The blizzard of 2013

The blizzard of 2013 was not technically a blizzard, but it was certainly a big snowstorm with strong winds and 26″ of accumulated snow — in Cambridge at least. (It wasn’t a blizzard because the wind and visibility criteria were not met. “By definition, a blizzard occurs when the following happens: winds reach a sustained speed or frequent gusts of 35 miles per hour at the same time the visibility is at or less than one-quarter mile due to snow or blowing snow.”)

Even before the first snow flake fell we knew it was going to be a big storm. TV, radio, on-line media was going crazy about the storm. And when it comes to weather events I just get sucked into the hype. I normally do not watch much TV, but when there is a storm coming up I can’t get enough of the weather forecasts. I mean, all of the weather forecasts, on every channel, non-stop. But in the end Harvey Leonard on Channel 5 is my trusted weather source. What I didn’t really get into was the name Nemo: I guess the Weather Channel started a thing where they name snowstorms, and this one was named Nemo. Hurricanes do have official names, but to me unofficially starting naming snow storms is a little too much.

The forecast was calling for the storm to start around noon on Friday, so the office closed at 11 a.m. I went to Whole Foods to get a couple of things, and it was so busy, it looked like a Market Basket wannabe. It started snowing lightly on Friday afternoon and intensified on Friday night into Saturday morning. In addition to the standard snow emergency procedures that go with a forecast of 2-foot snow accumulation, the Governor of Massachusetts issued a travel ban starting 4 pm on Friday, virtually banning all travel from all the roads in the State. The ban was largely heeded, and anyone breaking the ban would be subject to $500 fine and up to a year in prison, we were told. Travel ban aside,  I had to go from North Cambridge to Spring Hill in Somerville and back, and I had to drive. So I drove. The streets were eerily quiet, the empty streets coated with snow. I saw people cross country skiing and a few people walking around. Driving down Highland Ave I found a deserted street, with flashing lights of police cruisers and plows, and a couple of lone figures trying to walk against the wind. Thankfully I wasn’t stopped by the police. And even if I were, I had prepared a list of excuses to get away with it.

The winds picked up late Friday night and the snow was coming down heavier. When I got up on Saturday morning everything looked blanketed with snow. Mass. Ave and the bike path were completely covered by seemingly deep snow. It was bright and beautiful. People were walking and cross country skiing along the bike path.

The travel ban was still in effect until Saturday 4 p.m. When I went out for a walk in the afternoon it was quite nice to see people enjoying the snow, kids having a blast. Seven Hills Park at the Davis Square T stop turned into a snowmen park. No cars on the roads meant people on the roads. Walking on the street was much easier than walking on the sidewalks which were pretty much still covered by almost two feet of snow.

The wind drifts created 4 feet high piles at some places. Walking on Highland Ave you could see people had started digging their cars out, cars completely covered with at least a foot of snow. Some side streets looked like they hadn’t been plowed at all. Even where the streets were plowed, the travel lane width was reduced. And trying to clear the snow off sidewalks, driveways and cars did not get any easier as there was no room to put the snow.

I finally made it to Spring Hill in Somerville with my right hand almost frozen. I helped shovel a sidewalk and driveway, and actually that was my first time shoveling.  The snow was light, but still my shoulders and upper back got really sore. And that made me appreciate the fact that my car is parked in a parking garage and the sidewalk around my building is shoveled by a crew.

Later in the evening I walked to Harvard Square, and it was quite something to walk around the quiet city. Everything looked beautiful covered in fresh white snow. But what I enjoyed the most was the silence. Walking everywhere made me think of our ancestors, who at some point in our history did just that, they walked everywhere.

On Sunday things slowly started to return to normal. More plowing, more shoveling, more digging out. Mountains of snow in every intersection made driving and walking dangerous, and you could see dump trucks hauling snow away. It is now raining, so the snow is getting heavier. Most catch basins are under feet of snow, and the streets are already looking messy. This week is supposed to be rather warm and there will be some snow melt, but I wonder how long it will take for the last of the 26″ of snow to go away.

