Tag Archives: Cambridge

1/31/2020 – Jane Orton dies

Friday

Received this from Torrey:

This was a complete surprise. We’d been expecting  a progress report from Jane at the end of January. Not her death. 

Jonathan wrote this to Torrey:

Dear Torrey,

I just now received the news of Jane’s passing.

I’m overseas, far from others.

And I am thinking of the moments we’ve spent together in different combinations at different times across continents.

These include my first meeting with Jane in Australia…at her office … in 1997 I think … and all the times I’ve spent with her and you, and all of our times together, with Nan and the kids.

Your presence in our lives, together, has brought us warmth, confidence, and feelings of connection. We feel these now.

Nan happened to be wearing the earrings Jane gave her in May when she learned this news, sitting at our dining table in Leiden. The kids were by her side.

Torrey, there’s no way to describe the mix of love and gratitude I am feeling right now toward you both.

Such a beautiful, beautiful soul, Jane …I feel lucky to know her and to feel her as a part of my life.

Nan and I over the years have talked about you two, about how much we appreciate you both…

In other words you are a significant part of our lives and our sense of self and family.

And though at early stages in their lives, Jesse and Anna have experienced your love.

Vivid images of their interactions with you and Jane sprinkled across their past few years come to mind as I write these words…

We all treasure our time together with you both.

These are my initial thoughts.

Talk soon and in due course.

I’d be happy to chat with you by phone or mail as you see fit. A phone call might be nice at some point.

Love from us all,

Jonathan

Drove  to Winchester to drop off photo books. Then dropped Karen at her Soup Group meeting at Ellen Feldman’s house. Went to library. Worked on DOG website. Ran into Andrea Geyer. Went back to Esther’s house then off to movie – The Gentlemen. Dinner at Amelia’s.

Tried to get ahold of Torrey. Left message.

2/2/2019 – Cambridge, Griffin Museum, friends

Saturday 2/2/2019

Breakfast with Linda Larson. Helped her with voicemail.

Lunch with Ruth and Paul Richards at Paddy’s Pub in West Netwon. He looks gaunt and slowed down. She is recovering from difficult diverticulitis with infection. Nevertheless they are in good spirits.

Then off to Museum of Fine Arts. Got there too find a line out onto Huntington Ave of people waiting to get in. Turns out the first weekend in each month the Bank of America buys everyone with a bank card free admission. So, off to the Griffin Museum with Esther. Not very interesting.

Stopped by Legal Seafoods in Tech Square for a cameo drop in where Jimmy and Dorothy Nelson’s extended family were celebrating Matt’s birthday. Her brother the lawyer looked quite depressed. 

Dinner at a trendy, over-priced Italian joint on Main St., Sulmona. I was very grumpy.

2/1/2019 – Getting ready to be off to Cambridge

Friday 2/1/2019 – Very COLD

Setting off by noon for annual Super Bowl followed by trip to Florida for cousins’ dinner at Flo’s pad.

Checked in with UTMers. Packed. Left Hudson by noon. Arrived at Esther’s by 3. 

Saw The Favorite at Landmark. Disappointing ending. 

Then dinner. 

Over-rated food.

7/12/2018 – Karen’s Photos in PRC Show

Thursday

The Photographic Resource Center’s annual juries show Exposure 2018 at Lesley University’s VanDernoot Gallery, University Hall, 1815 Mass Ave, Porter Square, Cambridge held its opening reception today. Karen was one of 11 photographers exhibited. Her series “Strangely Attracted” were featured. Lots of friends and people from her art world showed up. 

Sunday – 1/1/2017 – Cambridge and back home

Breakfast with Esther followed by a walk around Riverside neighborhood. Our old house and King School.

[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”11″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_pro_horizontal_filmstrip” image_crop=”0″ image_pan=”1″ show_playback_controls=”1″ show_captions=”1″ caption_class=”caption_overlay_bottom” caption_height=”70″ aspect_ratio=”1.5″ width=”100″ width_unit=”%” transition=”fade” transition_speed=”1″ slideshow_speed=”5″ border_size=”0″ border_color=”#ffffff” override_thumbnail_settings=”0″ thumbnail_width=”120″ thumbnail_height=”90″ thumbnail_crop=”1″ ngg_triggers_display=”always” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]Drive back to Hudson in the afternoon.

