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Enjoy craft beer, learn about clean energy at Exhibit ‘A’ event

October 5, 2021 by Admin Leave a Comment

SPONSORED CONTENT: Interested in clean energy? Like having fun? Join the MetroWest Clean Energy team and installers ACE Solar; New England Ductless; and Achieve Renewable Energy, LLC.; for a fun night at Exhibit ‘A’ Brewing Company on Thursday, October 7. Learn more about about solar, air source heat pump and ground-source heat pump solutions for your home.

Local installers are sponsoring this outdoor event and will be providing free meal tickets for clean energy guests. Volunteers will be available to help talk through potential proposals. There will also be a raffle and you could win a super-cool Jackery solar-powered portable generator.

Sustainable Natick event

EVENT: Clean Energy Brewfest
DATE: Thursday, October 7th
TIME: 6pm-8pm
LOCATION: Exhibit ‘A’, 81 Morton Street, Framingham, MA

EXHIBITORS: 
Ace Solar;
New England Ductless
Achieve Renewable Energy

Filed Under: Beyond Natick, Education, Environment



Beyond Natick: Visiting Block Island during shoulder season

September 25, 2021 by Bob Brown 5 Comments

Block Island in Rhode Island swells from a community of about 1,000 year-round residents to become a summertime playground that hosts up to 20 times that during the peak season months of June, July, and August. We took advantage of our ability to visit for a 3-day September stretch during what’s known as shoulder season to experience this popular spot for the first time.

While Block Island temperatures hovered in the low 70s most of the time, strong winds and often gray skies made for less of a beach vacation and more of an exploring one. We biked, hiked, ran and walked the beach, visited lighthouses, shopped, came across interesting wildlife and domesticated animals, had a great view of a sailing regatta, and just missed most of the action planned for the island’s first Pride celebration that spawned rainbow flags seemingly everywhere.

All in all, the trip was a success. I even finished reading a book I started back in January, so it must have been a relaxing getaway.

Block island

We took the ferry from Point Judith, R.I., a sub-2-hour mid-morning drive from Natick. For the price of about $20 round trip for the regular 55-minute ferry, plus $7 per bike, we were off. (Impatient types can hop on the 30-minute high-speed ferry for about $50.) Parking cost $10 per day across the street. Overall, the process was smooth.

We walked just around the block in Old Harbor to our B&B, the Blue Dory, a charming old house at the start of Crescent Beach that earns a mention in the book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die (under the Block Island section).

Block island

Given that the island was relatively quiet during our stay, noise outside our B&B was toned down, too. We were serenaded nightly by a singer with a regular gig across the street at The National, a hotel and restaurant with seating around fire pits in the back. He really knew how to cover James Taylor, Bob Dylan, and more, so we didn’t mind.

We had our first meal during our visit at The National, sitting on the front deck, which was mostly full and had a friendly buzz going at lunchtime. I took advantage of a buttered lobster roll and didn’t regret it. The menu also listed lobster roll with mayo, so all the bases were covered.

Block Island, The National

block island lobster roll

We didn’t have a bad meal during our stay, and found most of the restaurants on our list to be open despite the summer winding down. Other places we where we dined:

  • The Oar, where we sampled their seafood, infamous (and strong) mudslide, and grabbed a great view of the sunset from the New Harbor section of the island. The Oar has a fun tradition of honoring wedding parties with customized oars that decorate the restaurant and bar.
Block Island, The Oar
  • DeadEye Dick’s, another New Harbor restaurant, where we were initially mistaken for sailors sidelined by too-strong winds to take part in a regatta around the island (and there we were thinking wind was good for sailing). On our ferry ride back to Port Judith we luckily later caught the regatta in action, with dozens and dozens of boats taking part (or are they yachts asks the non-sailor?).

Nice view from ferry of regatta around Block Island pic.twitter.com/zMVO3BL4TG

— Natick Report (@NatickReport) September 19, 2021

  • Poor People’s Pub, one of those “Natick could use one of these” places, where we ate outside on picnic tables and hit the Shazam app more than once to capture songs from their playlist. Lobster & corn chowder and a burger hit the spot for us at this casual setting.

