Charles River

Seven altogether; goes before the Boston Zoning Board of Appeal on July 29 for a variance.

Via John Keith.

Everybody agrees it's wrong that those brand-spanking new fields along the Charles River are padlocked most of the time, yet nobody can agree why, let alone simply send out a guy with a bolt cutter to end the problem.

All the rain makes for good mushroom conditions, as Karen Larsen discovered on a walk along the river in Watertown.

Amy recounts an incident on the Mass. Ave. bridge during the July Fourth Pops concert that renews your faith in at least part of humanity.

Harry Mattison writes that if some New Bedford state senator wants to complain about abuses on the Charles, he should be looking at things like Harvard's $99-a-year lease on a boathouse, not low-interest loans for a boathouse open to the public.

Cutler Park on the Dedham/Needham line lets you go deep into a marsh without getting stuck in mud - thanks to a boardwalk that meanders through the park, which consists mainly of a 700-acre marsh along the Charles River (and 128).

More about the park, including directions.

Joe Driscoll took photos (such as the above) of last night's Charles River fireworks from the Hancock.

Garreyf photographed the reflections of the fireworks on the Hancock and the river.

Ben Ostrander posts fireworks photos from the Mass. Ave. bridge.

More photos.

For the same reason trucks have been banned from everybody's favorite rusted-out hulk of a bridge. Ron Newman asks; Joe Pesaturo at the T answers: It's 10 m.p.h. for Red Line trains until the Department of Conservation and Recreation tells the T otherwise.

BostonZest discusses efforts by state and city arborists and local volunteers to protect elm trees on the Commonwealth Avenue mall and along the Esplanade and Charlesgate from the dreaded Dutch Elm Disease:

... When we have a few days of hot weather, the elm bark beetle will come out of hiding and begin spreading the disease. That's when volunteers look to the treetops for signs of distress. "We call it flagging, which is the yellowing of the leaves on a certain section," said Greg Mosman, Boston's city arborist. ...

Especially not on the Longfellow Bridge.

WBUR's Radio Boston is doing a show on the Charles River and has set up a Flickr group for you to post geotagged photos of the river, to create a Charles photo montage.

Most cool photo from the Esplanade at sunset.

Hey, if it's good enough for the geese, it's good enough for the woman Tammy spotted:

... An Asian woman was foraging for greens along the banks of the Charles carrying a large shopping bag full of them. Since she didn't look crazy, I stopped to ask what she was picking.

She didn't speak any English, but she showed me a particular plant that was growing in bushy clumps along the riverbank and gestured that you could eat it. It seemed like something I might have seen before, with leaves in threes that were pointy and jagged on the edges like parsley, but floppy like cilantro. It tasted like grassy sage. I tried to find out what it was called or what she did with it, but really nothing was getting through. ...

Meanwhile, Steve Sherlock asks you to be vewwy, vewwy quiet, because he's hunting dandelions.

Paul Keleher took in the Run of the Charles races today, including this 26-mile run.

Longfellow Bridge is falling down, falling down? Sorta, but not really, state says. Which, as Michael Pahre recalls, is what the state said about the BU Bridge upriver:

Few people would likely disagree that the DCR (and its predecessor agencies) has a poor record in maintaining their infrastructure, although some blame could easily be pointed at the State Legislature and/or Governor for failure to allocate sufficient funding. But the DCR should do a better job at recognizing and reporting the condition of the infrastructure under their control, rather that making public misstatements or engaging in peculiar reporting practices. The public statements of DCR officials about the current condition of their bridges is straining their credibility.

Good, moody Esplanade photo.

Teddy Kokoros takes photos at the Moody Street dam on the Charles.

Dramtic sunset today.

Not the most dramatic sunset, but still a pleasant way to end a warmish day at the giant dog park that Millennium Park in West Roxbury seems to have become (it was amazing how many people were there at sunset with their dogs today).

Sunrise over the Charles.

Sunset over the Financial District.

Teddy Kokoros posts photos.

Harry Mattison wonders why the state wants to add zillions of miles of bike paths when it's currently not maintaining the ones it already has, such as the paths along the Charles River:

... In my opinion, making the paths along the Charles River in Boston rideable should come before creating a 120 mile trail from Lowell to Westfield (here's a map for everyone who, like me, needs to be reminded where Westfield is). I don't know where the Ware River Valley is, but I know that hundreds of people a day ride along the Charles and have to deal with paths that are too narrow, too bumpy where tree roots have grown under the asphalt, and just plain wrong for bikes (the wooden boardwalk under the B.U. Bridge). ...

Nice shot.

Mike Champion snaps a cool photo of the Northeastern boathouse at night.

There's some weird graffiti at the playground at Paul Revere Park by the Charles River Dam.