 

Wednesday – 2/25/15

02252015-sidewalk-snow

Single file on all but major street sidwalks

Drove to Cambridge and Somerville. Karen for her Soup Group meeting and me to meet Mike Beach at Artisan’s Asylum, the makerspace.

The piles of snow are impressive. Drove down Kinnaird St. to see what the old haunts looked like.

Went for lunch with Esther Hanig at the Druid in Inman Sq. She has a new job as the Director of the Union Sq. Main Streets project. Then I drove Karen to Ellen Feldman’s house. I went on to Artisan’s Asylum in Somerville to meet with Michael Beach. Aside: Michael told me that Peter Flowers is in hospital with pneumonia and stroke. Currently intubated and being treated for pneumonia primarily.

Artisan’s Asylum – Somerville, MA

Learned the importance of social factors. Involvement and presence of renters drives much of the activity. Many of the courses are taught by renters. Lots of interaction and mentoring by renters. Saw this in action with Michael and his projects.  Met Derek Bradbury, President.

There is a corporate makerspace in the next building, Greentown Labs

Picked up Karen at Moira Barrett’s house in Cambridge. Drove home. Arrived 11:30pm.

Sunday – 2/1/15

Continuing our Super Bowl Weekend.

Johnny D’s for Brunch with Boston gang. Frank Tadley, Ellen Feldman, Ruth Goodman attending. Spent most of the time taling with Frank. He told long story of a bike ride in early ’70s from Scotland to London. Then drove to Cindy Weisbart’s house. She is recovering from back surgery. Debbie Milligan appeared. Lunch with Ruth and Paul Richards at Cheescake Factory at Chestnut Hill Mall.

Backyard in Belmont

Backyard in Belmont

 

Back to Bill and Nancy’s house in Belmont. Weather forecast is for large snowstorm to move in so we care considering leaving to return to Hudson tonight and not be stuck here until Tuesday morning.

Good talk with them over Iggy’s pizza before game. Game was very exciting with Patriots pulling it out in a very unpredictable ending in the last seconds.

Drove to Hudson that evening. Began to snow seriously in the Berkshires on Mass Pike. Near white out conditions on Taconic at end.

Warren St Hudson NY at dusk looking up town

9/17/2010 – Authenticity in Hudson, NY

authentic |ôˈθentik| (abbr.: auth.)

adjective

  • of undisputed origin; genuine : the letter is now accepted as an authentic document | authentic 14th-century furniture.
  • made or done in the traditional or original way, or in a way that faithfully resembles an original : the restaurant serves authentic Italian meals | every detail of the movie was totally authentic.
  • based on facts; accurate or reliable : an authentic depiction of the situation.
  • (in existentialist philosophy) relating to or denoting an emotionally appropriate, significant, purposive, and responsible mode of human life ((definition adapted from Dictionary Version 2.1.1 Apple, Inc.)

In part because of the vigorous discussion in the various “Signage” postings in the Hudson Business Coalition discussion group and other discussions I have had recently about Hudson, I have come to think that a major feature of Hudson is authenticity. Hudson demonstrates authenticity in all four senses described in the definition above. People who own businesses here, whether in antiques, art, music, and many more, do so from some central personal passion. Visitors experience this directly. Visitors must digest the experience and make it their own. And, many times businesses receive direct feedback about their passions from visitors and not in frequently new perspectives and information about their passions.

Just pay a visit to some of our B&Bs to see authenticity in action. For example, compare The Inn at Hudson and The Country Squire Bed & Breakfast. Just a hundred yards apart, but completely different experiences, each personal and real.

Orange Building - 200 block Warren St Hudson NYThis is no Disneyfied, corporate version of  life, no predigested, cleaned up tourist consumable. A visit to an art gallery here is a visit to the owner’s interests in art. The same goes for the antiques. The burgeoning music scene is filled with lots of local music. The streetscape is authentic, even the maligned Columbia-State St. streetscape. The diversity of the population is authentic and, for a town of seven thousand, quite amazing.

I hope that Hudson continues to develop, in its chaotic unplanned way, with an eye on authenticity. A strong commitment to preserving the streetscape is one obvious strategy. How to encourage and maintain authenticity in other dimensions is not so clear.

