Becky's photoblog

There’s a mysterious park next to my supermarket. Above it is more like it. Melissa ‘discovered’ this park when we first moved here, and she told me I would love it. It’s not that I didn’t believe her, but the park is at the top of a hill (Mission Hill), and it always looked like a pretty steep climb. They recently built a staircase in to the side of the hill (not that stairs are any easier for me than hills) so I finally decided to check it out before buying my groceries.

Worth it.

Just as I figured, this hill-top park has an amazing view of the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, better known as Mission Church, better known as the church where Ted Kennedy’s funeral was held. It was pretty amazing to be eye-level with the bell tower of a cathedral, and it was incredibly quiet and peaceful up there in the middle of a busy neighborhood. So many hidden gems in Boston!

Kevin W. Fitzgerald Park:

Click here to see more of my photos of Mission Church

<p>Who doesn't love a sunset walk along the river? The sun was setting (and reflecting off the water) directly behind Randy's head.</p> Kathy, Randy and I met up downtown to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and a perfect dusk. We walked and walked, then enjoyed an amazing dinner, then walked some more! Starting at Park Street, our walk took us towards Government Center, then through the maze of Beacon Hill, past churches I had never seen before, then across the Fiedler Bridge to the Hatch Shell and the Charles River Esplanade (just as the set was setting behind the skyline) and down Mass Ave. We took the T back to Beacon Hill to use a groupon and try out an amazing sushi restaurant, then we walked it off all the way down Charles Street, through Beacon Hill again, past the Public Gardens and then to Copley to wait for my bus. Great exercise with great friends!

Click here for photos from another walk along the Charles River Esplanade

<p>The Koch Gallery at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston</p> They renovated my favorite gallery at the MFA. No one asked me, they just went ahead and changed the whole thing. It was fine the way that it was, but you know what? It’s still gorgeous, and it was wonderful to re-explore this incredible space.

This is my favorite gallery in the new wing — gorgeous red silk, shiny gold frames and pristine white marble. I think they like this room so much, they decided to make the Koch Gallery more like it. Who can argue with that?

My sweetie and I celebrated a made-up holiday, our six month anniversary, by spending a gift card given to us as a wedding gift. We knew the restaurant was in the Seaport district, but we didn’t realize that it happened to have an amazing view of the hotel where we were married. They sat us at a quiet table on the patio, and we treated ourselves to an amazing meal with an amazing view.

<p>The view from the Top of the Hub, looking east towards the Hancock Tower</p> To surprise my father for his 60th birthday, mom flew my brother and his girlfriend from LA to Boston. Dad thought he was having dinner with mom and his east coast children, but 6 of us showed up for dinner instead of 4. Dad was very surprised, and the 7 of us sat down to an incredible meal with an incredible view!

Top of the Hub is a restaurant on the 52nd floor of the Prudential Tower, and this was my first time partaking of one of Boston’s most precious gems. The food was amazing. The view was amazing. The sunset was breaktaking, and it was wonderful to have my whole family together.

Flying my brother and his girlfriend to Boston was just the beginning of the surprise. The following day, they kept dad out of the house while the rest of us set up for a backyard BBQ. Dad was expecting just few friends, but a few relatives and a few other friends joined the party to surprise dad for a big all-out end-of-summer festive summer bbq.

For pictures from the entire weekend, please click here — the password is dad’s middle name

The view from Top of the Hub

Finagle a Bagle is not exactly fine dining, but when you have a phenomenal view of Copley Plaza over a bagel and coffee, it’s a breakfast fit for kings. Or, at least, fit for two Bostonians running late for a meeting.

<p>King's Chapel</p> Another groupon, another important item checked off my list. To honor the national holiday that is Mel’s birthday, we had afternoon tea and scones at a fancy cafe on Newbury Street (using a groupon).

Before that, we played tourists in our own city and crossed yet another item off my list — we visited a Boston landmark: King’s Chapel. Mel used to work at King’s Chapel, one of Boston’s oldest churches, so she knew the inside scoop, but she had never been on an ‘official’ tour. Only recently, they have started offering a special tour called ‘Bells and Bones’ — up to the bell tower and down to the crypt. I probably should have asked a few more questions to get a better idea of what I was in for, but instead I decide to follow along. First we went down to what is possibly the creepiest basement in Boston. Dead Bostonians in bricked-up vaults partially blocked by filing cabinets, rubbermaid bins of office supplies, clothing racks with Christmas pageant costumes and stacks of broken antique chairs. Also, it was extremely warm. Then, up a few flights of steep stairs to yet another flight of steeper darker dirtier stairs to the refreshing cool breeze of the belltower and a 2437 lbs. bell cast in 1860 by King’s Chapel parishioner Paul Revere.

