last weekend david and i went to boston to visit his sister sarah. it is the first time in a long while that i have enjoyed an extended trip outside of the city. i'm due for another one as soon as possible.

one sound that fascinated me while there was the chirping of the pedestrian crosswalk signals. atop the familiar looking crosswalk sign that alternately displays a red hand or a white person with one leg in front of the other is a speaker box. when the white person appears on the sign, everyone knows it is okay to cross. if you are visually impaired or just the type of person who doesn't pay attention to what is going on around you, the city of boston has audible crossing signals placed at crosswalks around the city just for you.

on a mini vacation from my vacation, we went about 30 miles north of boston to manchester-by-the-sea to visit the beach. while there i made a recording of the ocean waves lapping against the shore. the sand on the beach of the overly hyphenated city, manchester-by-the-sea, is very unique. the size, shape, and purity of the sand causes a squeaking noise to emit from beneath your feet as you walk across the beach. having never heard of this, i did a quick search and found that there are other singing sand beaches around the world. science frontiers has a nice article on why some sands squeak, and also gives a map of some other singing sand locations around the world.

on a different evening, back in boston, i sat out on our host's porch and recorded the sound of the crickets chirping.