HONK! Festival 2011

This past weekend HONK! invaded Somerville. It was the once-a-year crazy scene with awesome brass and marching bands flooding Davis Square. It was the time of the year when young and old glow joy. HONK! is the festival of activist street bands, and the crowd is invited to participate and show support for the message. What is the message? You can read it here, but by just looking around I could see support for democracy, peace, sharing, the environment. It’s also about participating in the fun, and that’s not really a tough one to do.

It was fun wandering around. By the end of the day Saturday the square was overcome with the smells of HONK!: sweat, multiple varieties of body odor, pot. And then Sunday was the great parade when the bands joined by various groups, march down Mass Ave from Davis Square in Somerville to Harvard Square in Cambridge. You see policemen, Mayors, cross-dressers, people on stilts, people-wheels (you know, like a hamster-wheel but with people instead of hamsters). You see weird, you see crazy, but it is all fun and it is all good. HONK! is just another thing that make me love my neighborhood.

I took some photographs, you can see the full set here.

Hey Look!

It only took me four months to post these Chihuly photos on flickr! Back in May, I visited the Dale Chihuly exhibition ‘Through The Looking Glass’ at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It was big, flashy, loud and glassy. And sometimes it was impressive. You would go in, look around, take photos, exit through the gift shop, spend money on Chihuly-approved merchandise. I did all the above with the exception of spending money. I took some photos with my other than the iPhone camera, you know, a real camera, and in typical fashion I procrastinated seemingly forever to review, edit and upload them.

So, yes, now that the exhibition is over, a month after the chaotic last days when the lines stretched all around the museum block and people waited for hours to see it, now that no one cares anymore, I have posted the photos on flickr (you can click here for the slideshow). Here are some of my favorites:

May 21, 2011: The Rapture Snubbed Us, The PorchFest Rocked Us

Saturday May 21, 2011 was supposed to be Judgement Day. The day when the world as we know it was going to end. But it didn’t. The Rapture completely snubbed Harold Camping’s prediction. We woke up on that day happy to see that is was, in fact, a glorious day. After a week of cloudy and rainy weather we were ready to have our faces and bodies warmed up by the sun. At some point I thought that the Rapture might have happened indeed and I ended up in Heaven: the gorgeous weather and the hot shirtless guys running around were a proof of my transition. Alas, I was still bound by gravity and my own imperfections.

And that was alright. That same day PorchFest was going on around Somerville. PorchFest is a decentralized celebration where musicians play on porches. Turns out there are lots of musicians residing in Somerville, which meant that there were many little parties happening all over the city. The weather was perfect and the ideal way to check out as many porches as possible must have been to bike around the city.  Due to a late start I didn’t visit many venues, but reading the bands/musicians named I decided I had to check out The Rapture Day Ramblers. How aptly named for the day! They were playing on a porch across the street from the Nave Gallery. When we got there they had just starting playing a lovely unplugged set of bluegrass music. People starting coming by to listen. Interesting crowd, families with young children, hipsters, bikers. The guy next to me sat cross-legged on the sidewalk. He was wearing a bow-tie, button down shirt, bermuda shorts, boat shoes, and sported a modified fauxhawk. At some point he took a beer bottle and a glass out of his messenger bag and started drinking. I got a little jealous. Another guy was wearing a ‘Worcester: Paris of the Eighties’ T-shirt. The scene in Somerville was definitely rocking the Rapture.

FAST Light at MIT

This past weekend of May 7 and 8 the MIT campus in Cambridge and the Charles River got illuminated by many quirky art installations. It was FAST Light, the finale of the three-month-long festival of Art + Science + Technology at MIT.  On Sunday I walked around the campus, enjoyed the scene and the neat art pieces,  and took some photos.

Liquid Archive

voltaDom

Light Drift

String Tunnels

Low Resolution

Oh, the evolution of the image quality through the history of photography: We started in low resolution and monochrome. Then we strove for higher resolutions and color. We went from cameras obscura to film to digital. We created heavy lenses with complex glass systems. We wanted more megapixels, we came to despise the grainy image, we wanted it to be crystal clear.

Then we became overcome with nostalgia of the grainy image. We went back to shooting film. Then we realized our cell phones took low resolution photos. We became obsessed with the faux-vintage look. We used and abused camera phone applications that give that certain look to our photos, we couldn’t get enough of applying the preset filters. We still want our phones to come with cameras with more megapixels to capture clear images, only to reject the clarity in editing and post-production. We killed image clarity with Hipstamatic and Instagram.

