This Is Framingham

The other day I was working in the yard and realised I’d need some grass patch stuff.  My first instinct was to go to White Hardware, conveniently located a few blocks away but the pain set in when I remembered that they recently closed.
For some reason I had it in my head that Monick wasn’t open Sundays (but they are) so I was weighing my options.  I really don’t like going to mega-store Lowes or dealing with all the traffic lights and the whole atmosphere of Home Depot so what came to mind was taking a trip “up north” to lovely Saxonville and going to Robinson’s ACE.

When I first moved back to Framingham (3 years ago now) I was bummed that Lincoln Discount Drug was gone ( I just had a “thing” for Lincoln Drugs, particularly the Milford store) but I have to say that Robinson’s uses the space well and it’s kept up nice.  The few times I’ve been here, I found that the place is well organized and the staff is really helpful and friendly.
Such was the same for this visit, it might have been a little further to drive to than Lowe’s but the pleasant shopping experince was worth it. 

The plaza parking lot is probably just as big as Lowe’s but it’s not an ocean of cars and there’s not a frenzy of people trying to find a good spot.  I just parked and went in, got what I wanted, walked up to the register, paid and left.  No lines, no wandering a warehouse packed to the ceiling, moving out of the way for an employee riding through the store on a motorized forklift- just a simple, straightforward shopping experience.

I’ll place Robinson’s Ace in the coveted “yay” category.  It’s worth a trip up north any time!

My friend Yana told me about “Boneoke” on Wednesday nights at the Chicken Bone on Waverly Street.  It’s Karaoke but with 2 musicians and no screens to read the words from. ??????? ??? ??????   It sounded interesting so I went with her to check it out.
Scott Damgaard is the guitarist and runs the show every week.  I got to talk with him last night and he’s also one of the nicest guys around. ????? ????? ????? ?????    He has a book of 500 songs that you can pick from, but he’s also open to suggestions and may know a song you’d like to sing that isn’t listed in the book. 
Somehow I didn’t trust myself to know all the words to any of these songs, I couldn’t believe it – but I know now what I will study for next week.  Although, you don’t have to study as some people brought a lyric sheet or read the lyrics off their cell phone. ???? ????? ???????

It’s a very comfortable atmosphere, even I (who hates getting up infront of people) wanted to get up and release my inner rock star (although it doesn’t exist, but I really wanted to try!).   Scott will even let you take over the guitar if you’re so inclined:

Here’s some more pics of Boneoke:

We had so much fun, I’m so glad Yana told me about this and I’ll definitely be back (probably with a  lyric sheet).  I’ve always loved the Chicken Bone’s wings but this gives me a whole new reason to this gem of downtown.

For more info on the Chicken Bone, check out their site:
 http://www.thechickenbone.com/
 and Scott Damgaard: http://scottdamgaard.com

I was a little reluctant to make this post because I like to support local business but I felt it might be helpful to anyone who is considering ordering flowers or gift baskets in the area.
My sister who lives on the west coast  was shopping online to have a gift basket delivered to Ethan and me for our anniversary a couple of weeks a go.  She picked Seavers Flowers on Concord St. and ordered a “Gourmet” food basket and although it said all orders placed by 1pm will be delivered that day, she went ahead and ordered a few days before just to be safe and received conformation via email when she placed her order.
From their site:

My sister called me Saturday morning and said she didn’t want ruin the surprise so she wouldn’t say what it was but wanted to make sure someone would be home Saturday to recieve a delivery.  So I waited until Ethan woke up to run some errands and then came home and later in the afternoon had to go out again and checked with Ethan to see if he was planning on going out so that one of us would be home. 
I got home around 5 and still no delivery.  My sister called and was surprised that we had not received anything- she tried calling but  Seaver’s closes at 5 and does not have voicemail, they’re closed on Sundays, so she called Monday. ivermectin for sale in canada

When she got someone on the phone she explained what happened and that it was for an anniversary and she had recived confirmation of the order and it’s delivery date but it never arrived .  She told me the guy just responded with “ok”.   So she said “Well I’d like to cancel the order and have my card credited the amount since it never arrived and he just said “okay, I’ll look it up and cancel it”.    The guy told her he’d call her that afternoon to let her know that her card was credited but he never did so she had to call the next day and got confirmation. ivermectin broward county

The guy at Seaver’s wasn’t obnoxiously rude, but he never apologized or made any effort to somehow make her want to use  their flower shop again- she just got the feeling they didn’t care.  As a customer she trusted that they knew how to follow through on what they offer. goats prohibit ivermectin wormer    Maybe they just had an off day, but this was my sister’s experience and I thought this might be helpful to share it.

