3rd House Journal

Lilacs and More

[Lilacs, Arnold Arboretum, Boston; 5/12/13]

We've had a bountiful spring, I must say, after a long, snowy winter. It has remained mostly pretty cool at night -- almost down to frost the other night -- but the cold seems to have preserved the blossoms on many of our flowering trees. The Arnold Arboretum's Lilac Sunday celebration last weekend certainly benefited from perfect spring weather patterns for the lilacs, which mostly all opened right on time for the annual Mother's Day-coinciding festival. It did rain all morning, but the storm passed out to sea by around noon and hordes of moms and families came out to enjoy the heady scent of the arboretum's 380 lilac plants (176 different species)!

[Visitors stroll past a hillside showing off a variety of lilac species]

[Lilac paparazzi get right in for their close shots]

Although it was clearly the lilacs' day, there were plenty of other flowering plants and trees to be enjoyed -- wildflowers, peonies, flowering dogwoods and cherry trees -- as well as an abundance of burgeoning greenery.

[Tree peonies, on the Chinese Path]

[Azaleas adorn the woods]

Of course, along with all this abundance comes spring allergy season. I've been on allergy shots for two years now, so I'm doing pretty well, but I came away from our visit to the Arboretum with itchy, watering nose and eyes, so I think I hit my saturation point. I've had to break down and take a bit of antihistamines, but so much less than I used to need. Another thing to be grateful for.

You can see a handful more pix from Lilac Sunday here, alas without the scent, but also without the accompanying pollen!

Merry Month of May

[Tulips at Old South Church, Boston; 5/5/13]

The astro blogs are full of exhortations to slow down and enjoy the pleasures of the Taurus season (April 20 - May 20). Taurus is ruled by Venus, goddess of beauty and pleasure. Taurus is also associated with money and possessions. While beauty is free and abundant around me right now, money is not so much. It's been a slow start to the year, though the past month was disturbingly full of tight deadlines (that was fiery Aries season, everything fast and immediate). I've been able to invoice for a couple of projects, but the payment cycle is slow. That's the other thing about Taurus, the Bull - slow and steady, stubborn and persistent, and mean when pushed - as is Venus, for that matter. Everything in its time.

I have had some bites of new opportunities, including a potential part-time position working for a former colleague who reached out to me last week. It would be good to have some steady income and the chance to get out of the house regularly and work with people again, along with the flexibility to take on interesting freelance work. Maybe the best of both worlds. We'll see.

[At Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary, Belmont MA; 5/6/13]

[New leaves rising from the dead ones, at Habitat]

Unfortunately, the result of those tight deadlines and other stressful craziness last month has been painful -- as I said, mean when pushed. My neck and shoulder pain, which I've been getting physical therapy for, went through the roof by this weekend. Diligent work on it this week with ice, heat, topical and oral pain meds, sleep, rest, and it's finally getting somewhat under control. I could really use a new/better ergonomic office chair but I can't really afford it right now.

Meanwhile, I'm taking advantage of another break in the work. I went for a lovely walk in the woods at Habitat on Monday, which I haven't been to since January. Spring comes a bit later to the woods, but it has arrived, as evidenced by blossoming mountain laurel and dogwood, fresh green ears of new leaves and unfurling fern fronds, columbine and trillium.

[Trillium at Habitat Sanctuary, Belmont; 5/6/13]

More photos from Habitat in May here.

Spring Arrives in the City

[Back Bay - Prudential, Boston; 4/28/13]

Very busy with work still, but thought I'd post a few photos from this past weekend in Boston. Spring is in full swing now. Even as the early-blooming magnolias are dropping their blossoms, the pear trees and weeping cherries are taking the baton in the blossom relay, and the tulips and daffodils stand up and cheer.

The city was full of people this weekend, partly due to the long awaited spring weather but also because everyone from the city and suburbs wanted to come pay their respects at the Boston Marathon tributes in newly reopened Copley Square. Lorianne posted about it on her blog (she and J were in on Sunday) and I uploaded some photos on my Flickr site from Saturday.