The evolution trajectory in image resolution has been from low to high to low-or-high. Clarity and image sharpness are a choice now, which, of course, is a very good thing. Sometimes I do like my photographic images to have a retro look. I like them to be low resolution and almost look like paintings. Sometimes I like things blurry, I like things looking dreamy. In these days that everything seems loud and big and intrusive, I sometimes prefer things to be implied, I prefer things to be subtle.

Snow Day, January 12, 2011

At work on Tuesday we were all talking about the snow storm brewing, kept reading the updated weather forecasts, and started growing anxious, when by the end of the work day we still didn’t know whether next day was going to be a snow day or not. I left work and 15 minutes later I got the call that made me happy: a snow day indeed. Tuesday night I drank wine, stayed up late and watched every news forecast available. They were talking about 18 inches of snow. When I got to bed around midnight, it was still dry.

At around 6 a.m. on Wednesday I woke up by the sound of thunder. I must be having weird dreams, I thought, I should drink less wine next time. I got up around 9:30, looked out of my window, everything was white, it looked like a lot of snow. The bikepath was completely covered by snow, the tree branches were snow frosted, and fat snow flakes were coming down. I turned on the TV and they talked about thunder snow and lighting. Wow.

It was quite windy, as well. By around 2 p.m. I realized I’ve been too lazy and I went for a brief walk from North Cambridge along the bikepath to Davis Square. It was beautiful, fresh snow, few cars on the roads.

Saw cross-country skiers, dogs trying to walk and play in the thick snow layer. And I took some photos, of course. The wind made it a little bit challenging, and it was quite cold: when I finally got back home, my fingers and toes were frozen.

Here’s the slideshow of my photos and here’s the set .

 

Against the Diminution of Sunsets

There was a magnificent sunset in Boston tonight. Even you didn’t see it yourself, it is almost certain that some of your friends did, and they made sure you saw it too by posting a photo of the sunset on their facebook or twitter pages.  It almost certainly came with some kind of admiring caption. And then you clicked on the photo, and what you saw was well, alright, but certainly not “marvelous”. It was a low resolution photo, taken by a camera phone. The magnificence of an enormous sky reduced to a 5″x7″ window in your monitor. You wanted to feel the awe, but you didn’t.

And that’s perfectly fine. I love photography, I love both taking and looking at photos. But some photographs always disappoint. You simply cannot convey the vast beauty of a sunset in a photograph. It will always look exponentially inferior to the real thing. I have taken my share of sunset photographs, and the truth is they look quite lame. The colors, the contrast, the exposure, everything looks off. Some things cannot be photographed right. Some things when seen in a photograph will be devoid of their glory.  If you want to see and feel the magnificence of a sunset, just go out and see one. Just don’t show me the photo you took.

Spectacular Spectacle Island

This year Labor Day was a glorious early September day. Warm and sunny, a perfect day to enjoy the outdoors. It had been a couple of years since I last visited any of the Boston Harbor Islands (map), so I decided it was a good day to visit Spectacle Island for the day, an island I hadn’t been on before.

I checked the ferry schedule and it looked like I could also visit Georges Island on the same day. When you buy a ticket, you have to specify the return ferry too, so I had to make sure I had enough time to walk around Georges, then take the ferry to Spectacle and explore the island. A round-trip ticket costs $14. I took the ferry from Long Wharf and after a smooth 25-minute ferry ride we arrived at Georges Island. I had been on this island before, but I always find it pleasant to walk around Fort Warren (photos here & here), a pentagonal fort built in 1850. It was built to defend Boston and you can still see some of the cannons remnants of the black powder era. Walking inside the stone and granite structure I could feel immediate cooling. I wondered if  I was sensing the  presence of the Lady in Black, the fort ghost.  Perhaps. I also walked on top of the walls and enjoyed a pretty view of the harbor and the Boston skyline. After an hour or so I went down the pier again to wait for the small ferry (it’s more like a 70-passenger water taxi) that runs between Georges and Spectacle Island for free. I like how they have these Adirondack chairs at the pier, where you can just sit there and enjoy the view.

The ferry ride to Spectacle was about 30 minutes, but I wouldn’t complain if it was longer. It was a beautiful day to be on a boat, and quite nice to go by other harbor islands, like Moon Island and Long Island. Many people were out sailing that day; they couldn’t have asked for better weather.

