Showing posts with label Boston. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boston. Show all posts
Sunday, March 10, 2013
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum - Boston (Mon 22 Aug 2013)
Thursday, February 21, 2013
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum (3 of 3) - Boston (Oct 1988 / 22 Aug 2011)
The Museum had not changed too much in 23 years since I was last there on my first visit to Boston in Sep 1988. This is my favourite photo from both visits. I love the complexity, contrast, colour, light and mostly the shadows on the white concrete wall to the left.
The way I see has changed a lot since those early days when I travelled with Pentax K1000 that was a gift from my Family for my 21st birthday back in 1981. I still have the K1000 and it would be fun to get it out and shoot a few rolls of film to see what comes out.
Love my little Canon S95 (*) [the most recent version being the Canon S110 (*)] which I bought in Jan 2011. It has taken just over 22,000 photos and is still going strong. It (*) has been to New Zealand (*), USA 2011(*), Hong Kong 2012(*), Korea 2012(*) and Japan 2012(*). It fits easily into my pocket and it goes everywhere with me. I have recently printed a few of the photos to 30x20 inch (*) and they are crystal clear.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum (2 of 3) - Boston (Oct 1988 / 22 Aug 2011)
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum (1 of 3) - Boston (Oct 1988 / 22 Aug 2011)
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Trees and Water - Charles River Esplanade / Back Bay / Boston (Mon 22 Aug 2011)
One year today since I sat by the Charles River (*).
For some reason today, I am drawn to an inspired piece of recent writing (*) by Spencer Lum (*):
[..] if you’re willing to take a gamble, I’ll bet on you. If you’re willing to put it out there, if you’re willing to fail, if you’re willing to let go of it all, thumb your nose at the world, and do it your way, I’ll believe in you. You may not find what you want, but you’ll find what you need. Want is easily known, but need is a thing that only reveals itself in retrospect.I have thought a lot about belief (*) and self-confidence recently, particularly after my little speech (*). Often it takes some time to have the confidence to believe in one self. Initially, more than not, the belief comes from others, those who support and love you for who you are.
It is only with time, experience and the support of those others who believe in you, that you can find your own self belief and you start say things to yourself like - yes, I can do that, you start finding reasons why you can, rather than you can't, and when you question yourself with why?, you are able to say well why not(*) - and it is then that things start to happen.
As time goes by, you become stronger, more independent and not afraid to give things a go, even if it means making mistakes or even failing. You know that the risk is worth the reward of at least trying, whatever the outcome. I think I even knew (*) this, one year ago today, when I sat beside the Charles River (*) - as I said back then, a week later (*):
I would still like to think that I am still a believer. After all three steps forward and two steps back is still a step in the right direction.Thanks for believing Spencer.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Do Not Enter / One Way - Commonwealth Ave and Hereford St / Back Bay (Fri 19 Aug 2011)
AMTRAK from New York Penn Station to Boston's South Station. After checking into the Boston Park, we wandered along Comm Ave up towards Mass Ave. A dinner stop at a Thai Restaurant and back along Boyleston after trying some frozen yogurt - some vague recollections of those big transition days where you have just become familiar with New York and then it is time to start all over again..
One year ago today.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Green - Back Bay / Boston (Mon 22 Aug 2012)
Just a couple of little things that caught my eye as I wandered around Back Bay on the way to the Charles River.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Boston Postcards - Apr 1994
A couple of Boston Postcards that have sat on my various desk since my April 1994 trip to Boston.
The panorama card is one I bought as a souvenir for myself. I can even see where I sat down beside the Charles River (*)
The MIT card is one I sent to my work and ended up back with me after it had done the distribution list of my Work Group.
Not sure why I have kept them on my desk for all that time, but it might have something do with the fact that I have fond memories of Boston.
MIT / TIM - Charles River / Back Bay / Boston (Mon 22 Aug 2011)
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Stairs - Red / Yellow - Arlington MTBA / Boston (Mon 22 Aug 2011)
Thursday, March 1, 2012
The Red Line - Harvard MTBA Station - Boston (Mon 22 Aug 2011)
Thursday, December 8, 2011
What I think about when I think by the side of the River Charles - Boston (Mon 22 Aug 2011)
On a whim, I recently bought myself a copy of Haruki Murakami's (*) book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (*). As I read it, I was quite taken by the following passage ..
It's been 10 years since I lived in Cambridge [Boston]. When I saw the Charles River again, a desire to run swept over me. Generally, unless some change takes place, rivers always look the same, and the Charles River in particular looked totally unchanged. Time had passed, students had come and gone, I'd aged ten years, and there'd literally been a lot of water under the bridge. But the river has remained unaltered. The water still flows swiftly, and silently, toward Boston Harbour. The water soaks the shoreline, making the grasses grow thick [..]I sat beside the River Charles. It was late afternoon on the last day of our 4 days in Boston. We had arrived on the Friday from a week in New York. Here are a few photos from my time sitting by the River Charles.
