Take a walk around Boston, especially along the Tremont Street edge of the Common. That’s where most of the sculptures in the environmental art exhibit, “Cool Globes,” have landed. Some of the globes have been commissioned from Boston artists such as Nancy Schön, who fashioned the ducklings in the Public Garden and the tortoise and Read More…
Things change. Life happens. People move around and do new things. There is not enough time, there is not enough space to consider all that needs considering. So a few items need addressing. Here they are. Marathon Daffodils There has been a change in the organization that will accept contributions for this effort. A couple Read More…
Sometimes I recommend books not to read. This summer I’ll recommend some books I think you’d enjoy as you loll on a beach somewhere or hang in a hammock in the mountains. These are not necessarily new books, but they are good books. As Always, Julia Edited by Joan Reardon I had already read a Read More…
How about Prince George! Two attractive, nice parents. A comfortable nest egg. A well-fitted nursery. A great-grandmother, a grandfather and a father to teach him everything he needs to know for his future profession. It can’t get better than that. The news is a relief. We’ve had to endure Whitey, who turned out to be Read More…
The contretemps over 124 Chestnut Street on Beacon Hill, where a new owner contends the building is so unstable he has to raze it and neighbors say it must be saved, reminds me of an earlier attempt to eliminate a feature of a building. Several years ago, a religious symbol rested on the peak of Read More…
Boston’s economy is back. People want to live in the city rather than commute from far off places. That’s the recipe for new office and residential development. But are Boston and the Massachusetts legislature ready to make it happen without burdening us with grid-lock and frustration? A new proposal is from the HYM Investment Group. Read More…
One day I was a passenger in a car on the Longfellow Bridge coming into Boston from Cambridge. Bob was driving and Ann was in the front seat. We began discussing the upcoming reconstruction of the bridge and the granite at Charles Circle that bordered a sidewalk. “How wide is that sidewalk anyway?” asked Ann. Read More…
For the past two weeks I’ve had a dog. Leo is a year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, with exactly the temperment (calm) he is supposed to have. Dog owners always want to know the breed and the dog’s name, as I now know, so that’s why I’m giving you this information. He has made me Read More…
One of life’s pleasures is watching people get worked up into a lather. This time it is about government spying. The National Security Administration is mining telephone calls and Internet action to see if you are planning to blow something up. Congress people, senators and commentators are shocked, shocked that this is going on. You Read More…
Memorials are tricky. You’ve probably heard of the troubles with the proposed memorial for Eisenhower. The most successful examples are, of course, Lincoln’s, Washington’s and the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial in Washington. Finding a name on that wall—hard to do when the 58,000 of them are not arranged alphabetically—brings that fallen soldier to life for Read More…
It has been 135 years since Thomas Edison patented his first incandescent light bulb. Such an inventive guy would be delighted with what is taking place in urban lighting as incandescent bulbs are phased out. And phasing out incandescent lighting is not a Communist plot, as some would have it. Technology has been moving so Read More…
This is the season in which Boston should look its best. Trees are fully leafed out. Window boxes have been filled. Front gardens have been tended. We are celebrating summer. When the city doesn’t look its best it rankles Bostonians’ souls. And they complain to me. Why are certain institutions, businesses, or homeowners so inconsiderate Read More…