Capen Spray Park in Medford is a great place for splishing & splashing during the dog days of summer! Button-controlled sprinklers delighted Dispatches correspondent Crispin Olson's 4-year-old son, who went there with his preschool class. Google Earth to 133 Capen St., behind the old water works next to the Route 16/Mystic Parkway rotary. Resident parking only on Stoughton Street off Boston Ave.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
$1 off at The Book Rack!
The Book Rack is proud to be Arlington's community bookseller and a premier sponsor of the Dispatches. Print this item and bring it in for $1 off any purchase! - Contact Mike Buglio, 13 Medford St., Arlington; (781) 646-2665.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Green Meadows Farm
Green Meadows Farm in Hamilton now offers programs like a Teen Film Workshop , Young Farmer Saturdays (ages 5 to 10), and Sustainable Dinners at the Farm; plus a series of Edible Plant Walks led by environmentalist Russ Cohen. Green Meadows Farm is a certified organic farm raising vegetables, fruits and heritage breeds of livestock in Hamilton, Massachusetts. the Farmstand offers seasonal vegetables plus a variety of natural and organic dry goods, artesian cheeses, hormone-free meats and handmade gifts, and you can sign up for next year's .
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Care for Some Nettle Tea, My Dear?
Care for some Stinging Nettle tea with your Milkweed muffins? Russ Cohen, noted local environmentalist, author, and wild foods enthusiast who was recently featured on NPR's Here and Now, will be leading several wild foods foraging walks in Eastern Massachusetts this summer. These walks are recommended for adults and older children; call ahead for wheelchair and stroller accessibility; some require pre-registration (see website)
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Experience the Art of Crafts
What do measuring tapes, pine needles and pencil stubs have in common? They are all materials used to create unique baskets and vessels in the basket [r]evolution exhibition at the Fuller Craft Museum. This unique and delightful out-of-the-way museum in Brockton has something for everyone, and where you can even touch some of the exhibits. Knowledgeable staff seem to be everywhere; on a reader's recent visit, a painter on a ladder even called down with her own insight on the exhibit - a sure sign of that there's something very cool inside!Now on Exhibit at the Fuller Craft Musum:
- basket [r]evolution - to 9/10
- Daniel Clayman: Line, Form, Shadow - to 10/1
- Linda Behar: The Elemental Stitch: Photorealism in Thread - to 10/22
- Randal Thurston: Wunderkammern - to 10/22
- The Scale of Things to Come - to 11/19
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Wonderful Waterfall
If you're looking for a meditative way to spend the afternoon, try a visit to Steep Falls, 40 minutes out of Portland, Maine near Standish. "It's a real negative-ion high!" says Dispatches contributor and photographer Tracy Marks.To get there, go to the Steep Falls rest area on the Saco River and take the path from the right side of the road (the other side from the main parking area) and walk 1/3 mile past the first small swimming areas all the way to the falls.
There are several sandy swimming beaches, and if no one is there, you can sit on a rock on top of the waterfall and dip your feet in the rapids. This waterfall is only 6 feet high (maybe even less now, the water level is high) but it's 75 feet wide and and makes great rapids. There are half a dozen small somewhat protected beaches, the water there should be quiet enough for kids to swim*, said Tracy.
Maine swimming holes
Massachusetts swimming holes
* On all day trips and particularly around rivers and water, please use good personal judgement and exercise caution, as conditions can change.
Friday, July 07, 2006
Take a Turn Around the Revolving Museum
Lowell is listed in the Compleat Day Tripper as a one of our Perfect Day Trips. An amble around downtown Lowell has to include a visit to the Revolving Museum, "an evolving laboratory of creative expression for people of all backgrounds, ages, and abilities who seek to experience the transformative power of art." This is a very special place - highly recommended for the art-deprived, and great for a rainy day. Lowell is about 25 minutes from Arlington/Cambridge.
Don't Strike a Match Here!
Heading up to the beach in Rockport? Consider a side trip to this strange and wonderful roadside attraction - "The Paper House," made entirely of newspapers! This is (perhaps the weirdest) one of 250 literary sites on the new Literary Map of Massachusetts, an online site in development by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. Thanks to MCB Executive Director Sharon Shaloo for this tip! Map
Free Computer Consult for Dispatches Readers
- Get the Computer Handyman - FREE! Refer to the Day Tripper Dispatches when you call for a free consult from Metro West Boston's favorite onsite computer-repair hero, Mark Bildman. This offer is good through May 31. For details, call Mark at (617) 596-7545 or email.
All Aboard for Trains!
One of my son’s first words was “coal.” Wouldn’t have been too surprising, if, say, he were the child of West Virginia miners—but here in Arlington, you don’t come across too much coal these days. Except, if you’re a kid who spends his days immersed in the world of steam engines—in particular, a blue tank engine named “Thomas”— and other types of trains. As I’ve learned from talking with other parents and observing the pre-school social scene, my train-obsessed son isn’t alone. This article delivers a listing of family outings that center around the railroad. Click here for the complete All Aboard for Trains! article (PDF Format). This article by Helene Ragovin James was first published by the Arlington Family Connection.
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