This Is Framingham

Ethan and I were watching TV last week and in this show’s ending credits there was a guy named Maurice, I forget his last name but I thought “That’s a name I never hear of, I’ve never even known anyone named Maurice.”  Unless I counted “Maurice the Pants Man” and even then, I didn’t know him, just the name of the store.
It was weird to remember that, I asked Ethan if he remembered that store, he said no and I moved on to thinking about something else.
The next day I found myself waiting in the lobby of an office building and looking through some books that were out on the table.  I found one about metrowest, opened it up and on the first page I opened to I saw this:

Upon closer inspection I saw this:

Maurice the freakin’ Pants Man!!!
When I got home I immediately told Ethan about how weird it is that I hadn’t thought about Maurice the Pants Man in forever and then I did, and then the next day I randomly see the sign in a book.  I said that HAS to mean something.  Ethan, being the more rational of the two of us, thought it was a little weird but that was all.  I kept saying “No , it must mean something, don’t you think??”  Finally,  knowing the only answer that would satisfy me, he gave up and said “I guess that means he’s coming back then”.
I realize M the PM most likely is not coming back and I probably wouldn’t care that much if he did but I thought it should mean something.   Weird coincidence anyway.

I don’t know Tony, but like an artist signing a finished masterpiece, he autographed the Ruby Tuesday’s parking lot with his pavement-crack sealing skills.  I think it’s great he takes such pride in his work, looks like he did a good job and I’ll keep my eyes open to his future work.  Nice job Tony!

I had heard good things about Hanson’s Farm on Nixon Rd. so we decided  to go check it out.  It’s a classic farm stand set up with flowers, fruits and vegetables.  When we went yesterday it was extremely hot so we didn’t take advantage of the berry picking opportunity but I’ll definitely go back at some point either for that or the corn maze that have advertised. how to keep ivermectin longer
I also hear they have a haunted hay ride in October which would be interesting to checkout too.

In the meantime I picked up some peaches and corn. compre ivert   I love farm stands like this so it was a nice treat to visit here and I’ll definitely be back to see what they have for the fall harvest (pumpkins, pumpkins! a buon mercato ivermectine )

I was looking around on ebay and saw a listing for a “Framingham Series” Kohler sink.  It must be a mistake since I searched the Kohler website and found nothing about a Framingham series. ivermectin cattle malaria va tech   I thought it was kind of funny though.

I ride my bike down Howard St. daily (or work daily) because it’s the best way to cut through downtown and get to 135 without as much traffic.  The draw back was the quality of this street was terrible. ivermectin studies for covid   I kept meaning to do a post on it but I guess the pavement fairy came and took care of the problem.
I remember last year the street was ripped up and then quasi-paved with lots of uneven spots, deep circular holes a soda can could comfortably stand up right in and various textures.  It stayed this way for a long time, I think a year but I’m not sure.
Now this is a nice looking street with even, quality pavement, double lines and they’re even putting in new sidewalks. what are the uses of ivermectin
Nice job!

We had never been to Callahan State Park before and finally looked up where it is and went.
The sun was just about set so some of the pictures didn’t come out the best but we enjoyed our walk there.  What we noticed, besides the beautiful scenery was that there was no trash laying around.  I’m not sure if it’s because it’s a state park and has more funds/people to keep it clean or people who visit here just respect the area more than other parks but it was very pleasant to walk around.  We met a nice dog too.  Since we live downtown, sometimes it’s easy to forget that Framingham has such beautiful and tranquil spaces like this available and I’m glad it does.  Here’s their link for more information: http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/northeast/call.htm

I’ve never been to this Dunkin Donuts but this is where the Athenian Restaurant used to be, a Greek place that my sister Elanie and I worked at while in college.  We both were going to Framingham State and both waiting tables at Coyote on Edgell Road.  I don’t know how or why we got involved with the Athenian but on the weekends they were open 24 hours and one summer we work the graveyard shift.  Often after a full night of working at Coyote, we’d change uniforms and head over to the Athenian from 11:30pm to 7am.  We were young and foolish and thought we could just do everything.
The late night Athenian crowd was different from the day time crowd.  A lot of late-nighters were left over regulars from the Copper Kettle, the previous dive establishment at that location.  I guess most people came here after the bars closed for the night, a lot were drunk or just odd with nowhere to go.  I remember some nights it became a downright zoo in there between 1-3am.  The only thing that kept us sane was Bruce, the only cook for these shifts.  I don’t know how he did it but we’d have a packed restaurant and somehow Bruce handled everything back there all by himself without once losing his cool.  I asked him once how he did it and he just shook his head and said “I don’t even know, I just close my eyes and hope everything gets on the right plate”.

Since it was just Bruce, Elaine and I, he would also have to act as security sometimes when a drunk someone found their drunk ex there and got too emotional or people locked themselves in the bathroom or people just plain being obnoxious.   I’d get this customer who yelled at me about the pancakes and said “I get the pancakes here every time and EVERY TIME they come out horrible!”  I suggested that maybe she’d like to get something else but every week she would get them and I’d cringe every time I saw her walk through the door.  The nicest people were the ones going to or coming from work, like the limo drivers or delivery guys.  We could actually have a good conversations with them and they tipped well too.

The place would empty out around 3:30 and everyone would leave just as fast as they came in.  After cleaning up and depending on what a rough night it was Elaine and I would sometimes fall sleep in a booth and Bruce would wake us up if people came in.  Just a few minutes nap in a booth was precious.  I remember one time being so tired that driving down Rt. 85 on the way home I swore I saw a giant white…thing, like some sort of creature, crossing the road.   I actually slowed down and tried to wake my sister, but she was too konked out to wake up.  I had never before and never since hallucinated but I’ll never forget how real that thing was and how important sleep is.

The Athenian was owned by a Greek couple that worked so much that I think they were a little out of it, just by the way the ran things there but I remember almost everything the wife showed us how to do was followed by her Greek accented voice telling us to “make it nice for the people”.  Cleaning menus, wiping tables, vacuuming, making coffee was all to “make it nice for the people”.   One night before the changing of the guards, we had to convince her to correct the spelling of the night’s special “BQQ” Burger.   After we stopped working there she would still call us like we never left and leave messages like “It’s Litza,  I need you to work tonight…” 
For years after that, the Athenian would sometimes come up in conversation and my sister and I would laugh and say “Is that place still open?”  It was turned into a Dunkin Donuts a few years ago and even though that place was insane in some ways, I think it is a shame to lose a local place like that (especially one open 24 hours) and have it replaced with something that is everywhere anyway.  Another piece of Framingham gone.