This Is Framingham

A few nights ago we were walking down to “Big Town Pantry” to get an ice cream and then decided to walk around the rest of “Sad Plaza“.
I’ve noticed Friendly Cleaner/ Laundromat before but never went in so I decided to take a look. can you buy ivermectin over the counter in mexico
I have this thing for older stuff, and was impressed with the machines in this place. These yellow and orange monsters look like they took a licking but keep on ticking. ivermectin pferd kaufen

They also have an old logo Pepsi machine and then I saw they even had the old labels on the buttons. fda aprova ivermectina I miss those wavy lines and the font for Diet Pepsi!  The most impressive part was that it’s only 75¢ for a can.  Nice!
 

So incase anyone is wondering (because I would), I don’t just go out to eat, I actually belong to (and attend!) the gym that is on Fountain St., Focus on Fitness.  This used to be “The Vertical Club” but they changed the name for whatever reason.

I like this gym a lot because of the windows in front of the treadmills.  I took pictures at 5:20am so the sun isn’t out yet but it’s a nice view of the pond when the sun is out.
They have a pool too, which is great because I sometimes I get sick of the running/elliptical/weights stuff and it’s nice to have the option of something different to do rather than not going at all.

The other crazies that get up as early as I do are so nice.  From my first day there the other members were so friendly and introduced themselves- just because they wanted to.  They’re just sincerely nice people.  For some reason it’s only the early morning crowd that’s like this. I went after work a couple of times and the gym has such a different feel, which is fine, but I just like going when they open in the morning. 

Plus sometimes I catch a nice sunrise on the way there.

 

Ethan made up a new category called “What the Framingham?”and I didn’t have anything to put in it until I visited Giant Gifts.
First I couldn’t tell when this place was even open because it always happened to be closed when I went by and there are no hours posted, just a little sign that says to ask next door at Big Town Pantry so I did and they told me Giant Gifts opens at 6am.  On the way home from the gym at 6:30am I stopped by but they weren’t open and then the next time I happened to be by was 4:45pm few days later so I went in to see what this mysterious place was all about.
I don’t get it, Ithought this place must be a front for something (maybe the street address was code for something), maybe not but I just don’t know. 
This is what I found inside:
Make up selection

Health and beauty section

Greeting cards
 
Fake Barbie named “Gloria” bathroom set

Last weekend my mom and little sister came over and as usual, we went out for Chinese food for lunch (although we are take-out maters for dinner, it just depends on the time of day we are together).  We like buffets, not for the quantity but more for the variety and option to choose what you want on your plate so we always end up at a buffet. 
We have our usual places in certain towns and Lotus Flower is it for Framingham (also since there are only two that we know of in Framingham and we aren’t crazy about Chef Orient- but they’re ok)

Buffet comes with soup and they have a great egg drop so my sister and I usually get that and my mom is a hot and sour person and always gets that.

It’s pretty dark in there and they have flat screens TV all over the place. There are even little flat screens at each booth. ????? ???? ???????   These TVs show pictures of local scenes and mix it up with adding Chinese proverbs. ????   It’s almost like cable access with no ads, interesting. 365 ?? ?????

The food was good as usual and towards the end of our meal some of the Framingham Flyers came in from practice or a game in their uniforms and were good sports (no pun intended!) about posing for a picture.  Sorry the picture is so bad but I only had my camera phone.

 
When I was age 4 through 9 my uncle and father owned an auto part store right at the corner of 126 and 135.  My sister and I would hang out there all the time and noticed “The Happy Swallow” one storefront away and wondered what it was. I remember I couldn’t even read yet but there was a bird on the sign with a martini glass, I didn’t even know what a martini glass was but I thought since it had a bird on there it must be a good place.
They have since replaced the martini glass with a beer mug on their new sign and I finally went to go check it out.

I gave Ethan the night off and dragged my friend Mike to go with me.
It was just what I thought it would be like: old, somewhat dingy and in a weird way “homey”. 
Mike and I went up to the bar and got a couple of beers and I asked the bartender if we should order though him if we want something to eat.  He said to hold on a sec and went over to the kitchen and asked the guy in there “What are we doing about food?” he came back and said someone would be over in a few minutes so we sat down and checked out the menu posted above the pick-up window.

5 minutes later an older man comes over to our table and asks “You wanted some food?” and we ordered a couple of burgers.  Then Mike saw lettuce and tomato was 50¢ extra and we hadn’t asked for it but wanted it so he went back up to the window to ask for the kitchen guy to add that and the guy said “oh, you could have told me that before- that’s ok, that’s ok” Which was kind of funny since he hadn’t even started making anything yet.
I thought it was interesting that there are no stools at the bar, people just stand.  There are stools at the tall tables but they aren’t bolted down like adamg described, perhaps in their wilder days though.

There was some guy sitting at a booth by the door and played some song on the jukebox (I can’t remember) and as he was walking back to his seat the song started playing and everyone at the bar started yelling at him really loud (some with thick Boston accents): “FRANK!  FRANK!  GO HOME! GET OUTTA HEAH FRANK!”
They were laughing like it was an old joke or maybe he notoriously plays bad songs but Frank just ignored this and just shuffled back to his booth.

When our burgers were ready the kitchen guy yelled “Cheeseburger Hambuger!” and we went up to the window to get them.  When I was paying the kitchen guy looked at me and said “Were you in here last week?” and I said “No, I’ve never been in here before” and he said “Because you look just like someone that was in here last week” and I said “Yeah I get that a lot, I think I just look like a lot of people so people always think they’ve seen me before” He squinted at me like he was inspecting my face and said “Yeah I guess so- ok, enjoy.”
The burgers were pretty good, I guess were expecting the worst but I think they really were pretty good.

Mike went to the bathroom and took a picture because he was weirded out by the urinal that reached the floor.
While Mike was in the bathroom, the kitchen guy was leaving for the night and walked by the bar where the bartender yelled out “Have a good one Fred” (or Red or Ted).  When he walked by my table he stopped to look at me and said “Goodnight, girl”gave a little smile and walked out the side door.
By the end of the night we decided that this is a good place to go to. I don’t know if we happened to go on a quiet night but we really enjoyed it and no one got beaten up like thought we would : )

P.S. They also have live music on the weekends, I’m curious to see where they fit the musicians.

I don’t usually post twice in one day but I forgot to mention that I was walking down 135 last night and saw the global station had gas for $2.49.

As I took this picture I heard the attendant yell out behind me “Hey – you takin’ a picture of that?” I turned around and confirmed that I was.  Then he said “What about me?” he held up two cones and asked if I’d take his picture. 888?????? So cute!
He also said “It’ll be even cheaper tomorrow! ????? ???? ????? ” So if anyone is looking for cheap gas you might want to check out this place.

This SUV parks all the time at the corner of Evergreen and Learned right at Framingham Union Hospital. It’s well past the “No parking from here to corner” sign and the other night I saw it finally got a ticket.  Ambulances round this corner all the time I don’t know why this SUV feels it’s appropriate to create a difficult turn for them.  The sign is there for a reason but they think it’s their private parking spot. 
Just a little pet peeve of mine : )