Lydia Likes It

Oh, that view

Sunset over MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We never tire of it.

The volunteering life {cooking for homeless teens}

Perhaps it was Volunteer Match that put Community Cooks in front of me. I can't quite remember, but I'm so happy I connected with this organization that coordinates small teams of people to cook a dinner for a local nonprofit agency, once a month. The Community Cooks team for which I signed up creates a multi-course dinner for a wonderful local organization called Bridge Over Troubled Waters, serving homeless youth ages 14-24 in the downtown Boston community. Each month, the coordinator assigns a course -- main meat, main vegetarian, pasta, vegetable or salad, dessert -- of 10-12 servings, that we prepare at home and drop off to the agency (only 4 blocks away!) in the late afternoon. We're careful to mark each dish we donate with ingredients, so nobody risks an allergic reaction, and with instructions to reheat, if necessary. It's fun to think about what young people might enjoy eating, and to cook for them. Last month, my assignment was dessert, and my husband Ted made a big chocolate sheet cake. Doesn't that sound perfect? Check out the web site to see other area agencies that can use a little bit of help.

The oldest public park in America

We don't always appreciate what's right under our noses, and Boston Common, the oldest public park in America, is literally right under my 23rd-floor-apartment nose. Founded in 1634, the Common is a 50-acre pentagon smack dab in the middle of the city, bordered by the Beacon Hill, Back Bay and Downtown neighborhoods. The park, maintained by the Friends of the Public Garden, hosts events as varied as the annual Duckling Day, celebrating the famous book Make Way for Ducklings, and protests like the Women's March in 2017, when an estimated 175,000 people packed the park. There are art exhibits, and softball games, and a hemp festival, and scavenger hunts for children, and history explorations, and a Pride party, and free Shakespeare every summer. And the new Embrace sculpture, honoring Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King. And an historic cemetery where Gilbert Stuart (painter of the image of George Washington on the one dollar bill) resides. And a very popular designated free-range dog area. And a summer beer garden. And pickleball.

Read All About It

Every now and then, I love to immerse myself in books of a particular type or on a related theme. Lately, I've been revisiting some old favorites about Boston, where I have lived for the past 45 years, and collecting on my iPad a few that are new to me. These ten books, fiction and nonfiction, explore busing, homelessness, politics, history, corruption, race, jazz, and ducks. Click on the links to learn more about each of them; all are available in a variety of formats, and at your local public library.

Common Ground (J. Anthony Lukas 1995)

Rough Sleepers (Tracy Kidder 2023)

Make Way for Ducklings (Robert McCloskey 1941)

Another Bullshit Night in Suck City (Nick Flynn 2005)

Boston: Voices and Visions (Shaun O’Connell, editor 2010)

Boston Boy: Growing Up with Jazz and Other Rebellious Passions (Nat Hentoff 1986)

The Boston Girl (Anita Diamant 2015)

Wild Women of Boston: Mettle and Moxie in the Hub (Diana Vargo 2015)

The Last Hurrah (Edwin O’Connor 1956)

Caucasia (Danzy Senna 1999)

For pure fun, lose yourself in Robert B. Parker's Spenser books, or the Carlotta Carlyle mysteries by Linda Barnes (thanks to my friend Phyllis, for reminding me how much I enjoy both of these series).

What are your favorite Boston books? Leave them in the comments below, so we can share.

The volunteering life {something old and new}

For the first few years after retirement, my husband Ted spent most of his time volunteering in the bicycling community with a nonprofit organization called Bikes Not Bombs. BnB concentrated on two areas: bike programs for Boston youth; and international donation of used bikes and bike parts to countries in Central America and Africa.

With a change in leadership, BnB began to prioritize local activities over international projects, and Ted's interest waned. A serious bicycle accident forced him to take time off, and to think about what might come next for him.

For many years, Ted had been a member of The Boston Athenaeum, one of the oldest libraries in the United States, founded in 1807. Currently located on Beacon Hill, a short walk from our apartment, the Athenaeum houses a collection of more than half a million books (from the 1800s to contemporary publications), plus art, photography, rare books and special collections (Audubon prints, artist books and more). There's a children's library, reading rooms, and a full program of gallery talks by artists and authors.

And there are tours, open to the public. Art and architecture tours, and special-interest tours, attract visitors from all around the world. The tours are led by docents, well-trained guides who introduce visitors to the history and resources of this 200-year-old library. Last year Ted, a frequent library user and long-time member, was invited to become a docent.

After more than 30 hours of classes and training, Ted had to pass two tests in order to earn his docent name tag. One was a general art and architecture tour for some of the library staff, and the other was a short, in-depth talk about any one piece of art or sculpture of his choosing. Now he gives a couple of tours each month. The Athenaeum recently expanded into an adjacent building, so there has been additional training and exploration to adapt the art and architecture tour to the new space. 

Now that he's a docent, Ted has become interested in visiting other libraries and museums, and taking docent tours whenever available. Some docents are great storytellers. Some are terrible at sticking to a narrative. Some read notes from a tablet. Every docent is different, and Ted learns something from each of them.

Old library, new opportunity. It all happened at just the right time, and Ted -- a history major and trivia buff -- has settled into a great new volunteering life.