A deeper problem is the moment when we reach the tipping point and developers decide that Hudson is hot. As Jane Jacobs wrote about in The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) success in the real estate world leads to the death of the social world. It is one of the seemingly inevitable consequences of private property rights that the “highest and best use” (for private property owners) always wins out over any social values. That is unless there are strong countervailing forces from government and an engaged alert citizenry.

Warren St Hudson NY at dusk looking up townDuring my thirty five plus years living in Cambridge MA I watched the death of Harvard Square and its conversion into a social wasteland dominated by large institutional and corporate interests. Everything funky, fun, disruptive. original, everything that made Harvard Sq. a destination for locals, tourists, book lovers, poets, street musicians, and youth were driven out by large buildings filled with a parade of corporate logos and institutional uses. The only authentic use remaining in Harvard Sq. today is the gathering of teenagers, all from the suburbs, in the “mosh pit” around the entrance to the T.  In contrast, Central Sq. in Cambridge might be a good case study of a neighborhood that has largely escaped this fate, though its is just a long half mile from Harvard Sq. It has somehow remained quite indigestible despite inroads by Harvard, MIT and a herd of banks.

 

Year In Pictures – June 28 thru July 15, 2003

June 28, 2003 Saturday

We attended a wedding party for Kristen Graves (former tenant at 52 Kinnaird) and Lien Tung at their house in North Cambridge.06282003KristenLien

Sunday June 29, 2003 Roadrace and Shulman Party

The New Charles River 5K  and 5 mile race.

06292003_MMO_RunningThe guy to my left appears to be running. In fact, he is a race walker. I kept pace with him for the first mile. By the three mile marker, I couldn’t see him. He finished 3 minutes ahead of me across the finish line.

That’s me closing in on the finish line [the finish line photo was in an old now defunct format – so lost]. A disappointing 37 minutes, barely under 12 minutes per mile pace.

BTW: After the race was over, the race walker came over and we chatted. He had heart bypass surgery a year ago.

(Thanks for the photos to the official Mr. Wonderful Sports Photographer, Ms. Karen.)

>We also went to a luncheon given by Hank and Flo Shulman in honor of the son Brian and new daughter-in-law Tracy.

06292003GoldieBarman

Goldie Barman

06292003Shulman_Mariachi

Mariachi Band

Monday June 30, 2003

Boston Harbor Cruise sponsored by the Cambridge police department for the Riverside and Cambridgeport neighborhoods.

Talked with Anne Williamson, a neighbor and compatriot from the old RCCC days and other community matters.

06302003Jazzband 06302003SailboatBoston

 

Tuesday July 1, 2003

Went to see Dr. Jim Umlas today. Looks like I have some floaters. To my surprise he found floaters that i had not noticed in my left eye as well as the new one in my right

“FLOATERS

Seeing floaters (spots) before one or both eyes is a frequent adult complaint. Floaters are usually most noticeable against a white homogeneous background and seem to move slowly when the eye is still. Floaters maintain their relative position in the visual field with eye movement. They result from contraction of the vitreous gel and its separation from the surface of the retina (posterior vitreous detachment). This leads to macroscopic opaque aggregates of vitreous fibers, which can be seen floating in the vitreous. Since the vitreous gel is denser where it attaches to the optic nerve, floaters are usually more apparent in this area. Although floaters usually are without significance, in a few patients they may indicate a tear in the retina. They are more prevalent in highly myopic and older persons and tend to become less noticeable with time.”

from THE MERCK MANUAL, Sec. 8, Ch. 90, Approach To The Patient With Eye Disease

07012003eyeball

image borrowed without permission from www.lensconsultants.com/_images_us/020602.jpg   information downloaded Tuesday, July 22, 2003 9:25:24

Thursday July 3, 2003

Trip to NYC for a long Fourth of July Weekend

We left Cambridge by 8:30 or so and arrived in NYC, the Chelsea neighborhood first, in time for lunch at a tavern’s noisy back yard. All was ok because I took my bowl of chili with Guiness.

We stopped at a number of galleries, but we found our return to InCamera to be the most rewarding.

