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

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.

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.

Newton Lower Falls Branch: Route of the "Ping Pong"

A new section of the Charles River path system opened recently, a rail-to-trail walkway following the route of what was once the Boston & Worcester Railroad's Newton Lower Falls Branch. This very short branch, a mere 1.2 miles long, branched off from the mainline at Riverside Station.  The river in Riverside is the Charles River, which meanders in all directions while forming the boundary between Newton and Wellesley, Massachusetts.

The Newton Lower Falls Branch followed the east bank of the Charles River,
only a bit over a mile east of the Boston & Worcester Main Line

The rail lines in Massachusetts tending to branch out to serve the mills.  And the mills would locate themselves along the rivers, particularly at waterfalls, where the power of the falling water could be harnessed.

So, it proved economically worthwhile to construct this diminutive branchline along the east bank of the Charles, and curving to a river crossing and entering into a village simply called Lower Falls.

The Charles River, as seen from the
rail bridge near Lower Falls

While the freight service was unremarkable in itself, what made this branch special was its passenger service.  In 1867, the Boston & Worcester merged with two other lines to become the Boston & Albany, spanning the state and connecting to the mighty New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, which stretched west to Chicago.  While trains running overnight between Boston and Chicago ran on the mainline, the Lower Falls branch had a mere shuttle service, connecting Riverside Station on the mainline with the branch's namesake village.

Electric car #01, the "Ping Pong"
(Collection of Norman D. Clark)

With the advent of electric power came the widespread use of electric trolley cars and interurbans in the late 1880s and 1890s.  This inspired the Boston & Albany to eliminate the clumsy use of a locomotive and passenger cars to travel so short a distance.  In 1900 they converted a passenger car into their own version of an interurban, and gave it the number "01."

Since all it did, day in and day out, was shuttle back and forth this little 1.2-mile trip, it was nicknamed the "Ping Pong."

(Collection of Roy Lannigan)

In 1930, the "Ping Pong" was retired, and a single locomotive and passenger car.  Eventually, passenger service ended in 1957.  Freight service continued for a couple of decades.  

Now with rail service a distant memory, the one section of the line, between Washington Street in Wellesley and Concord Street in Newton, had become a walking path.  A wood deck bridge sets on the steel of the rail bridge over the Charles.

In Wellesley, the path transitions from concrete to stone dust as one approaches the Charles.

The path crosses the Charles River reusing the rail bridge.

The wood deck and railings of the footbridge.

Approaching the bridge from the Newton side.

Looking north across Concord Street:  the rails still remain, overgrown.

References:
Humphrey, Thomas J. and Clark, Norman D, "Boston's Commuter Rail: Section Section," Boston Street Railway Association, Inc., 1986.
Karr, Ronald Dale, "The Rail Lines of Southern New England: A Handbook of Railroad History," Branch Line Press, 1994.

Except as noted, all photographs by Rachel Burckardt, Sept. 27, 2014.

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."

Views of a Muted Autumn

Perhaps it's been a bit dry, or it was too wet, or the temperatures too warm.  I'm not sure, but the colors have been fairly muted this fall.  

Often we witness truly brilliant colors.  We have the bright oranges and reds of the sugar maples, the brilliant yellows of the honey locusts, birch and flowering pears.  Each tree's timing is a little different, creating a magnificent backdrop of color. 

In past years, the colors were simply more brilliant.  Here are some examples from my blog posts:  Boston's Public Garden in 2009,  Mt. Auburn Cemetery, also in 2009, or this slideshow of fall views around my fair city of Cambridge.

In contrast, here's a few views of fall 2013 in Boston and vicinity.

Early in the season, muted red browns along the Charles River

Some colors mix with greens and bare branches along a busy street in Cambridge.

Going way out to the 'burbs, one can find colorful stands of trees, like these in Methuen.

Nice work by the architect to coordinate the exterior color with the fall hues of the street trees.

Returning to the 'burbs, brilliant oranges of the maples mix with the greens and yellows in Wellesley.

Stand of paper birch near a playground in Cambridge.