Then we sat down for a nice cup of tea.

Finished another painting!

I started a handful of paintings in 2010, then a few things came up in 2011 – a few painting commissions and several months of wedding planning kept me away from other projects. So now I’m putting the finishing touches on paintings that were about 80% finished two years ago.

I take a lot of pictures for a lot of reasons, and one of them is that some photos eventually turn in to paintings. In September 2009, my dear friend Maureen and I went out to lunch on Boylston Street — two photos from that day would eventually become paintings (one’s not done yet).

<p><em><strong>Old South Church</strong></em><br />Copley Square, Boston<br />oil on 12x20" canvas<br />2012-2012</p>
Old South Church
Copley Square, Boston
oil on 12×20″ canvas
2010-2012

<p>Old South Church, Fall 2009</p> This is a painting of Old South Church — a gorgeous church in a city full of gorgeous churches. In September 2009, I snapped a photo (on the right) that contrasted the colorful early-Fall leaves in the church’s award-winning garden with the sun-lit stone work of the church. The following winter, when I decided to begin a painting of this scene, I realized that I needed more pictures because I wanted to include the church’s beautiful bell-tower. So I grabbed this photo, hopped on the T, found the exact spot that I had been standing and re-framed my shot to include the tower.

Then, I heard the most beautiful music coming from inside the church, and suddenly it dawned on me — it was December 24th!  I stepped in to the church, which is gorgeous on any day, and absolutely stunning when it’s decked out for Christmas (photo on the right). I sat down and enjoyed a magical, beautiful, peaceful organ rehearsal, then headed home to start a new painting.

The church’s founders chose an incredible location for their church. Old South Church was built in 1875, next to the Boston Public Library (built in 1848), and across Copley Square from Trinity Church (built 1872-1877). The finish line of the Boston Marathon, established in 1897, is steps away from Old South Church. In 1914, the Copley T station was built right next to Old South Church, and now thousands of commuters and tourists pass it each day. The John Hancock Tower, New England’s tallest building, was built across from Old South Church in 1976.

<p>Old South Church, interior<br />Christmas, 2010</p> Links

• My photoblog: Link to my photoblog entry from 9/5/2009 (lunch and coffee w/ Mo, and Old South Church) and my photoblog entry from 12/24/2010 (Old South Church, interior and exterior, at Christmas)
• Architectural Landmarks of Boston’s Back Bay: One of my web projects is a series of pages with photos and information on several of my favorite landmarks in Back Bay — please visit this site, especially the pages on Old South Church, the Boston Public Library, Trinity Church and the Hancock Tower
• Please visit Old South Church’s website to learn more about their fascinating history and their wonderful programs
• Please visit beckydimattia.com to see more recent paintings

View Larger Map

I took an incredibly beautiful walk along the Charles River Esplanade, from Mass Ave to the Hatch Shell, for a free concert on the lawn — summer in New England, as God intended it. The esplanade is a park that runs along the southern bank of the Charles River, which means that it also runs along the northern edge of Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. The Back Bay is all landfill, and our forefathers saw fit to make a little island of landfill in the Charles River just so we could have an even more beautiful place to watch the sailboats, or take a refreshing after-work stroll to meet a friend. We joined a few thousand Bostonians at the Hatch Shell for a picnic and some great classical music, courtesy of Boston Landmarks Orchestra.

Our cousins got us Sox tickets as a wedding gift!! It was still in the upper 80s well after dark, but it was Youkilis’ first time back at Fenway Park since being traded to the Chicago White Sox, so it was great to welcome him back. Once a Red Sox, always a Red Sox — the crowd still cheered for him even on the opposing team! And we won!!

More Fenway photos!

• We took a tour of Fenway Park in 2011
• We saw an amazing sunset at Fenway in 2011
• We had seats behind home plate in 2008

The USS Constitution is the world’s oldest commissioned naval vessel, and it’s parked right near our friend’s apartment in Charlestown. They set off a cannon every day at 8am and at sunset, so we went up on to the roof to watch the last moments of a bright pink sunset (with the Bunker Hill Monument on the left), then watch as boats of full of tourists arrived for the USS Constitution‘s daily ritual.