Block island

  • Bethany’s Airport Diner at the island’s airport is a classic cozy diner run by locals and offering menu items such as plate-sized pancakes. Unfortunately for us, the rain and fog that day nixed our plans to watch planes take off and arrive.

We made our way around the island largely by foot and bike. Dedicated cycling paths aren’t one of Block Island’s offerings, so you need to share the road with cars and mopeds, and that’s easier to do during the off-peak season given the reduced traffic. Still, within 10 minutes of our arrival I saw a woman wipe out on her bike, and possibly break her wrist. I was among those who helped her to the sidewalk to await an ambulance.

We hit the big sights, including lighthouses on the north and south shores. We walked from our hotel to the Southeast Light, a brick and granite structure. One thing about going off-season is that sights like this have more limited access, with tours only available on weekends.

Block island

From the lighthouse we walked down the road a bit and then down 141 steps to get a better look at the dramatic 200-feet high Mohegan Bluffs.

Block island

We took advantage of some of the island’s many dirt roads for shortcuts and to make our way to the waterfront, which is much more wide open to the public than beaches in some other northeastern vacation destinations. In walking down a dirt road called Beacon Hill Road we stopped at a bench to watch the action at a beautiful farm populated with ducks, chickens, cats, goats, and even a horse that peeked out of a barn just before rain drenched us during a hike on the nearby Greenway trails.

Block island

Block island

While not exploring the island’s natural beauty, one of us (not me) hit some of the shops, some of which were out of stuff (a pottery shop) and others of which were offering great end-of-season deals.

While Block Island isn’t that far away from Natick (friends more adventurous than us make a day trip of it), it felt like a legit getaway. It was definitely one of those trips we’ve been meaning to check off our list, and are glad we did.

Block Island North Light

 

Block island

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Filed Under: Beyond Natick, Travel

Beyond Natick: Ribbit the Exhibit at Elm Bank Reservation

July 20, 2021 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Things have really started hopping over at Massachusetts Horticultural Society with the installation of Ribbit the Exhibit, running through Sept. 7 at The Gardens at Elm Bank.  Nineteen whimsical 4 – 7 foot copper frog sculptures depicted by North Carolina artist J.A. Cobb have been placed throughout the 36-acre property. There’s Cora the Local Garden Enthusiast in the Bressingham Garden, gleaming metal watering can in hand; Emerson, A Morning Person, relaxing on a bench with a cup of coffee; Edward the Treefrog, perched in a tree, of course; and the rest of the engaging and amusing crew. Each frog comes with a backstory—just look for the nearby signs.

Elm Bank Reservation at Mass Hort

Every large-scale sculpture in the traveling exhibit takes the metalworker up to 4 weeks to complete, and he crafts them one at a time. The work on Ribbit The Exhibit starts in the studio, but it doesn’t end there. Once a public garden books the frogs for an exhibit, Cobb personally delivers the pieces by truck, loading, unpacking, and supervising the installation of each sculpture. Don’t take him to be a micro-manager, though. Cobb leaves it to the staff at each garden to decide where to place his sculptures. Early on he found trying to site each frog perfectly in a garden he didn’t know was a waste of time when there was already a group of people on hand with strong artistic opinions. “The staff already knows these gardens like the back of their hands, and they do a great job with placement. They nail it every time,” he said.

Cobb’s artistic ability lay dormant until he was 42. The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill graduate had majored in business and did not take any art-related classes beyond the most basic UNC requirements. Graduation led to a job in corporate sales, where he worked for 21 years until burnout set in. But from the ashes of burnout came the rays of an epiphany—the artist’s life would be his path forward. Once Cobb traded in his three-piece suits and starched shirts for jeans and a t-shirt, he never glanced back.

Elm Bank, Andy Cobb, artist

What started as an exhausted former exec fiddling around with some clay and copper has led to a vibrant dream career that keeps Cobb in the studio six days a week. He and his wife JoEtta and their rescue pup Charlie live in a small village on the Atlantic Ocean. The waterfront location with its natural habitat for herons, shorebirds, and other coastal creatures provides Cobb with plenty of inspiration. Although his amphibians are pure fantasy, Cobb says, “I hear over and over at gardens ‘it looks like they belong here.'”

