A Late Autumn Bike Ride

It seems we had peak foliage here in Boston and environs around Halloween.  After a muted start in September, late October found us with increasingly bright foliage as the weeks progressed.  As I was traveling a lot out of town, I would really notice the difference each time I returned home.

Now a week later, we have passed through the golden peak and are starting to see the deep hues of After the Peak.  On the brilliant sunny morning, I took a bike ride through our fair city of Cambridge and out to Watertown, returning along the bike path along the Charles River.  (At right and above is a small lagoon off the Charles River in Brighton.)

Soon the leaves will be gone and the dull season of Bare Trees will be with us.  My mother always said it was the saddest time of the year, after the colors of fall are gone and before the first snow.  We fill up the season of Bare Trees with holidays and holiday lights, fighting off the sad feeling of this time of scarce daylight.  But for one glorious sunny day, we still have the colors of autumn.

Along the bike path back from Watertown to Cambridge

The Charles River between Brighton and Cambridge

The Charles River runs through the Harvard University Campus

The river houses of Harvard University along Memorial Drive, which is closed to traffic for Sundays.

Fall in Cambridge

A Fall Day in the Park

The last day of October, or Halloween as some celebrate it, was a cloudless sunny day.  Having to catch up on some work, I headed in to town on the Red Line, deciding to get off at Charles to walk down the namesake street and through Boston's Public Garden.  

Any day or season, the Public Garden is most photogenic, with many vistas contrasting the urban fabric with the horticultural variety that is this park.  The Garden marks the transition from glacially-deposited drumlin called Beacon Hill to the filled land we call the Back Bay.  The park and the Commonwealth Avenue Mall, which share the same east-west axis of symmetry, reflect European urban design in contrast to the rather random layout of that part of Boston built on solid land.

The park is centered on a main lagoon, crossed by a decorative pedestrian bridge.  Spring through early fall, the famous swan boats take tourists on a lap around the lagoon, often followed by a small armada of ducks, hopeful for tasty tidbits tossed their way by children and even adults.

Today's walk through the park made the going to work on Saturday a not-so-bad experience.

A view of a lawn in the Public Garden

A view of the Hancock Tower and the Taj behind the park and lagoon

The spire of the original Hancock Tower and its new sister are reflected in the lagoon

A view down Newbury Street, and the spire of the Church of the Covenant

Color along the banks of the lagoon

A cloudless bright blue sky reflected in the lagoon.

Saturday in the Park in a Snowless Winter

Often by Christmas or New Year, here in New England, we would have snow on the ground, or at least frozen ponds.  However, this Christmas was relatively warm, having followed weeks of warm yet cloudless days. No snow or frozen ponds. Finally, on Christmas afternoon, the sun came out.  We took a brisk walk by Pleasure Bay.   

Today, though Saturday, I was heading to my office.  If I get off the train at Charles Street, I have the opportunity to pass through the park on my way.   In the morning sun, the Public Garden proved quite photogenic, even with bare trees, no snow, and an unfrozen lagoon.

That is perhaps the most wonderful aspect of this park - that it remains beautiful in any season!  Here are some photos of a Saturday in the Park, on a snowless winter's day.

Entering the park from Charles Street

The bare willows, weeping gracefully

Duck taking the ramp up to the island in the lagoon

Looking over the lagoon

Strolling by the Bay on Christmas Day

Christmas day found our family gathering with a bit of time between the opening of the presents and supper.  It had been an unusually warm Christmas Eve with rain and temperatures up in the 50s F (about 10 to 13 deg, C).  Christmas day started out warm but the rain ended by noon, so it seemed a good day to take an afternoon stroll and get some fresh air. 

Of all of us assembled, on Rosie and I were interested, and she was thinking out beyond City Point in Southie (South Boston), at Castle Island and Pleasure Bay.  Before the landfilling that connected Castle Island to the drumlin we now call South Boston, Pleasure Bay was just a channel between Boston Harbor and Dorchester Bay.

Over time, Pleasure Bay was enclosed by a causeway with two gated culvert connec-tions that allow the tide to enter and leave.  This causeway is also a pleasant walkway around the oval-shaped bay, separating it from Dorchester Bay.  It is now part of a state park.

When we arrived after 3 pm, we found the temperatures dropping and a stiff wind blowing over the bay.  For a day about 50 deg. F (10 deg. C), it felt like about 20 deg. F (-5 deg. C) when the wind blew right through my winter coat.  Still, the late afternoon sun hiding in and out of the clouds provided some wonderful photo opportunities.

We arrived greeted by this spectacular scene across the Bay.

With Pleasure Bay to our backs, we can view the monster cranes at the container port known as Conley Terminal

Another view across Pleasure Bay looking towards the sunset.

From the causeway, we can look across the bay to the Boston skyline.

Another view from the causeway looking east towards the treatment plant on Deer Island with the Atlantic Ocean beyond.

Approaching the pavilion that marks the midpoint of the causeway.  I stopped for this photo despite the blistering winds.

The pavilion bathed in the yellow light of a late winter afternoon.

This view shows the chop on Dorchester Bay.  The causeway separates the two bays.

Sunset over Dorchester

View from a Deck in East Boston

Tourists typically see Boston Harbor from the view on the Boston  side, from Rowe's Wharf or Long Wharf, or Lewis Wharf.  Residents of "Eastie" (as many call East Boston) know they have some of the best views of the harbor.  At the right, a sailboat passes into view.

The following photos show the array of from just one of the many decks that afford residents of Eastie with great views of Boston Harbor.

View to the Boston Hyatt Hotel at Logan Airport.  The airport administration building is just to the left of the hotel.

In the foreground is part of a working shipyard on the harbor waterfront. 

Sunset and the Boston Skyline as seen from across the harbor in East Boston.

Around Town

Swan boats in the lagoon at Boston's
Public Garden

The spring is a time when, even in the city and the urban environs, we can see the subtle changes of the season.  This makes me more observant of the little details all around, as I walk around, to and from work, or going about the chores, or out on a bike ride.  Once in a while, I'm lucky to capture just some snippets of the visual feast all around.  This post is just a sample of them.

A view through the graceful drapings of the willows on the banks of the
lagoon at the Public Garden, just steps from my office. 

I just love this collection of flowers in a garden near my home in Cambridge.

My favorite footbridge is constructed with steel arches and cables
 supporting the wood deck.  This is the Blue Heron Bridge over the
Charles River between Newton (foreground) and Watertown, on a June
Sunday as I was biking the river paths out to Waltham.

I loved the lighting of early evening as the somber crowd leaves Fenway Park.
The "green monster" seats hang over Landsdowne Street.  Sox lost 3-2 to Cleveland.

Sunset over the Charles, framed by the Boston University Bridge.

Winter Evening

December brings short days and chilled evenings.  But what compensates for shivering outside and inside alike (our place is not so well-insulated) is the soft yellow lighting of the later afternoons, as well as the Christmas card dusk light of snow-covered scenes, such as the one on the right in Brookline, just outside of Boston.

The visual treats make the winter evenings of December a special time of the year.

Late afternoon waterscape.   The Charles River near Watertown Square.

A few weeks later, the Charles River is frozen and snow-covered, as seen through the wood near the river bank.

Slightly pinkist hue of the early dusk on a snow-covered December evening along the Fresh Pond Parkway in Cambridge.

Dusk sky above a snowy scene in Cambridge

Even the stop lights show red and green for the coming Christmas season.

For examples of the warm yellow lighting of late winter afternoons, see my post "Beauty in Urban Industrial Photography."