Notes from yesterday’s commute
Jun. 17th, 2026 07:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidIn the morning, I was early enough to my usual bus stop that I walked to the next one, which was not where I’d left it. Apparently the next two stops were deemed too close together, so they merged into one stop by the city hall annex building, which is a reasonable choice, but I will miss waiting under a huge tree at one former stop. There have been a couple of other consolidations of pairs of stops, presumably because they were fairly close together, but also, making the stops easier (not right before/after an intersection with a traffic light). I assume it will also help with on-time statistics (and maybe there will be more time for drivers to take a break? For this route, there’s just one driver at a time, looping between Kendall and Harvard).
There’s been a lot more sidewalk construction this year than I’ve noticed before, a lot of switching sides as blocks are blocked off during repaving. Now that that is mostly done near me on Hampshire St, the sidewalk work has moved toward Kendall, and street repaving has begun near me, so some surfaces are grooved (much less of an issue while in a bus than in a lower-slung car), others getting new asphalt.
The last of the old Volpe building is now wholly down, a mound of rubble all that’s left, while a new building is rising on the area that used to be wide open grass edged with trees. I have no sense for how long the transformation of that parcel will take. At least there will be some bit of green space restored, though less than the previous setup.
On the way home, I got off the bus at the library - I had books waiting for pickup. I grabbed some extras because the library will be closed Friday for Juneteenth, and having more options for Shabbat reading is good.
I headed home, noticing that some of the pines in the park there have green pinecones, some of which might be within reach (read: mugolio possibility). Also, the park seems to have sprouted some little tables and chairs, so there were people using those in addition to sitting/lying on the grass.
There are a lot of signs with information about World Cup watch parties.
I grabbed a handful of black swallow-wort on my walk home: the state encourages everyone to root out this invasive, which not only crowds out other (non-invasive, local) species, but interferes with the butterfly life cycle as well (more info about it from the town of Concord). I’ve been aiming to average picking at least an average of a handful of vines a day, putting them in a plastic trash bag to let them wilt before tying off and putting in the trash proper. It won’t fix the problem, but I can make it less bad, and it’s particularly easy to spot now while the little flowers are out. Later, I’ll pick what pods I can manage, but getting whole vines before pods are formed is much better.
eta, 1355 Oh, and I’d forgotten - yesterday they put in a bunch of trees in front of the high school annex building, which will help shade the area in a few years.
There’s been a lot more sidewalk construction this year than I’ve noticed before, a lot of switching sides as blocks are blocked off during repaving. Now that that is mostly done near me on Hampshire St, the sidewalk work has moved toward Kendall, and street repaving has begun near me, so some surfaces are grooved (much less of an issue while in a bus than in a lower-slung car), others getting new asphalt.
The last of the old Volpe building is now wholly down, a mound of rubble all that’s left, while a new building is rising on the area that used to be wide open grass edged with trees. I have no sense for how long the transformation of that parcel will take. At least there will be some bit of green space restored, though less than the previous setup.
On the way home, I got off the bus at the library - I had books waiting for pickup. I grabbed some extras because the library will be closed Friday for Juneteenth, and having more options for Shabbat reading is good.
I headed home, noticing that some of the pines in the park there have green pinecones, some of which might be within reach (read: mugolio possibility). Also, the park seems to have sprouted some little tables and chairs, so there were people using those in addition to sitting/lying on the grass.
There are a lot of signs with information about World Cup watch parties.
I grabbed a handful of black swallow-wort on my walk home: the state encourages everyone to root out this invasive, which not only crowds out other (non-invasive, local) species, but interferes with the butterfly life cycle as well (more info about it from the town of Concord). I’ve been aiming to average picking at least an average of a handful of vines a day, putting them in a plastic trash bag to let them wilt before tying off and putting in the trash proper. It won’t fix the problem, but I can make it less bad, and it’s particularly easy to spot now while the little flowers are out. Later, I’ll pick what pods I can manage, but getting whole vines before pods are formed is much better.
eta, 1355 Oh, and I’d forgotten - yesterday they put in a bunch of trees in front of the high school annex building, which will help shade the area in a few years.