OK, call us nuts, but we had dinner at Anthony's Pier 4 tonight. I know, I know, nobody eats there anymore, at least not anybody who lives inside 128 (and indeed, our waitress seemed a bit surprised when she asked us where we were from and we said "here!" and, yes, we were surrounded by parents bringing their kids to school and Japanese businessmen and, based on the White Sox cap one of them was wearing, people from the Midwest). But it was good - good food and good service (although we didn't order any wine; the people next to us ordered wine to go with their calamari, the wine didn't come, the waitress said she couldn't bring it and when they asked if she could send over the wine steward, the guy took his time and then slowly walked over and said "can I help you?" as if the people were disturbing him somehow and as if the restaurant weren't mostly empty).

In any case, there are some great views from the restaurant and its pier. The Deer Island sewage treatment plant (above), normally gray, gray and more gray, turned a nice orangish shade for a couple of minutes at sunset. And the new ICA is quite dramatic at night:

Bradley walks off a barbecue in Winthrop by strolling along the beach on Deer Island. Yes, sewage-treatment Deer Island:

... You wouldn't imagine the home of Boston's main wastewater treatment facility as a beautiful place to be. ... but was it ever. No nasty odor, just an overwhelming mix of wildflowers, salt-water smells, and a small bonfire on the beach. Even the regular whoosh of approaching planes couldn't dampen the mood... if anything, they probably help keep the crowds down. ...