Lotta Dumb Animals, and Other Thoughts on a Walk
I went on an epic stroll with my friend Thom last night. He's moving to Portland, Maine next weekend, so we met for a bon voyage beer. Since he's a North Ender and I'm an East- (soon to be West-) Fenser, we decided to meet in the middle, on the storied steps of the Boston Public Library in Copley Square.
(I had mixed motives for meeting him there. I had wanted to get to the postcard exhibition before the library closed at five, but a trip to the gym and an epic nap put the kibosh on that.)
As I made my way down a busy Newbury Street, Thom texted to tell me he was "sitting next to the Artist, under Titian," and I knew just where to find him. When I arrived, I noticed the Artist has started to flake. She got a coat of bronzer a couple of years ago to cover over her weathered green pallor (which I personally preferred)...
I suspect someone's been picking at her. People don't like their art too pretty these days.
The weather lately has been not to be believed, so a stroll was definitely in order. I wanted to walk along the Esplanade and take Thom to the Wish Fulfilling Bench that looks out over the gondola rank, so that he could take care of any last-minute wishes before moving on to the next exciting chapter of his life.
I'm not sure why the quotes are there — I hope it's not for cruel ironic effect — but it does give the impression that outcomes are not guaranteed. Still, I'm a big fan of the "Clap if You Want Tinkerbell to Live" Principle — the mind is powerfully susceptible to suggestion, and I did not let on to Thom that I had any doubts about the wish-fulfilling powers of the bench. Especially since all you have to do, apparently, is sit there. You don't even have to toss a coin into a fountain, or anything. It's almost too good to be true, innit?
We ambled on from there, to the Lotta Fountain. A hidden little gem along the Esplanade, it was built in the late 1930s in memory of entertainer and philanthropist Lotta Crabtree, founder of the Lotta Dumb Animal Fund, according to a provision in her will to erect a drinking fountain in Boston for “men, horses, birds, and dogs.”
As you can see, it's now a bit off-the-beaten path and neglected. The dog on the plinth (modeled after sculptor Katherine Lane Weems') is missing part of its ear, and the cat-faced spout at the base is missing half its face! Talk about a dumb animal!
Weems is most certainly spinning in her grave, never mind Lotta. She had carved out quite a niche as an animal sculptor. She was responsible for the facade of the Harvard University Biological Lab, with its panoply of animals, and the two ponderous Rhinos on the front steps, and the dolphins at the New England Aquarium, too.
You can donate to the campaign to refurbish the Lotta Fountain, so that future generations of men and women, birds, and dogs (and maybe even horses — who knows what the future will bring?) can drink from it, here.
I hadn't been on the Esplanade in a while — it used to be on my ride home. I had almost forgotten how nice it is to share a summer stroll along the Charles with a friend.
Speaking of summer strolls, I noticed on my walk the other morning that the South End Knitters have replaced the thingamabobs on the whatsits at the West Newton Street entrance to the South End Corridor Park...
A busy little city, Boston is.
We ambled on from there, to the Lotta Fountain. A hidden little gem along the Esplanade, it was built in the late 1930s in memory of entertainer and philanthropist Lotta Crabtree, founder of the Lotta Dumb Animal Fund, according to a provision in her will to erect a drinking fountain in Boston for “men, horses, birds, and dogs.”
As you can see, it's now a bit off-the-beaten path and neglected. The dog on the plinth (modeled after sculptor Katherine Lane Weems') is missing part of its ear, and the cat-faced spout at the base is missing half its face! Talk about a dumb animal!
Weems is most certainly spinning in her grave, never mind Lotta. She had carved out quite a niche as an animal sculptor. She was responsible for the facade of the Harvard University Biological Lab, with its panoply of animals, and the two ponderous Rhinos on the front steps, and the dolphins at the New England Aquarium, too.
You can donate to the campaign to refurbish the Lotta Fountain, so that future generations of men and women, birds, and dogs (and maybe even horses — who knows what the future will bring?) can drink from it, here.
I hadn't been on the Esplanade in a while — it used to be on my ride home. I had almost forgotten how nice it is to share a summer stroll along the Charles with a friend.
Speaking of summer strolls, I noticed on my walk the other morning that the South End Knitters have replaced the thingamabobs on the whatsits at the West Newton Street entrance to the South End Corridor Park...
A busy little city, Boston is.
Just want to make sure you see this at the Stranger - Savage responds to you personally!
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/08/20/the-queer-youth-that-you-know-are-total-morons
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Darn yarny types are knittering the city. Must be conspiring with the bicycley types to turn this into a humany type of city.
I may have seen you and your friend if you were ambling up the ramp from the Esplanade to the Harvard Bridge last night when I went by. I was biking from downtown to JP via the Emerald Necklace. Much longer ride than the Southwest Corridor but a ride of amazing urban forested beauty.
Last weekend I purchase a folding bike so that I can commute via the T in the morning and then bike home in the evening (though come winter I may reverse that course).
Is biking as a form of transportation growing in Boston? Amazes me how many bicyclists I see at least in the greener areas of the city. I wonder whether the more asphalt-concrete sections of the city are as heavily traversed by bikes as the greener parts?
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