Gorging

[Crossing Echo Bridge, Newton MA; 3:30pm, 3/30/08]

Yesterday I met up with Lorianne and another friend at Hemlock Gorge, which is located mostly in Newton but also touches on Wellesley and Needham (see map here). Lorianne had scoped it out, and C and I went along for girl bonding, etc. Which means to keep company, and/or kvetch and be heard or to mope and be accepted by tolerating friends. I'm speaking for myself, of course. I was preoccupied with Important Decisions, and C is in the midst of her own major transition finishing up her doctorate, while Zen Mama offered wisdom and distraction from our mental spinnings.

[Echo Bridge, the Charles River and the silk mill]

Sometimes what you really need is friends to echo back to you the mulch of your irrational thinking and show you the manure that it really is.

[Echo Bridge rail knob and the Charles River below]

Anyway, the Hemlock Gorge turned out to be an interesting little reservation wedged in between highways and residential streets. Echo Bridge used to carry an aqueduct over the Charles River from the Sudbury River to Boston. It's along one of the many aqueduct trails, official and unofficial, running all through the area. The Hemlock Gorge boasts historic mill buildings, dams and falls, and some nice trails through the woods along the river. There's also an official "echo platform" you can stand on under the bridge to hear your voice echoing across the river river river.

After exploring the gorge trails awhile, we got back in the car and headed into Newton Centre to gorge ourselves at one of the many local eateries. But it was early yet so, to kill time, we hiked up the hill to the Andover Newton Theological School campus (which shares the hillside with Hebrew College) and stumbled upon an art exhibit, "War, Madness and Delusion: WMD," which has some interesting and thoughtful pieces about war from many corners of the globe. (It's free and runs though April 15th, if you're in the area.) Puts things in perspective.

Finally, we trekked back down to to the Union Street Restaurant, where each of us chose something from the "Comfort Food" section - chicken pot pie, meat loaf, shepherd's pie - and also shared some yummy sweet potato fries. I don't know whether we needed comfort for our moods or physical comfort for the chilly weather, but, speaking for myself, it satisfied.

[Silk mill, dam and falls]

See more photos from the Hemlock Gorge here.

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Update: Lorianne added her own post from the gorge visit, plus a great photo-set here!

Comments

[Lorianne]

Hey...I didn't realize you'd snapped that pic of us walking over...

I want to say here for the record that I heard the first phoebe of the season while we were scoping out the mill dam, which would be a wonderful place for them to nest. I've been looking (listening) for phoebes ever since Dave saw his first this year.

I'm glad the gorging, comfort food, etc. satisfied.

[joanna]

What a beautiful set of pictures. My favorite is the view through the bridge--it is almost like looking through time.

[Leslee]

Lorianne: Well, I was trying to get the empty bridge! But it came out much better with you guys on it. I know, you mentioned the phoebe. I didn't hear it, or wouldn't have recognized it in any case. Looked like lots of good places for nesting there.

Joanna: Glad you enjoyed them! The whole reservation and its old mills all looked like a step back in time.