Video of a burning, collapsing cell tower in Wellesley off Rte. 9 eastbound today.

Spotted the other day on Rte. 9 at Oak Street; looks like Sealy hasn't repainted some of its trucks in awhile.

Saw my first Massachusetts Smart Car today - with an appropriate license plate - getting onto Rte. 9 in Chestnut Hill (also included my speedometer in the photo just to prove I'm not one of those insane people snapping photos while moving). He broke 60 on the hill down to Rte. 128, then zipped on up to 128 north (and not even pedaling very hard, that I could tell). As you can see, from the back, it basically just looks like a Mini or Matrix beaten with an ugly stick; it's only when you pull up next to it that you realize how different the thing is (says the guy driving around in a giant red space egg).

Brookline selectmen vote to pursue plan to wall off Heath Street in the face of plans for another mall/condo project on Rte. 9 in Newton. No word if Newton Mayor David Cohen plans to stand in front of wall and exclaim "Mr. Selectmen Chairman: Tear down this wall!" In any event, Brookline can't become the Hermit Kingdom of the West and wall itself off from the outside world just yet - its plan needs state approval.

With little else to do during a monumental turnpike backup last week, Liz composed a prayer that begins:

Oh merciful heavens, hear my cry! Your child mourns in the dark valley of the Turnpike, and wails upon the stones of 128, and gnashes her teeth and heaps ashes upon her head when she hath the folly to attempt Route 9 as an alternate route. Oh, maketh my lane to clear, oh Lord! ...

At least seven cars hit by softball-sized rocks thrown from the Connector Road overpass in Westborough - two motorists injured.

Around Natick posts an aerial photo showing what the intersection of Rte. 9 and Speen Street looked like back when what is now the Natick Mall was the Natick sewer beds - a place where raw sewage from Natick and Framingham was pumped to dry out in the open air (thanks, Dave!). That ended, of course, when the mall was built in the mid-1960s.