[Copley Square, Boston; 4/27/13

The Public Garden was a little less crowded than Copley, but there were also many people out enjoying the day there and on Boston Common as well.

[Public Garden at Charles and Boylston Sts; 4/28/13]

[Swan Boats on the Lagoon, Pubic Garden; 4/28/13]

We're having a string of sunny days, although the temps are supposed to drop quite a bit on Friday. I have more deadlines, but I should be able to find some time to get out and enjoy it - especially on this first day of May. It will be hard not to...

Boston Strong

[Marathon duckling (Make Way for Ducklings), Public Garden; 4/20/13]

It's been a crazy week. Hard to get work done, and I'm overloaded with deadlines at the moment. I was supposed to have a phone conference with a client on Friday for a quick turnaround project, but we were all on lockdown -- woken at 6:30 am with voice message from the town police saying to stay indoors. Lockdown lasted until almost 6pm, when D finally got out of Boston to come pick me up for the weekend. It was his birthday. On the way in to Boston we saw police at every street corner as we drove along the main thoroughfare bordering Watertown, and then police cruisers speeding past us in the other direction into Watertown. We spent the evening on D's couch watching it all on TV, when they finally nabbed the surviving bomber. Oh, and did I mention that my 85-year-old dad had hip replacement surgery on Friday morning? So if I wasn't on edge from the lockdown and deadlines, I was pretty anxious waiting to hear from my brother (he emailed me around 11:30 am to say everything went fine).

[On Comm Ave, Boston; 4/20/13]

The street below was filled with noisy cheering students from the local colleges (BU, Northeastern, Berklee...) heading up Comm Ave from Kenmore Square towards the Boston Common to celebrate and thank local law enforcement and first responders. Then the next day everyone else started coming out to enjoy the spring day. It was windy and a bit cloudy, but the magnolias were in full bloom and gardens starting to spring to life.

I won't be able to post much for awhile as I try to tackle my deadlines amid some continuing distractions -- whether continuing news or gorgeous spring days. Meanwhile, check out some of the photos I took yesterday while wandering aroun Back Bay.

[Prudential tower through magnolias, from Comm Ave]

Pajaros

[Mexican grackle holding forth; 4/3/13]

Being situated directly overlooking the Parquez Juarez, the terrace at our casa offered prime viewing (and listening) for local bird life. Our first morning started with fireworks somewhere across town -- 6 AM, barely light -- and then the first started in their raucous chorus, joined by barking dogs and then the bells chiming in the towers of a nearby church. I jumped out of bed and watched first from the small balcony in my room and then went up to the terrace for the full performance. The local denizens, human and otherwise, sure know how to welcome the day!

[Cardinal; 3/31/13]

I'm not a birder, so bear with me... (and birders, feel free to correct any misconceptions!).

We had hummingbirds feeding on the flowers draping down within our courtyard and back patio, doves that perched on the edge of our terrace, and a rather vocal sleek black Mexican grackle with a beautiful long tail who liked to hang out atop a nearby lime tree. But the most conspicuous birds were the snowy egrets who flew over our heads into the hills to retrieve twigs and sailed back downcurrent into the trees in the park where they were building their nests. Back and forth, back and forth for much of the day. I'd have my little point-and-shoot camera at the ready after one would pass close by, give up waiting, and another would sail right past again. I have lots of blurry shots of them mid-flight, but caught one (see last photo in previous post) in a nearby tree having plucked a prize twig.

[Dove (paloma) perched on our terrace; 4/4/13]

[Egrets nesting in the Parquez Juarez; 4/1/13]

We also noticed long semicircular strings of birds high in the sky wending their way out to the valley at dusk as well as the reverse migration in the early hours of dawn. We found out that these were glossy ibises who fly out to the lake for the evening and return to the hills every morning.

[Glossy ibis migration to the lake near San Miguel; 4/6/13]

More later...

After Effects

[Lagoon in the Public Garden, Boston; 3/9/13]

Though I'd intended to take some photos of the snow during our brief walk around Back Bay and Beacon Hill, I ended up with few. For one thing, the snow was already melting and there were no picturesque snow clinging to branches scenes. For another, I think we are simply tired of it now. What's novel earlier in winter becomes "good lord, not another snowstorm!" We are suffering the after effects of many snowy weeks in a row. So I leave you with a few shots of winter's last gasp (possibly just one of her last gasps) in Boston.

