Tag Archives: cambridge

March 11, 2026 · 8:28 pm

Shubie’s/the Barnacle/ Abbott Hall in Marblehead, Porter Square Books and Gustavo cuban kitchen/Cambridge, Mass., Bernadette in Salem

Marblehead

We have eaten well, as always in the Boston area, thanks to Dirck’s sister who used to be a newspaper food critic here. First stop, Shubie’s, a cheerful gourmet market and cafe with killer sandwiches, salads, and deli counter with enticing prepared foods.

The Barnacle

We also enjoyed the fish chowder, steamed clams, and water view at The Barnacle. We walked along the quiet Marblehead streets lined with flat-front wood frame homes from the 1700s and 1800s with historic plaques and along the waterfront by an old fort. (Fort Sewall, 1742.)

Abbott Hall is a cool old pile of bricks with some old paintings including the spirit of America. We learned that Marblehead is the home of the American Navy and the Girl Scouts Brownie. (Guess which one I was in.)

Dinner after my Our Diaries, Ourselves book reading at Porter square books in Cambridge was at nearby Gustavo’s, where we had meat dishes packed with flavor (pork asadas, ribs, chicharones)

Abbott Hall

The weather was glorious, with temperatures rising to the 70s, perfect for a waterfront walk in Swampscott, with glistening water and the Boston skyline rising in the distance. In Salem, we had a good meal at Bernadette.

Stunning ocean view from swampscott on high

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September 9, 2018 · 10:02 pm

Return to Somerville, tatte & blue bottle coffee/Harvard square, wedding at habitat wildlife sanctuary/Belmont and party bus to Lilypad in Cambridge 

Alex and RoseI think I found the triple decker house (#30?) I lived in for a year in the early 1980s in Somerville. Avon Street is only one block long but my memory is rusty. The street didn’t look much different than when I lived there. A mix of tarted up and faded houses.

Meeting Harris, age 2

Onto Harvard Square where we walked past Widener Library, where I used to do my freelance pieces, using a borrowed library card from a friend who was a real Harvard student. We stopped for coffee at the pristine Blue Bottle Cafe and a delicious tuna sandwich and flat bread at the very busy Tatte cafe/bakery.

Return to Somerville

Alex and Rose’s wedding was on the lovely landscaped grounds of the Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary near a swanky wooded residential area in Belmont. Old mansion, lovely patio and grounds. The weather held and the newlyweds are so happy and adorable. We piled into a bus with younger and older guests for an after party at lilypad, a small funky club in Cambridge’s Inman square. Great music by a DJ who was also a great dancer. I danced a little but was nervous about overdoing it with my still-recovering broken arm. Returned to the Homestead suites Hilton in Arlington around 1 am. Hotel was nice but a pricey $250 a night and hardly needed the living room with the fake fireplace (turned on with a light switch) that came with our bedroom. But it was convenient to the wedding and good to stay in the same place as other family members.

Harvard Yard

Now driving thru EZpass lane in  New Hampshire on I-95. We had to pay $59 for the pass from dollar rental because the unavoidable toll roads in Boston no longer accept any other payment, if you don’t have an EZ pass you don’t pay and you get fined…

Lilypad, Cambridge

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January 5, 2014 · 4:49 pm

Check out the Drake University Chamber Choir – in Des Moines and England!

The Drake University Chamber Choir performs at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in 2010.

The Drake University Chamber Choir performs at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in 2010.

For my music-loving friends in London, here’s a treat from Des Moines – Drake University’s Chamber Choir will perform free concerts at St. Paul’s Cathedral at 5 p.m. Jan. 20 and at St. Martin-in-the-fields (Trafalgar Square) at 1 p.m. Jan. 21,  as well as at Oxford and Cambridge during a 12-day concert tour January 10-22. These are some of the talented vocal students that my choir, the Drake University Community Chorus, sings with during our semester concerts. Closer to home (in Des Moines) the chamber choir will perform a free concert on Thursday Jan. 9 at 7:30 at Grace United Methodist Church. Here’s the scoop on the England tour from the Register: Drake choir to kick off series

While in England, the choir will to sing in the cathedrals of Gloucester, Coventry, and Ely, at both Cambridge and Oxford (St. John’s College Chapel, Cambridge; Merton College Chapel, Oxford), St. Martin-in-the-Fields and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, and at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, and St. Nicholas Church in Witham.  The Chamber Choir was selected by the American Embassy in London to inaugurate its new series at St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

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April 20, 2013 · 4:48 pm

Post-Boston marathon bomber standoff – a tale or two for those in lockdown

Locked down in her downtown Boston apartment on Friday during the manhunt for “Suspect #2,” my best friend from high school reports that she was getting irritated with CNN’s reference to “Suspect #1” going down in a blaze of glory. She found herself  castigating her television set for glorifying this guy. Then she realized, hey, I can actually chew out CNN in person because the anchor is right down the street. So she and her dog walked down Beacon Street and struck up a conversation with the CNN anchor, getting a somewhat frosty reception.

And then there was my niece somewhere in Watertown/Cambridge who reported on Facebook that after her neighborhood was given the initial (albeit short-lived) ok to leave their homes, she took her dog out for some fresh air and started hearing gunshots. Back into lockdown. A few hours later, Suspect #2 was in custody. Amen for that.

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April 19, 2013 · 2:25 pm

Boston Lockdown

Sad to see that my post from a few days ago  – –  wondering whether  there’s a lockdown in all of our futures – – has proven true for the people of Boston and neighboring Cambridge and Watertown.  Having visited  Boston last fall and as a former resident of Somerville and Brookline, I have a clear picture in my mind of the real neighborhoods and people affected. But it still feels not quite real, like a trailer from one of those ridiculously over-the-top violent Hollywood movies where Morgan Freeman is the president and Bruce Willis or Sly Stallone or even Arnold is coming to the rescue. Not this time. Hoping the very real police and FBI  capture this second Chechen brother alive and find out more about what is behind all this terror and mayhem in Boston so we can try to prevent even more.

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