Another Round

[Commonwealth Ave Mall, first snow; 1/3/15]

Another year begins, another round of seasons. I flippantly noted somewhere that 2014 began cold and ended cold, with plenty of warmth in the middle. And so it goes here in the northeast of the US. Tonight we will have temperatures  below 0°F (-18°C), with "feels like" (ie, wind chill) down to -20°F (-28°C). I will not venture out, and I'm lucky I no longer have dogs to take out to do their business in the late and early hours of the day. We'd been having relatively warmish weather, but right on cue New Year's Eve turned frigid so all the revelers in Boston could duly note that it was indeed the turn of the year.

[First Night Boston procession; ~6 pm 12/31/14]

We went out and had a rare cocktail on New Year's Eve  late afternoon, then to watch the 5:30 pm Grand Procession down Boylston St. My camera settings weren't cooperating, but it's always pretty dicey to get any decent photos at night with my point-and-shoot except for long shots and things not moving an inch. We wimped out on the 7 pm fireworks on Boston Common and instead headed back to D's, a pot of arrabiata sauce on the stove just waiting to be reheated. But on the way back we were treated to a full 8-horse hitch of Clydesdales getting unhitched just a block away from D's apartment.  The Budweiser Clydesdales are huge, handsome draft horses owned by the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company and used in their commercials and promotions. As far as we know, they haven't been in any of Boston's First Night processesions before, but they were a treat at this one, promotion or no.

[Clydesdale getting unhitched]

[Wagon driver and sleeping dalmation mascot]

And then it was all over. Over the next few days, we relaxed, went out a bit, watch movies on TV, and read. I read all of Anthony Doerr's wonderful Memory Wall short stories after finishing his extraordinarily beautifully written first novel, All the Light We Cannot See, over Christmas. On Saturday night, it snowed a couple of inches before turning to rain overnight. We went and had a drink at the first place we could find with seats by the front windows while the snow was blanketing the city in lovely whiteness. Then we left, snapping a couple of photos on the way home.

[On Comm Ave, first snow of the year; 1/3/15]

Comments

[Relatively Retiring]

I especially appreciate your black and white photos in this collection....and the Clydesdales. I have seen these wonderful horses working at moving timber in dense woodland. Somehow, they manage to tiptoe around so gently.

[Leslee]

Aren't they magnificent? The wikipedia article on the Clydesdale breed said they have a "gaiety of carriage and outlook." :-)