the right choice this year, bestowing their time-honored tradition of selecting the outstanding sportsman, men or women title on the Boston Red Sox and their fans. And, in a first, SI.com hosted a year-long poll to select a Player of the Year, none other than Curt ‘Stigmata’ Schilling. I approve, despite Schilling’s shilling for ‘W’ right after the big win. You can’t be perfect, I guess.

Tags: Boston, Sports

Look at what’s happening inside Fenway Park! After 86 years, we take the pennant - and the entire outfield is stripped down to dirt. I, for one, would like to own a patch of that grass! Anyway, this work is all part of the park expansions announced earlier this year. Click the image to see an up-to-date view of the activity at America’s best ball park.
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Tags: Boston, Mac, macintosh, Sports