(The first morning of spring brings more snow and a graveyard apparition.) Last Saturday the neighborhood was barely twelve hours into spring when we awoke to snow falling softly over the gravestones of the burying ground.In the gray light and shadows of early-morning I spotted a large, mottled creature, coated with fallen flakes and perched Read More…
Author: Thomas F. Schiavoni
COPP’S HILL MOMENT: Space Savers
A weekly succession of blizzards has tested the patience and kindness of North End residents.
COPPS HILL MOMENT: Pandemics and Parent Manuals
(A father contemplates just how much or how little he can do to protect his child from dangers near and far.) The timing was perfect. Smoke from just-extinguished candles trickled off my mother’s 96th birthday cake when excited shouts erupted from the living room. Notice of an incoming communication from a foreign site lit up Read More…
Copp’s Hill Moment: False Alarm
(A confrontation with vandals leads to danger in the street.) It was a cold Sunday evening in December about 10 years ago when I heard drunken shouts in the street below. I didn’t even budge from the couch in our 4th-floor apartment and chalked up the yelling and alcohol-fueled expletives to a close-scoring NHL game Read More…
COPP’S HILL MOMENT: Birthdays and Bucket Lists
(One can try to escape birthday festivities by crossing an ocean — only to find fate waiting on the far shore.) It’s that time of the year again when I mark my original arrival on the planet with sincere thanks, of course, to my mother. But, I prefer not to make a big deal about Read More…
Copp’s Hill Moment: The Missing Tomatoes
(Thomas F. Schiavoni writes about the adventures of the memorable Ciampa sisters of Snow Hill Street– Lena, Evelyn and Josie – and their attempt to solve a puzzling mystery.) One spring at the approach of Memorial Day, Lena suddenly reignited an annual household debate with her two younger sisters. Should this be the year for Read More…
Copp’s Hill Moment: WILD GEESE
(Thomas F. Schiavoni recalls the nighttime sounds of a migrating flock high above the city.) Late one starry night in fall, I trudged homeward after a long and stressful day at work. As I unlocked the door of a former North End tenement, I heard the distant honking of wild creatures flying hundreds of feet Read More…
Copp’s Hill Moment: Fourteen Seconds is a Lifetime
(Thomas F. Schiavoni recalls an encounter along the highway that was too close for comfort.) It happened one moonless Sunday evening in March. I was driving a little over the speed limit – about 70 mph – southbound on the Maine Turnpike returning to Boston from Portland with my wife and two visitors from Read More…
Copp’s Hill Moment: Mass Cards for Mikey
(Thomas F. Schiavoni recalls a childhood story from the memorable Ciampa sisters –Lena, Evelyn and Josie – along the sidewalks and cobblestones of Snow Hill and Hull Streets.) Lena spun her best stories at the kitchen table – center of Ciampa family life – while a pot of drip coffee percolated on a stovetop gas Read More…
Copp’s Hill Moment: An Unexpected Visitor
(A fall morning provides an encounter with a creature from another world for North End resident, Thomas F. Schiavoni.) It happened in a matter of seconds during a walk home from an early morning errand. There was no need to rush off to work on a day filled with the sunshine and blue sky of Read More…
Copp’s Hill Moment: Lobster Shells and Crime Scenes
(Thomas F. Schiavoni recalls the late adventures of the memorable Ciampa sisters, lifelong residents of Snow Hill Street.) The second of the three Ciampa sisters, Evelyn often had to defer to her elder sibling Lena in menu planning and food preparation in the kitchen. Josie, being the youngest, didn’t stand a chance. She was perpetually Read More…
North End Moment: Hello, Neighbor!
It was the first neighborhood meeting of the new year, and those in attendance were still basking in holiday glow with good will to all. Nothing too controversial clouded the horizon as the agenda unfolded seamlessly and remarkably on schedule. The final item about local undergraduate-renters was thoughtful and provocative. What does “being a good Read More…