“Ribbit the Exhibit has been a massive hit with families this summer” Mass Hort President, James Hearsum said. “There are 19 sculptures altogether and in every area of the Garden, so just finding the complete set is a fun challenge. Each one has a unique personality and shares important information about the garden, the importance of our local ecology and global environmental issues. It is important to visit soon – they are all hopping back home after Labor Day, so don’t delay your garden visit.”

It’s looking like Mass Hort simply can’t do without Cora. The organization has been in talks with Cobb to leave her behind when the exhibit ends. Cobb only has a hard time letting go “…if if I think they won’t be taken good care of. Then I won’t let go of them. But I know Cora will be taken care of.”

Elm Bank Reservation at Mass Hort

Hundreds of his frogs and other creatures have found permanent homes in pubic and private gardens throughout the United States, England, and Canada. “Not only do I do the exhibits,” he says, “but I have yet to be able to turn down a commission. After 25 years, the greatest thing to me is making people happy. If I can work with someone to produce something that makes them happy every single day, then that’s as good as it gets. I’ve got five commissions going right now.”

Cobb’s first large, whimsical frog was patterned after Toad from Kenneth Grahame’s classic children’s book, The Wind in the Willows. Other famous figures he’s frog-ified are Degas’ Little Dancer sculpture; ballroom dancing greats Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers; Grant Wood’s American Gothic; and more.

Cobb hand draws each sculpture, then cuts out the pieces from 16-ounce flat sheets of copper. After the cut lines are drawn on the copper, he hammers and folds the sheet into the 3-dimensional image he has planned, much like origami. The pieces are then assembled by using a metal-joining process in which two or more pieces are joined together by melting and flowing copper into each joint. This brazing process, along with assembling the pieces around a steel armature, gives the sculptures the strength to last for decades. Cobb says all of his sculptures are built to last and, once completed, require little to no further maintenance.

Elm Bank Reservation at Mass Hort

“My first Ribbit Exhibit show was in 2008,” he says. I was trying to make a living selling sculpture, but in 2008 the economy had tanked. Cape Fear Botanical Garden in Fayetteville had seen some of my sculptures and asked if I could do an exhibit in the garden. I was looking for exposure. They said I should bulk up the size of the show and bring sculptures to other gardens.”

Cobb took that advice and now typically has exhibits going at two gardens at any given time. Some of the gardens his frogs have appeared in are Dow Gardens in Michigan; Reiman Gardens in Iowa; The Morton Arboretum in Illinois; Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina; Harry P. Leu Gardens in Florida; Airlie Gardens in North Carolina; and Mounts Botanical Gardens in Florida.

At 68 years of age, Cobb has no plans to retire. He just enjoys what he does too much to let it all go. His artist’s creed: “Whatever you’re doing, have fun. If it’s not fun, I will quit.”

Ribbit Exhibit is included with daily admission to The Gardens at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA. $10 for adults, free for ages 12 and under. Free for Massachusetts Horticultural Society members.

More at Mass Hort:

  • In September Mass Hort will unveil a “Virtual Reality Contemporary Art Experience” as part of a global consortium of 12 top botanical gardens, led by Jerusalem Botanic Garden.
  • As a little extra, Mass Hort knows that many families missed out on their annual tradition of visiting the Festival of Trees last year. The Festival will return in November 2021, but for all the little (and not so little) boys and girls who cannot wait to see the model trains, the train room will be opened for “Christmas in July” from Sunday, July 25 through Saturday, July 31. The train room will be operating 10am-5pm and is free after normal garden entry fees.

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Filed Under: Art, Beyond Natick, Gardens, Outdoors

Beyond Natick: Cruising the Essex River

June 26, 2021 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

While temperatures in the low 80s and the beauty of the North Shore’s beaches were calling us in late June, the realization that even a toe dip in the ocean would be bracing gave us pause. What else to do up that way that we hadn’t done before? 

