Becky's photoblog

New Hampshire isn’t THAT far away, but it feels like it when one of your oldest closest friends lives there and you still only see her once a year. We’ve been lucky in the last few months … happy occasions have given us the chance to get together a couple of times in the last few months. Sara was here just last weekend for the naming, and she and Eric were back in Boston last Friday to see the Book of Mormon.

We suggested two restaurants in the theater district … one with a fun theme and a fairly standard menu, and one with an excellent menu. These foodies saw ‘poutine with duck gravy’ and opted for the restaurant with the excellent menu. Excellent choice 🙂

After a long week, we sat down to a delicious meal and refreshing drinks at Stoddard’s Food and Ale. Twice that weekend, we had dinner with another couple … the girls both ordered the same dish  and the boys both ordered the same dish …  and this was the first of the two.

I gave a tour of the Gardner Museum to Courtney and a few of her friends who were in town for the weekend – I love meeting my friends’ friends because they are always, without fail, awesome people!

And, we got to see this year’s hanging nasturtiums in the courtyard … and they are truly gorgeous this year!

Liz and Lee brought their friends and family together at their synagogue for a Shabbat morning service, which included a ceremony to give their daughters their Hebrew names, and welcome them to the Jewish community … followed by a schmeer and schmooze!

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.

We wanted to deliver a gift, so we visited Liz and Lee and spent the afternoon snuggling with their almost-three-week-old incredibly adorable twins.

Dinner with the girls in our old ‘hood! Devlin’s, which has a lovely bar.

We kept hearing that Frozen was supposed to be really good, and ‘Let it Go’ had been stuck in both of our heads for a while, so we decided to host a movie night after it came out on DVD this week. Mel offered to make dinner, and she loves cooking on a theme. For our ‘Frozen’ movie night, she made chili (get it?!), cornbread, frozen margaritas and a dessert that was intended to have icing (!) but ended up with whipped cream instead. Thanks Mel, for an amazing meal, and thanks Disney for being really awesome for a really long time.

We finally got around to using one of the gift cards that we received as a wedding gift (yes, I know our wedding was two years ago). Family friends gave us a gift certificate to Maine Lobster Direct — a great idea in theory, but we were both slightly terrified of the idea of cooking lobsters (it’s a bit brutal), so we had them sent to my parents’ house. Two lobsters, and two servings of jumbo shrimp, clam chowder and cherry cheesecake were delivered to my parents’ house, and the four of us enjoyed a long delicious meal after a long week. Mom made extra portions of clam chowder, plus steamed mussels, and steaks to round out our feast.

Out of respect for those who are thoroughly grossed out by the sight of a bowl full of mussels or lobsters shells, I won’t share a few of the photos I took. Instead, here’s a lovely photo of the tulips in my parents’ dining room.

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.

My colleagues did an amazing job putting together a social hour for our students, with teas from all over the world and snacks to go with them. I took a ton of pictures – it was a big hit with the students!

I may be a bit of a tech junkie, but I also LOVE low-tech solutions. I found this cool little ravioli cutter that works just like a pizza cutter (not exactly earth-shattering, but I had never see this before). This works SO MUCH better than cutting the ravioli with a straight knife then crimping the edges with a fork. Also, my garlic and pepper seasoned pasta rolled out into sheets that weren’t quite wide enough for two rows of square ravioli, so I made triangle ravioli. Stuffed with butternut squash, of course. Delicious!

I love this photo of my beautiful little cousins reading together after brunch this morning — what a treat to see them, and their parents, and their grandparents!!

Jen just became an aunt! Her twin sister just had twin daughters a few days ago, so she flew in from California to meet her nieces.

We met up in Boston to catch up over dinner, shopping and a delicious dessert – this is salted caramel pudding cups at California Pizza Kitchen … so good! And so good to spend time with a close friend of 22 years on such a special occasion.

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

Thanks for Mo and Rachel for getting a couple of us together for a delicious brunch, play time with the puppy, and a new puzzle! A perfect Sunday.

We love it when our friends invite us over and cook for us … and it happened twice this weekend, because we are super-spoiled!

We cranked out fresh pasta, and made two different sauces: pesto with roasted chopped pine nuts, and braised short rib sauce with fresh parsley. Delicious!

I know I take a lot of pictures of the Gardner Museum’s greenhouse … and here’s some more! One of the gardeners saw me taking pictures (and he saw my badge), so he offered to let me in to the greenhouse for a closer look. What a treat!

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.

Liz and Lee’s ‘best guess’ due date has come and gone, and at 36 weeks, these two almost-parents are excited and ready to meet their twin girls! They met us at the old house to pick up their new camera (which I had picked out and set up for them), and to see the house one last time while we packed up more boxes.

Liz and I have a lot of shared memories in that house … sleepovers, birthday parties, Halloween parties, pre-prom photo shoots …  and it was wonderful to share just one more memory with her in the old house.

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.

We had a great time visiting friends who we haven’t seen in far too long. We got to see their new house, and of course their precious little man. He let me tickle him, and he sort of let me take his picture, so I let him play with my camera. He took a lovely photo of his parents, and he also took his very first selfie. We’ll work on that one …

The Gardner Museum’s new wing is now two years old, and after two years of encouraging guests to take photos in the new wing (because that’s the only area of the museum where photography is permitted), I finally got around to taking my own photos! The morning light was absolutely gorgeous, especially with all of the light reflecting off of the snow.

The new wing starts with the front entry hall and the admissions desk. Beyond that is greenhouse which guests can view from a long corridor. Across from the front hall is the coat check and the gift shop, and then beyond that is the main staircase. To the right of the main stairs is the Living Room, to the left is the cafe and the art studio, and between the stairs is the corridor that leads you to Mrs. Gardner’s spectacular museum.

Our dear friend Becky is saying good-bye to Boston, and embarking on an adventure around the world. We hosted a send-off so that we could get a bunch of people together, and we spent a perfectly pleasant Sunday afternoon hanging out and snacking. Mel did it again with her delicious snacks … vanilla dipped strawberries and apricots, two different kinds of cheese dips and raspberry pie!

I just realized that I forgot to actually take any photos of our guest of honor because we were all distracted by the adorable toddler who provided the entertainment for the afternoon by repeatedly taking a running jump into the arms of any adult who would lift him up and turn him upside down  🙂

My sweetie knows that I love orange roses.

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.

When friends need a hand, you can count on us to be there for them, even when it’s a lot to ask. We did our duty today, and headed up to Frederick’s Pastries in North Andover to taste-test several delicious cakes, fillings and icings to help our friends pick out their wedding cake. It was a rough afternoon, but did what had to be done. 🙂

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