The UMass Building Authority has received 16 responses to its Request For Information (RFI) regarding the prominent Bayside parcel on Columbia Point, university officials said Friday. Several developers are already actively involved in real estate... Read more
Boston voters will see some new faces when they arrive at their polling locations next Tuesday. City high school students have been recruited to help set-up, greet voters and prepare ballots for pick up through a new initiative. Roughly 40 students... Read more
Neighborhood House Charter School (NHCS) has opened a new campus in Lower Mills to house its high school expansion in a building that formerly housed St. Gregory’s High... Read more
Boston City Councillor Ayanna Pressley will hold a first-ever hearing for girls of color who attend Boston-area schools this afternoon in Dudley Square. The listening-only hearing, which will take place at the Bruce C. Bolling Building in from 4:30 to... Read more
The University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees voted Monday to increase tuition and fees by an average of 3 percent for in-state undergraduates on Monday — the third year in a row the university has increased tuition for students. Last July,... Read more
Sixty-five Boston public high school graduates will attend Boston University on scholarship this fall. Of those, 15 students are from Dorchester.Joe Bui, Raymond Chu, Hana Do, Nikkolette Gerald, Annie Lin, Linh Nguyen, Amanda O’Connor, Sang Phan, Karan... Read more
Rudbeckia fulgida 'Little Goldstar' - Rudbeckia 'Little Goldstar' is a dwarf black-eyed susan that is no slouch when it comes to pumping out flowers.
'Little Goldstar' is a dwarf cultivar growing to only 14-16 inches and topped with masses of black-eyed Susan flowers with rich gold petals and a black cone. Great for small spaces, the front of the border and containers with a long-flowering habit from summer into fall. The larger form of this species, Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm', is a garden classic selected by the PPA as Perennial Plant of the Year 1999. The image compares 'Goldsturm' and 'Little Goldstar'.
Illustration by Caroline Magerl The ledges of Mackerel Cove, draped in kelp and bristling with barnacles, look today much as they did back in the 1930s when my summer friends Dick, Del, and I raced our punts around the cove’s bights and promontories. Here in this place of abidingness I am often caught up in a friendly warp of time.
The Cove was our summer playground. We rowed on it, waded in it, and fished in it. We hunted starfish and crabs among its rocks, scooped sand dollars from its shallows, and ruffled its reflections with our oars.
From the high ground of native pride, Dick and Del missed no opportunity to impress me with the splendid superiority of their island ways. In me they found an eager recruit; they abetted my schemes to become an islander like them, to spend the winter here, forsaking family to prolong this summer fellowship. I sometimes forgot that the school-bell also tolled for them, and Labor Day ended this time of life for us all.
Unlike others our age, we shared the loose kinship of being fatherless—I for the summer, Dick and Del more or less permanently. Our idle pursuits marked us as pretty useless in the eyes of island grown-ups; loafing might be okay for summer kids, but fatherless Dick and Del were clearly bound for mischief.
For Dick Bixby and Del Richardson, the parental thing was subtly defining. Del had no visible parents. He lived with his Nana in a weathered clapboard shack on Summer Hill, where a rooster wandered the cluttered kitchen as familiarly as a pet cat. For want of a nuclear family, perhaps, Del had a reputation as a “bad boy,” for which I never saw any evidence. He wore a wide grin and called himself “Del the Pirate,” stealing distinction from any low esteem. For me, he was a most enviable of free spirits, an island Huck Finn who did what he wanted.
Dick, on the other hand, boasted noble island ancestry on his mother’s side. Blonde, harried Margaret Sinnett Bixby, who put in long days waitressing at the Woodbine Inn, could claim aristocratic descent from the first Sinnett who escaped impressment from a British man-of-war and settled here in the late 18th century. Dick’s father, the missing Bixby, was an absentee Army officer whose whereabouts went unmentioned.
Dick was my most constant companion. He turned up whenever he had an adventure that needed company or complicity. We disagreed regularly on matters we could never quite remember, then renewed our friendship as though it had no past. We’d set off to comb Pebbly Beach for flint and chalk, or check the apples in Skidmore’s orchard for their ripeness, or maybe decide to pester the crows in the thick spruce groves at the North End. Sometimes we set ourselves the grandest of all challenges: to circum-walk the island following the shoreline north or south. Somehow we never went farther north than Robin Hood Beach nor more southerly than Little Harbor before some other more enticing and less strenuous adventure took us inland. It was just as well. There are parts of the coast near Water Cove we never saw, terra incognita from which we might never have returned. Some shores are better left unknown.
