Becky's photoblog

They’re about to repave Baystate Road, which means I get a clear shot with no cars in the whole block!

We were out of town for Hannah’s grandfather’s funeral, but we were able to visit them a few days later and play with the baby. Sorry for the quality of these photos … it’s a little tricky to get a good photo of a squirmy baby in low light.

 

I took a nice long walk around Boston, starting and ending at Symphony Hall. I walked through the Christian Science Plaza, passed the reflecting pool, passed the Prudential Center, down Huntington Ave, and left on Ring Road at Copley Plaza to Boylston Street. Left on Boylston, right on Fairfield, straight down Fairfied Ave to the foot bridge over Storrow Drive and down to the Charles River Esplanade. At that point, I realized that there was some kind of walk for something going on because there were TONS of people walking along the river in blue t-shirts. I took a closer look, and realized there were tons of little kids walking. Their t-shirts said it all: Boston Children’s Hospital: Raise funds, Save lives, Repeat.

As I crossed the little bridge to my favorite part of the esplanade, the little island that gives you a great view of Back Bay, I was so moved to see so many families walking together on such a gorgeous day and raising money for sick kids. There were even a bunch of what looked like high school cheerleaders cheering everyone on. From where I was, I could see two long streams of families in blue-tshirts, some coming towards me along the island, and some crossing back over to the Storrow Drive side and walking in the same direction as me.

Later, I looked it up and learned that the event was NStar’s Walk for Boston Children’s Hospital, and that there was a 2-mile route and a 7-mile route, both starting and ending at the Hatch Shell. I was right at the turn-around point for the 2-mile route which I why I was seeing walkers in both directions.

I continued along, and crossed back over Storrow Drive near Clarendon Street, then walked down Clarendon towards Back Bay Station. As I passed through Copley Plaza, I was pleasantly surprised to see rainbow flags and an American flag flying from facade of Boston Public Library (it’s usually several American flags). Not sure if there’s some occasion I’m not aware of, but I don’t care – it looked absolutely amazing! I stopped to watch some street performers, then continued on down Clarendon.

Across from Back Bay Station, I took a right into the Southwest Corridor Park, and walked through the gorgeous tree-lined park that runs through the beautiful residential neighborhood of the South End. That brought me back to the Prudential Center, and then again through the Christian Science Plaza and back to Symphony Hall!

Date night with D! We walked along the esplanade to Beacon and Exeter, then along Beacon Street to Charles Street for dinner, then across the Public Gardens and down Newbury Street to take the T home from Copley Square. I love this city

Click here for photos from a similar walk a few years ago

Gorgeous day for a lunchtime walk along the Charles River to the Mass Ave Bridge and back.

Enjoying the gorgeous weather by walking home from work, which means walking by Fenway Park an hour before a home game!

After the after-party, we wandered around the Charlestown Navy Yard towards the USS Constitution, and watched the nightly ritual of lowering the flags and setting off a cannon exactly at sunset.

Last year, Brian and Brendan had so much fun at PAX East 2013 that they decided their significant others would also love a gigantic gaming conference. They bought us one-day passes, and on the day in between our first Open House (at work) and the first Passover seder (ie, a very long week), we spent 5 hours wandering around an enormous conference center with several thousand other video & board game enthusiasts. It was exactly as I expected … really overwhelming, really fun, and we ran into Jake!

I have visited just about all of the gorgeous churches in Back Bay, taken a lot of pictures, and added them to my ongoing project, Architectural Landmarks of Boston’s Back Bay. When my cousin recently mentioned his upcoming visit to Arlington Street Church for a friend’s ordination, it reminded me that I haven’t been to see ASC’s gorgeous Tiffany windows in a very long time. And the last time I was there, I didn’t have my camera!

Most churches are open during the day for prayers and tourists, so it’s easy to wander in off the street, drop your jaw over the gorgeous architecture and windows, snap a few great photos to savor the details, and enjoy a peaceful moment of reflection. ASC seems to operate on a weird schedule, and I have the door to be locked the last few times I tried. Not this time.

Arlington Street Church is a Unitarian Universalist Church at the corner of Arlington and Boylston Streets, at the edge of Boston’s Back Bay, right across from the Public Gardens. It was opened in 1861, and it was the first public building in Back Bay. Its spire is 190 feet tall, complete with a bell, weathervane and clocks. The church has an incredibly gorgeous collection of Tiffany stained glass windows, and their collection is among the largest and finest collections of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s work.

 

I took a personal day for an appointment and spent the morning in Copley Square. The sun was shining, it was the Red Sox home opener (always a sign that Spring is finally here), and the Boston Marathon is in a few weeks. New Balance had great ads all up and down Boylston Street, right near the finish line. It was a gorgeous day, and it warmed my heart to see Copley Square gearing up for the marathon.

