Why do you do what you do to me, baby?

[sovay]

We had talked about the Public Garden, but instead I took my niece to North Point Park. We talked about the importance of railways and rivers and she perched like a leopard in the climbing structure. I showed her the fragment of Millers River still running beside the graded dunes of the Boston Sand and Gravel Company and pointed out the former Charles River Dam under the Museum of Science and the current Charles River Dam on the far side of the Zakim. She was indifferent to the skate park, but riveted by the drawbridge and the trains across it. Fortunately, we had a camera.



The importance of railways and rivers.



The importance of railways and rivers and my niece.



We had no idea of the identity of this dapper little waterfowl, diving among the shiver of reflections. My niece tried to hold her breath each time until she saw it come back up again.



My niece took this picture, along with a contact sheet's worth of other pictures of commuter trains sliding in and out of North Station. She recognized them from the Newburyport/Rockport Line which runs near her mémère's house. She explained to me that she's never had a camera of her own (or a phone, although she does have a tablet on which she plays educational games). spatch and I have an idea of her next big present.



Signal Tower 'A' of the Boston & Maine Railroad, despite near-total dereliction, persists. An icon for us all.



She alternated between racing ahead of me among the Canada geese and the willows and hanging on the rail to stare at the water, which I was certainly not going to discourage.



Cities are full of shadow creatures.



The Green Line crosses the Lechmere Viaduct, as I have loved to watch it do since my own childhood.

Our upstairs neighbors have acquired a keyboard. We are suffering in not silence.

Comments

[the_future_modernes]

Oh what a lovely scene!

[theseatheseatheopensea]

and hanging on the rail to stare at the water, which I was certainly not going to discourage.

<3 <3 <3

And I'm sorry about the loud upstairs neighbours!

[julian]

I *think* your duck is a Merganser of some kind. I think maybe female Hooded.

Also, that sounds very balm-to-the-soul-ish.

[gwynnega]

What a lovely outing!

I am so sorry about your upstairs keyboardist(s). I hope your neighbors exercise more musical restraint than my godawful upstairs neighbor.

[radiantfracture]

I was also going to say merganser, because of the slightly bedraggled profile, but I couldn't get the coloration.

[ethelmay]

I think some keyboards have headphone jacks, don't they?

[selkie]

*hugs* I’m glad you’re getting this time with Niece.

[viggorlijah]

That photo where she’s leaning on the bridge - the stone of the building diagonally across has the same wild browns as her hair, like she’s part of the landscape, so pretty

[thisbluespirit]

Beautiful pictures! I'm glad you were able to have a nice time with your niece.

Sorry about the neighbours; that's always such a neverending pain! <3

[sorcyress]

If you are okay with stairs, you should come with me to bellringing some Saturday and hang out inside the Old North Church while we're doing our thing. If you're okay with weird stairs, you could even come up to the belfry where we have a little platform eighteen inches above the bells, where you can press ear protectors to your head and revel in the cacophony of something louder and larger than yourself.

(If you're okay with ladders, then maybe after practice we can go all the way up the steeple and you can get the views of the North End that no one else ever gets).

~Sor

[kate_nepveu]

I am glad of your niece adventures!

[mrissa]

yay yay yay yay

[jesse_the_k]

Lovely photos, lovely niece!

[a_reasonable_man]

Great photos! I had not gone looking, and so did not know till now that these fragments of old Boston survived, stashed away forgotten under buildings and bridges.

[vass]

I think you might have an enginiece in the making.

[asakiyume]

Love the view your niece is enjoying from the rail.

[lokifan]

Ooh, thank you for mentioning that! Lovely.

[lokifan]

Gorgeous photos!

[sovay]

Oh what a lovely scene!

It's one of my favorite places in the city. I was so glad she liked it.

[sovay]

<3 <3 <3

One of these days I will finally take her to the proper sea.

And I'm sorry about the loud upstairs neighbours!

Thank you! The performance has, thankfully, knock wood, not repeated since.

[sovay]

I *think* your duck is a Merganser of some kind. I think maybe female Hooded.

Thank you! I could only get as far as "not an eider."

Also, that sounds very balm-to-the-soul-ish.

It was lovely.

[sovay]

I was also going to say merganser, because of the slightly bedraggled profile, but I couldn't get the coloration.

Thank you! I am not all that familiar with our local weird ducks.

[sovay]

What a lovely outing!

It was! We can do the Public Garden next time.

I am so sorry about your upstairs keyboardist(s). I hope your neighbors exercise more musical restraint than my godawful upstairs neighbor.

Thank you. I think almost anything short of a stampede would.

[sovay]

I think some keyboards have headphone jacks, don't they?

They do indeed, but this one didn't.

[sovay]

I’m glad you’re getting this time with Niece.

It was good time.

*hugs*

[sovay]

That photo where she’s leaning on the bridge - the stone of the building diagonally across has the same wild browns as her hair, like she’s part of the landscape, so pretty

Yes! She fits right in.

[sovay]

Beautiful pictures! I'm glad you were able to have a nice time with your niece.

Thank you!

Sorry about the neighbours; that's always such a neverending pain!

They are generally reasonable about parties, but there was just so much keyboard.

[sovay]

(If you're okay with ladders, then maybe after practice we can go all the way up the steeple and you can get the views of the North End that no one else ever gets).

Thank you! I am good with both ladders and heights; the issue right now is more that stamina isn't good with me. choco_frosh brought me and spatch to hear the new year rung in at Church of the Advent in 2017, but I don't think I have ever been inside the Old North Church.

[sovay]

I am glad of your niece adventures!

Thank you! She is a good niece for them.

[sovay]

yay yay yay yay

*hugs*

[sovay]

Lovely photos, lovely niece!

Thank you! (I can take no credit for my niece.)

[sovay]

Great photos! I had not gone looking, and so did not know till now that these fragments of old Boston survived, stashed away forgotten under buildings and bridges.

Thank you! Yes! They are some of my favorite pieces of Boston. You can even walk part of the Lost Half-Mile on the Millers River Littoral Way. There's a potato monument.

[sovay]

I think you might have an enginiece in the making.

When she was younger, she loved car parts and glitter.

[sovay]

Gorgeous photos!

Thank you!

[sovay]

Love the view your niece is enjoying from the rail.

I associate it with one of the first places I began to love this city.