Visually Simulating
This entry is rather random, but over the course of the past week, I've taken some photographs that show you parts of my world. Last Friday, I met up with Coco at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education after one of her cooking classes. As Coco and I walked from Harvard Square to Porter Square, the juxtaposition of the full moon and the night-lit spire of one of the buildings near Harvard Yard really struck me.


I don't think it's Memorial Hall.


That's definitely the moon, though.

Walking up Massachusetts Avenue, I showed Coco Three Aces Pizza, a place I used to frequent when I lived on Chauncy Street. Right next door, there's a barber shop. This sign was in the window:


Slick Tracy.

Last weekend, then, there were two festivals in my neighborhood -- the Grecian Festival right across the street from where I live and the 10th Annual Cambridge Carnival International. The Greek fete ran over the course of several days and featured food and live music. They even set up a bulbous white tent over the church's parking lot. They closed off my block and set up tables and chairs in the street. I quite enjoyed listening to the music on the evening breeze through the window. But Sunday morning, I was startled by the carnival parade around midday. While I didn't have a chance to check out the street fair itself, Coco and I did watch some of the parade -- complete with parade floats on flat-bed trucks adorned with enormous amplifiers and young female dancers dressed up in carnival finery.


Flipping the bird.

And then, as if there weren't enough festivals and parades already, last weekend's St. Anthony's Feast in the North End was capped Monday evening with a small processional celebrating the saint. As I left the office after work, I almost walked straight into the processional, which didn't go too far down North Washington Street.


St. Anthony goes marching in.


We're with the band.


A sidewalk serenade.

Lastly, Tuesday night, Coco and I met my friend Hiromi, who just moved to Boston from Orange County, California, for dinner at Charlie's Kitchen on Harvard Square. It's one of my favorite places, and I wanted to share it with Hiromi and Coco, both of whom had never been there. Walking down the alley toward the restaurant, I pointed out the red house that Charlie's owner hopes to fix up and open as a slightly higher-end restaurant to accompany Charlie's (at least that's what I think is going on).


Drafty plans for the future.

Well, there you go. Good to get that out of my system -- and the images off the camera.