Hold the mackerel

Loosely Speaking by Nancy Gaines

"Isn't this just soooo Cambridge," tittered a guest at Bill and Susan Weld's holiday party last Saturday. With a mix of former State House heavies like Mark Robinson, Charlie Baker, and Gloria Larson, and high-powered law partners including Bob Cordy and Adolfo Garcia hobnobbing with assorted Brattle Street and Ivy League types, the room barely even noticed when a Supreme Court Justice arrived. (Although a few whispers of "Is it Souter or Breyer?" were heard. It was Stephen Breyer.) But lest the air get too rarefied, the Weld Everyman touch was in evidence. "I've never seen a more gamy display of food," said one guest. "These huge slabs of meat, things with legs on them."

From couch potato to walking guru When journalist Mary Frakes fell into a funk a few years ago, finding herself "in full retreat from the world " and "becoming expert at escaping reality by thumbing a ride on the remote control," she shook herself out of it "by taking little steps -- literally." Frakes, who lives in Cambridge, began walking for five minutes a day; no particular route, no special regimen. She kept at it, increasing the duration until, as she puts it, "the energy generated by simply putting one foot in front of the other buffered the pain enough that I could begin to examine it, to hold it for a while without flinching. Walking seemed to help me fight internal battles that I had been trying to flee by immersing myself in reruns and TV cooking shows." Granted, walking as therapy isn't a new idea. But Frakes takes the concept a step further. A hundred steps, to be precise. In a book due out this spring from Life Lessons in Cambridge, MindWalks: 100 Easy Ways to Relieve Stress, Stay Motivated, and Nourish Your Soul, Frakes tabulates the psychic and sensory benefits of "discovering one wonderful thing on each walk that makes you glad you went." For the cynics among us, take heart that Frakes's primer is not mere New Age psychobabble. Indeed, she admits she "worried a tad it was too much on the earnest side," but she manages to mix the practical, the humorous, and the spiritual in balanced doses. A former newspaper editor and magazine editor-in-chief (Robb Report, High Technology Business, and Fidelity's Stages), she writes smart, crisp prose. The book has nine sections of short chapters, with tips on how to use your surroundings to help solve problems, fight stress, get in shape, and enjoy the pleasures of ordinary things. Frakes's aim is to keep walking -- the most popular form of exercise in the country -- from being "plain vanilla and boring."

Disenchanted village

Tried finding a reasonable rental on the Cape lately? Even the First Family had trouble this year. No, not Bill & Co. -- Mary, Joseph, and the Christ child. At least such was the case in the mind of Provincetown artist Jay Critchley, who imagined that the only place left for Mary and Joseph would be the abandoned septic tank in his backyard. "A modern-day Mary and Joseph looking for a humble abode would have a pretty difficult time finding something," said Critchley. It's all part of his effort to shed light on Provincetown's shortage of housing for the less-than-affluent. In his 20 years as a resident, he says, he's watched real-estate prices go through the roof, making it difficult even for natives to remain there. Critchley's manifestation of his disenchantment -- a traditional, plastic, lawn-size nativity display set in the septic tank -- is on exhibit through January 7 at 7 Carnes Lane.

Native intelligence

Onetime best-known Boston bachelor Jay Cashman, owner of the construction company responsible for handling most of the Big Dig, will soon be off the most-eligible rolls. He and Christie Scott, a young film producer, are tying the knot next month at a ceremony in Ireland. They'll be hosting family, including Cashman's two grown-up daughters from a previous marriage, and close friends at the gorgeous Adair Manor in Limerick, which Cashman rented for the occasion. . . . Congratulations go to Dan Scully, named last week to the top job -- associate publisher/managing director -- at Boston magazine, as predicted in this column three months ago. The magazine's Paul Reulbach was also promoted to associate publisher/advertising director. . . . Talk about tightfisted: the folks throwing the gala premiere January 6 at the Wang for the film version of author Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action allotted Harr only four tickets to the event. Granted, it's a fundraiser, with invites going for some $1500, but it wouldn't have happened at all without Harr's seven-year effort.