Back Bay

Turlach MacDonagh spotted this apple just sitting there in the Public Garden.

Copyright Turlach MacDonagh. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

BosGuy took in the annual Santas in Speedos run through the Back Bay today. Arturo Gossage took a ton of photos:

Photos copyright BosGuy and Arturo Gossage, respectively.

The Boston Fire Department reports carbon monoxide from a furnace underneath Exhale Salon, 28 Arlington St., sent four people to the hospital this afternoon.

Another ten people were checked by EMTs but found to be OK, the department says, adding emergency crews were summoned around 2:20 p.m. Firefighters shut the furnace and brought in fans to ventilate the building.

We were called here because staff and patrons were feeling lightheaded and had CO exposure symptoms. Commercial businesses are not required to have carbon monoxide detectors. Only places used for habitation is the term used.

The department says the final tally: 30 people were evaluated, with 8 going to Mass. General and Tufts Medical Center.

Our own eeka explains her first-hand experience with the new rule.

Mike the Mad Biologist captured some flowers after the snow yesterday.

The top of the tower will be a different color every night this month to honor local non-profit groups. Here's the list.

Via Adam Castiglioni.

The Herald reports on an upcoming vote by the church congregation on whether to sell one of its two copies of the Bay Psalm Book - which could fetch up to $20 million - and a silver collection that includes a Paul Revere chalice. Supporters say the money would help pay for church repairs and work among the homeless.

Michael Skrzypek watched the sun set over the Charles this evening.

Liz recounts a sorry lunch at Osushi in Copley Place:

This place is only surviving on Groupon deals and unaware conference attendees. Don’t go to Osushi (it's difficult to find in the mall, so maybe if you tried to go, you gave up and went somewhere else, anyway). There are plenty of less expensive sushi places in Boston that have fresh fish and good service.

The Proper Bostonians reports on the scene in the Public Garden, where owl watchers and photographers converged this evening to watch an owl in a beech tree (right near the fountain/statue that shows a mountain lion catching an owl):

A few more owl-watchers showed up as the light faded, having heard rumors from a bearded guy named Peter. As we talked and craned our necks, the owl finally took off, and we followed on the ground, exclaiming over the magnificence of its wings as it swooped through the trees. It landed on a high branch that gave us a much better view of its yellowish beak and dark, round eyes. Barred owls have beautiful brown, camouflage feathers and we had an excellent view of it now. Behind us, a group of serious photographers with massive telephoto lenses had materialized, setting up lights and tripods. One trained a spotlight on the owl. This troubled my owl-watcher friend and me, but the owl didn't seem to care. It stayed put and suddenly regurgitated a lump of whatever owls regurgitate... feathers, fur and bone fragments, I think.

Arturo Gossage spotted this colorful bird on a mostly empty Boylston Street on Thanksgiving.

Copyright Arturo Gossage. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Around 8:45 a.m, Susan Anderson tweeted:

The Orange Line is seriously standing by "due to a coffee spill that needs to be cleaned up." ... At least it made for a nice-smelling train first thing in the morning...

The coffee break happened after incoming T General Manager Beverly Scott rode the line from a chat session with commuters at North Station to a chat session with commuters at Back Bay. The T posted a photo of her and soon-to-be boss Richard Davey on the Orange Line. Michael Ratty looked at the photo and asked:

Why isn't Beverly Scott drinking a Dunkin Donuts coffee like Davey? Not a good way to endear yourself to Boston.

Also, while the Orange Line ran perfectly (and strangely emptily) on her trip, commuters on the Red Line and the Needham Line got to experience your basic Monday-morning T delays.

H/t Prairie Rose Clayton for the headline.

Somebody at Laced got up early this morning, and got to capture dawn breaking over the Back Bay.

Boston Police report arresting a one-man crime spree who, they charge, broke into two businesses in the South End and the Back Bay early this morning and then tried to sell some of his ill-gotten goods at a Back Bay convenience store.

Police say Juan Maddox, 44, started his night around 2:45 a.m. at the Buttery, 312 Shawmut Ave., where he made off with a computer, a coffee maker and a label maker, despite having apparently injured himself in the process of breaking into a door.

Copley Square this morning. Photo by Allison Francis.

The Public Garden, maybe, or the Old Granary Burying Ground, perhaps. But obviously not Copley Square or Christopher Columbus Park, which were filled this morning with squishy little ads for a tomato company. Granted, a company that is donating 3,000 cans of their product to a local food drive, but still. As Amy Deveau tweeted:

What a waste! This is a total waste - perfectly good tomatoes sitting on the GROUND. Awful. And people in NY/NJ are homeless! It's just so thoughtless, wasteful, stupid and insensitive. This whole muirglenorganic tomato-gate is making me super stabby this AM. I've never heard of you, but you just lost me as a customer.

The Boston Licensing Board decides Thursday whether the Pour House on Boylston Street deserves any punishment for a minor argument inside on Aug. 3 that blossomed into an all-out melee on the sidewalk outside featuring a burly guy yelling he'd killed people in Afghanistan and challenging people to fights and a couple of spikey-haired guys wielding skateboards as weapons.

In the end, Lt. Stephen Meade told the board, they found only one injured person - a guy with human bite marks on his right forearm. But, Meade added, they'll never know exactly what happened because most of the roughly 50 people scattered at the sight of approaching blue lights and the few who remained proved too drunk and too recalcitrant to provide any useful information.

Spotted today at Back Bay Station: a Salvation Army bell ringer.

John Ford writes the developer is sending out mixed signals about the skyline-changing project.

The Globe reports on plans for the old John Hancock hotel and conference center.

26 Turner St., Brighton. Photo by BFD.

A year after Irene sent thousands of trees plunging to the ground, Sandy uprooted thousands more.

Michael Ratty photographed a tree down in Copley Square:

Leslee watched a Halloween pet parade in the Back Bay yesterday. One of the participants was this boxer.

Posted under this Creative Commons license and in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Vasant Marur watched the sun come up over the Back Bay and the Charles River yesterday.

Copyright Vasant Marur. Tagged as universalhub on Flickr.

A concerned citizen is vexed on Boylston Street:

A very frustrated tourist asked me "where is map?" over and over: the just-installed "City Map" device at Boyslton and Dalton Streets does not have a map in any of the three panes—just advertisements.

It's that time of year, when the Metro teams up with Boston Costume and dresses up its hawkers. Nikki caught up with Luigi this morning at Hynes on the Green Line, reports he played a giant banana last year and that he much prefers being a video-game character:

Said people were really mean to him as a banana but Luigi gets smiles.

MBTA photo.Forty years ago, artist Dennis Kowal loaned the MBTA his "Constellations" statue for installation at the Hynes Green Line station.

The T installed it along the walkway to the Boylston Street entrance, where it's gone largely unnoticed in recent years, since the T's locked that entrance up. T spokesman Joe Pesaturo reports:

Therefore, the artist contacted the MBTA in his efforts to locate a new venue. When the artist found the new location at Wentworth, the MBTA agreed that this was in the best interest of the artist and the artwork. T personnel helped to ensure the sculpture was safely moved.

There's an official dedication at Wentworth on Saturday.