Before it got hot this morning, a yoga class was exercising at one end of the Greenway.
At the other end, carousel horses waited for riders.
Meanwhile in New York, an improv troupe approached a different carousel.
Posts Tagged ‘boston’
Yoga and “Horses” In the Greenway
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged boston, bryant park, carousel, comedy, greenway, horse race, improv, yoga on July 12, 2011| 1 Comment »
350 Years (Not Counting the Manissean Indians’ Years)
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged aquaculture, boston, budden, chafee, consul general, dutch, first warden, gaffett, indian, indians, kibbelaar, manissean, navigator, new shoreham, oyster, rhode island, stanley cup, vancouver on June 19, 2011|
A swell time was had by all at the 350th anniversary of British settlers landing their boats on the shores of what is still the smallest community in the smallest state! The sun shone, the speakers were brief, and lots of pictures were taken.
I thought we had come a long way as a country when several speakers, including the governor, acknowledged that the Manissean Indians were there first and that there would be another ceremony at the Indian Cemetery the following weekend, with another commemorative marker.
The governor, who had earlier visited an oyster aquaculture area by boat, was brief and gracious. Interesting speakers included a Rear Admiral with a surname that is pronounced — I kid you not — Neptune. He gave the chief of police an award for a risky rescue at sea last year.
Dutch Consul General Kibbelaar was there because it was a Dutch navigator who originally named the island as he sailed by without landing. British Consul General Budden, based in Boston, made jokes about his brother who is the Consul General in Vancouver and the bet he intended to collect since Boston won hockey’s Stanley Cup. Budden was invited because the British were the ones who landed at Settlers’ Rock 350 years ago. He said that Britain today is the biggest foreign investor in Rhode Island. The chorus of the island school (which had recently graduated all seven seniors) sang the Alma Mater and “America the Beautiful.”
Gov. Lincoln Chafee (in green blazer)
First Warden Kim Gaffett (in straw hat) and governor
Dutch Consul General Kibbelaar (in white suit)
Living Deliberately (not too far from home)
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged boston, concord, environment, environmental, fitchburg, living on earth, loe, naturalist, nature, radio, railroad, thoreau, tom montgomery fate, train, walden pond on June 18, 2011|
Heard this interview today on the great environmental radio show Living on Earth. Tom Montgomery Fate talks about trying to “live deliberately” like H.D. Thoreau and connecting to nature and memories of his father in the woodland cabin he often escapes to. His book is Cabin Fever: A Suburban Father’s Search for the Wild.
In the elementary school Suzanne attended, all second-graders learn about Thoreau, and as a parent volounteer, I went with her class to the cabin site at Walden Pond. The children had a quiz sheet with questions like, “What sounds would Thoreau have heard in his cabin?” The teacher asks, “An airplane?” (All the kids say, “No-o-o!”) When the Living on Earth interviewer asked the author about his own retreat being near a noisy highway and a short walk to a pub, I was surprised that he didn’t point out that a Boston-Fitchburg train ran right along the edge of Walden Pond in Thoreau’s day, and that the famous naturalist had an easy walk back home to Concord for a Sunday dinner with his mother. Fate did explain that the Walden mystique was all about a mindset and keeping a balance between what’s important and the often numbing dailiness of modern life.
Asakiyume comments: Living deliberately. Something that’s very important to me about that concept is the notion that you can do it anywhere, in any circumstances. I’ll grant that some circumstances make it really hard: if you’re in a job you hate, or a relationship you hate–basically, if there’s some part of your life that’s putting a huge negative drain on you–I think it’s very hard. But I do think that living deliberately can be done in a suburb, in the country, in a city… not just in the wilderness. I think Thoreau wanted to mark, in actual space, his separation from mundane daily life, and I understand that. But I think it’s the mindset, not the location, that’s important.
Hang Your Art in the Greenway
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged art, boston, card, collage, conservancy, grass, greenway, greeting card, sod on June 11, 2011|
Earlier this week, I was walking in the Greenway and noticed that new sod had been placed and roped off.
The sign said, “Grass is resting but feel free to hang your art on the rope.” I thought, “Wow, someone in the Greenway Conservancy is really thinking!”
Today I came back. I believe I was the first to hang my art on the rope.
The art is a copy of a collage I made for a greeting card. Actually for a sympathy card when my Aunt Maggie died. She liked purple. I enjoy making greeting cards from collage materials — postcards, magazine art, brochures. I collect these scraps all the time, and when I’m gearing up to make a card for someone, I sift through and pull out pieces that remind me of the person. If I really like the card a lot, I make copies.
A shot of the original card is below.
Comments may be sent to suzannesmom@lunaandstella.com.
Summer Concerts in South Station
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged amtrak, boston, concert, deborah henson-conant, electric harp, harp, hipharp, jazz harp, lunch, series, south station, traveler on June 10, 2011|
For several years now, there has been a concert series right in the middle of all the comings and goings at Boston’s busiest Amtrak Station. Sometimes chamber music is played, sometimes it’s movie music, sometimes it’s cabaret. The concerts go from 11:30 to 12:30, and people just wander in and wander out. It’s great to see the look of surprise on travelers’ faces and the cellphone cameras being whipped out. Chairs are set up for those who want to sit to listen, or to eat their lunch. This year’s schedule is here.
Today we heard jazz harpist Deborah Henson-Conant, who has a website with a great URL, www.hipharp.com. She plays a small, 11-pound, blue electric harp from France and dances and sings while playing blues and jazz and songs she wrote. She has been called the Jimi Hendrix of harp and had us all singing along.
See the demo. It starts out with an original song that she also performed in South Station today.
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