On May 4, 2010, join the celebration as Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops kick off the 2010 season and the 125th Pops Anniversary with guest artist Doc Severinsen – one of the few artists to have performed with all three Maestros - pianist Michael Chertock and “Wicked” star Idina Menzel. Join this tribute to “America’s Orchestra” as the Boston Pops salutes the legacies of Arthur Fiedler, John Williams, and Keith Lockhart.
Arnold Arboretum
Meander through the flower-filled Boston Public Garden, then hop on a Swan Boat. Savor the sweet smell of lilacs on May 9th, Lilac Sunday, at Boston’s Arnold Arboretum. Peruse more than 1,000 native plant species, many rare and endangered, at Garden in the Woods in Framingham. Discover the Secret Garden and its fragrant perennials at the Tower Hill Botanic Garden, Boylston. At the Mount Estate & Gardens in Lenox, admire Edith Wharton’s formal Italianate walled garden. In Shelburne Falls, stroll the Bridge of Flowers, an old trolley bridge, now a riot of color in spring.
Excerpt from a Homily delivered November 29, 2009,
The Poetry of Advent
If the Season of Advent were a book I would file it on a shelf, right at eye-level, foremost among the great works of poetry. Advent is a poem of a bright new beginning. Advent is a love poem written to us from God.
This poem of the season of Advent is set to the meter of eternity, the rhythm of our hearts and in the cadence of now.
In the poem of the season of Advent we are pregnant with Mary. We are filled with our hopes for future, our longing for love and our trust in God. We live each day carrying within our bellies the expectation and the reality of the divine.
In the poem of Advent all words rhyme with love. Even Already, even “Not Yet”
In the poem of the season of Advent every line contains hope as “we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our lord”
Advent is a love poem written to us from God.
And, we already know the substance of this poem for it is inscribed on our heart. “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again”
2 Cups Flour
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
Dash Salt
3 Tablespoons Sugar
2 Eggs [large]
3 Cups Buttermilk
Dash Vanilla
4 Tablespoons Butter [melted]
Whisk eggs, buttermilk, butter and vanilla .
Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.
Gently combine leaving small lumps; do not overmix.
Cook on a pre-heated, buttered, cast iron pan.
I begin with a very hot pan and then lower the heat and cook the pancakes slowly.
Turn them over once they begin to bubble.
BANANA TOPPING
Quarter and chop Bananas into large chunks.
Sautee in butter, cinnamon, brown sugar and/or spiced Rum.
Place Banana’s on top of Pancakes and serve with a side of Maple Syrup.
We always use either our own Syrup [from our Maple trees] or locally made. It really tastes so much better then store bought, processed, syrup.
Poach Eggs in an Egg Poacher
We serve on either Toasted and Buttered French White or English Muffins
Drizzle over Hollandaise Sauce and add a sprig of Parsley for color
Hollandaise Sauce
3 Large Egg Yolks
1 ½ Tablespoons Water
1 ½ Tablespoons Fresh Lemon Juice
8 Tablespoons Melted Butter
Kosher Salt
In either a double boiler or a heat proof bowl set over simmering water whisk the egg yolks with 1 ½ tablespoons water until the mixture thickens [about 4 minutes].
Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice.
Whisk in the melted butter until it thickens and season with salt.
Harvard Museum of Natural History: was established in 1998 as the public face of three research museums: the Museum of Comparative Zoology, the Harvard University Herbaria, and the Mineralogical and Geological Museum. Don’t miss the famous Glass Flowers a unique collection of over 3,000 models was created by glass artisans Leopold Blaschka and his son, Rudolph. The commission began in 1886, continued for five decades, and the collection represents more than 830 plant species.
