Harvard Yard
9:00am – 58°. Black coffee and a croissant in Beacon Hill. The gold dome of the State House is across the street. Lots of bald men in suits walking by.
9:30am – 58°. Walked over the Charles River on the Longfellow Bridge. The river is lined with red and orange trees. And if it couldn’t get any more New England, crews are rowing. The Red Line train rumbles by.
10:30am – 63°. Just walked through MIT and Cambridge to the hallowed grounds of Harvard Yard. The elms are lemon and pumpkin-colored … about as picturesque as a college campus can be in October.
11:30am – 65°. Visited a 143-year-old tobacco shop at Harvard. Old pigskins from Harvard-Yale games line the walls, and up a small staircase is a small balcony with chessboards for rent (two dollars per hour). I fell in love with this place.
Leavitt & Peirce, Est. 1883
12:00pm – 69°. Tennis & Racquet Club for a court tennis lesson.
1:15pm – 70°. Steam, shower, siesta in the locker room. Bought a new squash racket, court tennis racket, and a black T&R hat that looks quite spiffy.
2:30pm – 72°. Milkshake and burger on Newbury Street.
2:45pm – 72°. Walked up Commonwealth Avenue to the park. Smells of fallen leaves and drop-dead gorgeous.
3:00pm – 70°. Boston Public Garden. Unbelievable beauty. Sat on a green bench and people-watched:
Mothers with strollers
The sounds of children in a playground
“I Voted” stickers on everyone’s shirts
Asian woman in a duckbill hat
Giant sculpture of embraced arms
Young man in navy cords and a periwinkle sweater
Squirrels rummaging through leaves
Pigeon-toed kid in high-waisted trousers, enviable jawline
A breeze brought in smells of confectionery delights
The Embrace - Hank Willis Thomas, 2022
4:00pm – 70°. Took a nap at the Union Club. Yeah … that’s two for today. It is what it is.
5:30pm – 65°. Wrote postcards at the Union Club.
7:30pm – 59°. Put on a velvet smoking jacket and smoked my pipe … at the Union Club.
*Composed and Edited in Boston, Published in New York City at 57th & 3rd
