Want a FREE ticket to Plimoth Plantation?

Plimoth Plantation is not open to visitors until March 20, but you can earn a free admission ticket by coming on Saturday, March 13, to be a part of their Spring Clean Day!

Spring Clean Day – An Annual Tradition!
9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Spring Clean Day is a sign of winter’s end and a community tradition many look forward to! Volunteers are encouraged to invite a friend or enlist whole families to join Plimoth Plantation staff for a fun-filled day of planting, raking, painting, dusting, cleaning and the overall setup of museum exhibits and sites, as we prepare for the 2010 season. This harbinger of spring is a great opportunity to lend a helping hand. ?Registration begins at 9 AM, in the Visitor Center. Lunch will be served at 1 PM. Everyone will receive (with museum thanks!) a complimentary pass for a return visit to Plimoth Plantation in 2010 to admire the day’s achievements. All are asked to R.S.V.P. by Thursday, March 4, by calling 508-746-1622, 8210, or by emailing ppeters@plimoth.org.

So, you can stay home and do something boring like taxes (which do need to get done, but that can wait until Sunday!) or looking up auto insurance quotes. Or you can get out of the house, meet some great people, contribute to a worthy cause, and get FREE admission to the Museum at the same time! You can’t beat that!

The only reason we’re not going is because we have a previous engagement at Old Sturbridge Village that day…the Hearthside Bounty.  It takes a few hours to get to OSV as it is…might be pushing it to try to do both!  So many museums, so little time…sigh!

Attention Brides-To-Be!

Did you get scammed into buying tickets for that bogus bridal show that was supposed to be at the Hynes Convention Center this weekend?  Well, if you can make it down to Plimoth Plantation tomorrow, there is good news!  Plimoth Plantation is holding their own bridal show, A Bridal Celebration, on Sunday, March 7, from noon to 4PM.  They have announced that they will honor any of these bogus tickets for this event.

Brides and a guest (Mom, a bridesmaid, or even your honey!) are invited to attend Plimoth Plantation’s Bridal Celebration. Join us for an afternoon of cuisine, coture and more in honor of the big day! Let Plimoth Plantation help plan the wedding of your dreams. $25.00 per couple. Contact 508-746-1622, ext: 8365 or dcox@plimoth.org for more information.

So you’re not stuck with nothing after all, and you may just discover a place to get married that you’d not considered before. I understand that the museum also has invited vendors who got scammed to exhibit there, as well, though I am not 100% sure of that.

In any case, there will be many vendors there, offering everything from gowns to catering to flowers…everything but stuff like custom slipcovers and other furnishings for your new home!

The weather is going to be gorgeous tomorrow, so it’s a great day for a drive down that way!

WBZ Weatherman Don Kent Dies

You can read the story HERE.

Don had long retired by the time I moved to this area, but still, it was hard to NOT have heard of him.  Even after he retired from TV, he was still active in the world of weather, on the radio and all.

They say he was seldom wrong in his forecasting…so if you were looking to escape from the cold and snow, maybe getting one of those Branson vacation packages…you could count on Don to let you know when it would be safe to leave. You’d know that you’d be able to get on that plane and be safely in Branson before a single flake flew in Boston.

Don was an inspiration to so many, and he will be sorely missed.  Here is a nice video about him, from Dick Albert of rival station WCVB, from when Don retired from WBZ in the early 80’s.  Enjoy!

Rest in peace, Don!

They gotta be kidding!

So the Massachusetts RMV has started charging people five bucks to come to their office to conduct business in person, or talk to a real person on the phone.  The idea, they say, is to encourage people to do their business online, by mail.  Story HERE.

My question is…WHY would anyone NOT do business online, rather than set foot in that hellhole, if they were given the choice? And I’d certainly not want to pay five bucks to be put on hold forever.

If I had my way, I’d never have to see the inside of that dump again.  What person in their right mind would pay five bucks to spend hours in a place loaded with screaming kids, smelly people, and, as was the case when I was last there, a non-working ladies’ room? (I used the men’s room, and gave the hairy eyeball right back to those who dared to give it to me.  I gotta pee, I gotta pee, yanno?)  They don’t let you bring food or drinks into the place, but that’s okay, you wouldn’t want to eat in there anyway.  The aforementioned smelly people make an excellent substitute for quick trim.

Apparently they will not charge this fee if going to the registry is the ONLY way to get something done.  Here in Massachusetts, drivers’ licenses need to be renewed every five years.  However, every other time, it can be done online, they just use the same picture they used the last time.  But you still have to show up ever ten years to get a new mug shot and eye test.

Still, these fees are ridiculous.  What if you try to complete a transaction online, and something goes wrong and it won’t let you?  Sometimes you just need to talk to a person.  If all the RMV really wants to do is encourage people to use the website, then how about giving those people a discount, rather than tacking on a five buck fee for everyone else?

But you know that will NEVER happen.  They’re just out to gouge people for as much money as they can get.  It’s yet another sneaky tax!

Up next on the calendar…

…for us, at least, is A Hearthside Bounty at Old Sturbridge Village.  I had bought tickets for this a few months ago, because I was afraid it was going to sell out.  But since they are still promoting this event on their website, I assume that means that there are still some seats left.  But now that it’s less than two weeks away (March 13), I’m betting that any tickets that are left will go fast.

We went to this event once a few years ago.  It was cool to see the huge roasts of prime rib turning on the spit, a very clever contraption that is operated by a pendulum.  Every so often, someone has to adjust it, but it’s a lot better than having to stand there and turn the spit constantly!

You will enjoy a full meal, including the above prime rib, served family-style at long tables, as it would have been at an 1830’s tavern.  Costumed interpreters will show you how that odd-looking silverware was used back in the day…it’s a bit different than the way we’re used to eating today!

The meal will be held at the Bullard Tavern at Old Sturbridge Village, on Saturday, May 13, from 6-9PM. Go ahead and chow down to your heart’s content…you can always work it off on the elliptical the next day.

Or, you can do as we’re doing, and stay for the night, and return to the Village the next day.  Weekends in March are Maple Days, where you can learn all about the annual tradition of maple sugaring.  See the website for a calendar of events, so you can find out what will be happening on whatever day you choose to attend.

We’re going with the good old Super 8 in Sturbridge, which is almost right off of I-83.  It’s less than a mile away from the Village.  It’s clean and cheap, and so far, no problems.

Now, I just hope the weather will be nice!