[After effects: duck tracks on the Public Garden Lagoon]

[Apple tucked high in a tree (squirrel?)]

[Local fauna, Newbury St]

Scenes from the Weekend

[Witch hazel, South End, Boston; 3/3/13]

The snow from the blizzard last month is mostly gone. Two feet of snow takes awhile to melt, and we had some added inches and cold weather throughout February keeping it in place. Now there are only dirty, lumpy remains of former snow banks and patches where the sun's warm rays can't quite reach, like an itch in the mid upper back. Soon there will be shoots of crocuses and daffodils everywhere, but for now it's witch hazel heralding the coming of spring. Next weekend, we'll set the clocks ahead and our days will begin to stretch their creaky muscles.

[Birds line up outside Back Bay Station; 3/3/13]

[Crow atop the chimney pots]

On Saturday, I went to a "Tea" that my alumnae club hosted at L'Espalier, one of Boston's fanciest restaurants. The event had been postponed from the day of the blizzard. I'm never entirely comfortable at these things, not close to anyone in the club, but I usually meet interesting people when I do go and end up glad I went. And this time I didn't want to miss out on going to L'Espalier, which I'd never been to and am unlikely to afford otherwise. Plus it's just two blocks from D's place.

The dining room itself was understated if not underwhelming, but the food was excellent and the staff extremely solicitous. It was tea, so there were all the little tea sandwiches -- cucumber and watercress, smoked salmon and creme, a deviled egg -- followed by plates of little fancy pastries. The menu was not for the diabetic! Which I'm not, but I knew all that white flour and sugar would make me light-headed. Anyway, the piece de resistance was a little "roasted guinea hen profiterole with garlic aioli" shaped like, well, more like a swan I think. See photo below.

[Individual pastry plate at L'Espalier's tea party]

I went back to D's wired up from sweets and caffeine which, added to all the stress adreline I've been dealing with lately, rather wiped me out. We napped, then cooked some Trader Joe's salmon dinner and frozen vegetables instead of going out. It may have been frozen dinners, but it was fish and veggies and, along with some good beer, it helped anchor me back on earth. I'd brought my Netflix dvd of Woody Allen's To Rome With Love, which was silly fluff but a nice armchair travel movie.

We got out for brunch on Sunday, and then, since it was reasonably warm (or at least, mostly devoid of chilling wind) we had a nice walk over to the South End and back. Brunch was delicious - we both had the breakfast burrito at the Met Back Bay.

[Breakfast burrito with hash brown potatoes, Met Back Bay]

I seem to be in a space of heightened sensitivity these days, and all too much prey to insecurities, both real (and there are so many real uncertainties in my work and financial life right now) and imagined. I realized this weekend it would probably be wise to start meditating again to have some centering, particularly in this time of flux. My physiatrist, who I'm seeing for painfully overused neck muscles (all that computer work, mainly), recommended it as well -- particularly classes rather than just on my own. Will have to look into it...

Turbidity

[Floating silt curtain, Boston Harbor; 2/23/13]

We went to the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston last Saturday on a whim. An exhibit of art from the 1980s is leaving soon and we'd seen inviting posters around town. The exhibit itself was mostly disappointing, though it left some impressions. It was the time of the AIDS crisis and of Reagan, both inciting artists. There were a few Mapplethorpes, a Basquiat, Koons' inflatable Rabbit. And a lot of what some friends and I who used to often see modern art together referred to as WAS.* As always at the ICA, the building and its surroundings were the most satisfying visually. The gallery overlooking the harbor offered its usual reflections and the waterfront, even on a mild winter's day, was enticing.

[John Hancock Founders Gallery, ICA Boston]

From the gallery windows, we watched the unusual sight of a sailing regatta coming in on the harbor in February. The Boston Sailing Center's Frostbite Racing series keeps its hardy sailors sharp over the winter season.