InCamera Gallery
511 West 25th Street, Suite 401
New York, New York 10001
Phone: 212 647 766

The current exhibition is a group show. One of the owners of InCamera, David Monaco, took an inordinate amount of time showing us lots of photos in his portfolio of artists.

photo above by David Stewart - From the Fogeys series

photo above by David Stewart – From the Fogeys series

Friday July 4, 2003

We visited with the New York crowd, Andrea, John, Noah, Nyla and the extended family (more on them below).DSCN3272

We went to a pool party at John and Jeanette’s (147th St & Malcolm X Blvd). Little did we know that these are real partying pros.

07042003KarenNylaPlay

Karen bouncing Nyla

07042003NoahJump

Noah

07042003_Nyla_in_pool

Nyla

07042003TwoGuzzlers

Karen with Nyla

By the time a couple of hours had passed, we had enlarged our territory to four table from our original two. And, we were still there until the clean up crew began to sweep us towards the gates. DSCN3298 07042003PoolPartyOverview 07042003_Freddie-and

DSCN3328

Saturday July 5, 2003

On Friday and Saturday mornings, I took advantage of the running path around the Reservoir in Central Park. Nice packed dirt surface. Most everyone runs in the same direction around the 1.6 mile circumference.
Image-15

(picture appropriated from http://www.centralpark2000.com/touring/runners_bikers_skaters/reservoir_tracks.htm)

(After my run Friday morning, I found our way north through the park, skirting the tennis courts and stumbling through a ravine and under two bridges of very different construction to the Harlem Meer and the edge of the park. A mini-adventure.)

No trip to the city would be considered without visits to museums.

We spent part of Saturday at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

Karen found the National Design Triennial stimulating.

At the Whitney, we focused on three exhibits:

Pictures from Within: American Photographs, 1958–2003; 

The American Effect; 

and Elie Nadelman: Sculptor of Modern Life

Sarah Sze’s “The Triple Point of Water” in the courtyard at the Whitney

The American Effect is a large show of artwork from around the world that focuses on reflections, influences, and commentary on America. Only a few pieces really revealed how engrained American images and ideas are throughout the world. Most of the work was much more straightforward commentary. An interesting phenomenon in the exhibition is the presence of so much video/computer-based art. I found this off-putting because I was not mentally prepared to put on headphones and settle down for a while to see a video or interact with a computer. Thus an awful lot of the exhibition was missed by me.

07052003SarahSze_Whitney

 

 

Monday July 7, 2003

Here is friend Linda at her new Apple eMac.

07072003LindaComputer450pW

More lessons about surfing the web to follow.

After many year’s of using old machines and suffering the breakdowns, this is her first brand-new, out-if-the-box computer.Karen's



 

Wednesday July 9, 2003

07092003KarenBirthday_450pWKaren’s birthday – after the party

 

Thursday July 10, 2003

A favorite with Law  & Order

07102003StrawberryJello

 

Saturday July 12, 2003

Arnold returns!
07122003Terminator3

 

Sunday July 13, 2003

A smoke stop in one of my favorite parks in Cambridge, Cpl Burns on Flagg St.

07132003CplBurnsPark

 

What is not visible here?

To the left of the path at rear of picture, two basketball courts where some of the best round ball around is played. On the right of the path at rear of picture, several panel trucks and a couple of SUVs with noisy rap music and people hanging out. To the left at about where the father is helping the tricyclist, is a street hockey court. To the immediate left, is a large playground with a couple of water spritzers and little children screaming as they run through the water sprays.

I walk up this path from the river after each run along the Charles. I enjoy it every time.

Harvard is finishing up new student housing across the river at Western Ave. I have been troubled from the beginning and now as it comes to completion i am struggling to find good things to say. I will return later with a little photo essay and you can decide for yourself.

07132003HarvardHousing

 

Monday July 14, 2003

A visit to Dr. Wolpow, neurologist07142003neuron.

I paid a visit to my neurologist today. He gave me a little lecture about how we lack appropriate mental models for the pace and process of peripheral nervous system repairs. He said the good news is that the nerves damaged in the Lyme attack two years ago are alive, but that recovery could take 2 to 3 more years assuming that recovery continues…. so I guess I have to keep my consumption of Scotch dwon to once a week. As Mother used to say in such states, “What a bore!”.

Construction at 217 Western Ave continues. Controversy over disruption of neighbors side yard seem to be resolved with new fence and promises of landscaping when the project is finished.07142003_217WesternConstru