Thursday, January 31, 2008

Lighthouse Station

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Perhaps this should be called "Beacon Gas" because it is a gas station that has been a fixture on the Southern Artery for many decades. If you enlarge the image you will see the air hose attached to the wall of the lighthouse. The pumps and the cash booth are now located a short distance away.

Do you have any interesting gas station structures where you live?

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Forbes Hill Standpipe

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This is not part of a castle but an old water tower located on the top of the Third Hill, also known as Forbes Hill, located in the Wollaston section. The water tower was built around 1900 and held 330,000 gallons of water in addition to a reservoir that held up to five million gallons of water. Quincy presently receives it's excellent drinking water from Quabbin Reservoir. During World War II, the Civil Air Patrol used the tower as an observation deck. This site is now used as a recreational area for soccer, dog walking, and other activities. If you enlarge the picture you will see that the tower now supports an array of antennas . . . I wonder who collects the rent from those dishes?

This site is listed on the National Register of Historic places. It's a great place to catch a beautiful sunset.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Shingled beauty

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This shingle style house on Shea Street in Quincy Point appears to be one of the oldest houses in this coastal neighborhood. It is a classic example of "shingle style" architecture prevalent along coastal areas of Northeastern United States from the 1870s to 1910. The view of the ocean from the tower must have been magnificent when it was first built. Does anyone else like porches?

Monday, January 28, 2008

John Hancock Plunge for Charity

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The John Hancock Birthday Plunge took place on Saturday at Mound Street Beach. The "Plunge" is a fund raiser for Interfaith Social Services and takes place as close to the birthday of John Hancock (January 23) as possible. This picture shows three swimmers posing after completing their plunge. The photos below illustrates the event in more detail.


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Swimmer in costume giving the thumbs up after testing the water temperature before the swim.


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Taking the plunge in the cold ocean waters. The air temperature was just about freezing and the water temperature was approximately 40 Fahrenheit or 4C.


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Getting out of the water as fast as possible.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Church with the Gargoyles

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Continuing our Sunday series on houses of worship, this week's entry is a little different. Shown here is the belfry of last Sunday's church, Bethany Congregational. The church, as you might imagine, is known locally as the church with the gargoyles. One of our readers wanted to see a close up picture and we were happy to oblige. The gargoyles are lovely, aren't they, or do you think they would they give you nightmares?

Does your city or town have any gargoyles in any of their belfries, or just bats?

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Mirror Mirror on the car

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Mirrored reflections in Quincy Center. How good are you are reading backwards? Can read the destination of the bus in the mirror?

Friday, January 25, 2008

Go Goliath

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Goliath dominated the landscape and economy of Quincy for many years. The gantry crane, once the world’s largest at 328 feet tall, has been a Quincy landmark since it was built 33 years ago. The shipbuilding industry in Quincy has been idle for two decades. The glorious "shipbuilding age" in Quincy will have its final chapter written with the sale of Goliath. It will be dismantled and moved to the Romanian coast where shipbuilding is a growing industry.

Has anyone seen the movie, The Departed? The warehouse to the left is where the final shootout scene was filmed. Quincy, located just south of Boston, would like to host more movie shoots.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Cranes

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Cranes at the old Quincy Shipyard. These cranes will be coming down soon to make way for development of the shipyard.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Fore River Bridge

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Fore River Bridge heading over to Weymouth. The current bridge, a vertical lift bridge, is technically a temporary structure, replacing the old draw bridge. It consists of 22 approach spans, 210 - foot (64 meter) – long vertical lift spans, and a total length of over 2500 feet (763 meters). The lift spans rise to 172 feet (52 meters) above the water.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Adams Building

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Adams Building in Quincy Center. For a full view of the building click here.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Murals

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Mural on a Quincy Point bar depicting some current and not so current Boston celebrities and sports stars.

Inquiring minds want to know how many can you name? And who is your favorite celebrity /sports star from your town?

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Sunday is for Church

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Bethany Congregational Church in Quincy Center.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Reflected windows

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Found this reflection behind the library on Spear Street. Come back and visit tomorrow and see the whole thing . . .

Friday, January 18, 2008

Snow capped hydrant

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This fire hydrant's colors really pop out in the snow. I guess they are painted with bright colors so they can be found quickly when needed. What color are the fire hydrants in your part of the world?

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Snowy lantern

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Quincy looks as though it was hit by giant spray painting gun. It's unusual for the snow to stay stuck on things for more than a day. We're going on day 4!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Walking buddy

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Meet Dixie. She came to Quincy by bus from Arkansas with 15 other pooches who were saved from being put down last year. Dixie's new owner used to be accompanied on his walks in Quincy by a 3-legged canine named "Lucky." Lucky died of old age last year and was not easily replaced . . .

This man's sister persuaded him to take in one of these rescued pooches from the Pet Savers group. I think Dixie got real lucky.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Rooftop view

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We received a pretty new 6 inch blanket of snow today; enough snow to close schools. If only the snow would stick on the trees and rooftops longer and maintain its pristine appearance . . .