[Frostbite Racing on Boston Harbor, from the ICA]

I kept finding the orange floating lines in the harbor outside the ICA intriguing. It took some searching online to find out that they're silt curtains, also called turbidity curtains, used to prevent the spread of silt and sediment near the shoreline. I imagine the one at the ICA is there to help keep a certain depth to the area, which has been used the past two summers for diving championships off the roof. 

[Gull and silt curtain]

Perhaps I need a turbidity curtain for my life. Work in particular has been marked by haziness so far this year, muddy with lots of unsettled sediment. But perhaps things are beginning to settle out, at least for the short term. A couple of freelance projects are surfacing. Other possibilities have receded into the murk. An unexpected trip to sunnier climes with friends is also stirring in the mix, bright as the floating curtain. Will report once we've booked, unless I get superstitious.

---

*weird-ass shit

Only 10 more days in February

[Sundresses in a Charles St shop, Boston; 2/10/13]

Last night I dreamed I was in Mexico. Three different friends of mine will be there at one time or another, at one place or another, within the next few weeks, which no doubt put it in my mind. Yesterday morning it snowed again in Boston, although this time not like the 2 feet of heavy, everything-at-a-standstill onslaught of the previous weekend, half of which mercifully melted during the week. This was light, powdery stuff - which sounds lovely until you realize it was blown around by 50 mph wind gusts that made it look (and feel) outside like we were living on some icy planet farther out in the solar system. 

[Snow dervishes, Prudential Center South Garden, Boston; 2/17/13]

Once the snow stopped in the afternoon, we bundled up and walked over to the mall to stretch our legs and get some late afternoon dinner. Apparently Boston got 5 inches of snow, but you wouldn't know it because little of it had settled or attached itself to anything. Instead, it continued in circulation like restless ghosts roaming the nearly empty city streets. In the mall's enclosed garden courtyard, a wind tunnel whipped up spinning white dervishes for our entertainment.

We did enjoy a nice Valentine's dinner on Saturday night at a little bistro not far from D's apartment. It hadn't started snowing, but it was very cold so we dressed warmly - unfortunately so for the tiny packed bistro was extremely toasty inside. But the food was delicious and the cold on the walk home was refreshing, like going out in the snow after a sauna.

Late last week I had a hint from a friend of a possible enticing work opportunity. I'm trying not to get my hopes up. Meanwhile, other possibilities still float in the air like this weekend's restless snow. I expect it'll be awhile yet before anything settles down. One must live in the moment.

[Comm Ave at sunset; 2/17/13]

Scenes from a Snowy Boston

[On Boston Common; 2/10/13]

It's been a long time since we've had significant snow in Boston, and residents were out yesterday taking full advantage of it. Kids (and a few adults) were sledding down Flagstaff Hill on Boston Common, dogs were romping in the snow, while others were out just enjoying the scenery in the bright sunshine. (Check out video of a pair snowboarding down a Beacon Hill street sometime on Saturday.)

[Sledding on Boston Common]

We walked over to the Frog Pond Skating Rink, but of course they were still digging it out from under 2 feet of snow. I imagine the parks department had cleared all the walkways on the Common first before turning to the skating rink.

[Frog Pond Skating Rink being cleared of snow]

Someone had thoughtfully made way for the ducklings in the Public Garden.

[Mrs. Mallard and her ducklings in the Public Garden in Boston]

We trudged around in lots of slushy snow, even on cleared walkways, then rewarded our efforts with a beer and a burger at the 75 Chestnut restaurant off Charles Street before making our way back to D's. With freezing rain predicted for this morning, I decided I'd better take a cab back home last night rather than waiting until morning. Fortunately, my car wasn't too badly buried. Someone (perhaps my landlords) had cleared the front of the driveway and the sidewalks. I just had to dig around my car and clear the foot or so of hardening, heavy snow from the top, front and back. Compared to the snow dump in D's back alley, where his car is still buried and mounds of snow block every driveway for the length of the alley, my dig-out was easy.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite photos from yesterday, taken on the Comm Ave Mall.

[Snow couple, readying for Valentine's Day]