BU recently renovated an old building and turned it in to a brand new gorgeous Admissions Reception Center, overlooking Storrow Drive and the Charles River. They hosted an open house this afternoon so that staff from all over campus could see the new space. We noshed on treats and got a tour of the amazing space, and the lovely views.

 

Looking down Newbury Street from the corner of Exeter, after a delicious early dinner with Jen.

I guess I’m a little obsessed with Brewer Fountain, but can you blame me? It’s absolutely gorgeous. It’s a fountain in Boston Common, right near the Park Street station, at the foot of the hill where the red-brick gold-domed State House sits. It depicts two aquatic couples from Greek Mythology, Neptune and Amphitrite, and Acis and Galatea. While the four figures sit with their backs to eachother facing in all four directions, the couples lean around to glance at eachother. The details are magnificent, and it’s picture perfect from absolutely every single angle.

I did a drawing of this fountain in 2006, a few years after the fountain had stopped working. About two years later, after being inspired by an artist who draws in dark pencil directly on his paintings, I spent the Fall of 2008 creating a painting of the fountain from the same angle as the drawing. Continuing a series of sculpture-paintings that I’ve been working on for many years, I depicted the bronze figures with flesh tones and colorful drapery. I gave that painting to my boyfriend at the time, now my husband.

In 2009, I was deprived of the chance to visit my favorite fountain when they began a huge restoration project of the fountain and the surrounding plaza. In May 2010, the restored fountain was unveiled as a shiny new functioning fountain!

Last summer, I happened to be in Boston Common at that perfect dusk moment when the street lights have come on, but it’s still light enough out for the sky to be a gorgeous shade of deep blue. I snapped a photo that ended up turning in to a painting, which I finished this morning.

Here’s a handful of photos that I’ve taken of my beloved Brewer Fountain over the last few years, including photos that I took to help me with the painting.

It snowed today, again. The MBTA has a lovely habit of terminating my train about 6 stops before my house when the weather is bad because the street-level trolley just causes more traffic. So I took a different route home, and it took me through Copley Square … my favorite part of Boston. Absolutely gorgeous snow-covered churches, in that perfect hour when the sky is still light, but the street lamps are on … everything glows just a bit.

The first two photos are of Old South Church, and the second two are of Trinity Church.

The view of Comm Ave from my building. Check out the size of those snow flakes!!

Heading to work on the morning if another lovely storm.

At 8 am, the sun was still working its way up and over Mission Hill, lighting up the trees and the gorgeous orange brick.

The Castle at Boston University. Not a bad view from my morning meeting.

After stumbling upon the rehearsal of the Old South Ringers (handbell ringers) last year, I was hooked. We returned a year later for their concert of Christmas carols from around the world. I’ve visited many different churches, and our own Old South Church remains one of my favorites, especially when it is decked out for Christmas.

Please click here for the photos I took of Old South Church at Christmas last year.

The Bunker Hill Monument is one of the distinguishing features of the Boston skyline, and we got several great views of it as we drove around Charlestown this afternoon.

One of my favorite signs of the season is the Christmas lights on the trees lining the Commonwealth Avenue Mall (the tree-lined path running between the two lines of the wide avenue along the spine of Back Bay between Mass Ave and the Public Gardens). As I walked down the mall, I got this year’s first glimpse of the lights and I even saw the guy who was hanging some of the lights!

After work, I took a chilly brisk walk to the Prudential Center, and enjoyed a few blocks of Newbury Street on my way. Newbury Street looks so festive at this time of the year, and I loved being able to see the street lights, the lights in the trees, and the lights of the Hancock Tower all mixed together.

I snapped this shot as I was leaving my office and heading towards the T in Kenmore Square, which was already starting to fill up with people getting ready to watch Game 6 of the World Series at the bars near Fenway Park. It was also starting to fill up with cops because, well, this was an important game and there are an awful lot of Red Sox fans in Boston.

This is not a great shot, but the Prudential Tower was lit up with the words GO SOX, and it looked amazing. By the way, in case you hadn’t heard, the Sox won that game, thereby winning the 2013 World Series. What an amazing night 🙂

There’s something perfect about this scene … the orange trees contrast with the blue buildings, and the full trees in the center will soon lose their leaves like the ones on the left and the right. To me, the transition from fall to winter is as gorgeous and perfect as the transition from day to dusk. This scene makes me feel like a proud New Englander.

This is what I saw as I left the Microsoft NERD Center for the third time this weekend, at the end of an inspiring 3-day conference. I was exhausted, but I saw this, and I took a deep breath, smiled, went home to my sweetie, and made a long list of ideas. There is much to do!