If the day dawned sullen, we’d go fishing down at Bass Rock wharf. Myth has it that fish, perhaps lured by the dimples of raindrops, rise to the surface on rainy days, their mouths agape and their minds more easily persuaded to take the hook. Bait debates preceded these excursions. Snails were the poor boy’s bait, found everywhere. Their gristle had the virtue of hooked-on toughness, resisting vigorous nibbles though seldom inviting a solid strike. Brim was better regarded for its smelliness, but we had to ask for it or “borrow” from some lobstermen’s bait barrel. Dick, because he was half islander, was our forager-beggar on these occasions.
Back in those days before bottle recycling, we might spend whole mornings on the beach busting them. The shards of our efforts, worn smooth and small by countless tides, glint jewel-like in the sand today, their cloudy blues, whites, and ambers a treasure gathered by grandchildren. Stoning bottles was a badge of youthful prowess, exceeded only by skill with that indigenous island invention, the bean-snapper. A slingshot by any other name, the bean-snapper relied for its muzzle velocity on approximately 15" of inner-tube rubber, cut about an inch wide. Over one end, we placed a slipknot of heavy twine and poked its loose ends through holes in a leather sling from which we could snap a smooth pebble the size and shape of a small bird’s egg much farther than the arm can throw.
On Tuesdays and Fridays without fail, a score of us would climb aboard Johnny Murray’s flatbed truck for a ride to the movies, westerns mostly, at Redmen’s Hall over on neighboring Orrs Island. Those truck rides were social occasions still well remembered. Even today, men and women in late middle age who I meet in the General Store re-introduce themselves as fellow riders on Johnny’s truck. As I strain to match their lined faces with the names and features of long ago, I think how they must see time written on my own. We remind each other of Johnny who was killed in action in World War II, and then, sad memories refreshed, we talk of the weather and other useless things. Once, walking home past the island church, I read Johnny’s name off a roadside plaque and wondered that a loss so long ago is still so affecting, a piece of immemoriam stuck fast while other fragments slip away.
The steamboat Aucocisco docked at noon each day, hooting a summons to all who felt they should mingle or for whom “picking up the mail” was their excuse for lingering until it was sorted at nearby Sinnett’s General Store. Gathering at noon on the steamboat wharf was a social moment that broke the day into its natural halves. At twilight, the steamer returned—its hulk looming large in the gathering dusk, heading straight toward us, thumping to a halt, and squealing against the pilings. We secretly hoped Captain Morrill would someday bring her in fast enough to carry all away, but this was only wishful. Morrill was a seagoing capo di tutti capi, who even when the bay blew rough could make his passengers forget that his aging vessel once graced more tranquil waters as a riverboat. Once tied at the wharf, he beamed down from his lofty wheelhouse, exchanging pleasantries with the wharf regulars and watching over the offloading of cargo. To us kids he was totally awesome.
From the wharf we’d wander home as night threatened. Darkness gave us cover for occasional deviltry and fresh targets. Streetlights called attention to themselves, and stones by the roadside were always plentiful enough to take them out. Some boasted that they could bust ’em faster than the power company could replace them. I did not hesitate to join in, for the crime was without guilt; and it spoke to retribution, for how dare the night be lighted when the day had lost its glow? We made it dark until the dawn returned to give us back the cove and all the wonders of a now-lost youth.
Peter P. Hill taught U.S. diplomatic and Early U.S. history at the George Washington University for more than 30 years. He only missed summering in Maine during his four sabbaticals in France, and now resides in Brunswick.
Enter Quik Sew 2292, made up in an athleisure fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics. Streetwear for the senior set!
All joking aside, I wouldn’t recommend this pattern to anyone. I have no idea who they thought this vest would ever fit. The shoulders were virtually square, and the back was enormous. Basically, a couple of rectangles with a hood stuck on it. It’s also designed with 1/4″ seam allowances which would have been impossible for me to deal with. (No fancy serger here!). It was a battle from the word go, and this is one project I’m very glad to put behind me.
I’ve modified the front with a concealed button placket. The fabric, lovely as it is, isn’t very buttonhole friendly.