Some landmarks in this photo: Old North Church (the white steeple on the far left), the Hancock Tower (the bluish squarish building in the middle), The USS Constitution and the Zakim bridge on the far right

Went to the bank during my lunch break — there’s a really famous ballpark right across the street, maybe you’ve heard of it

When a friend needs a hand with an arts and crafts project, and she offers to feed me too, how can I say no? Mo and I made paper flowers out of colorful tissue paper for her engagement party — we made a very pretty mess!!

We were treated to an incredible display of lights from a Charlestown roofdeck on the Fourth of July … city lights reflected in the harbor, fireworks over the city and a phenomenal lightening storm! The North End’s fireworks were pretty great, but we got to see Boston’s famous fireworks spectacular right above Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution. Phenomenal view …

We brought a friend to the MFA this morning, and headed straight for our favorite gallery (partly because the bathrooms are right there, but that’s beside the point). We found out that our favorite gallery in the entire museum is being renovated! This photo is from a few years ago, and we’ll never see this again …

One of my favorite ways to spend a day off is visiting some of my favorite spots in Boston

The reflecting pool at the Christian Science Center Plaza — Not a bad spot to wander after dinner …

We got the summer started off right with a trip to Cape Cod before it got crowded or hot (actually, it was practically empty, and chilly). We found a deal online, so we spent Memorial Day Monday and the following day at the Chatham Bars Inn. When you think ‘inn’, you might think of a cute little hotel, but this place is more like a village. The main inn is surrounded by several little cottages, a spa, tennis courts, a swimming pool … and the Atlantic Ocean.

After wandering around on the Cape and discovering a lovely gallery, we spent the rest of afternoon reading. The air smelled amazing, the cool breeze felt wonderful (we were both wearing sweaters), I was re-reading one of my favorite biographies and working up a pretty big appetite for seafood. If you’re ever in Chatham, go eat at the Impudent Oyster. Seriously incredible meal.

I had an errand to run in the North End, then I took a long lovely stroll on the Boston Harborwalk — gorgeous little neighborhoods with incredible views of Boston Harbor! At the end of my walk, I treated myself to an oysters and an ahi tuna app on Joe’s patio at Columbus Park.

Old meets new in Boston’s South End (corner of W. Newton and Columbus)

From the Longwood T stop on Huntington Ave, there’s an incredible view of Mission Church (The Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help). It catches the light of the setting sun just as I’m getting out of the gym and heading home.

Went downtown to the courthouse to begin the lengthy process of changing my first, middle and last name

Spent a few hours playing with Jen’s kids before they headed back to CA. This is a very giggly little girl standing on my sternum while a dog licks my ear 🙂

Our wedding weekend began in the hotel’s restaurant – relatives arrived throughout the afternoon, and we kept adding on more tables until it looked like Thanksgiving! Every time I looked up, someone new had arrived!

That evening, we hosted a dinner at the hotel for our out-of-town guests, and then the ladies were invited up to my room for wine and chocolate before bed.

During dinner, Jen and I went upstairs to check out the ballroom so I could show her where she and the girls would stand for their reading during the ceremony. That took my breath away … This was the first time I saw the ballroom set up for our ceremony the following morning. Sneaking in there in jeans with one friend was MUCH different than walking in the room the following day in a white dress, with 120 of our nearest and dearest on their feet.

My old photoblog, 2007-2012

I started a photoblog on photoblog.com in late 2007, around the time I started dating this really great guy. For the next few years, I posted regularly and tried to capture life’s little adventures, most of which included my sweetie. We explored our city, made dinner, threw parties, went to weddings and brought our cameras along for the ride. Those adventures can be found at www.photoblog.com/bdaroff.

My new photoblog, 2012-present

When we got married in March 2012, I changed my name and decided it was time for a new website (www.beckydimattia.com) and a new photoblog (www.beckydimattia.com/photoblog) … and here we are! This photoblog was created in July 2012 using WordPress and the Pretty Parchment theme, which I modified extensively. I recreated all of my posts going back to our wedding weekend, and I plan to continue posting for many years to come.

Three days before our wedding, we visited the hotel to go over everything with our coordinator, then we had lunch at the restaurant looking out over Boston Harbor towards the city. Three days before our wedding, we saw just about the only snow in 2012, and we watched as a thick fog settled in quickly and completed obscured our view. Honestly, it was actually beautiful and magical.