We stumbled upon the Essex River narrated cruise as an option, and made a 1pm launch the centerpiece of a Saturday excursion to Essex.

essex river cruise

It took us a bit more than an hour to arrive at the pier, which has plenty of free parking, and is nearby a handful of waterfront restaurants. We ordered $28 adult tickets for the 90-minute cruise ahead of time. Prices are lower for seniors and kids, and it looked as though most of the passengers were either under the age of 10 or over the age of 40. If not enough people sign up, cruises can be nixed, though ours was pretty full with a few dozen passengers, and the cruise on the schedule was filling up, too, according to our hosts.

You can either sit facing the outside of the boat, or with your back against an outside railing. We sat on the outside, but I could see the attraction in hindsight of grabbing one of the inside seats instead, to avoid neck craning.

This narrated sightseeing cruise operates within a tidal estuary, exploring salt marshes and nearby islands. The covered open-air vessel we cruised on does not make it to the ocean, so you don’t need to worry about big swells, but you’d be well advised to bring along a sweatshirt or windbreaker to stave off chills. The operators encourage you to eat your meals before or after, though you’re welcome to bring non-alcoholic drinks and snacks aboard (they also have a small selection of drinks and snacks for sale on board).

Our narrators were just right: They wove in history, including about the grand Crane Estate in Ipswich that came into view. They got into some science and environmental issues, but avoided getting preachy.

We definitely learned a few things, including:

  • Cormorants, those aquatic birds that are so much fun to watch diving underwater, don’t have the same amount of oil on their feathers as some other birds, so need to keep drying them off. 
  • Filming of The Crucible movie with Daniel Day-Lewis on Choate (or Hog) Island had its challenges, including transporting people and animals back and forth, and keeping modern watercraft out of the background for this film set in the late 1600s.
  • The grasses that stick out of the estuary play a key role in keeping the water clean, making for good quality shellfish.

Humans (not on our boat) and animals put on a show that day, too.  One fisherman hauled in a sizeable fish and mugged with it for us to see. Ospreys were everywhere, and we got to see one snagging a stick and bringing it back to fill out its nest.

Overall, we found the 90-minute traveling time just right.

essex river cruise

Agassiz Rock trail

Following our cruise, we got off of our butts and went for a short hike at Agassiz Rock, a Trustees of the Reservations trail we’d noticed on the way up.

This property consisted of 4 color-coded and well marked trails, with the highlights being 2 big boulders. While the second boulder was bigger than the first, the first was more in the open, so more impressive. The hike included 2 loops and 2 out-and-back trails, which included just enough elevation to keep things interesting. 

Agassiz Rock Essex

Agassiz Rock

 

Halibut Point State Park

Next stop, not getting quite enough exercise at Agassiz Rock, was Halibut Point State Park in Rockport. We’ve been here numerous times, but it was just 20 minutes away, so why not check it out.

The parking lot and entrance to the park is undergoing a major renovation, which at first almost spooked us. As it turned out there was plenty of parking, and plenty of company, many of whom seem to park there as a way to get down to a rocky oceanfront area.

We took a trot around the quarry and checked out the lighthouse, before seeking a dinner spot.

halibut point quarry

halibut point quarry

halibut point lighthouse

We got shut out at our first dining destination back in Essex…a big party had just arrived and they weren’t serving the rest of us lonelies for another half hour or something. So we moseyed over to JT Farnhams for seafood with a view.

The fried clams were nothing special, but the spicy scallop chowder was a winner, as were the marshy waterfront picnic tables.

dinner view


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Filed Under: Beyond Natick, Outdoors

Natick student wins honors at juried art exhibition

May 28, 2021 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Natick High School’s Rebecca Riley took home an Honorable Mention for her entry in Page Waterman Gallery’s 5th annual juried exhibition, NEXT UP!.

Riley’s charcoal on paper work in the Painting, Drawing & Printmaking category, “My Personal ATM,” was one of 138 art submissions across the entire show.

Natick HS, Page Waterman

Natick entrants have this year really upped their game in the prestigious exhibition. Three other NHS artists entered—Rabkwan Chaimattayompol; Shanna Deng; and Tia Perkins. (See their entries here.)

Congratulations to all the entrants on their beautiful and thought-provoking works.

More here on the show including a list of winners in its entirety, and juror bios.

Filed Under: Art, Beyond Natick, Education

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