Spectacle Island is closer to Boston than Georges and offers a more dramatic view of the Boston skyline. Approaching by the boat it looked very green and very… new. The marina is newly constructed, and the park and visitors’ center opened just about four years ago. There is also a life-guarded sandy beach and quite few people were enjoying it, although I didn’t see anybody swimming that day.  The “green” visitors center is powered by solar panels, and has composting, no flow toilets (pretty interesting experience for me, to say the least.) The center has plenty information about the history and present of the island. But the best way to get to know the island is to take the tours that DCR park rangers give. I took the tour, which took us along the trail around the south drumlin, and learnt a lot about the history and evolution of the island from a very enthusiastic park ranger.

Spectacle Island is comprised of the south and north drumlins, that is hills of glacial drift. The drumlins looks like spectacles, hence the name British settlers gave to the island. Archaeologists believe that Native Americans fishermen were using the island since 8,000 back. Spectacle Island used to be farmland and later a quarantine hospital was there. In the 1800s they used to bring the dead horses on the island and use their tail hair to make brushes and bows for string instruments, the horsehide leather and horsehooves to make glue (actually there was a glue factory on the island.) Later in the 1910s they started using it as a landfill, and one can only imagine the stench that would emanate from a landfill / dead horse disposal facility combination.

The landfill closed in the 1960s and the island was abandoned. The most spectacular thing that would happen for the next 30 years would be fires due to the high methane levels. Toxic material would leach into the harbor. During the 1990s when much effort was devoted to cleanup the Boston Harbor, it was decided that something had to be done about the island. And the answer was: transformation. The landfill was capped, meaning they built barriers around it, so that no toxic pollutants would leach into the sea. During the same time excavated dirt, gravel and clay from the Central Artery/Tunnel project (the Big Dig) was deposited above the capped landfill, at points 30 feet deep, in essence enlarging and reshaping the island. A two-foot deep clay cap was laid on top of that: this impervious layer keeps water from entering the landfill and carrying toxins in the sea. On top of that they placed topsoil containing biosolids compost 2 to 4 feet deep.

Finally they were able to plant trees with shallow root system, as well as shrubs and meadow grasses. During our tour around the south drumlin, the park ranger was pointing out different kinds of flowers and trees. It was interesting to see how amazing some of them smelled when you would rub them between your hands, that some of them are edible and that some of them you can use them to make a tea-like drink. DCR is also conducting monitoring of the different species and record the different changes in foliage, to see how global warming has impacted the plants’ cycle. They have also planted beach grass in the sand dunes. And then there’s interesting fauna. The ranger pointed out species of birds and we saw monarch butterflies. During the tour he would also point out other interesting facts, like the seawall that was built around the island to prevent erosion, the monitoring wells for the landfill, as well as the poles with a spinning hood top that are vents for the trapped methane gas in the landfill. I also noticed swayles and catch basins indicative of a stormwater management system, yet another eco-friendly approach.

When the one-hour guided walk was over, I felt excited with all the new-found knowledge. I had no idea that this island had such an interesting history and such an interesting transformation. Everything is very green and very peaceful. You are only 20 minutes away from Boston, yet you feel that you are further removed from the city. I walked around the north drumlin and reached the top, that is the highest point in the Boston Harbor. It offers spectacular panoramic views of the harbor and the Boston skyline. When I stood there at the top I thought how cool it was that I was standing on top of a capped landfill, 30 feet of Big Dig dirt and topsoil containing biosolids compost! (I should note that the biosolids come from a local source, courtesy of the Deer Island sewage treatment plant.)

In the case of Spectacle Island the state has done a pretty good job. They have incorporated many environmentally sustainable practices when they developed and built the park. They have also completed an amazing habitat restoration. The DCR-run park offers many educational opportunities and the enthusiasm of the staff is contagious. I was pretty happy I discovered this gem and plan on going back again.

You see some of the photos I took that day here.

