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Digging . Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests; as snug as a gun. Under my window a clean rasping sound When the spade sinks into gravelly ground: My father, digging. I look down Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds Bends low, comes up…
Read More »I enjoyed this article about Carl Yastrzemski by Dan Shaughnessy in yesterday’s Globe. Web photo courtesy of boston.com (Boston Globe photo by Stan Grossfeld (c) 2008)
Read More »MassMoments reminds us that on this day – March 17, 1901 – the Mayor Thomas N. Hart – declared a new holiday for the city of Boston – Evacuation Day. It was the 125th anniversary of the day in 1776 that General George Washington and the fledgling Continental Army forced the British to…
Read More »The first meeting of the Joint Committee on Redistricting was held today. From the website of the 187th General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts – a statement from the Redistricting Committee cochairs and the first scheduled meetings on the Redistricting Calendar: The Special Joint Committee on Redistricting will study…
Read More »Presentation of the traditonal “Shamrock Bowl’” President Obama – 2010 Since the Eisenhower Administration – the St. Patrick’s Day presentation of shamrocks to the President of the United States has become an important tradition. In 1952 what was then a ceremonial “box of shamrocks” became a custom-made Waterford crystal vase – now…
Read More »Here’s a poem by my old friend Eric Linder, a poet and bookstore owner. He had the Chelmsford Bookstore in Chelmsford Center for a long time and now runs Yellow Umbrella Books in Chatham, Mass., right on the main street.—PM . Nine-Foot Hoop . I put up a basketball hoop…
Read More »Along with these photos of St Patrick’s Rectory at 282 Suffolk Street, Tony Sampas sent the following note: The Irish Cross adorning the St Patrick’s rectory by day and by night. One explanation of the green coloration is that it leached down from the copper flashing. But in America you…
Read More »On March 16, 2011, the much awaited revision of Massachusetts General Laws chapter 188 (The Homestead Law) takes effect. Perhaps the most noteworthy element of this new law is that it creates an automatic homestead exemption of $125,000 for every homeowner without the need to file any document. The law…
Read More »Earlier tonight I presented a report to the city council housing subcommittee on foreclosures in Lowell from 2007 to 2010. The full report is available on the registry of deeds website HERE. The report scrutinized foreclosures conducted in 2008 and 2009 and calculated the time that passed between the various…
Read More »Tony Sampas provides some close-ups of the Ouellette Bridge, named for Joseph Ouellette who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor during the Korean War. The bridge runs from Lelacheur Park on the south side of the river to Top Donut on the north. It’s also known as the Aiken…
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