First Night

On New Year's Eve the city hosts a First Night festival of entertainments. One of the traditions is a competition concerning ice sculptures. Here an ice Venus is rising in Copley Square while the snow is falling. Wishing you all a safe & happy New Year's celebration. I'll be with good friends myself. And my cast. So I am forced to be well behaved.

Upstate New York

Warmer air coming in contact with the snow causes a mist to rise. The mountains in the background are entirely obscured.

Upstate New York

After the snow.

Upstate New York

Woke up this morning to snow falling over the marsh.

Upstate New York

Another day, another brief walk out of the house at dusk in my cast. Very grey weather.

Upstate New York

View of the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains at dusk. Because of my broken foot I can't get very far across the fields. The snow is not deep, just a few inches.

Christmas Wreath

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays.

Custom House Tower

Cold evening in the city.

Charles River

The park & walkway along the Charles River on an early winter evening.

City Hall Plaza

ity Hall Plaza covers seven acres of land. A lot of snow removal.

Lindemann Centre

Steps behind the Lindemann Centre which is part of the Department of Mental Health. Yesterday there was a snowstorm.

Mall on Commonwealth Avenue

Christmas lights on the Mall on Commonwealth Avenue. These little lights all over town add to the festive holiday spirit!

Washington Street

View from Washington Street looking towards Downtown Crossing.

Downtown Crossing

View of Downtown Crossing from another side. This view is towards the Park Street Station and the Boston Commons.

Downtown Crossing

View of Downtown Crossing. Macy's department store to the right. To the left, the building with the American flags is the now closed Filene's department store. Holiday shoppers are rushing to collect their presents.

American Flag with Christmas Lights

Saw this flag and blue Christmas lights on Newbury Street. The effect was a little surreal.

Leaves Carved in Stone

Saw this vine carved into the stone on an older home standing on Exeter Street.

Wrought Iron Fence

Wrought iron fence bordering the Mall on Commonwealth Avenue. The days are cold & this image reflects the desolation we feel here in the wind with just a few brown leaves.

Christmas Wreath

Wreath found on Exeter Street in the Back Bay.

Cold Day

Bitter cold day on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall. Temperatures in the teens. And, of course, that North wind.

J.F.K. Building

Facade of the J.F.K. Federal Building in Government Center.

Art Gallery

Art gallery on Newbury Street in the early evening.

State Street

State Street T-Station. Folks . . . I broke a bone in my foot on November 30th. My mobility is limited & my pictures are limited as well. I don't walk around that much so it is difficult to see interesting places. Hence an abundance of T photos. And since my computer crashed in early October, I lost so many of my photos, hence, no images in stock.

Tracks

Water in the tracks at the Aquarium T-Station in the Blue Line. The station is two stories below the surface so I imagine this water is leeching up from below. Beats me. But the reflections were pretty. Sadly the camera views the florescent lighting as a greenish-yellow.

Missing Poster

Part of urban living are these missing posters. Saw this one for a young man at the Copley Square T-Staion.

First Snow

Last night we had snow showers. Just a little snow crust everywhere this morning. A little chilly. Cafe on Newbury Street.

Stacks

Boston Public Library stacks on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Government Center at Night

View of Government Center in the early evening. Bright lights & big city!

Commuter Rail

Commuter rail platform at South Station.

Upstate New York

While walking down the road from the old farm house to the meadow, I noticed these unpicked apples high above. Too high to be picked by humans. The fruit trees have been neglected in the past decades. Eventually, the birds and squirrels will eat these apples.

Upstate New York

Horses' tack in the barn shown in Friday's post. These bridles and tack have been hanging in this barn since the day the last horse died some twenty-five years ago. The barn is still used for storage. Since the same family lives on the land, a decade or two seems like yesterday. And, I believe, a sense of continuity with the past and the lost ancestors remains,

Upstate New York

As a child I played in this meadow when the land was a working farm. Now the land in this field remains cleared as a lovely view. Left untended, the woods would encroach and this field will be covered with trees within 20 years. The mountain in the background belongs to this farm. The split rail fence is made from trees felled on this land. The fence is merely decorative.

Upstate New York

Saw this really neat old tree,

While walking across this field at dusk.

Upstate New York

Tramping across a field.

I came upon a gap in this rustic fence.

And found this gazebo with a panoramic view of the Adirondack Mountains.

Upstate New York

Farmhouse and barn dating from the late 19th and early 20th century. I used to play in this barn when once filled with hay. We would jump from the hayloft into the bales of hay kept on the lower level. There was a nasty old horse in those days called Nellie. There is a piece of old equipment in the foreground--probably unused since the Second World War, if not earlier. The family who owns this farm has built new homes throughout the property. These ancestorial buildings are maintained but not really occupied any more.

Upstate New York

Field in the late afternoon on a very cloudy day.

Upstate New York

Visiting in the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York for Thanksgiving. View of the marsh at dawn. The reeds are covered with hoarfrost.

Government Center T

Government Center T Station for the Blue Line.

Hancock Tower

View of the Hancock Tower with Copley Church in the foreground. Very rainy day with a low cloud obscuring the upper reaches of the skyscraper.

Marlborough Street

Street sign engraved into the brownstone of an apartment building.

Whale Chart

Saw this whale chart in the Boston Public Library. It is difficult to photograph because the colors are so faint and the print so small. Basically, it is a 19th c. water color of the whale highway in the Pacific Ocean. The different colors represent the breed of whale and their migration patterns and the time of year they were expected to arrive in those waters. The Cape of Massachusetts had many small towns on the coast where whalers would bring their catch in. Now these towns are very charming summer resorts.

Copley Square

A rainy day in Copley Square.

Government Center Plaza

Plaza in the twilight.

State Street Skyline

Skyline of state Street with the Custom House tower on the lower left corner and the steeple of the colonial State House in the foreground.

Autumn Light

Bench and vase flooded with lovely autumn light. This is to be found on Beacon Street in front of a rather nice apartment building.

John Adams Courthouse

Facade of the John Adams Courthouse home of the Appeals Court and the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. This courthouse was built in the late 1800's which makes it quite old by American standards. Once fitted with gaslight. This courthouse was built to house the Boston Municipal Court which is perhaps the longest continually-sitting court in North America. Started sometime in the 1600's if I remember correctly. Since the renovation, the Boston Municipal Court has moved to a new location down the street. The Adams Courthouse is a remarkable building on the interior. One cannot photograph the interiors of courthouses in the Commonwealth. The recent renovation makes this courthouse one of the jewels in the crown of the state court system.

Last Roses

Last roses of fall found on Marlborough Street. Having been an exceptionally cold and wet summer, the roses did quite well. Usually roses bloom once and are finished because the weather is too warm to promote reblooming. This year the roses were abundant.