BostonZest

The Hope of Spring ...

Notice the buds on the trees as you look up this week to avoid falling icicles and snow slides. Most years, we begin our hunt for the first signs of spring in gardens on the sunny side of Boston streets just after Valentine's Day.

"That is one good thing about this world... there are always sure to be more springs."
Lucy Maud Montgomery (Canadian writer and educator, 1874-1942)

Last year, things bloomed late, just as they will this year. But, these snowdrops were up by mid-March.

With so much snow to melt, the witch hazel may be our first sign of spring this time next month.

Then, in a few more weeks, we'll have lovely magnolias blooming along Commonwealth Avenue. 

The snow will melt, and spring will arrive within just a few weeks. 

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013-2015 Penny & Ed Cherubino  

Our Snowy Valentine, Poppy Is Our Sunday Dog

Our Snowy Valentine, Dutchess Poppy, loves to climb snowbanks.

Sweet comic valentine,

You make us smile with our hearts.

Your ways are laughable,

Most photographable.

Yes, you're our favorite work of art.

Happy Valentine's Weekend to all the great dogs in Boston and beyond.

Get to know all of our Sunday Dogs at Boston Dogs.

 

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino based on the song My Funny Valentine by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart 
Photography: © 2015 Penny Cherubino  

Related articles

What's Happening Around Boston in February 2015

A Hand Warmer Has Been Added to My Boston Winter Equipment

Spread a Little Local Love for the Rest of Valentine's Month

For the past week, there's been a lot of social media talk about getting out and supporting the local businesses who have been so badly hurt by the recent weather. We're adding our two cents to this message.

Pawsh Dog Boutique and Salon has toys for your four-footed valentines.

If you don't want to lose the small owner-operated businesses that are one of the best aspects of the Boston area, please get out of your homes and spend some money. Figure out what you need, or want to do, and then how you can do that with a local business. 

We made the rounds of a few of our favorite shops this week. We restocked our wine rack at Bauer Wines on Newbury Street. They have a great selection of sparkling wines for your Valentine weekend celebrations.

At KitchenWares, Jim Hill says it's a great time to bring in your knives to be sharpened. He was telling us that some customers drop them off before heading away to warmer climes and pick them up upon return to Boston.

While we were there talking about the service, a local chef was picking out a new knife from their fine selection. He told us he had just had his very hard carbon steel knives sharpened at the shop and was very pleased. (Ed once gave me a knife for Valentines Day and I still smile when I use it.)

Onion Soup from Petit Robert Bistro

This week we had food delivered from a couple of local restaurants. Our meal from Petit Robert Bistro could have been a special Valentine's Day supper. We shared an assortment of pâtés, roast chicken, beef Bourguignon, tart tatin, and chocolate mousse.

Because we always think about how a menu item will travel before we order, our choices for delivery arrived in lovely condition. If you don't want to go out to dinner over the weekend, consider having a meal delivered.

However, we hope to get out and dine-in at some of our favorites. There are some foods like the Petit Robert onion soup and profiterole above that are better ordered and eaten at the restaurant. What's more, this will give you the opportunity to provide a tip for a member of the waitstaff who has been hurt by slow days and snow days. 

If what you need is not local or if you are one of our readers from another part of the world, BostonZest is also a local business. When you are going to buy from one of the businesses that advertise here or pay us commission, we appreciate your support. 

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2015 Penny & Ed Cherubino  

A Hand Warmer Has Been Added to My Boston Winter Equipment

It took a few days of walking the dog in the recent chill, but I finally broke down and bought a hand warmer to tuck in my pocket and use when my fingers begin to go numb. 

This is my EnergyFlux Rechargeable Double-Sided Hand Warmer. It's being shown with the iPhone because, in addition to warming your hands, it can also charge your phone.

That was the tipping point for me to purchase one. I knew I would only use it as a hand warmer a few times each winter. But I'll carry it all year long as a backup battery for our phones. 

Warming Hands

Hand warmers are a product that I've considered before, but I've always been reluctant to buy the disposable kind and didn't want one that had to be filled with lighter fluid. This one is rechargeable from a wall outlet or USB. 

It has two warming settings. The lower setting makes the charge last longer and so far that's fine for me. My gloves are stretchy so I tuck it inside my palm and wrap my hand around it. A couple of minutes of that, with my hand in my pocket to boost the effect, and I can feel my fingers again.