Ethan and I went to check out  Flag Day at Chushing Park.  Despite the heat, it was really nice to walk around have something interesting going on at the park.

There were tents with vendors and information tables set up by the entrance. We didn’t end up buying anything but  there was a good variety of tables set up with merchandise, crafts and kids treats. beuotq

We really enjoyed was the Civil War camps that were set up in preparation for the fictional “Battle of  Farm Pond” staged just for this event. ??? ??? ????   

As we walked through the camps,  I was impressed how no one looked like they were about to faint considering the heavy clothing they were wearing and how hot it was.  We were breaking a sweat just wearing shorts and T-shirts so I can imagine how hot these folks were.

The camps are realistically functioning and they do everything from chopping wood for the fires they cook with, to hanging laundry. ????????? ?? ?? ????

Flag Day will go on again through tomorrow,  Sunday the 15th too so if you missed it today you can still check it out.

 A couple of weeks ago I noticed new awnings on the old train station and just this week I saw that a sign is up for the new steakhouse that will be here.  I’m looking forward to this opening because it’s been a couple years since anything has been in this building and I haven’t been in there since it was Ebinezer’s probably at least 11 or 12 years ago.

I think it will really be a benefit to downtown since it’s such a visible building and it will finally not be just a large vacant structure people walk by or throw trash behind (the new owners have also cleaned up all the empties and garbage in the space behind the gate).
It’s such a beautiful space inside and one of Framingham’s great historic buildings, so it’s great to see something finally happening with it- and hopefully the food will be good too : )

 
In September I posted about the placement of potted trees the Salvation Army put by the front door to keep people from sitting on the little ledge under the window and possibly keep people from loitering so much.

There were some comments on that post about how the trees made the corner look nicer and I agree, it was a great way to keep that corner less congested and also make it look nice. ivermectin discount

I’m sure this happened a lot sooner than yesterday, but that’s when I was walking by and noticed that people were actually sitting in the pots.

One tree looks pretty worn from being a backrest too:

There must be some happy medium but I’m guessing Salvation Army doesn’t want people hanging out at the corner because they would have put a bench or some sort of seating in that area instead of potted trees.  But at the same time people are clearly going to sit at the corner no matter what – unless they screen/fence off that area but I think that would make the corner look aesthetically worse . does stromectol work for scabies
Anyway, people sitting in the pots kind of defeats the purpose of putting them there, so I wonder if the Salvation Army will think of something else. ivermectin dose for lungworms in dogs

The other day, the Metro West Humane Society was kind enough to let me come in and take some pictures and tell me about their cat shelter.  They run a no-kill facility and have set adoption hours on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.   This is right on the Framingham/Ashland line on 126.  Technically it’s in Ashland, but again, this is a “very special” TIF post : )

Before I came here I was afraid I would be depressed seeing a bunch of cats in cages and meowing to be let out, but this wasn’t the case at all.   I was surprised/impressed with the free roaming space for the cats.  Some cats were just walking around in the halls and other cats are kept in community rooms.  Only those cats that have to be, are in cages but even then the cages are very roomy and are like a double-suite rooms with a bed on one side and a door they can walk through to get to the other “room”.

The cats here seemed so content and comfortable and the MWHS does such a great job at keeping the rooms clean and supplying them with multiple food/waterbowls, litterboxes, toys and beds that the cats that share a room do not have to fight over anything.  In fact it was interesting to see so many cats getting along.  Maybe it’s just because my cat hates other cats and won’t let us get a new one, but it was nice to see so many cats getting a long in the same building.

Here’s some pictures from my visit:

There is also a gift shop where manufactured and hand-made items are for sale and all profits go to the shelter of course.

There is also a wall you can buy a tile in memory of a pet and it have their name up on the Cat Walk wall.

They always welcome financial donations but are just as grateful for any dry and canned food donations as well.

And finally, I’d like to mention their event on Saturday, June 7th.  The 11th annual Walk for Animals

For everything you would want to know about the Metro West Humane Society, including adoption hours, cat profiles and other events please visit their website http://www.webpaws.com/mwhs