Monday, January 14, 2008

Iron curls

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The iron grate work on a red brick building provided some shapely shadows.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Sunday is for Church

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Wollaston Lutheran Church on the corner of Hancock and Ellington Streets in Wollaston.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Grand house

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This house at 94 Grandview Avenue in the Wollaston Hill section has a grand view of the Atlantic Ocean, hence the street name. I'll have to befriend the owner to capture the view for you from an upper floor. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989 and architecturally, it's a gem. The granite application in the porch area is handsome.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Cloud illusions

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We've had some wondrous skies to enjoy in Quincy, recently. Does anyone still look for images in the cloud formations?

Thursday, January 10, 2008

'TisTwilight Time

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This is the view looking east from Furnace Brook Golf Club. I really like the line of houses in the distance lit by the sun's last glow.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Waiting for the train 2

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The glassed-in waiting area on the North Quincy Train platform makes for some interesting images.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

January thaw

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The "January thaw" is evident on Sailor's Home Pond on Rice Road. The city opens the gates for ice skating when the ice is 4 inches thick . . . guess I have some time to sharpen my skates before the next skating session begins.

Monday, January 07, 2008

Black's Creek I

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There is just a hint of snow and ice in this estuary. We're experiencing a "January thaw". What a special treat to have the white doves fly into the picture.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Sunday is for Church

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St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church on Hancock Street.

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Telephone Company

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With the advent of the cell phone, pay phones have become an endangered item. I found this one on Hancock Street right outside the site of the former American Telephone & Telegraph Company (Ma Bell)now occupied by Verizon.

I'm always on the lookout for telephone booths . . . do you have any in your part of the world?

Friday, January 04, 2008

Coyote ruse

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I recently drove by the snow covered soccer field behind Veteran's Memorial Stadium and was excited to see two coyotes just standing in the middle of the field. I hustled to get my camera aimed on them, took my shots, and began to wonder why the animals didn't move. If you enlarge the picture you'll see the excellent decoys. Apparently these decoys are fooling the Canadian Geese that used to hang out in this field but deposited lots of feces that in turn provided nasty conditions for our young soccer players and their parents who had to clean their cleats.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Ripe for preservation

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The Souther Tide Mill, built in the early 1800s, may not survive another New England winter without an infusion of preservation funds. It would be sad to lose this slice of Quincy's coastal history. From what I've read, there are very few colonial tide mills in existence.

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Trees

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Winter trees at Caddy Memorial Park, looking over the marshes.

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Theme Day - January 2008

Sunset at Mount Wollaston Cemetery. Originally posted on Monday, November 26, 2007.
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Today is Theme Day for the Daily City Photoblog Community. 118 members are posting there favorite/best photo of the previous year. Travel around the world and view some of the community's best photos by clicking on the links below.

Paris, France - London, England - Hyde, UK - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Grenoble, France - Stockholm, Sweden - Riga, Latvia - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Manila, Philippines - Silver Spring (MD), USA - Weston (FL), USA - Prague, Czech Republic - New Orleans (LA), USA - Wichita (KS), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - San Francisco (CA), USA - Hobart (Tasmania), Australia - Greenville (SC), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Mainz, Germany - Melbourne, Australia - Portland (OR), USA - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Toulouse, France - Naples (FL), USA - Jakarta, Indonesia - Brussels, Belgium - Stayton (OR), USA - Selma (AL), USA - Mexico City, Mexico - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Toruń, Poland - Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA - Budapest, Hungary - Baziège, France - Nashville (TN), USA - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Chicago (IL), USA - Prescott (AZ), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Nottingham, UK - Moscow, Russia - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Evry, France - Trujillo, Peru - Arlington (VA), USA - Denpasar, Indonesia - American Fork (UT), USA - Seattle (WA), USA - Chandler (AZ), USA - Coral Gables (FL), USA - Montpellier, France - Joplin (MO), USA - Pilisvörösvár, Hungary - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - Boston (MA), USA - Torun, Poland - New York City (NY), USA - Dunedin (FL), USA - Quincy (MA), USA - Stavanger, Norway - Chateaubriant, France - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Jackson (MS), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Budapest, Hungary - Austin (TX), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - Cypress (TX), USA - Bicheno, Australia - Wrocław, Poland - Brookville (OH), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Nelson, New Zealand - Cheltenham, UK - Wellington, New Zealand - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Mumbai (Maharashtra), India - London, UK - Haninge, Sweden - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Arradon, France - Jefferson City (MO), USA - Orlando (FL), USA - Mumbai, India - Terrell (TX), USA - Bogor, Indonesia - Delta (CO), USA - Radonvilliers, France - Saigon, Vietnam - San Diego (CA), USA - Adelaide (SA), Australia - Belgrade, Serbia - Auckland, New Zealand - Seguin (TX), USA - Inverness (IL), USA - Oslo, Norway - Singapore, Singapore - Las Vegas (NV), USA - New York City (NY), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - Torino, Italy - Susanville (CA), USA - San Diego (CA), USA - Sharon (CT), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Memphis (Tennessee), USA

Summer Attraction

This tiger swallowtail butterfly was a delight to see pollinating the phlox bed along my driveway.