PhotoHunt: Entertainment

This is my adopted, or as Hawaiians say ‘hanai’, cat, Lilly, and our neighbor, Cosmo. Don’t tell Lilly and Cosmo they are not suppose to like each other because they are best of buddies. For entertainment, Cosmo runs circles around Lilly and Lilly chases Cosmo’s tail……

Have a great sunny and relaxing weekend! Off to the Cape -

Boston Blitz #5

Signs from Boston. I have a penchant for these:-)

Wordless Wednesday

..make a wish ...

Shhhhhh... listen to the quiet

May your prayer of listening deepen enough
To hear in the distance the laughter of God. ~ John O’Donohue,
‘Benedictus – A Book of Blessings’

Boston Blitz No. 4

The Boston Common and The Boston Public Gardens: The Commons was once Boston’s cow pasture, which later evolved into a gathering area where political speeches and protests simmered. Now it’s part of the greenway or Emerald Necklace of Boston (green spaces within the city limits all leading to the Common and Gardens). It’s the oldest park in the US, about 50 acres large. In the 70's, free rock concerts featuring budding groups entertained the college students - The Bank, Aerosmith, The Doobie Brothers.

The State House overlooks the Commons, and Charles Street (a historic section of the city) intersects both the Commons and the Gardens. A magnificent raised relief black plaque of Robert Gould Shaw, the first Black regiment, featured in the movie, Glory, graces the entrance to the Common from the State House.

The Public Gardens gave the artistocracy of Boston a respite to the cows. Now a haven for picnickers, strollers, dog walkers, tourists and brides whose photographer couldn't ask for a better shot of Bostonia in the Public Gardens. The swan boats are hauled out each spring -- and last all summer under peddle power by the local student workers...

PhotoHunt: Utensils

I'll have a busy Thursday through the weekend. While I'm thinking of it - here's my choice.......have a good one!

Wordless Wednesdays

Bubbles - when I was a kid we would blow them and make a wish before they broke....here's to unbroken wishes....

Who will be the last Venetian left?

Beauty is so difficult – a phrase reiterated by Cathy Newman – initially spoken by Yeats - in her article, “Can Venice be Saved?” in the August issue of National Geographic.

An evocative article about the dual role and conflict of Venice as a tourist attraction and historic, residential city. The problems outlined in this article and the sympathies of the local inhabitants are not unlike those that Hawaiians are facing in their homeland. Maybe both are similar due to their land mass (island) and the importance of their survival based on tourism, their life blood, which carries with it conflicts and costs to their standard/price of living and doing business, and the tensions weighing on their infrastructures.

It is suggested that some of Venice’s problems are self-inflicted, some are historically self-perpetuating, and some are fatal. Nay-sayers tout it’s too late to ‘fix’ the problem of local businesses becoming defunct and the exodus of younger Venetians. This is the reality of the Venice of today. Newman surmises that 'Venice will remain but the people will not’. She cites that there were 60,000 Venetian residents in 2007 and this number is significantly dwindling each year, leaving a void in the younger generation of Venetians. Contrast that fact with the statistic of 21 million tourists in 2007 and you begin to understand the topic of her article and the tensions faced in contemporary Venice today.

Although the article is food for thought, the romance, beauty and history of Venice is still alive .. for me.

PhotoHunt: Rocks

Sticking with the Kauai theme - Napali rocks. Taken from the Napali cliff hike in 2007. Truly heaven on earth.

"The mother of us all, the oldest of us all, Hard, splendid as rock, Let the beauty you love, be what you do. There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth." ~ Rumi

Boston Blitz 3 - 'Southie'

Home to Matt Damon's quote, "How are them apples?"

South Boston was the first enclave for Irish immigrants to Boston. Over the years, the neighborhood has attracted professionals and a diversity of ethnic groups, although predominantly the people are of Irish heritage.

In the 70's during forced busing of students to integrate the Boston public schools, Southie was a rough area of Boston. Today it stands as a jewel with a rare coastline featuring beaches within the city limits. Hilly terrain allows great views of the Boston skyline. If you drive straight down L Street, you are only minutes to Boston's harbor district. Streets here are aligned in a grid pattern, probably the only semblance of any order to understanding and getting to know Boston streets.

Castle Island is part of the waterfront of Southie. When spring arrives, it's a ritual for most Bostonians to visit Sullivan's, a no frills fast food dive, and order the first of the season hot dog. These are second only to the Fenway franks.

You can watch the planes landing and taking off from Logan airport which is just on the other side of the Bay while eating an ice cream, walk around the bay, or visit the old fort. The L Street Bathhouse is home of the L Street Brownies, originally a group of men who swim all year round and take their annual nude dunk in the water on New Year's Day to toast their new year.

In addition to Goodwill Hunting, The Departed, Mystic River and Burn Baby Burn were shot in Southie. Its residents at one time included Dennis Lehane, award-winning novelist and Whitey Bulger, FBI's #1 Most Wanted.

Here's Southie for your pleasure....

Wordless Wednesday

I needed one of these this morning. In Kauai, there are roosters running rampant (how's that for alliteration) due to previous hurricanes that swept open pens and no immediate predators to them. This being said, at our timeshare one week, a rooster visited our second floor deck (who knew roosters could fly)and sat our table. While enjoying a Hawaii sunrise one morning, the smell of flowers in the air, the mountains in the midst and the sky a cool pinkish blue tinge, the roosters crowed and someone yelled "Shut up!"

Savor the Power

The principle of life is that life responds by corresponding: your life becomes the thing you have decided it shall be. ~ Raymond Barker

Roll Out Those Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer

Finally, summer has arrived in New England and the Red Sox are cruising into the second part of their season...yeah! Go SOX! Josh Beckett pitched a shut out yesterday. So good, so good...
Photo courtesy of The Boston Globe

PhotoHunt: Garbage

A typical heap of junk - both produce and empty cartons - from a day of selling at Haymarket Square in Boston

Boston Blitz 2 - Sail Boston 2009

Ty and I took today off from work and visited some of the tall ships that sailed into Boston this past week. Some of the photos of this stunning day.

The Coast Guard had a hard time directing nautical traffic.

Wordless Wednesdays

I am vacationing in Italy (in my mind)..
Sistine Chapel Ceiling; Capital of Hadrian's Pantheon.
Photos taken on a memorable visit to Rome in 2006.

A Boston Blitz

Marta, Eden, or Paul -- not sure who mentioned enjoying seeing photos of Boston -- so here goes! For Marco, my apologies for being sooo very late in posting these photos.

Some pics were taken last summer. A photo assignment is long overdue for me and it's on my current agenda. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy a bit of the Customs House in Boston, the entrance into the Chinatown district of Boston which is close to the North End of Boston - just separated by Fanueil Hall and Haymarket --.




The cemetary is Copps Hill, part of the Freedom Trail. This is a plot of land situated across the street from my mother's childhood home and was stragetic to the Minuteman in the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Quote for Sunny Memory Monday

It is singular how soon we lose the impression of what ceases to be constantly before us. A year impairs, a luster obliterates. There is little distinct left without an effort of memory, then indeed the lights are rekindled for a moment --but who can be sure that the Imagination is not the torch-bearer? ~Lord Byron

Happy Belated 4th!

Hope you were all able to relax and enjoy the 4th of July festivities in your town...wherever that may be. This was Boston.