From bouyant anticipation to anguish

When I posted those happy photos of marathon hopefuls on April 14, like the subjects in my photos, I had no idea of the horror that was going to strike my neighborhood. Away for the weekend, I became aware of the attacks only after receiving a call from a concerned friend who asked if I was OK and then told me about the explosions near the finish line. I stayed glued to the TV for the next few days.

Last night when I got off the commuter rail at Yawkee Station I walked to my apartment which is just outside the "crime scene." It wasn't until early this morning when I tried to go to Trader Joe's and to view the results of the attack that I was still banned from entering the zone. The images I am posting today were just a tiny bit of what I saw. The paper (above) taped to the fence at the corner of Massachusetts Ave. and Boylston St. was the first thing I saw. I was able to enter the Prudential center from the Huntington Avenue side and from the food court looking out toward Boylston I could see that all the stores, including Trader Joe's and Staples were all closed.

Later this morning I'll be heading to North Station and boarding another commuter line to Andover. I'm sure I'll see many signs of Boston's current state of heightened security.

Circus Animals in the City . . .

As a Boston local who blogs about design, last night I was invited to a bloggers-only gathering at Designers Circus in Boston. Event organizer, Lisa Strawbridge encouraged me to pull together an outfit of my choosing to create a display. I eagerly agreed to play the game. When I saw something with an animal print design I decided to assemble an entire look using only items that had animal patterns. The challenge was to mix the species and somehow make it all work. I pulled a scarf with a snake-skin pattern and combined it with some tiger and leopard prints and finished it off with a zebra jacket. I kept laughing at myself assuming that this would be "overkill." But then I told myself "They're all creatures who cohabit one jungle, why not?"

Animal prints have been magnets for me for decades. I don't fully understand why I like them so much. They combine randomness with order and they fuel my wild side at the same time. Since most of the time the colors come from nature's palette they are often muted, too. I decided to do a bit of research about it but realized such a tome would take up enough space for a PhD thesis. Here are some more images from the Designers Circus arrangement I made as well as a link to some additional animal print trend notes from the February 9, 2011 blog posting by Fashionbrilliant.com with their headline: Animal print—fashion trend that has crossed decades.
An upclose shot below shows some accessories that can complete the outfit. Confession: I bought one of those leopard patterned skirts. Couldn't resist. And it's too tight around the waist, but I love it so much I think my desire to prowl around in it is going to motivate me to stick those earbuds in my ears, turn up the music and get my body out into the urban jungle air walking again.

This image and the one below it were on the blog: Fashionbrilliant.com. You can read the article: Animal Print—Fashion Trend that has Crossed Decades if you go to their link

Regina Spektor in Boston . . . Spektacular

Twenty-nine years old and she's got a body of work more extensive than many songwriters can boast in a lifetime. Regina Spektor put on a generous display of her multiple talents for close to two hours tonight at the House of Blues. I got there a few minutes after 6:30 and the crowd was already wrapping around the corners of Lansdown Street. Doors opened at 7. The concert was supposed to begin at 8 p.m., which it did, but with an opening act. My ticket brought me to the "mezzanine" — a place with seats, I thought. Not. You have to stand against a railing and look toward the stage. I got there early enough to get a good view of the stage. And I waited until after 9 p.m. before she finally made her entrance. (Luckily, my bladder of an earlier posting cooperated for all those hours so I didn't have to lose my place at the railing.) She looked very happy on stage, comfortable, humble, but giggly because as she said midway through her performance, "I'm a lucky bastard!" to get to play her music to us. And we were very dedicated fans, most of the people in this huge crowd knew her songs word for word.


Wiped out tonight. Maybe I'll add some more details tomorrow along with some pictures from the weekend, but I had to get this news out to you, especially to my writer friends. I kept thinking, "Poetry is certainly not dead in Boston." Her fans, mostly in their 20s, love her poetic lyrics, her melodies, her subjects—ones that range from found wallets to the story of Samson and Delilah. She's playing again tomorrow night at the Orpheum. She played piano, electronic keyboards, an electric guitar, a chair, and during the last moments of her encore, a shofar.