Massachusetts

Charlestown is a neighborhood of Boston, just north of the city across the Mystic River, which was once known as a tough place (whenever a bank robbery or armored car heist appeared in the news, it seemed inevitably to involve a “Townie”), but in recent years has been gentrifying, especially along the waterfront. Many of Boston’s wealthy professionals have purchased homes and condominiums in the area, joining one of the oldest residents already present there: The USS Constitution.

Of course, the Constitution—also known as Old Ironsides, an 18th-century ship of sail—is the oldest commissioned warship in the world and is on active duty in the US Navy. She is berthed in the Navy Yard in Charlestown and each day she follows Navy tradition by playing the National Anthem and firing a cannon in salute.

Last November some of the Constitution’s newer neighbors decided that the Old Lady was not being a good neighbor and asked that her ceremonies be altered or ceased. This week, the ship’s commanding officer refused their request. The neighbors had asked that the charges for the cannon be reduced and the volume on the anthem reduced and even eliminated completely on the weekends. They had complained—and I’m not exaggerating—that the noise disturbed houseguests’ sleep on the weekends and their ability to enjoy a glass wine on their balconies and patios in the evenings.

It’s not like the existence of the Constitution was a surprise to anyone moving into Charlestown, but like someone who moves near railroad tracks and is surprised at the blowing of whistles by passing trains in the night, all we can say is, that’s your own fault for failing to do due diligence. Caveat emptor!

The Constitution’s traditions are more than mere show for the tourists. They are an integral part of the ship’s mission, which is to serve as a reminder and a connection to our nation’s naval history in war and peace and to preserve our heritage and traditions, so we will never forget the sacrifice of blood, sweat, and tears of those who gave their all for freedom and liberty.

A few years ago, I was privileged to ride aboard the Constitution during his annual Fourth of July cruise in Boston Harbor, a day I won’t soon forget. While aboard I recorded the 21-gun salute to our nation from belowdecks.

Charlestown’s blue-state swells should remind themselves of Admiral Boom from “Mary Poppins”, the retired British man of the sea who fired off a cannon from his home on the square each day at noon. Although the blast nearly turned the neighbors’ home upside down each day, no one dreamed of asking the admiral to end a tradition that connected him to the sea and symbolized his long and distinguished service to King and Country.

Of course, I’m also reminded of another movie scene, one which expresses my attitude toward those who would cast aside our heritage and history so lightly. I’m thinking of Col. Jessup from “A Few Good Men”:

I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it. I’d prefer you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post.Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you’re entitled to.

Photo by Domenico Bettinelli. All Rights Reserved.

Too late to pick-our-own apples, nevertheless on this Columbus Day weekend we went to Big Apple Farm in Wrentham, MA. And, by the way, a Trappistine Monastery happens to be down the street and so we stopped there too.

We went to the Hingham Farmers Market in chi-chi Hingham, Mass., today again. It’s a nice market in a nice location and I know it’s still early in the season for New England, but I think the Marblehead Farmers Market still beats it so far. Marblehead’s ratio of farmers to folks peddling home-packed canned foods and homemade jewelry and the like was much higher. On the other hand, Hingham beats Marblehead on location (right on the beach on Hingham harbor), parking (tons of space), lobster vendors (two in Hingham to none in Marblehead, selling for good prices), and coffee vendor.

Oh, the coffee! It’s sold out of a street truck by Redeye Roasters, who were recently featured in The Boston Globe. This is small-batch hand-roasted coffee that is manually drip-brewed to order. I have rarely tasted coffee so good. That’s going to be one of the reasons to keep me coming back every week.

This week, there were finally some vegetables and fruit. We picked up strawberries and beets and sugar snap peas. The peas are incredible, so fresh and sweet. We were munching them all the way home, like candy. They were so good I felt like I should feel guilty for eating them.

We took a detour into Wompatuck State Park on the way home, to show it to my sister-in-law Theresa. It’s a very nice state park, very close to Boston, but with a backwoods feel. They even have a campground there. We pulled into a trailhead parking lot and let Bella run around in the woods for a while, collecting pine cones (for playing “Poohsticks” and acorns for Piglet; it’s a Winne-the-Pooh thing), while Melanie took photos of flora, fauna, and Bella. I stayed with the car mostly because Sophia fell asleep in the car, a partially munched snap pea on her chest, as you can see in that photo there.

We’re still getting used to our new neighborhood, but I’m glad we’re finding new places to make new memories, even as our old memories in our old home recede. Hopefully, we’ll come to love our new farmers market as much as the old one, even as we miss the folks we came to know there. (I do miss the cheesemakers and the Vietnamese farmers especially.)

3 Days - 3,038 Photos from Robbie on Vimeo.

This is a fun video compiled from over 3,000 photos taken in a 3 day span in and around Boston. Nothing profound, but a very cool use of technology. Since this was taken with a digital SLR, the end result is effectively High Definition video, so click through to the Vimeo site for the full effect.

Click the thumbnails to see all the photos and click on “notes” to see the captions.

We went to our first farmer’s market of the season this morning, although it’s their second week. June in New England doesn’t see a whole lot available from the fields just yet and the market reflected that. There were lots of flowering plants as well as vegetable plants and herbs. Of course, there were also lots of strawberries as well as leafy greens like Swiss chard.

One reason we love this market is because some of the vendors have become so familiar to us. The lady from Crystal Brook Farms in Sterling, Mass., which produces wonderful goat cheeses, always remembers Isabella and dotes on her. This year she cooed over Sophia too. Next to her booth is always the lady from West River Creamery of Vermont, makers of delicious English-style cow’s milk cheeses.

The market also has food vendors, local restaurateurs who bring food down to sell to the crowds. The Thai restaurant, Sticky Rice, is a perennial and the owner is a friendly and popular family man who is always surrounded by his kids. New this year was Zaika, a new Indian restaurant in Marblehead. We got a combo platter from them of chicken tikka masala, chana masala (chick peas), a samosa, rice, and nan. My goodness, they must put crack in the food, it was so good. We were fighting over the right to mop up the last of the sauce with the nan.

The patrons are an interesting melange of stodgy WASPs and crunchy hippies, which is sometimes reflected in the eclectic mix of vendors. There’s always musical entertainment. Unfortunately, this week it consisted of some hippies who happened to be singing an anti-Catholic/anti-organized religion song while we passed by. I wonder if anti-Semitic or anti-Islamic sentiments would have been tolerated in this oh-so-liberal town. I think not.

Apart from that off-note, it was nice to have the farmer’s market back again, which has quickly become a sign of summer’s return. We’re going to miss it very much when we move.