I constructed the placket out of quilting cotton from JoAnn’s. This is my third athleisure garment and I’m seriously grayed out. Hence the red buttonholes.
This leather jacket doesn’t see much wear because I always freeze wearing it. Maybe the hoodie isn’t such a bad idea after all. I would have worn this to the MPB Winter Frolic had the unusually warm winter weather continued. Unfortunately it turned much colder, so my wool toggle coat was in order.
The Kwik Sew pattern looks huge and shapeless on the envelope and you have managed to tame it very well. The hoodie with the leather jacket is a look I really like and one that will be a lot warmer as well. The concealed button placket is a great idea but love the red buttonholes.
What a shame that the pattern was a letdown. The fabric looks divine and I love the red buttonholes! I like the concept of hoodifying coats and jackets-might try it myself this winter.
Stylin'! Your adjustments to the original pattern are divine though, and I must say I rather like this particular Kanye look on you 😉
That's an interestingsewing patterns technique I wouldn't have thought of, and a really beautiful color on you!
The fabric is terrific. I like the layered in the hood look. This is the way normal people dress, sweatshirts, hoodies, jeans. tee shirts, and in my case, jeans, white socks and penny loafers. Clothes you can live in. – corey
This post is everything and then some. “Geezer meets Yeezy.” “Give in to your inner Kanye.” If only you could see the smile on my face! I agree that going full on HOOD is the key!
Oh, I love this dress, you have made me want to make one now! This would be perfect for summer. You have done a superb job. clothing patterns
A text reading "April 27 Declaration, Age of Peace, Starting Point of History" was shown during a mass performance as part of the 70th anniversary of the foundation of North Korea in the capital Pyongyang on April 9, 2018. (Mainichi)
PYONGYANG -- North Korea organized a recent military parade and other ceremonies commemorating the 70th anniversary of its founding to strike a balance between its consideration toward the United States over their June agreement to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, and its appearance of friendship toward China and South Korea.
During the military parade on Sept. 9, Pyongyang saved a seat right next to its supreme leader Kim Jong Un for China's special envoy Li Zhanshu, the third-ranking member in China's ruling Communist Party and the head of China's parliament. Sitting side by side, the two men came closer on several occasions to exchange words. At one point, Kim grabbed Li's hand and hoisted it high in an apparent bid to show close ties between North Korea and China.
Kim had a meeting with Li the same day and agreed to develop their bilateral relationship. According to China's state news agency Xinhua, Kim emphasized that he is strictly maintaining the denuclearization agreement with U.S. President Donald Trump and "has taken measures to that end." Kim also stated that he wants the U.S. to take appropriate measures and work together toward a political settlement of matters relating to the peninsula. Li handed a letter from Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Kim.
An apparent effort to show closer ties with its neighbor and longtime rival South Korea was also visible during a mass performing art session organized on the night of the anniversary. Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju attended the event at the May Day stadium in the capital.
About 17,500 students participating in the performance used colored cardboards in their hands to show an animation of Kim and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in coming closer to cross the armistice line between the two Koreas and shake hands -- a depiction of their April 27 summit. Texts reading "April 27 Declaration, Age of Peace, Starting Point of History," and "Our people must establish a new history of unification," popped up during the performance. When a famous tune calling for the unification of the Korean Peninsula was broadcast, the capacity crowd filling the stadium exploded with thunderous applause.
The reason behind Pyongyang's move to focus on its friendship with Beijing and Seoul was its dissatisfaction against the United States. A North Korean official confided that the ordinary citizens in the reclusive communist state generally do not trust the U.S. "We have been hostile for a long period of time, so building trust is important, but the United States is doing nothing," the official said.
Another factor pushing North Korea in this direction is its desire to improve its economy through closer ties with China and South Korea, two countries serving as Asia's economic engines. During the parade on Sept. 9, placards reading "People first" and "Respect people" were shown, suggesting that the Kim regime is focusing on making people's lives better. Some 150 foreign reporters were allowed to visit facilities connected with the economy such as a cosmetics factory and farms.
A North Korean official told reporters about the country's hopes for closer cooperation with South Korea. "The only way forward for us is to cooperate and develop together. To that goal we must settle issues related to our people (in North and South Korea) by ourselves," the official said, in an indirect attempt to stop Washington's intervention.