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

Spring in Mt. Auburn

Today was a beautiful, sunny spring day, which finally started feeling like spring was finally here.  After the long, cold winter, the trees are a little late in budding and flowering.

I took a walk through the beautiful landscapes of the Mt. Auburn Cemetery, here in my home town of Cambridge.  Some of the photos I took are in a reflective blog post.  But there were so many wonderful vista that I decided to post some more of them here.

The Flowering and the Budding

It's theoretically spring here in the Boston area after a particularly brutal winter of bleak frostiness.  So there is hope, even if the temperature is only in the 50s (F) or about 10-13 deg. C.  Semi-brrrrrr weather in the morning.

We're a couple of weeks late this year, but finally trees are flowering and budding.  The Flowering and the Budding are micro-seasons within the Spring, that precede the Leafing Out.

The beauty of spring is before our eyes, even if the air temperature isn't reinforcing our sensory perception.  But with the cool temperatures, it's hard to get into my "I'm in love with spring!" mood.

But if I get out on my bicycle and ride for 3 or 4 miles, I warm up enough to sort of enjoy the sights.  And the brightness of forsythia flowers translates into happy feelings within me.  

Here's a smattering of the signs of hope in our fair city of Cambridge (and one across the river in Brighton).

Blue flowering groundcover brightens the brown litter of leaves from last fall.

I love the contrast of the pink flowers against the blue sky.

While flowering tree towering over an historic property, just off Tory Row (aka, Brattle Street).

The Budding, a week or two before the Leafing Out, differs in timing depending on species and microclimate, where warmer and more sheltered locations leading the trend.  By mid-May, the Leafing Out will be complete.

The Budding on a privet hedge.

One view outside Cambridge shows the Budding of brush and trees on the banks of a small channel off the Charles River in Brighton.

The Bleak Midwinter and a Walk Around the Pond at Dusk

Our nearly snow-less winter continues.  However, that has not meant that the cold hasn't invaded our fair city (Cambridge, MA).  The Charles River is frozen.  And so is Fresh Pond.

The bleak midwinter without snow is especially bleak.  The cold keeps one from lingering and there is little to see in the snowless, barren landscape.  Hope is hard to find.

Today is the celebration of Martin Luther King, the holiday to honor the vision and hope he brought to the struggle for equal rights and equal recognition.  There was the usual services, inspirational speeches and, this year, a demonstration in Boston.  Time has past, but the hoped for vision is not fully realized.  At times, we're still two nations, not fully understanding each other.  At times, we're still in the bleak midwinter of relations and understanding.

Back in Cambridge at the end of the day, the three of us took a brisk walk around Fresh Pond in the gathering darkness of the dusk of a bleak, but snow-less, mid-winter's day.  It was cold.  But if you keep moving, it was ok.

In the bleak midwinter, hope can be found if you keep moving ahead.

The setting sun casts its orange light on the Ringe Towers trio across the frozen pond.

Dusk in the west beyond the hill of Kingsley Park.

The abandoned track of the Watertown Branch of the once Boston & Maine Railroad passes the west side of the pond.

Little Fresh Pond is frozen over.  In warmer weather, it is a favorite spot for dogs to take a quick swim.

The last light of the day reflects off the ice.

Along the Charles, in the Late Fall

It was a beautiful, sunny day, despite the cold (about 4-45 deg. F or around 5 deg. C).  I ventured out to Watertown Square and rode back to "our fair city" (Cambridge) along the bike path.

Leaves float in a small
lagoon off the side
of the bike path.

To me, it seems we had a strange autumn.  The foliage came early in places, as we had dry weather from August into September.  But, it seems many trees have been more reluctant than normal when it comes to changing the color of their leaves.   Of course, the oaks are the curmudgeons of the forest, usually the last to drop the canopy.  But many other trees seem a bit late, too.  So, there are green trees surrounding bare trees.

Usually, around Halloween, the peak foliage is with us.  But, a week later, there's still a good bit of foliage remaining.  Never-theless, in the bright sunlight of midday, the trees of the riverbank put on a good show splendid in the deep hues their late fall foliage.

Bare trees,green trees, and fall foliage mix along the river bank.

Looking across the river to the Perkins School tower surrounded by an array of late fall color.

At the riverbend out in brighton.

Grand trees line the riverbank park.

Approaching Harvard Square, a line of golden foliage at JFK Park.

The Weeks  Footbbridge, framed in fall colors, connects the two halves of the Harvard University campus.

A Favorite Room

My son #2 has always been fascinated with this house in the neighborhood, particularly the two-story glass sitting room.  

Imagine walking from a regular living room into this space that suddenly opens up vertically and is flooded with daylight on 3 sides.  Imagine it at night as a glass-encased box of warm light, visible to all who walk by.

Just another example of interesting architecture visible to those who stroll the streets of our fair city.

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.

The Hope of Spring

This has been a particularly brutal winter.  Not so much was it the greater than normal snowfall, but the bitter, bitter cold that numbed the hands, even with gloves on.  It was both discouraging and certainly depressing.

So, with March comes the mini-season of "Hope of Spring."  Sometimes we see something budding, such as the first signs of our jonquils budding in the front planter, which gets the afternoon sun.

The first hope for spring in the garden:  the jonquils are budding!

Later on a walk to Harvard Square to get a few gifts for the little girl I babysit (Naomi), I ran into a couple staring at the snow drops emerging from the dirt and leaf litter, just off the brick sidewalk.

Left:  tiny snow drops emerge from the cold ground on a sunny March afternoon.
Right:  crocuses emerge from the leaf litter in a Cambridge garden.

It's March and the March flowers (jonquils) are slowly reaching up for the sunshine.

Almost there:  the jonquils just need one warm sunny day to convince them to open their yellow flower and smile as the sun.  Yes, the Hope of Spring has come!

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."