Becky's photoblog

We went to the holiday market in the Seaport district, then to LL Bean and got a new hat, then to the Museum of Science to see the train exhibit again … then we went back to the Museum of Science again a week later!

Snowy frozen river 1 – Dec 19, 2020 from BeckyDD on Vimeo.

Snowy frozen river 2 – Dec 19, 2020 from BeckyDD on Vimeo.

It was incredibly cool to leave home in a cab at noon, and arrive at our stateroom aboard the Maasdam  less than 90 minutes later! We wasted no time in exploring the ship, our home away from home for the next week. It’s very similar in a lot of ways to the other Holland America ship we were on for our honeymoon, and it brought back great memories. We were up on the top deck (14th) to watch as the ship pulled away from our beautiful city, with planes flying overhead and landing at Logan, and past all of the harbor islands. Boston’s skyline kept getting smaller and smaller, but we could still see it as the sun set behind us and the nearly full moon rose ahead of us. It’s so rare for me to be able to see so much open sky that the sunset is on my right and the moon is rising on my left!

Brian’s Photos:

Mel has a strict policy about not working on her birthday, and I felt it was necessary to support her in this endeavor. We checked out the brand new Boston Public Markets, we wandered the Greenway, we spent 90 minutes wandering the harbor on a sailboat, we had a delicious dinner at Back Deck, and we saw Kinky Boots at the Opera House!

Today was quite a day, ending with a lovely walk along the Charles River with an old friend and her adorable dogs. Today, the Supreme Court of the United States made it legal for all couples to marry – something that should simply be ordinary rather than incredibly momentous, and yet, seemingly out of nowhere … a victory for common sense, a victory for decency, a victory for what never should have been illegal in the first place, a victory for love.

Today, one of my student’s slept through her final, and I helped her navigate a tricky situation. Today, another office gave us the rest of a delicious ice cream cake. Today, the president led an enormous group in singing Amazing Grace at the funeral of a victim of an unthinkable crime. It was a day for very small victories and very big victories.

Today also marks one year since the death of my father-in-law, and although we missed him very much yesterday and we will miss him very much tomorrow, today we stop and think about 525,600 minutes … what it means when a whole year has passed without him.

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!!

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.

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 one's a bit out of order, but it's my favorite

A year after our wedding, we can look back and honestly say that we would not have done anything differently. Our wedding weekend was truly joyful, and we returned to the Hyatt Harborside to celebrate our first anniversary and enjoy those wonderful memories. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and breakfast at the Harborside Grill, and we still can’t get enough of that spectacular view! Brian’s family surprised us with a delicious antipasto platter and a bottle of champagne, which was a really sweet treat.

Brian planned a wonderful surprise of his own. He ordered a mini-version of our wedding cake from the bakery where our wedding cake was from, and we picked it up on our way to my parents’ house. He tried to get the bakery to decorate our cake with the same leafy design as our wedding cake, but it didn’t work out quite as he had planned. Instead, it was even better. They frosted the cake with the leaves of two full trees meeting in the middle. We had lunch with my family, and shared the cake with them.

Click here to see Maureen’s wonderful video slide-show from our wedding.

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

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.

The view from the Top of the Hub, looking east towards the Hancock Tower

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

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.

I had a groupon for a Cape Ann Whale Watch, and we used that as an excuse for an incredibly pleasant daytrip to the beautiful town of Gloucester, MA (click to see google map). One of the many things I love about living in Massachusetts is that there are gorgeous vacation spots right under our noses. Gloucester is right on the ocean, and the weather was picture-perfect.

First, we wandered around Rocky Neck, one of American’s oldest artist colonies. I went to art school, so I have some idea of what it’s like to be surrounded by artsy-types. This is much different. These are serious and talented artists running cozy galleries, and living the good life in quaint houses with incredible views.

Then, we crossed an item off of our list by visiting the Sargent House Museum. The house was built for Judith Sargent Murray (1751–1820), who was (among many other things), the great-grand-aunt of John Singer Sargent (one of the few artists that Brian and I can truly agree on). The house was lovely and the tour guide really knew her stuff, but we had to duck out before the tour was over because the whales were waiting.

We boarded the Hurricane II, and enjoyed the views, the wind and the salty air as we headed out to visit the whales. It was such a clear day that we could see Boston in the distance the whole time we were out there. Brian actually listened as the guide taught us about the different whales that we saw, so you’ll have to ask him. I just wanted to see something you don’t see every day — an animal so huge that it reminds you how small we are, in its natural habitat, an ocean so huge it reminds you of how little we know.

After the whale watch, we decided to take a little drive and ended up in Rockport, MA (click for google map), another great town with lots of galleries, cute shops and beautiful views. After some wandering, it was time to find some dinner. We had just stopped in to a small restaurant to try their chowder and their seating area was crammed with picnic benches and loud children. That’s exactly what I didn’t want for dinner, and I was getting frustrated with the tiny keyboard on my phone, searching among an overwhelming array of local options. So Brian said “let’s just try this place” and we walked in to the restaurant across the street.

I can’t say this enough: we are two incredibly lucky and fortunate people. The hostess at Brackett’s Oceanview Restaurant apologetically offered us the last available table at the restaurant – a tiny, out of the way, private room with a big window. The table was perfect, the room was perfect, the view was perfect, my drink was perfect, the fried seafood was perfect, the lobster ravioli was perfect and my husband is perfect.

Then we walked off dinner on Pier Avenue, just in time to catch a beautiful sunset over Sandy Bay.

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

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 …

So incredibly peaceful

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.

Another groupon … we took another incredibly pleasant cruise around Boston harbor during a beautiful foggy sunset.

The USS Constitution marks every dawn and dusk with a canon blast. Remind me never to move to Charlestown, but it was a lovely little ceremony.

Looking towards East Boston and Logan Airport during the whole to our cruise we had a great view of the hotel where we’re getting married next March.

The fog really started to settle over the city as we headed further away from downtown towards the Boston Harbor Islands

My second favorite shot from this group: the ocean meets the sky and both seem endless

Turning around to head back to the city, which we can barely see.

The lights start to break through the clouds and the city comes into view …

This is unedited you really could see a clear line between hazy fog and crystal clear water

Pulling back into Long Wharf