Becky's photoblog

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!

Another puzzle that looks lovely in the gorgeous light that pours through our front window every morning.

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.

A few of us knew that we would all want/need a mid-Fall getaway weekend, so we picked one of New England’s many perfect towns for a get-away weekend, Newport, Rhode Island, and we booked two rooms at one of Newport’s many inns, Bouchard Inn and Restaurant.

We got really lucky because the restaurant was being renovated, so even on a busy weekend, the inn wasn’t full. They upgraded us, and we were treated to an incredibly comfortable two-bedroom suite, with a kitchenette and sitting room between the two bedrooms. It was absolutely perfect to wake up to the smell of the complimentary pastries delivered to our room. We highly recommend the Bouchard Inn. We felt like this really nice guy was letting us stay at his really nice house while he was away for the weekend. Also, and I don’t say this lightly: the bed was really comfortable!

Little did we know that it’s Restaurant Week in Newport, and we had a few amazing meals. We started our adventure with an incredible lunch at Diego’s, and we had a really delicious dinner at Fluke’s. Not exactly fine dining, but we also had a really satisfying meal at Newport Creamery. This was one of my favorite restaurants when I was little, so of course, I had to order my favorite meal: a tuna melt and a super-chipper. Very good for the soul.

And … we saw some mansions (duh!). Click on the for my photos from our visit to three of the Newport Mansions

• The Elms
• Chateau-sur-Mer
• The Breakers

We did the self-guided tour at The Elms, and as I was peaking out the windows from the second floor, I realized that I was missing the last moments before the setting sun fell behind the trees. I raced through the rest of the rooms, and out the back door to see that The Elms’ facade (or is that technically the back of the house?) was brightly lit with the golden oranges of a gorgeous sunset! I only had a few minutes to take a few pictures before the sun set behind the trees. The Elms was no longer glowing, but it was still gorgeous … and then the clouds started to put on a show for us.

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!

I’m attending a WordPress conference in Cambridge this weekend, and this is the gorgeous view of Boston from where I’m sitting – at the Microsoft New England Research and Development (NERD) Center.

This weekend was the 30th Annual Jamaica Pond Lantern Parade, and our second time participating in this awesome tradition. Kids of all ages decorate lanterns with tissue paper (ours was the coolest), and walk around Jamaica Pond. From all around the pond, you can see the parade of lights and it’s really lovely. Plus, the kids get to wear their Halloween costumes, and there’s nothing cuter than that. The weather was perfect, and a big orange moon rose over the pond while we walked with our neighbors.

We hadn’t been to Waterfire in a while, so we finally found time to go on a lovely cool October evening. Still crowded, still gorgeous, still worth it.

Links to other Waterfire albums from my old photoblog:

http://www.photoblog.com/bdaroff/2011/07/30/waterfire.html
http://www.photoblog.com/bdaroff/2009/10/10/waterfire.html
http://www.photoblog.com/bdaroff/2008/08/02/paw-sox-and-waterfire.html

I assisted my dear friend Maureen with a wedding photo shoot in Cambridge, starting with the first look at the Hotel Marlowe, and a gorgeous view of the Charles River from across the street, then the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center … a hidden gem.

We took a nice long ferry ride from Hyannis to Martha’s Vineyard, and spent a few hours wandering around the island on an absolutely gorgeous day.

One of the best parts about staying at a beach hotel in Falmouth, MA is that the beach faces due west. We watched (and photographed) an incredible sunset from our balcony, and watched the sun sink below the horizon right before our eyes. It was like watching a miracle (cheesy, but honestly true).

The following photos were taken between 6:28pm and 6:34pm, and I lined them up in photoshop because I’m a nerd. Enjoy!

The MIT Glass Lab’s annual fall Great Glass Pumpkin Patch – http://glasslab.scripts.mit.edu/pumpkin/

I helped out at a work event at Fenway Park’s State Street Pavilion. Fenway always promises beautiful views of Boston. We also got to see these shiny trophies 🙂

After a very long week of working long hours, we took a long walk along the Jamaicaway, past Jamaica Pond (below), had an incredible meal on Centre Street in JP, then walked home. Fall is in the air!

On the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, I had the honor of hearing the entire speech read by aloud by the strong voices of the interfaith staff of Boston University’s Marsh Chapel (the spiritual core of the campus). It was an incredibly busy day during an incredibly busy week, but I was able to dash out of my office at noon after a long meeting, walk two blocks in no time flat, and meet my sweetie at Marsh Plaza to hear those incredibly powerful words. In the midday heat, we stood in the shadow of the gorgeous MLK memorial sculpture. We are incredibly proud to be Dr. King’s fellow alumni.

[Not a valid template]I used a handful of vacation days to make long weekends this summer, and in honor of my last official summer vacation day, we used a groupon and went on a sunset cruise on the Charles River (with the Charles Riverboat Company). It was an absolutely gorgeous way to see the city, and I highly recommend it! Very relaxing and pleasant, very beautiful.