Boston you're my home...

Thanks to both of my girls going to school in the city, I've come to know and appreciate Boston over the past several years in a way I never did before...


I took the above photo last summer. The tall building on the left is the Hancock Tower and the tall building on the right is The Prudential Center... I'm still not all that comfortable driving in city traffic if I don't know where I'm going, but there are some parts of the city that I could drive blindfolded, I've come to know them so well...


Here we are heading toward Kenmore Square after day 2 of moving Courtney into her apartment a couple of weeks ago. Amanda spent most of her college years in the Kenmore area so I feel pretty comfortable here. Way off in the distance, straight ahead, is Boston's well known Citgo sign.


As we head up Brookline Street toward Commonwealth Ave. we pass right by Fenway Park.... (you can see The Prudential Center off in the distance, center of photo)...


Fenway is one of the most historic ballparks in the U.S., along with Wrigley Field in Chicago...


... and it's here at the Comm Ave. intersection that we see the huge CITGO sign that's so much a part of Boston and the games at Fenway Park.


Here we are at the same intersection the following night, with the CITGO sign all lit up. Click CITGO SIGN to read a fun little article on the history of this landmark (along with some little-known facts - bet you didn't know it has been used to time contractions!!)


Now we've turned onto Commonwealth Avenue (straight ahead on the left is The Hancock Tower again, and through the trees you see The Prudential)... The large tan building with the red tile roof that you see on the other side of the overpass is the old Somerset Hotel, now a luxury condominium building...


....but back in the sixties when it was The Somerset, it was a key player in a day that I will never forget... Maybe some day I'll share that little story!


While the old Somerset Hotel is at one end of the block, The Eliot Hotel is at the other end of the block (corner of Commonwealth and Mass Ave)... How ironic that in the forties, fond memories were being made for my mom and her friends at The Eliot Lounge, while 20 years later in the sixties unforgettable memories were being made for me at The Somerset.


Now we're at the corner of Newbury and Clarendon... I was parked on the side of the road waiting for Amanda when I happened to glance out the window...


Now I don't usually scare too easily in broad daylight, but I must admit that my heart skipped a beat when I met the gaze of the woman across the street... She was standing so still and staring right at me...

When Amanda got back to the car I insisted she take my camera and run across the street to get some better photos...

It wasn't until we were on our way that we realized that she was a street performer and had a little jar set out for donations... So Miss Street Performer/Statue... If you are reading this I promise I will put a donation in your jar next time!! Your costume and makeup were awesome!!

So after a l-o-n-g week of moving both girls into their apartments, assembling furniture, and a zillion other things, we stopped to grab a bite on our way home at the UNO's overlooking Porter Square in Cambridge. It was a lovely ending to a long week!!! I'm so fortunate to have two girls in the city so I have lots of excuses to visit it often!!

Donna

Boston: Student Move-In Day

Labor Day weekend marks the return of college students to Boston, and that's where we spent Monday afternoon... getting Court settled in her dorm room and then taking a little stroll around her new neighborhood...


Not having seen her actual dorm building before today, we were thrilled to find that she'd be living in this beautiful brick Victorian townhouse in Boston's Back Bay...


Everything about the building was just perfect!


We were very organized this year and Court was unpacked in no time...


Here are she and Amanda right before we headed out to do some exploring...


This is what Courtney gets to look at while going to sleep each night... a gorgeous, huge medallion on the ceiling of her room... Nope, they definitely don't make houses the way they used to!!!


We walked down Commonwealth Ave., which I think is one of the prettiest streets in Boston...


The center of the divided street is lined with walkways, trees, and benches - great for people watching (or working on a school paper!!!)


Commonwealth Ave is lined with the most elegant homes, each with a distinctive facade and garden area... I loved the intricate front door and unusual awning in front of this home...


The gardens, wrought iron gates, and green patina of this second story bay window were spectacular!


Every house has the lushest gardens and/or window boxes...


Every wrought iron fence is a work of art in itself. Each one is a bit different... I think someday I want to try to photograph all of the different styles...


But these are all the photos I got today... The girls were anxious to get to the Boston Public Gardens and grab a bite to eat, and I was holding us up by "oohing" and "aaaahing" and taking pictures every step along the way!!

So next time, I may just take off on my own and get some great photos to share with you! I hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Donna

The little dorm room...

I made it through graduation just fine, but I lost it on move-out day. Apparently I'm one of those overly sentimental people who, for whatever reason, can get all nostalgic and teary-eyed without any warning whatsoever...

For me that time came when Amanda and I went back on Monday, the day after graduation, to finish gathering the last of her belongings and to clean and vacuum her dorm room. This was her home away from home for senior year, a 3rd floor walk up in an old Victorian home, right in the Harvard Square area of Cambridge (the most perfect place for any college student to live during their first years away from home, if you ask me!)

September 2007, move in day...

Her prized possession was this cheerful yellow "ice cream parlor" chair that we picked up for $5 at a junktique store over the summer.


My love of birds has clearly been passed to the next generation (as well as my love for cottage blue!)...


The shelves, on that September day, were stacked with anticipation in the form of favorite books, DVD's, CD's, and even little pink and blue ice cream cups, promises of all the good times her senior year would bring...

To borrow a very clever 'imaginary photo insertion' technique used by Sherry from Edie Marie's Attic, this is where dorm room photos taken sometime after move-in, but before move-out, would appear (if I had the courage to show them!!), soooo, use your imagination and....

[insert images of a typical dorm room throughout the college year... add an extra dose of clutter and chaos if said child occupying the room is an art major]... 'nuff said.

Fast forward, and I do mean FAST forward, to move-out day (this year flew by)...

The sweet little room that was her home for the past nine months was once again just an empty shell, stripped clean of any personality. The echoes of laughter and good times that once permeated this room, and the hallways in general, are but a memory.



As my daughter headed down the three flights of stairs with the last load, I turned to look back at her room one last time. The excitement, the laughter, the smiles, the crowds, the cheering - the very 'busy-ness' of graduation the day before was such a stark contrast to today's events. The silence of this once energetic, exciting, buzzing dorm house was deafening. And in the quietness of that moment, the tears started...

And here I thought I'd made it through the whole graduation process without the need for tissues! I should have know better!!!

Donna