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology: one of the oldest museums in the world {1866} devoted to anthropology houses one of the most comprehensive records of human cultural history in the Western Hemisphere. www.peabody.harvard.edu
Concord
Concord Art Association: The permanent collection of the Concord Art Association includes a wide variety of paintings, drawings and sculpture acquired during its early years of the 20th century. Gallery Shows and Juried Competitions. www.concordart.org
Concord Free Public Library: sculptures by Daniel Chester French, a Concord History and Archive and Genealogy collection. www.concordlibrary.org
Decordova Musem & Scupture Park: largest Sculpture Park in New England nestled on a reservoir; Museum with changing exhibitions. www.decordova.org
Gropius House: Walter Gropius (1883-1969) was a celebrated German architect and teacher, founder of the school of design known as the Bauhaus in Germany, and a leading proponent of modern architecture. This house was his first architectural commission in the United States, built in 1938 as his family home after coming here to teach at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. This was Walter Gropius’ home from 1938 until his death in 1969. Property maintained by: www.historicnewengland.org
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: a 15th Century Venetian-style Palace housing a collection of 2500 paintings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, rare books…. all surrounding a spectacular indoor courtyard brimming with flowers and fountains. www.gardnermuseum.org
Museum of Fine Arts: check their site for their permanent and changing exhibits, music, film, lectures series and more…www.mfa.org
The Institute if Contemporary Art: Contemporary Art in all mediums in Boston’s newest Art Museum on the waterfront. www.ica.org
Fogg, Busch Reisenger and Arthur M. Sackler Museums: The Sackler Museum will have an ongoing exhibit until a new building is completed which will incorporate all 3 museums. www.artmuseums.harvard.edu
Longfellow National Historic Site: built in 1759; used by George Washington as his headquarters for 9 months during the siege of Boston and visited by Benjamin Franklin and Abigail & John Adams; later occupied from 1837-1882 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his wife Frances where they hosted Emerson, Hawthorne and Charles Dickens. www.longfellowfriends.org
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology: one of the oldest museums in the world {1866} devoted to anthropology houses one of the most comprehensive records of human cultural history in the Western Hemisphere. www.peabody.harvard.edu
New England Quilt Museum: several exhibits a year showcasing both traditional and contemporary quilts; library and resource center housed in an 1845 Greek Revival Style building. www.nequiltmuseum.org
Whistler House Museum of Art: a permanent collection of 19th & 20th Century New England Representational artists and etchings by James McNeil Whistler. www.whistlerhouse.org
Peabody Essex Museum: one of the nation’s major museums for Asian art, including Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Indian along with the finest collection of Asian Export art extant and 19th century Asian photography; the earliest collection of Native American and Oceanic art in the nation- all of exceptional standing. The historic houses and gardens, and American decorative art and maritime art collections provide an unrivaled spectrum of New England’s heritage over 300 years. www.pem.org
Museum of Russian Icons: a collection of 370 Russian icons, the largest in North America spanning six centuries. www.museumofrussianicons.org
Concord Free Public Library: sculptures by Daniel Chester French, a Concord History and Archive and Genealogy collection. www.concordlibrary.org
Concord Museum: a treasure trove of Americana including Period Rooms, Emerson’s Library, Henry David Thoreau’s Flute, Paul Revere’s Lantern. www.concordmuseum.org
Emerson’s Home: the intellectual center of Concord in the 19th Century. www.rwe.org/emersonhouse
Old Manse: built by Emerson’s grandfather and Hawthorne’s first home when he married and wrote “Mosses from an Old Manse.” www.oldmanse.org
Orchard House: home where Louisa May Alcott wrote “Little Women” and her father Bronson had his school of philosophy. www.louisamayalcott.org
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery: resting-place of the Transcendentalists, Daniel Chester French and their Families among many other Concord notables. www.concordma.com/magazine/novdec01/sleepyhollow.htlm
Wayside: home to the Alcott family, the Hawthorne family and Margaret Sydney.
www.nps.gov/archive/mima/wayside/index1.htm
Minuteman National Park: explore the battlefields and structures associated with April 19, 1775, and witness the American revolutionary spirit through the writings of the Concord authors; visit “Old North Bridge”, site of “the shot heard ‘round the world’; the Battle Road; Hartwell Tavern and more… www.nps.gov/mima
National Heritage Museum: a collection of decorative arts, documents, artifacts, fine arts and photographs related to all kinds of American History with particular attention to the time of the American Revolution; changing exhibitions www.monh.org
Buckman Tavern; Hancock House; Munroe Tavern: tour Historic House Museums. www.lexingtonhistory.org
Gropius House: home of Walter Gropius, the founder of the German design school known as Bauhaus. www.historicnewengland.org
Adams National Historical Park: the story of four generations of the Adams Family, from 1720-1927, on two sites in Quincy along with a 14,000 volume historic library. www.nps.gov/adam
