The other day along the Charles River in West Roxbury, Mary Ellen spotted a great blue heron and four black-crowned night herons seeming to pose for their first album cover.
West Roxbury
A West Roxbury man had bail set at $25,000 at his arraignment today on gun and drug charges for the five illegal guns, seven high-capacity magazines, bullets and "white powder" police found in his home after he showed up at the West Roxbury VA hospital Monday with a gunshot wound to his hand, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports. Read more.
In the dawn mist along the Charles River at Millennium Park this morning, Mary Ellen spotted a black crowned night heron, a couple of mallards and a great blue heron.
Friday, one day after a contractor demolished the old Keith House on Centre Street, ISD issued a stop-work order rescinding the permission it had granted Tuesday for the work.
Developer Gary Martell tore down the house, built in 1839, to make way for a 21-unit condo building he wants to build. He also plans to tear down the former People's Federal Savings Bank building next door, although he has yet to receive permission from the BPDA to actually put up the condos.
The Boston Public Health Commission reports that Turtle Pond in Stony Brook Reservation has high levels of blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, that could kill any dogs that swim in the pond and ingest enough of the stuff, either by drinking the water or by licking themselves after a swim. Read more.
A contractor for local developer Gary Martell's CAD Builders this morning tore down the Greek-revival Keith House on Centre Street to make way for a 21-unit condo building - assuming the project is approved by the BPDA - just two days after ISD issue a demolition permit. Read more.
The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved plans by Chase Bank to add a drive-up ATM to the new bank branch it's building where the BP gas station used to be on Centre Street at Belgrade Avenue. Read more.
Walk out onto what used to be the middle of the Charles River at Millennium Park these days and you'll see not just sand and mud and land plants growing everywhere, but the shells of what our local wildlife photographer Mary Ellen says are Chinese mystery snails. Read more.
Boston firefighters are in the woods off West Boundary Road in West Roxbury for what is now a two-alarm brush fire.
The Charles River at Millennium Park is still really shallow, but after yesterday's rain, it's a bit wider than it was last week, as Mary Ellen shows us.
Mary Ellen spotted this frog just hanging out in Cow Island Pond, the part of the Charles River along Rivermoor Street in West Roxbury, where there's a bit more water than in the largely dry stretch just downstream along Millennium Park.
It's got to be frustrating to be a Millennium Park beaver these days: There's just not enough water to dam up along the Charles, but especially in Sawmill Brook, which no longer empties into the Charles because it no longer flows. This morning, Mary Ellen spotted this once eager beaver forced to waddle across mud and what's left of the water.
Update: Mary Ellen posted video showing that the little guy was able to get a bit of a swim in.
Gio Valencia watched a couple of kayakers walking their craft down the deepest part of the Charles River by Millennium Park in West Roxbury. The river's normally pretty shallow in that stretch, but the current drought has reduced it to a shallow creek there.
A couple of guys from Providence came up to West Roxbury Wednesday night to steal catalytic converters, but they only managed to saw one off before they crashed in the big, scary rotary at West Roxbury and VFW Parkways, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports. Read more.
The level of the Charles River where Millennium Park in West Roxbury meets Cutler Park in Dedham and Needham is now so low that somebody who doesn't mind getting their calves wet - and maybe sinking into some mud - could easily wade across at its narrowest points. Read more.
The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved Jeff Similien's plans to open a pot shop at 5252 Washington St. in West Roxbury, just up from the Dedham line, and a building to grow his wares at 48-54 Walter St. in Hyde Park. Read more.
A report of somebody possibly drowning at Turtle Pond in Stony Brook Reservation this morning brought firefighters - including ones trained in "tech rescues" rushing to the scene - only to discover nobody drowning, just people ignoring the "No Swimming" signs on a warm summer day - signs that went up last summer after somebody did drown in the pond. Read more.
BLVCK.machina watched the sun go down over Millennium Park in West Roxbury this evening.
Joe Kidston, down in Hull, where they actually got some of the storms we were promised today, also watched the sunset through the storm clouds: Read more.
In Roslindale, Ed Grzyb watched a plane transit the moon on its way into Logan tonight.
Last night, Mary Ellen watched the moon get snagged by the communications tower on Rivermoor Street in West Roxbury: Read more.
ChelseaScanner couldn't help but notice the sunset this evening.
Meanwhile, down in Millennium Park in West Roxbury, Jax was less than impressed: Read more.