Charging Phones

I have not used it to charge my phone yet, but an Amazon question brought a response that it charges about as fast as a wall outlet. And, I've used other types of backup batteries to charge phones, so I expect that this will work the same way. 

It would make a great gift for someone who suffers from cold hands, walks dogs, pulls off gloves to take photos, or uses a cell phone in cold places. Or, you could order one for yourself and be your own valentine!

What do you know about Amazon Prime?

We use it and love it. You pay once-a-year for free 2-day shipping delivery charges. Amazon throws in access to instant streaming movies and TV shows, photo storage, and they let you borrow a free ebook each month. They will even give you a one month free trial. Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Join Amazon Prime - Watch Over 40,000 Movies

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2015 Penny Cherubino  

Related articles

Then & Now: Snow Shoveling in Boston

What's Happening Around Boston in February 2015

Sleeping Dogs & Cats - What You May Be Surprised to Learn

Then & Now: Icicles in Boston Plus How & When They Form

February has been an icicle month, so far, in Boston. We are learning to look up to be sure the buildings we're passing are not about to drop a lethal spear on us. 

These on a Back Bay home had formed over a front yard garden so they were not a danger to pedestrians.

But, they did make us ask one another about icicles and how they were forming in very low temperatures. We found that scientists had asked the same question and found an answer.

"Icicles typically form on days when the outdoor air temperature is subfreezing but sunshine warms and melts some snow or ice. As it drips off your roof, a water droplet freezes when it loses its heat to the cold air. An icicle starts with a few frozen droplets. When it reaches a certain size, drops begin to drip along the side of the structure."

Any Boston phenomenon sends Penny off to search the Leslie Jones Collection at the Boston Public Library to see how this photojournalist documented it in his day.

She loves this 1919 photo of icicles on the Brewer Fountain on the Boston Common. We don't know if the fountain was still full and running when there was a sudden cold snap or if rains had filled the basins and wind had whipped the water over the edge. The angle of the icicles certainly seems to indicate that wind had some influence on their formation.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

 Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2015 Penny & Ed Cherubino  

Related articles

Look out Below! Snow & Ice Are Falling All over Town

Then & Now: Snow Shoveling in Boston

What's Happening Around Boston in February 2015

Does a Sculptor Think About Snow?

Since February is Black History Month, Ed and I have been photographing subjects that help us think about this aspect of Boston's past. The sculpture of slave and poet Phillis Wheatley on the Boston Women's Memorial has long been one of my favorite photographic models. (Click on the photo for a larger view.)

At the dedication ceremony, memorial sculptor Meredith Bergmann said,

“External, legal freedom was denied to Phillis Wheatley. But she sought the inner freedom that enabled her to write and here she makes her pedestal a desk.” 

I've read Bergmann's proposal for the memorial so I know how much thought she put into the smallest details of this artwork. But, I wonder if she considered how serene Phillis would seem with snowdrifts wrapping her and her desk? Did she plan for the light to outline this young face against the misty haze of winter trees?

Planned or not, the result can be stunning in the right light and, on one of our rare partly sunny days last week, I found that light. 

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny Cherubino
Photography: © 2015 Penny Cherubino  

A Fun Frolic for Finn – Our Sunday Snow Dog!

One way to survive a ridiculously snowy Boston winter is to follow the advice of our furry, fun-loving companions like Finn, “Stop shoveling the snow and start playing in it!”

 

 

You might argue that at one year of age Finn is still a pup and always wants to play. But isn’t that the point? When you’re young, or think young, a snow drift is where you stick your nose for a frosty frolic.

 

 

Finn tried it and now can’t stop. This guy loves the stuff! He’ll roll, run, romp, and retrieve until he’s exhausted. There’s always another spot that needs investigating and bounding there is half the fun. 

 

 

Of course, no matter what your age, there has to be an occasional time out. Although ... just because Finn seems to be resting, this rascal could be planning his next move.

 

 

Here’s hoping Finn will be an inspiration to us all. The next time there's a fresh coating of snow, before you reach for that shovel, reach for the leash and take your Sunday dog out to play – assuming the drifts will let you open the door.

 

Get to know all of our Sunday Dogs at Boston Dogs.

 

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

 Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2015 Penny & Ed Cherubino