Jones To The Grindstone

A driveway in Cambridge.

A grave?

OK, back to the grave … my guess is that the child’s family didn’t own property and settled for some open space next to a street sign along Concord St.

The pet’s name was “Druid.” The name evoked my thoughts on how the Celts of the past still have a rich presence in the Boston area — hello, the Boston Celtics. I researched “Celtic Druids” to better understand the connection between the Celts and the Druids.

Thomas O’ Donovan published an article online using “ezine” article. (I’m quoting him because he summed it up more clearly than the sophisticated online sources.) From O’ Donovan and co-Arthur, Frank Soul, “The Druids were an ancient order of Celtic priests in the societies of Western Europe, Britain and Ireland. The Celtic Druids served their communities by combining the duties of seer, priest, poet, philosopher, historian, scholar, teacher, doctor, astronomer and astrologer. The Celts had developed a highly sophisticated religious system, with three divisions of men who were held in exceptional honor; the lowest division were called the Ovates, the second division were called the Bards and then the Druids.”
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1477679
The small pet had quite a name to live up to.

OK.....

This gives “yard art” a big boost — it’s the Big Boy Burger statue. As a kid, I used to ride in the back of my parent’s car and see the Big Boy standing outside of the chain restaurant. In a way, it’s iconic with Americana.

The restaurant’s Web site, Big Boy.com, offered a short history:

“In 1936, Bob Wian sold his prized DeSoto Roadster to purchase a small hamburger stand in Glendale, California. He named it ‘Bob’s Pantry.’

One night in 1937, a regular customer requested something different for a change. Bob went to work and the first double-decker hamburger was born. Customers couldn’t get enough of Bob’s new creation. One fan in particular was a chubby, six-year-old boy in droopy overalls.

He would often help Bob sweep up in exchange for a free burger. In honor of his young friend, Wian decided to name the better burger the Big Boy®. Another regular customer, a movie studio animator, sketched the now famous character on a napkin.”

I didn’t know that Big Boy was still in business or adorning a “dining al fresco” setting nearby.

I’ve been startled by this sighting more than once. The car gets parked in different spots around my building. Sometimes the bust is in the front passenger’s seat, not just on the backseat.

One time, I thought I saw the bust in a house nearby, posed on the fireplace’s mantle.

Does the owner think the bust gets cold and therefore “he” gets a t-shirt? There are art classes taught around Boston. I hope this is a student’s project as opposed to a “special friend” to travel with when feeling lonely.

This bike has been locked up outside my building for at least 7 months. It hasn’t moved once, that I can tell.

Made in Nottingham, England

It’s not like the other bicycles parked outside — that’s why it caught my eye. After some research, I was able to find some information that may tell it’s history.

This link offers an extensive, business-like explanation of the manufacturer, Raleigh. However, this link provides a more casual view, complete with “old timey” photos.

On my street I was able to find one other company that poured its concrete, F.O. White Construction Company. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find much of anything on F.O. White’s history.

Here are the two medallions. I am curious as to why each shape was chosen.

The only concrete information I could find on F.O. White came from the digitized Google eBooks — Concrete, Volume 8 edited by Harvey Whipple and published by Concrete-Cement Age Publishing Co. in January 1916. It said,

“MONOLITHIC OARAGES [sic]

A very tasteful garage is illustrated at Fig. 20 which possesses the distinction of being truly all-concrete.

This garage, 36′ x 42′, was built at Brookline, Mass., by the F. O. White Construction Co., Cambridge, Mass.”

The image above is from the original book’s table on contents and also shows the publisher and price for the issue. The “Fig. 20″ is too small to post here. The words were unreadable.

I walk the sidewalks of Cambridge daily.

Even though I shouldn’t admit to looking down when I walk, it happens. Several weeks ago I noticed insets on the sidewalks that line the street I live on. Relying on rational guessing, I went with the notion that the year on the medallion is the year the sidewalk was set.

This one has no year on it:

And then I saw this one from 1898:

And finally this one from 1904:

After conducting research on Simpson Bros. Corporation in Boston, I found some old advertisements. Here’s one from Google  eBooks, Boston Register and Business Directory, Issue 83  (originally from the publisher of Sampson & Murdock, 1918),

and take note of the remarks about the U.S. government using one of the concrete plants:

My building in Cambridge is old. How old, I’m not sure. However, the fire alarm system certainly cannot be ancient — it uses electricity. I’ve lived here for almost eight months and the computerized fire alarm malfunctions almost monthly.

I’ve included a video alarm of the latest outburst. Thing is, when it goes off, hardly anyone cares. I walked outside and there were about four young women (hundreds of people live here) sitting on the curb waiting to see if the building was actually on fire. It wasn’t. Nevertheless, Cambridge’s fire trucks showed up and took care of the problem of the loud noise.

It’s costly and dangerous to keep a sketchy fire alarm system here. How are we to know when the alarm means something dangerous?

I did get a response from the Cambridge Department of Public Works. Mr. Riordan didn’t call me back, but he passed my message along.

Within hours I got a call from Randi Mail, the recycling director for the city.

She explained that the term “residue” means items that are not recyclable. “The Watertown recycling center has 7 percent residue while Cambridge has 3 to 5 percent, one of the cleanest loads,” Mail said.

As a sidebar, I asked why the city won’t take plastic shopping bags in the toters. Mail said that the bags jam the conveyor belt system. I always wondered why it was hard to find depositories for the plastic bags.

I went to deposit my plastics, cardboard, and aluminum cans in my building’s recycling collection area. On one of the canisters, or “toters,” it said, “Containers Only — glass, metal, and plastic.” I opened the lid and found woven baskets, tote bags, and bowls. Literally “containers” that hold things, but not the recyclable kind.

The toter had the universal recycling symbol on it, including the words, “NO TRASH.”  Also, it had a color picture (a big sticker) of what kind of items are acceptable. I can only assume it was someone whose first language isn’t English or perhaps a child who didn’t understand the scene.

However, the trash dumpsters are in the same area, too. All the recycling canisters are lined up in a row, directly across from the dumpsters.

To make recycling collection more clear, perhaps the canisters should be in its own area, not close to regular trash dumpsters.

There are instructions available explaining the proper way to recycle in Cambridge. I called and ended up leaving a voice mail for Tom Riordan, the Compliance Office for recycling in the City of Cambridge. I asked him if people mixing trash into toters was a common occurrence. I look forward to hearing back from him.