Walking in the City

I like walking. A lot. I could walk for hours in the city or somewhere out in the woods. Sunday was a fine day for walking. I spent the breezy summer day walking around the city. We took the red line to Broadway, then walked across the bridge, over railroad tracks and the Fort Point Channel and then under the massive concrete structure that is I-93 to the SoWa Open Market in the South End. This was my first time visiting the market.  There’s the outdoor section where they set up tents and sell bread, produce, flowers, clothes, jewelery, art, and then there’s SoWa Vintage Market, the indoor market. I managed to successfully barter, and paid $15 for a $20 priced funky antique ashtray. (Most likely the guy paid $3 for it, but still I felt like a tiny victory. Sometimes tiny victories is what we can hold on to, but I digress…)

After we were done with the market, we walked back on Broadway. Then followed the signs for the Fort Point Channel HarborWalk. I never realized that the channel comes all the way to Broadway. We walked along the street where the Gillette World Shaving Headquarters sprawls. It was deserted. On the other side there were numerous railroad tracks. Then we came to the one end of the Fort Point Channel HarborWalk. Right next to the railroad tracks and the channel there’s the Rolling Bridge Park, which features a piece of the Old Colony Railroad Bridge. There are several informational boards mentioning the history of the place, but in summary this used to be a railroad and boat hub for transporting goods. The bridges are now gone, making way for the Central Artery/Tunnel (CA/T)

This image shows the old/new juxtaposition. The era of the bridge is gone, the era of the CA/T ventilation building is here. It’s also interesting to see in the maps how much the harborline has changed, how much open water has been filled to build roadways, houses, factories.

The water in the channel wasn’t clear, but at least it was free of debris and trash. However it was full of white jellyfish, who I guess made their way up from the harbor. I don’t like jellyfish. I hate how it feels when you brush against them while you swim, they’re slimy and soft.

We then started walking on the harborwalk along the channel towards Summer Street. This is the view of the channel from the park looking southeast, towards the harbor:

I think this piece of the harborwalk was completed quite recently. They have installed benches and nice lighting fixtures along the walk. The peace of the place is interrupted by the constant humming of the Gillette World Shaving Headquarters, now owned by P&G. Nevertheless, it is an iconic Boston image and brand. At some point I noticed a water discharge in the channel coming from the direction of the Gillette plant. It was pretty fierce and thought it might be a stream.

Later along the walk there was an informational sign explaining that the plant intakes seawater from the channel and it is used to cool down the manufacturing equipment. The seawater is then discharged into the channel, slightly warmer but otherwise uncontaminated. Further down the walk you can see the pumping station, a brick small building. Apparently this cooling method has been in use since the 1920s. Next to the pumping station there is also another informational sign showing how the tunnel, which was part of the Big Dig and CA/T was built under the Fort Point Channel. You can sight the vent buildings on either side and visualize the alignment of the tunnel. The photographs taken during the construction of the Big Dog show a huge construction site; now your can see a park. Much better.

One of the most delightful discoveries for me was this thing, which at first sight thought it looked like a vuvuzela on steroids (yes, it is World Cup season afterall). I later saw that it is actually a listening device, but the only thing I could listen was a constant humming.

And then we came to the end of the new. It was great to discover this new piece of the harborwalk. The walk at this point goes under a building and connects to Summer Street. We took a left on Summer Street, then a right on Atlantic Avenue and walked along the Rose Kennedy Greenway, which of course is much better than having an elevated interstate going through a city. The new thing for me on the Greenway were these three funky misting devices that look like robots, flashing lights and all. The three WALL-Es must be connected to some kind of a sensor, because when we walked by them they started flashing their lights and let out a misty cloud. Fun, fun, fun.

Finally we made it to the North End. Gosh, this place is so busy and loud, not really the best place to go for a relaxing dinner after a day of walking and standing. I never particularly liked the North End. I like Columbus Park, but Hanover Street is just unbearable. I wanted to get pizza, so after some time that felt like years, we decided to go to Antico Forno. The food was good, my drink was awful. It was supposed to be sangria, it tasted more like pineapple  juice. Of course I should have known better than to order sangria at an italian restaurant, but thought it would a refreshing summer drink. Yes, the ice cubes were adequately refreshing. We then had gelato for dessert, which was just OK.

And then there was more walking. Back to South Station to take the T. Because after all it was a nice night. It is also nice to live in a city as compact and walkable as Boston. With still many things to explore, I’m sure. So there, take advantage of it, go out, walk and explore.