Algiers Coffee House

A few photos from Brattle Square's Algiers Coffee House, one of my favorite cafes in the area.  It's exoticism-if you can call it that-feels natural and unforced; the teas are lovely and rest upon even lovelier tables and the staff are consistently pleasant. Algiers Coffee House always feels like an escape-a step within its walls and I feel far removed from the bustle of Cambridge and nearby Harvard. Be sure to sit on the second floor, where you can feel the full effect of the decor and architecture. 

North End Wanderings

This weekend was chock-full of reunions, meeting dear friends who were in town for a day and playing host to another for three. Jonathan, my friend visiting from D.C., and I have had mini adventures all across the city and its environs, from worshiping the Union Square donut  to battling the cold rain on the Common to mastering the art of the stroll in North End (see picture above: Jonathan has had to teach me-I treasure my all too practical brisk walking method). Naturally a trip to the North End was in the works, so he could hear the mutterings of the older Italians and taste one of Mike's pastries and note Paul Revere's still standing structure. I liked the peace I found there on a Sunday morning, before the crowds migrated and the twenty minute cannoli wait. It's always extra soothing to find quiet in a place you anticipate the opposite. For that, the stroll was perfect. 

Diesel Cafe

In two weeks time, I'll be moving my little life across the Charles and starting anew in Brookline/Allston. I LOVE Somerville and am quite sad to depart this area but circumstances have left little choice to stay put where I am-so I'm packing the few belongings I have here with me and getting ready for the change of scenery. Diesel Cafe is one place I will miss sorely-it is one of the beloved institutions on Elm Street in Davis Square, where students and hipsters and young families all gather for a reliable cup of coffee and the assurance that one will see a lot of flannel and backwards baseball caps. It is cool and sleek and nearly always packed (though the first picture suggests otherwise-a fluke of a moment, really). When I go on the weekends I make sure to go extra early if I want a seat to call my own. Unfortunately, the chances of doing so are dwindling-but whenever I return to Davis I'll surely stop at Diesel. And you should too. 

The Fenway Victory Gardens

In the midst of a several week apartment search (that has now, thankfully, come to a successful close), I learned of the existence of the Fenway Victory Gardens. As its name suggests, these gardens trace their origins to the days of WWII. In fact, these plots comprise what is the only continuously operating Victory Garden left. But what a joy to walk past plot after plot, observing the work of a hundred gardeners (some luckier than others). There are tracts of land that seem shockingly untamed for their city address and still other plots that are as trim and proper as the nearby brownstones. The diversity of the gardens and the sheer amount of them brought to mind the garden colonies of Berlin that endlessly fascinated me during my stay there-though in Berlin, each allotment possessed a small shed like structure which these of course lacked. Not to mention the gnomes and elves-
I lost hope that we could ever import something similar, but the Fenway Victory Gardens were a reminder that something similar has been here for a very long time. 

Nearby: Peacefield

My lovely mother visited this weekend and in honor of her love for colonial history, we visited John Adam's Peacefield, also known as the Old House. We left Somerville while it rained but the clouds-very appropriately- broke upon our arrival at Peacefield. The place is quite idyllic, even surrounded by 21st century bustle. The house was actually built a few years before John Adams was born and the family did not move there until 1788. But once they settled, they stayed. In fact, four generations of Adamses stayed, until 1927. What you see is not what originally was there, however. Like any house, Peacefield underwent renovations several times and each generation left their own mark. But for the most part, the rooms are what John and Abigail would have remembered. 

They would not, however, notice the Stone Library, what lies adjacent to the house and what is considered the country's first presidential library. It was built in 1873 to hold John Quincy Adams collection of 14,000 volumes-scores and scores of books in dozens of languages and on hundreds of subjects. Of course, no photographs allowed in the library or the house, but the gardens, the orchard and the exterior of these buildings were enough to delight this amateur....

The Common and the Garden

It's a true pleasure-and privilege-to work so close to the Common and the Public Gardens. These days the sun shines bright and the young flowers are so eager for our attention, which I am all too happy to give during a lunch stroll-

These pictures are a bit misleading, for the Common and Gardens are packed with throngs of people enjoying their gifts. Tulips abound alongside the flowering crabapple trees. Artists work en plein air, tourists stop for their photographs and musicians slowly sing their songs for both.