Simplify
I’ve been trying to reduce the amount of time I spend on social media, especially on Facebook and Twitter. I maintain my author presence on my book’s Facebook page, visit a few friends’ pages, and occasionally catch up with breaking news on Twitter. But with the exception of a couple of Facebook Groups I belong to, none of it really sparks joy for me. And it creates a huge distraction from my writing and editing.
So I’ve been writing more, reading more, and just generally feeling better about how I use my time. The compulsion to document and share my experiences in the highly temporal world of social media is not enjoyable for me any more.
Greenway
Last Summer, there was an installation of landmark Boston-area neon signs along a section of the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston, which included the sign from The European - a restaurant in the North End that is long-gone, but memories of which will always be alive. It was a place to go for pizza with the kids before Bruins or Celtics games at the old Boston Garden, back in a time when those things were affordable to do for an average family.
If you haven’t visited the city since the completion of The Big Dig in the 1990s, when the Expressway was dismantled and removed, you will find it hard to believe (and positively thrilling) that such beauty has replaced such ugliness.
Art Therapy
After a particularly difficult week in America (and a disgraceful performance by the Boston Red Sox last night) it was time to visit the Boston Museum Of Fine Arts today, and experience beauty and tranquility.
The gallery of Modern American Art was especially helpful.
Girls In The Windows
Photographed by Ormond Gigli on East 58th Street in Manhattan in 1960, just prior to the building’s demolition in order to make room for a high rise.
Prime “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” era.
There Should Be A Pulitzer Prize For Newspaper Headlines
And in other news, there is a Psychic Boutique on Revere Beach Parkway, just outside Boston. A Psychic Boutique.
Boston Garden
I had a chance to tour the Boston Garden recently. It’s nice and all, but I found myself really missing the original Garden. Even the rats.
The Art Of Influence
On display at the Boston Museum Of Fine Arts for a little while longer. There are many correspondences to current events here.
Kids These Days
Boston kids born in the twenty-first century take it for granted that, in the words of Mick Jagger at a Rolling Stones concert at Fenway Park in 2004, “Boston is a championship city.”
Those of us who’ve been around a little longer don’t take these things for granted. So an occasional reminder just before the start of another NFL season seems appropriate.
Al Fresco
In the Courtyard at the Boston Museum Of Fine Arts, on a perfectly beautiful Sunday.
Ch...Ch...Ch...Changes
1990 vs 2018
National Harbor
Look at who I met at National Harbor last weekend!
Not Normal
As with most things these days, this is no longer “standard”.
Neighborhoods
Manhattan
French Pastels
I hadn’t expected to enjoy this exhibit at the Boston Museum Of Fine Arts as much as I did. It focuses on the use of pastels by French Impressionist painters like Mary Cassatt, one of my favorites.
As some of you know, I love pencils, and although pastels are very different in composition from wood-and-graphite, they have a kind of creative synergy with pencils that intrigues me. And as with pencils, pastels have a very special relationship with fine papers.
They make me wish I could draw. Maybe I should try.
Not This Fourth
Sorry. No fireworks and flags for me tonight. Not in the mood this year. At all.
Rhapsody In Blue
I remember hearing this as a kid, and thinking that it didn’t sound like any music I’d ever heard before. It still doesn’t.
But each time I listen, my spirits rise, and that is a good thing in these perilous times - especially on a commemorative day like this one.
World Cup
Dancers of the Bolshoi ballet following yesterday’s football match backstage during a performance of Raymonda
Photo via Bruna Gaglianone
