Becky's photoblog

Gorgeous day

We’ve only had two wedding anniversaries, but we also celebrate the anniversary of when we got together … seven years ago today. We had a lovely evening wandering around the city, starting in the Public Gardens, then up Charles Street to the Liberty Hotel for dinner, back down Charles Street, to Newbury Street where we saw a sukkah in front of Emmanuel Church, then we passed through Copley Square on our way home.

The view of Bay State Road (in the foreground), the Charles River and Cambridge from a 5th floor conference room.

My inner 8-year old needed an arts and crafts project, so I decorated a box with pretty autumn leaves. While walking along Baystate Road during my lunch break, I collected several lovely leaves all in excellent condition. I flattened them a bit, then mod-podged them to a box I had lying around just waiting to be decorated. So pleased with myself 🙂

We wanted to see some colorful New Hampshire leaves, and it had been too long since we’d seen Sara and Eric, so we made some last-minute plans and drove to Keene, NH. We had an incredible brunch at the Stage Restaurant, wandered around for a bit, then headed over to Mt. Pitcher and walked to the top for some incredible views!

I had about an hour to kill before our pre Yom Kippur dinner, and I needed to clear my head after a long week, so I took a walk around the Fenway neighborhood and found myself wandering through the Fenway Victory Gardens: “the oldest continuously operating Word War II Victory Gardens in the United States, spanning 7.5 acres with over 500 gardens.” Who knew?

The gardens are part of a park that’s about half way between Boston University and the Gardner Museum … two places that are a 15 minute walk apart, and where I have spent a lot of my time in the past 8 years … and yet I have never wandered yet another one of Boston’s incredibly little hidden gems.

The Fenway Victory Gardens are truly beautiful and bizarre. It’s one little secret garden after another along narrow dirt paths, each garden with it’s incredibly unique and often strange qualities. You can feel like you’re alone and lost (in a good/peaceful way) among the endless rows of gardens, and yet you can hear traffic not too far away, you can see nearby apartments, and you can see nearby landmarks such as the Prudential Tower. The contrast made this oasis of calm and quiet even more beautiful. In many cases, it’s clear that the gardens are not just places to grow plants and produce, but also places for peaceful personal reflections. Many of the gardens featured wandering paths, sitting nooks and an enormous variety of personal touches.

Brian took this lovely photo of the leaves that have fallen off of one of my favorite trees

Brian went to MIT’s annual Great Glass Pumpkin Patch while I went to a lecture at the Gardner Museum. I was bummed to miss out of pretty shiny things and family time, but it was a great lecture.

Here’s my photoblog post from when we went to this together last year.

Photo by Brian D.

My parents set a beautiful table (as always) for our first Rosh Hashanah in the new house.

My cousin Alex was in town from Australia! We hosted a little family gathering and served some of our local favorites: Legal Seafoods clam chowder, apples and cheddar with caramel, and pumpkin pie!

Our first butternut squash risotto of the fall season! With broccoli, seared turkey breast and lots of delicious seasonings

So good to catch up with the beautiful Fiorentino family at the Harvard Fall Festival!

Lovely day for a wedding at Brooksby Farm in Peabody … I had the honor of assisting the wedding photographer!

I love love love fall flowers, and the sweetheart who brings them to me 🙂

Here’s some not-so-great photos of a lovely evening with friends, including a reenactment of the newlyweds’ first dance! My real camera is sooo much better than the camera on my phone!

We wandered through the Boston Arts Festival in Columbus Park (a favorite open-air art market, which we he hadn’t checked out in a few years) before heading back to the car and heading up to New Hampshire for the evening. A little dose of inspiration in the middle of a lovely day!

We checked out the Feast of St. Anthony, an annual weekend-long festival in the North End. It was really fun!

Really good light on really really thoughtful flowers

Melissa couldn’t believe that we had never been to any of the Boston Harbor Islands, so we made a last-minute plan to fix that right away. We packed a picnic, hopped on the ferry from Long Wharf (which stopped at Spectacle Island) and spent an absolutely perfect Saturday afternoon wandering around Georges Island.

Most of the island is what’s left of Fort Warren, a civil-war era fort which is now mostly grassy fields, big empty rooms, creepy dark stair wells, and upper ramparts with amazing views  in all directions. We could see Boston, Quincy, Hull, and Boston Light on Little Brewster Island. There were tons of families out there because it’s a fun and inexpensive way for kids to run around and explore, and for adults to relax along the shore with amazing views. We got our exercise in, and we also sat for a long time and read our books. Perfect afternoon! Thanks, Mel!!

A few of us got together to celebrate Melissa’s birthday earlier this week, and they brought her an incredibly delicious dessert with four spoons!

We had such a lovely day trip up to Portland a few weeks ago and we decided to try it again … Maine is only an hour and a half away! We decided to drive up to Ogunquit because we just wanted to walk around and get some exercise some place scenic. I remembered the beautiful scenic path along the water near Perkins Cove (the Marginal Way), so we headed there. SO bummed to find that it was so crowded with tourists that we had to completely abandon the idea … there was absolutely nowhere to park the car! So annoying because I could see glimpses of the stunning scenery as we drove around, and I was itching to get out of the car and take a long a walk but we were actually stuck.

After some whining (all me), we decided to continue north along the coast to see what else we would see, and we drove through a quieter, less touristy, residential neighborhood of incredible oceanfront properties … and then, suddenly there was a parking spot! We hopped out at Wells Beach, and walked along the shoreline listening to that wonderful irreplaceable sound of waves crashing on rocks.

After we walked a bit, we decided to take a risk on a tiny little shack of a restaurant called Wells Beach Lobster Pound. It didn’t look very promising from the outside, but we were pleasantly surprised! We brought our food across the street and enjoyed incredible clam chowder, fried clam strips and a lobster roll on a ledge overlooking the ocean. Absolutely perfect!

We had a lovely dinner with Courtney and Brendan … married for only 6 days! They introduced us to a food tradition popular in Brendan’s family, and I’m convinced that many many more people should be doing this. Grilling delicious food right on the dinner table, then pouring amazing melted raclette cheese (which had been melting below the grill) right over your food. I didn’t get any great photos of this because I was too busy stuffing my face.

Other than their ‘official’ first bite, they didn’t get the chance to eat their own wedding cake. They treated us to a slice from their cake-topper and it was delicious!!

I volunteered at the Gardner Museum for the third of three Neighborhood Nights … a summer tradition of fun, games, art and music at the Gardner on lovely summer evenings, all for free. I’ve been volunteering at this event for many many years.

Second date-night in a row this week! Delicious dinner in Mission Hill with Deanna, then a lovely walk past the gorgeous Mission Church to her car.

A perfect summer evening with my dear friend Maureen! Wandering the North End, looking out over the harbor, sharing amazing appetizers at Prezza, one of a gajillion incredible Italian restaurants in the North End, and sharing this spectacular chocolate cake … cold ice cream, warm center, raspberry sauce … soooo good! I love date nights.

I had the day off, so I ran an errand at city hall (such an ugly building!), then I decided to wander around the North End. It’s such a lovely neighborhood, especially during the day when the sidewalks are not packed with long lines outside of every restaurant. Unfortunately, the sky was gray so the photos aren’t great, but it was a lovely afternoon for wandering. Of course, the North End is right by the harbor so I was able to find a quiet bench and watch the sailboats go by for a while. Great view of the hotel where we were married!

The morning after Brendan and Courtney’s wedding, we decided to wander around nearby Salem before heading back to Boston. We hit the gorgeous Turner exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum and then we wandered around the touristy part of Salem – gorgeous views of the harbor, and a lovely lunch!