People can lose their life in a library. They ought to be warned.
— Saul Bellow
A few weeks ago while in Beantown, I slipped into the Boston Public Library to make a pit stop. When one is a tourist with a pea-sized bladder, knowing where to find clean public restrooms is a survival tactic. I am quite adept at this, though it does not appear to be a marketable talent. I guess I could develop an app that allows visitors to find the best restrooms, but that likely has already been done. And I have no idea how to create an app anyway.
The Boston Public Library’s main branch is in Copley Square...
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PROVINCETOWN, MASS. — We are standing near the top of the tallest all-granite structure in the United States, looking out into Provincetown Harbor on the tip of Cape Cod, the slim crooked finger of land that curls out and up from Massachusetts, as if to beckon visitors. Below us, as we climbed 252 feet to the top of this narrow tower, lies this picturesque village, whose population swells from about 3,000 year-round residents to 60,000 during the summer.
Below us is Long Point, the end of the crooked finger that forms this peninsula. On Nov. 11, 1620, the Mayflower, with 102 men, women and children,...
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FENWAY PARK — I love to write that dateline. It means I’m back in one of my favorite places on the planet, whether it’s to watch the Red Sox or take in a concert. Fenway is a shrine, a coming-home place, a venerable, idiosyncratic stadium that I have visited for more than 50 years. I plan to come back for, optimistically, at least another 30 years.
Longevity is in the genes, so I like my chances of continuing the tradition of showing up here most summers. My late mom’s older sister, Aunt Irene, who lives nearby in Bristol, Connecticut (most everything is nearby from a Texas perspective)...
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The Summer Olympics kick off Friday night with the Opening Ceremony in Rio de Janeiro. I will probably watch a bit of the pageantry, since we will be holed up in a hotel room in Dallas, preparing to fly out early the next morning for our annual dog-day sojurn to Boston. More on that in coming weeks.
I listened to an NPR story the other day that piqued my interest about a particular Olympic event I would like to catch on either TV or streamed online: badminton. Badminton has been a Summer Olympic sport since the early 1990s. Asians and a few Europeans have dominated the roster of medalists. No American...
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