Springtime for Gateway Park in the Woo

Spring has arrived in Worcester! Flowers are indeed blooming, like this one in Institute Park, a short walk from my Gateway Park office. Buildings are blooming, too! On the way to the park, there's a new WPI dormitory being constructed - I have no current pictures of the nearly-completed dorm, but some under-construction photos are below. Soon to come will be pics of the current state of the new dorm. It's looking pretty good!

Gateway Park is still overall a heavily industrial area, but it's starting to take shape as something more. One of the city's two hotels, the Courtyard Marriott, is over here. Worcester is in desperate need of more hotels - this city ain't going anywhere until it can attract more groups to have their conventions and events at the DCU Center. Recently, there was a proposal before the City Council to build another hotel in the vicinity of the Marriott, and what happened? The proposal was DENIED by the Council. Who knows why (details of that were not given in the article I read), but one thing is for certain - if these City Councillors want this city to improve, they've got to start understanding the need for more hotel rooms. Perhaps once these dorms are completed, and there's more foot traffic in these underdeveloped parts, there will be more of a push for not only hotels, but also for retail and restaurants on this side of Highland.

Travels around town

A while back I was walking through Copley while one of those early summer heat waves was going on. It was a welcome change from the raw rainy weather we'd been having, but I was really sweaty, exhausted, and ready to collapse from all the walking I'd done. And who should appear before me but a lady carrying a bunch of watermelon/feta/and something else appetizers. I was hesitant to take one at first since I was so single-minded about getting to the T and getting home to flop down on my sofa and watch whatever happened to be on Comedy Central. But it did sound interesting, so I took a chance and had a bite. And it was delicious! And refreshing! Cheese and watermelon! Maybe something others are familiar with, but I've never tried it. At any rate, it left such an impression on me that I thought I'd let I'd let people know about the restaurant - it's called Vlora, and they serve mediterranean cuisine, as well as your typical American breakfast of pancakes, bacon, eggs, and all that. I still haven't eaten there, but it looks like a nice addition to Copley Square, even though it's difficult to locate, as it's in that downstairs space near Finagle-a-Bagel. Here's a link to their site (warning - it has audio, so you may want to turn down your volume):

http://www.vloraboston.com

This past weekend I was in Union Square for the Handcraft Festival, and I looked through all of the stuff, and a lot of it was good. The stuff I really liked was way too expensive, but fortunately there was not too much of the too cutesy stuff going on. Generally, I don't buy many things at craft fairs, but as soon as I got to the Vintage by Crystal booth - there's no way I could leave without buying one of her adorable (yet edgy - and affordable!) figurines which she makes for any holiday, or any custom occassion you might think of. So I bought a pair of 4th of July figurines to get into the spirit of independence. Rather than try to describe the terrific things she creates, you should go check out her website. Seriously awesome stuff!!

http://www.vintagebycrystal.com

Mulch

Mulch is in the air. Finally, it's spring!

Published!

I got a message from a company called Schmap a little while ago, requesting one of my photos on Flickr for use in their online travel guides. I was a little wary of it, but after looking around online it seemed like it was a fine thing to do (a blog written by a copyright lawyer that addressed the issue was the clincher). So now a photo I snapped at the Wolfsonian Museum in Miami Beach can be seen on the Schmap Florida website, located a click away from the following widget (and they probably love the free advertising they're getting here):

It is a strange smell, but they taste pretty good

Starbucks, herald of the coming recession:

"The coffee chain, whose shares dropped about 2 percent after the news, also said it was pulling much-hyped hot breakfast sandwiches from stores, despite the cost of reducing sales, because customers complained that the smell was overwhelming the aroma of coffee."

I thought about complaining, but I got so used to the smell that it became the "Starbucks smell," and somehow it didn't seem as bad. They were the best quickie breakfast sandwiches in town, but I won't really miss that smell.

Picture of the day

Recession looms!

Boston: land of the famous

Over the course of the past 24 hours I've seen Eve Plumb (a.k.a "Jan Brady") at an art opening at the Mills Gallery in the South End (she's an artist herself), and Cameron Diaz at the BPL filming a movie called "The Box". The BPL is, according to a reference librarian, acting as a stand-in for a library in Virginia. The place was swarming with the film crew, and at least half of the library was closed to the public. This is really too much excitement for one day.