Maybe because it's the home of the Boston Marathon, Cambridge is full of runners. The jogging path along the Charles goes on forever, and if you wanted to you could run for hours. The problem is, it's used by cyclists, so you have to watch out for speeding bikes whizzing past from behind. At various places, too, there are cracks in the pavement you have to make sure you don't trip over, and a couple of long traffic signals you can get stuck at, which can put a kink in your run. Otherwise, it's a wonderful jogging run.
We had already been away for a day short of 4 weeks and it would be another 3 weeks before arriving back home. I was enjoying the trip but was thinking a lot about all the changes that had been occurring in my life - I was without a car and I had moved back to Kirrawee while I waited for my house, I had never really planned or contemplated to live in, to become available while I was away. Tried not to think about these things too much from a far, as I had no control over them. Instead, I just sat myself down on a seat bench by the River Charles and tried to think of other things.
I sat there in the beautiful afternoon sun, I thought of many things. I thought of all the other times I had been to Boston, what took me there and what I did while I was there. I also tried to remember who I was and what I was doing in my life around the time of each trip.
September and October 1988 was the first trip, and it would be just under a year before I would meet Jenny for the first time.
I reflected on the two years since Jenny had left us and all the things that happened since that time. In some ways, it was just sitting there by the River Charles, that I finally stopped and had a chance to clear my thoughts and to really think about things.
I had really kept myself busy and distracted since Jenny's passing (*) - it was one way of coping with the enormity of Jenny's loss. In some ways, I was starting to forget things - who I was, the things that we had done and what I thought I was going to do with my life.
As I sat there by the River Charles, I watched the walkers, runners and bicycle riders go past. Their long shadows, created by the late afternoon sun, are what struck me and this is what kept me interested as I captured these photos. I wondered who these people were, what had brought them to Boston and whether one of them was the future creator of the next social media craze.
A couple of rowers set off from near where I sat and I wondered if they were the Winklevii (*) of Facebook fame (*).
As I sat there I could see tiny sail boats, standup paddle boards and wind surfers. One wind surfer was fairly inexperienced and a more experienced wind surfer went to his aid, if only to provide advice and moral support, in the knowledge of just being there.
The small sailing boats were from MIT, which is just across the River, and it was only when I saw through the transparent sails, that I realised that in reverse, MIT, spells TIM, my late Brother's name - so I thought about him for a little while. He had been to Boston a few times also, so I thought about all the same things for Tim. Maybe he had sat here and pondered some of the same things, 25 years earlier? I also wondered why I had never made the MIT to TIM connection. Or thinking about it now, I think I may have thought about it a long time ago, but maybe I had forgotten remembering the connection.
Have been to Boston four times prior to this trip and I have visited it on each of my trips to the USA. The last time was just over 17 years earlier in April 1994, where I had hoped I might be able to run the Boston Marathon (*).
Now as I sit here and think about the things I thought about by the River Charles in Boston that late afternoon on Mon 22 Aug 2011, I can now see where Haruki Murakami's (*) ran along the side of the same river on the very path he captured in words above and I have captured in the photos on this page. I also now have an appreciation and can imagine where he found part of the inspiration to write What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (*), which I am now reading and enjoying.
That will do for now. Just leave it here.
A bit of ramble to mark my 700th Post here.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Doors - Levanto / Italy (Fri 12 Aug 2005) / Boston / USA (Sat 20 Aug 2011)
Like to photograph doors and windows. Here is a couple of doors photographed six years apart.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Charlestown Bridge - Charlestown / Boston (Sat 20 Aug 2011)
Monday, October 17, 2011
Intersection - Charlestown / Boston (Sat 20 Aug 2011)
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Downeaster Alexa - Billy Joel (youtube)
Downeaster Alexa Lyrics
Well I'm on the Downeaster "Alexa"
And I'm cruising through Block Island Sound
I have charted a course to the Vineyard
But tonight I am Nantucket bound
We took on diesel back in Montauk yesterday
And left this morning from the bell in Gardiner's Bay
Like all the locals here I've had to sell my home
Too proud to leave I worked my fingers to the bone
So I could own my Downeaster "Alexa"
And I go where the ocean is deep
There are giants out there in the canyons
And a good captain can't fall asleep
I've got bills to pay and children who need clothes
I know there's fish out there but where God only knows
They say these waters aren't what they used to be
But I've got people back on land who count on me
So if you see my Downeaster "Alexa"
And if you work with the rod and the reel
Tell my wife I am trawling Atlantis
And I still have my hands on the wheel
Now I drive my Downeaster "Alexa"
More and more miles from shore every year
Since they tell me I can't sell no stripers
And there's no luck in swordfishing here.
I was a bayman like my father was before
Can't make a living as a bayman anymore
There ain't much future for a man who works the sea
But there ain't no island left for islanders like me
Monday, May 23, 2011
Boston (Acoustic) - Augustana (youtube)
Getting back into the RPM for my cardio at my local gym. James was my instructor tonight and he played songs from RPM 35, 36 and 37, all releases from 2007, which was my first year at RPM. This song was a nice way to finish the workout.
