Title
Archive for the 'Everything Else' Category
Losing Our Cool
Losing Our Cool by Stan Cox
Losing Our Cool by Stan Cox. The spate of hot weather is really testing my belief that you don’t need air conditioning in Massachusetts.
The weather this year is an aberration. We’ve had temperatures above normal almost every day since February according to my dad the weather buff.
We won’t be getting air conditioning, however, and my resolve is strengthened by Stan Cox’s new book - Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air Conditioned World (and Finding New Ways to Get Through the Summer).
I just bought the book so can’t give the whole review but believe me – Cox is very persuasive. We were toying with the idea of getting A/C for the second floor until I heard Stan Cox interviewed on NPR. My neighbor heard the same segment – and drove back to the store to return the two A/C units in her trunk that she had just purchased.
Losing Our Cool describes the rapid growth in air conditioning – and the Northeast is leading the way – and the impact it is having on the environment and on our energy use. Bottom line – it’s not sustainable.
Cox advocates traditional cooling methods that pre-date the relatively recent introduction of air conditioning. Open windows, porches, shades, fans, etc. I’ll vouch for the difference a small fan blowing directly on me makes – who knew?!
Now if we could bring back vent windows in cars…
PS – I can’t resist a mini rant – There is nothing “green” about a building in Massachusetts with air conditioning. It makes me crazy when I see buildings touted as “green” that have central air.
Reading Is Sexy
Spotted in the parking lot at Whole Foods:
Is It?
Not sure if that’s so but I’m willing to entertain the idea.
Here are some more bumper stickers seen around Cambridge:
East Cambridge Greek Revival Door
I was parked on an East Cambridge side street today to go to the Registry of Deeds in Cambridge for a real estate closing. This beautiful pair of Greek Revival doors caught my eye. This Cambridge neighborhood is a hotbed of Greek Revival architecture and there are many handsome examples.
East Cambridge Greek Revival Doors
To learn more about East Cambridge architecture see the Cambridge Historic Commission’s book East Cambridge by Susan E. Maycock.
Rose Covered Arbor
Rose Covered Arbor on Hammond Street
Rose Covered Arbor It’s been a long time since I’ve done a House Parts We Love entry – cripes it’s been too long since I’ve posted anything for that matter – the Cambridge real estate market has been humming and I’ve fallen off the blogging bandwagon. Time to get back on track and start filling in all those empty days (it’s one of my guilty secrets – blog posts are dated but I have complete control of the dates). So don’t be surprised if multiple posts show up in your email.
Back to today’s favorite feature – Rose Covered Arbors. There’s a bumper crop of roses out and about in Cambridge and Somerville and nothing’s prettier than a arbor gate covered with roses. This pretty arbor is next door to a house I sold on Hammond Street in Cambridge.
I’m a bit of a wimp about bees so I’m not sure if I could walk the gauntlet every time I come and go but these sure are a pretty sight – from a safe distance!
Here are some more house features we fall for:
Mind The Bump
Mind the Bump
Somerville and Cambridge are making a lot of “traffic calming” improvements around town.
Bumps, bulbs, islands in strange places – the idea is to eliminate straight-aways and get cars to slow down. Not a bad goal but it can make urban driving even more of a challenge.
I thought the new street crossing humps / bumps / plateaus – whatever you want to call them – on Somerville Ave were pretty intense but nothing matches the big new hump on Cameron Avenue at the bike path crossing close to the Cambridge / Somerville line.
This can’t be the final version. Even though they seem to have done some road resurfacing the incline is still way too steep.
In fact, the new pavement makes the hump less obvious. It caught me by surprise the other day – and even at a fairly slow speed – it’s right before the turn onto Mass Ave after all – the impact on my car was intense enough that I feared my next call would be Triple A – or the dentist – that bump packs a wallop.
Mind the Bump.
Hawks In High Places
Hawk on St Peter's Steeple on Concord Ave
Hawks In High Places If you keep your eyes peeled and look in the right places it’s more and more common to spot hawks in Cambridge when you’re out and about.
I’ve learned to look at the highest points around – and that’s often a church steeple. I love to see a hawk sitting way atop the spire – surveying his territory below.
The hawk at right is a regular visitor to the steeple at St. Peter’s at 96 Concord Ave in Cambridge near my Coldwell Banker Real Estate office.
I took the second photo earlier this year of a similarly positioned hawk – he’s a bit hard to see in the picture – on a steeple in West Medford.
Pity the poor pigeons on the ground below – it’s difficult to escape the sights of that hawk as he makes dinner plans from his high perch.
Hawk in West Medford
Widener Library at Harvard Before the Digital Days
The front page article in the Boston Globe on Monday about digitization efforts at Harvard’s libraries caught my eye. Before I became a real estate agent in Cambridge I was an archivist. As a lifelong lover of all things on paper I shudder at the thought of the venerable Harvard libraries going down the digital path in lieu of paper.
The article does give me a good excuse though to share another postcard find from the Brimfield flea market. I love this 1915 view of students studying in Widener Library, the year it opened. My photo of the card doesn’t do the detail justice. The large reading room is filled with students – all male – reading, many with their hat on the table beside them.
Vintage postcard of Widener Library at Harvard in 1915 the year it opened
If you want to read about the impact on the historical record when libraries ditch paper be sure to check out Nicholson Baker’s book Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper. As much as I’m tempted to link that title to Amazon I’m resisting since I’m also a fan of bookstores and libraries. Visit one today!
Vintage View of Atherton Street in Somerville
Vintage View of Atherton Street in Somerville Recently I spent the good part of a day searching through 1000s of vintage postcards at the Brimfield Flea Market. If you’ve never been to Brimfield you’re in for a treat. This small town turns into a massive antique mart three times a year – in May, July and September.
My destination was the postcard hall, however, so I missed the craziness of the fields filled with booths and collectors from around the world. Instead I spent hours flipping through boxes of postcards with views of the towns and cities in Centers and Squares territory – Arlington, Belmont, Cambridge, Medford, Somerville and Watertown. I found some great cards and will share some of my favorites here.
Early View of Atherton Street in Somerville Massachusetts
This postcard is a view of one of Somerville’s most well known buildings – the Round House on Atherton Street. I have several other views of the Round House but this was a card I hadn’t seen before.
The image includes the Carr School across the street. But what I really love about the card is that it shows another of my favorite buildings – the Round House’s next door neighbor – the mansard house at 40 Atherton Street on the left side of the card. I’m a big fan of mansards and this one has a particularly appealing profile. Here’s what the house looks likes now:
Mansard house on Atherton Street Somerville MA
What fun it would be to have a century-old postcard view of your own house! If you live in an older house someday you just might stumble across one of these vintage views of your home.
Copyright © 2008 Centers And Squares Log in Design by Real Estate Tomato Powered by Tomato Blogs