Boston National Historical Park: Discover how one city could be the Cradle of Liberty, site of the first major battle of the American Revolution and home to many who espoused that freedom could be extended to all; take a guided walking tour of the Freedom Trail, visit Paul Revere’s House, Old North Church and Bunker Hill Monument and the USS Constitution. www.nps.gov/bost
J.F.K. Library & Museum: dedicated to the memory of our nation’s 35th President and to all those who through the art of politics seek a new and better world. www.jfklibrary.org
The Museum of African American History: dedicated to preserving, conserving and accurately interpreting the contributions of African Americans in New England from the Colonial Period through the 19th century through permanent and changing exhibits. www.afroammuseum.org
The USS Constitution Museum: yards away from “Old Ironsides” brings the story of our nation’s oldest commissioned ship to life. www.ussconstitutionmuseum.org
Longfellow National Historic Site: built in 1759; used by George Washington as his headquarters for 9 months during the siege of Boston and visited by Benjamin Franklin and Abigail & John Adams; later occupied from 1837-1882 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his wife Frances where they hosted Emerson, Hawthorne and Charles Dickens. www.longfellowfriends.org
American Textile History Museum: one of the largest collections of its kind in the world containing thousands of books, trade catalogs, business records and personal papers, prints and photographs, a costume collection, millions of textile samples, and hundreds of machines used in manufacturing with permanent and changing exhibits. www.athm.org
Lowell National Historical Park: presents the early story of America’s Industrial Revolution with a guided tour by trolley and/or canal boats on the Merrimack River; exhibits include the Boott Cotton Mills Museum and the Mill Girls and Immigrants. story. www.nps.gov/lowe
New England Quilt Museum: several exhibits a year showcasing both traditional and contemporary quilts; library and resource center housed in an 1845 Greek Revival Style building. www.nequiltmuseum.org
Whistler House Museum of Art: a permanent collection of 19th & 20th Century New England Representational artists and etchings by James McNeil Whistler. www.whistlerhouse.org
Peabody Essex Museum: one of the nation’s major museums for Asian art, including Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Indian along with the finest collection of Asian Export art extant and 19th century Asian photography; the earliest collection of Native American and Oceanic art in the nation- all of exceptional standing. The historic houses and gardens, and American decorative art and maritime art collections provide an unrivaled spectrum of New England’s heritage over 300 years. www.pem.org
Salem Witch Museum: re-creates the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 in a dramatic history lesson using stage sets with life-size figures, lighting and narration with changing exhibits. www.salemwitchmuseum.com
The House of the Seven Gables: the setting for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book of the same name; Hawthorne’s Birthplace home is next door to this famous house. www.7gables.org
New Bedford National Park: visit the “Whalemen’s Chapel” featured in Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”, the Rotch-Jones House, built in 1834, chronicling 150 years of economic, social and domestic life in New Bedford and more. www.nps.gov/nebe
Whaling Museum: a whaling, maritime and local history museum with an interest in educating the public in the historic interaction worldwide of humans and whales; 7,500 paintings, 3,000 scrimshaw pieces, the world’s largest ship model {89 feet long}, 750 maps, 30,000 books, 180,000 photographs and negatives, and more… www.whalingmuseum.org
Plymouth Plantation: visit a re-created 1627 English Village; see the Wampanoag Homesite and learn of these people who have lived in S.E. New England for 12,000 years; come aboard the Mayflower 11 and learn of the 1620 voyage of the Mayflower. www.plimoth.org
Brookline
Larz Anderson Auto Museum: is home to “Americas oldest car collection”. For over 75 years, the Larz Anderson Auto Museum has been supporting the collector car community through a variety of educational programs, exhibits, and lectures. www.larzanderson.org
Higgins Armory: dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of arms and armor with 5,000 objects. www.higgins.org
Children’s Museum: numerous permanent and changing exhibits in this 90-year old Museum. www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org
New England Aquarium: dive into the world of water without getting wet by viewing the giant ocean tank: explore the numerous exhibits from Amazing Jellies to Amazon Rainforest to Penguins and Sea-dragons. www.neaq.org
Science Museum: some offerings: IMAX shows, Planetarium, Simulator Experience, Laser Show, and changing exhibits from a “Butterfly Garden” to “Harry Potter” to “Mapping the World”. www.mos.org
Acton
Children’s Discovery Museum: the Children’s Museum invites, in small scale rooms, the young ones to explore, in a Victorian House, numerous hands-on exhibits; there are even things for infants and toddlers to enjoy; the Science Museum begins with the parabolic whisper dish, and a variety of sound and music; inside are water and vapor whirling vortexes, rock and mineral explorations and innovative science theme spaces inviting exploration and experimentation. www.discoverymuseums.org
Drumlin Farm: the Massachusetts Audubon society has a working farm and wildlife sanctuary with a learning garden, hayrides and wildlife exhibits. www.massaudubon.org
Pirate Museum: board a full-length pirate ship and explore an 80-foot cave while you explore the experiences of New England Sea robbers. www.piratemuseum.org