Tag: Massachusetts

QUINCY MARKET IN LIGHTS

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 1 Comment
Thousands of lights.
Thousands of lights.

Each year the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, commemorates its gratitude for relief Boston extended in the aftermath of a deadly harbor explosion in 1917. The Canadians deliver a large Christmas tree, which is then erected and decorated in the heart of Boston.

The lighting itself is quite an extravaganza, as I learned the first time my choir participated in the event at historic Quincy Market. Imagine seeing yourself on the Jumbotron while you sing.

Boston is a rich and varied destination – the Hub of New England, or the Universe, as they used to say. Living a little more than an hour to the north, we’re well within its orb.

A perfect combination.
A perfect combination.

HARVARD’S GREAT THEATER

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The aspirations are obvious.
The aspirations are obvious.

 

Instead of gargoyles, just look ...
Instead of gargoyles, just look …

 

Memorial Hall in Cambridge is a high Victorian Gothic building erected in honor to the Harvard University men who died defending the Union in the American Civil War. One end of the structure holds Sanders Theatre, an intimate, wood-toned Globe-style auditorium – one we treasure for its Christmas Revels productions each year. The other half of the building embraces the Harry Potter-like Annenberg dining hall. The two parts connect at a marble-lined hallway engraved with the names of the fallen Harvard students.

 

Even on a cold, blustery day, it's hard not to be impressed when approaching its entrance.
Even on a cold, blustery day, it’s hard not to be impressed when approaching its entrance.

 

Imagine trumpets from every portal. Not that the Revels do it ... yet.
Imagine trumpets from every portal. Not that the Revels do it … yet.

 

Greater Boston is a rich and varied destination – the Hub of New England, or the Universe, as they used to say. Living a little more than an hour to the north, we’re well within its orb.

LATE MORNING TRAFFIC

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Medium traffic.
Medium traffic.

Vehicles on Interstate 93 stream from the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge into the depths of the Big Dig tunnels. The graceful wishbone design of its two supports gives no hint of the engineering challenge of crossing a navigable waterway before plunging a highway deep under the heart of a major metropolis.

Boston is a rich and varied destination – the Hub of New England, or the Universe, as they used to say. Living a little more than an hour to the north, we’re well within its orb.

The bridge itself is gorgeously breathtaking.
The bridge itself is gorgeously breathtaking.

GRAY SEAL PARADISE

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They seem to enjoy the backstroke. So do I.
They seem to enjoy the backstroke. So do I.

The deck of the Chatham Fish Pier is ideal for viewing gray seals in motion.

The town at the elbow of Cape Cod also includes Monomoy Island, an 8-mile-long sand spit that is home to thousands of the seals, as well as great white sharks feeding on them in recent years.

Seeing four at once is common here. Another had just dived where the gulls now flock.
Seeing four at once is common here. Another had just dived where the gulls now flock.

 

INSIDE HISTORY AT FANEUIL HALL

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Just imagine the figures who have spoken here through the course of American history.
Just imagine the figures who have spoken here through the course of American history.

Maybe it’s all a reflection of classic proportions, but so much in Peter Faneuil’s historic town hall and marketplace simply feels right ever since it was erected in 1742 and enlarged in 1805 under Charles Bulfinch’s masterful design.

Boston is a rich and varied destination – the Hub of New England, or the Universe, as they used to say. Living a little more than an hour to the north, we’re well within its orb.

Reaching for the top of the hall.
Reaching for the top of the hall.

 

FANCIFUL CRITTERS

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Rabbit,run!
Rabbit,run!

The animals circling on the carousel in the Rose Kennedy Garden atop the Big Dig are a vast improvement over the days when the Expressway overhead was jammed.

Boston is a rich and varied destination – the Hub of New England, or the Universe, as they used to say. Living a little more than an hour to the north, we’re well within its orb.

Yes, we have lobster.
Yes, we have lobster.

 

SPIRE OF INSPIRATION

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments
Old North Church, in Boston's North End.
Old North Church, in Boston’s North End.

Lanterns in the spire of North Church signaled directions to Paul Revere and other riders at the outbreak of the American Revolution. The race to Lexington and Concord was on.

Boston is a rich and varied destination – the Hub of New England, or the Universe, as they used to say. Living a little more than an hour to the north, we’re well within its orb.

 

IN A WHIMSICAL VEIN

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Atop Fanueil Hall.
Atop Fanueil Hall.

The cricket design of the weather vane atop Faneuil Hall always delights me. Or, as I long wondered from the ground, could it be a grasshopper?

Whichever, the craftsman and the client both demonstrate a lasting sense of delight in the realms of nature. Turns out to be a cricket after all, crafted in 1742 by Deacon Shem Drowne, perhaps inspired by similar weather vanes on London’s Royal Exchange building. The cricket, by the way, is the only part of the historic building to remain unchanged from the 1742 original. A 1761 fire gutted merchant Peter Faneuil’s original structure, and in 1805 architect Charles Bulfinch designed additions that doubled the width and length of the building while keeping the basic style to produce what we see today.

Boston is a rich and varied destination – the Hub of New England, or the Universe, as they used to say. Living a little more than an hour to the north, we’re well within its orb.