RPM 37 (Q407)
1. Makes Me Wonder - Maroon 5
2. When You Were Young - Belle Lawrence
3. Underneath The Radar Underworld
4. In The Dark - Tiesto feat Christian Burns
5. Turn It Up - (feat Anna Nordell) Bomfunk MC's
6. Sunspot - Armin van Buuren feat Airwave
7. Welcome To Africa (Club Mix) - Paffendorf
8. Cupid's Chokehold/Breakfast In America - Gym Class Heroes
9. Boston - Augustana
Boston Lyrics
In the light of the sun
Is there anyone?
Oh it has begun
Oh dear, you look so lost
Eyes are red and tears are shed
Some world you must have crossed
You said, You don’t know me
You don’t even care
Oh yeah
She said, you don’t know me
You don’t wear my chains
Oh yeah - yeah
The essential yet appealed
Carry all your thoughts cross an open field
When flowers gaze at you
They’re not the only ones
Who cry when they see you
You said, You don’t know me
You don’t even care
Oh yeah
She said, you don’t know me
You don’t wear my chains
Oh yeah
She said, I think I’m going to Boston
I think I’ll start a new life
I think I’ll start it over
No one knows my name
I’ll get out of California
I’m tired of the weather
I think I’ll get a lover
I’ll fly ‘em out to Spain
I think I’m going to Boston
I think that I’m just tired
I think I need a new town
To leave this all behind
I think I need a sunrise
I’m tired of the sunset
Here it’s nice in the summer
Some snow would be nice
Oh yeah
Boston
No one knows my name
Yeah
No one knows my name
No one knows my name…
Boston
No one knows my name
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Do You See What I See? - Hunters & Collectors (1988) (youtube)
The song ends with the lyrics:
Do you remember?
I said do you remember?...
Yes, I remember now. I saw Hunters & Collectors play this song at a Concert in Boston in October 1988. They were the support act for Midnight Oil. I had forgotten about this when I put together yesterdays post (The Forgotten Years). I kept thinking last night, that I had seen Midnight Oil somewhere else. This song made me remember, as I distinctly remember it being performed at the Concert in Boston. Funny how you can remember some things in the end.
Mark Seymour, the bands lead singer, is also a bit of a runner and he ran the same Melbourne Marathon I ran in 1994. He played some songs to a crowd at the finish line after his run. I remember being very impressed with him and his fitness, as I hobbled back to the Hotel Crossley for an afternoon nap.
Found a live version here and the Lyrics follow ..
Do you see what I see Lyrics
I spy your humble home
I see the tea towels fly
In a blinding flash
I see the years go by
Memories twisted around
Somebody's finger
Behind me now
Oh but I still remember
Do you see what I see?
Do you see what I see?
Do you see what I see?
Do you see what I see?
We go north to the ocean
We drove so far
But last years light is shining hotter than the sun
Looking for someone
In a suburb that I know
But I wasn't round for long
I had somewhere else to go
Do you see what I see?
Do you see what I see?
Do you see what I see?
Do you see what I see?
I see the safest place around
In that city down below
My hands are empty now
And I waving as I go
You were gone for a little while
It was a fine fine line
Between first and second thoughts
We left them all behind
Now we barely faulter
Now the long drive has begun
North to the ocean
Hotter, hotter than the sun
Do you see what I see?
Do you see what I see?
Do you see what I see?
Do you remember?
I said do you remember?...
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
More Than a Feeling (Boston) by Igor Presnyakov [YouTube]
More than a feeling
And I begin dreaming
Just amazing!!! Igor's performance, skills and passion are breathtaking. Just love watching his fingers and his face.
Following on from the previous post ..
A Couple of Random Memories: The original Boston version of the song was released in 1976, the year my family moved from Tamworth to Wagga Wagga. Would have been in 4th Form (or Year 10 as it is called now). Just a kid. Remember being very sad to leave Tamworth (we had moved to Tamworth from Goulburn when I was a few weeks short of the age of 2) as it was all I knew (have very few childhood memories before starting school).
I have always said that while the move was difficult in the initial stages, it was one of best things to happen to me in many ways. It was a quite a formative experience to be separated from everything you had ever known and to have to start all over again. I think it helped me to accept change (particularly when you have no choice - you just have to accept it and make the most of it) and made me more resilent to the impact change can have on you, particular in the early stages of the change (hope that makes sense).
Have been to Boston quite a few times - 1988, 1990, 1991 and 1994. Planning to spend a few days there following Tampa 2011 in August 2011. Been a while, so looking forward to seeing it with another 17 years of life experiences behind me. Had always hoped to run the Boston Marathon which is held on Patriot's Day (3rd Monday of April). I tried to qualify by running the Melbourne Marathon in 1993, but was about 8 mins short of the pre-qualifying time of 3hr 15min (it was a bit easier in those days). Was lucky enough to be in Boston to watch the 1994 Boston Marathon.
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