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Posts Tagged ‘segway’

A Photo Roundup

Photos: Suzanne and John’s Mom.
Above, early fall morning on the Sudbury River.

Leaves are falling like gold coins in New England and it’s getting cool enough for a wool scarf on early morning walks. When I wrap mine tightly around my neck, I think of my friend Pam, who died in April after a bad fall. So many things remind me of her, but the scarf reminds me how she said that if her neck is warm on cold days, she’s OK. I’m the same.

Where I live now, I have a nice view of the Sudbury River from the fitness center treadmill. The photo above cuts out the buildings that I normally see in the view. Isn’t it beautiful?

I take my usual walk past the local golf course, seen in the next picture. Golf makes me think of another friend, one who golfs almost every day in Florida. I sent her a picture, too.

I’m seeing lots of pretty fungi and mushrooms and expect that before long there will be new and interesting ones emerging from the stump left behind by the monster tree below. I can’t help wondering why such a nice, big tree was cut down. I’m sure it didn’t want to be.

I don’t see fungi in the little garden plots where I take my compost offerings every few days. Just rich soil, flowers, tomatoes, and curious artifacts like the decorative tea cup in the photo.

The big echinacea at the house we are selling took me completely by surprise. I don’t remember when I planted it, and I know it never bloomed before. It strikes me as something dropped in from outer space. And as my kids know, that is likely to remind me of the 1978 version of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Because so many things do remind me of that movie.

My next shot notes the 150th celebration of the local library, for which a beautiful day came through, as ordered. (Costume parade, Anyone? Speeches by Ralph Waldo Emerson?)

Next, there’s a photo of a typical sight near Boston’s North Station, where I went to have coffee with my friend Lillian one day. A number of tour businesses use Segways to get people from one historic site to another. Remember when Dean Kamen’s invention was going to revolutionize transportation? So far, it seems to have revolutionized only tourism.

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More curiosities seen on the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston: Waves. The first wave pictured below has a sign saying, “From the Greenway.” The second says, “From the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA.”

This website helps to explain that an urban collaboration led by artists Susan Hoffman Fishman and Elena Kalman is behind this project, “The Wave: An Interactive Public Art Installation Fostering Global H20 Awareness.” I love it, but it didn’t raise my water awareness immediately because I had trouble figuring out what it was. Thank goodness for Google.

A couple weeks ago, I wrote to the Greenway people (and to the city of Boston) about bikers who were using the Greenway paths despite signs saying not to use “bicycles, skateboards, personal transportation, i.e. Segway.” I like that people bike instead of use cars, but not on footpaths. The signs cause walkers to lower their guard. I’ve seen near misses.

The city wrote me: “Thank you so much for your email. It is illegal to ride on the Greenway. We at the City of Boston are aware of this issue. We will be installing a bike lane on the road for the cyclists this season. Research shows that that bike lanes dramatically reduce sidewalk riding.”

The Greenway people wrote: ” For the safety and enjoyment of all Greenway visitors, biking is not permitted anywhere in the parks. When our horticultural and maintenance staffs witness a cyclist, they will ask them to dismount; City of Boston Police Department handles enforcement.  … The City of Boston installed five new Hubway stations along the Greenway.  This fall, the City will be installing painted bike lanes onto the street which will help alleviate the problem in the parks.”

(At the moment the Boston police are more preoccupied with Occupy Boston. They arrested 141 Occupiers early Tuesday because they had spread into the Greenway from Dewey Square. Funny how a few days can change one’s perspective. Today the concerns of the Occupiers and the concerns of the police both seem more serious than bikes on footpaths.)



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