It is important to preserve scenes such as this, not only here but across Massachusetts and indeed across the country and the world. This is not only a scene, but an interconnected compendium of living habitats, the importance of which we have only recently come to recognize.
In the interest of preserving this and other habitats, for a number of years I
have been a contributing member of The
Massachusetts Audubon Society, The
Trustees of Reservations, and
The Nature Conservancy. I encourage you to look at these web sites and see
the benefits of supporting these organizations.
Now, a question: Why do they call these things HOME pages?
I don't live here. All I do here is create a
stage set, within which I perform some sort of theater. Perhaps the idea of a
home page is to give people that nice warm feeling that they actually have a
home in the midst of this virtual world known as the WEB. But is it
perhaps just a web of deception? Are we all deceiving ourselves? While you
ponder that question, let us move on to other topics...
Do you like music and sound?
I do! I am an amateur (and erratic) musician, with some training and facility on the guitar.
I have four guitars - a steel string flat top, a classical, a solid body electric and a Dobro.
"But what..." you ask, "...is a Dobro?"
I'm glad you asked. It is probably the best known of several
brand names applied to a special type of guitar that first appeared back in the early part of the 20th
century, distinguished by its aluminum cone resonator. Also called "resonator" guitars, the resonator is
made of aluminum about the same thickness as a soda can and shaped like a loudspeaker cone. The resonator
sits behind a bright chrome steel faceplate with a stylized pattern of cutouts to allow the resonator
to project sound outward. It has a distinctive sound, and is popular both in bluegrass (played lap
style1) and in blues (played bottleneck style2).
1. Lap style is with the guitar body held horizontally, the strings facing up. The strings are
typically raised above the frets with a nut extender, the nut being the point where the strings
sit in slots right below the tuning pegs. The strings are then "fretted" by means of a heavy steel
bar that is held in the hand and moved around on the strings, acting as a single movable fret.
2. Bottleneck style is with the guitar held in the usual manner, but with a heavy cylinder placed
over the little finger of the fretting hand. The other three fingers are free to fret the strings
in the usual way, with the little finger providing a movable fret. The cylinder can be of metal
or glass, such as the neck of a liquor bottle cut off, hence "bottleneck".
If my talking about musical instruments, music, and sound is interesting for you,
click here to see my music and sound page.
Are you interested in transport?
I am. It is a good thing, transport. It allows you to get from one place to another place,
assuming you think this can be a good thing. Most of us (in this transport crazy culture)
do think this.
So how do I do it? Besides walking, biking, and kayaking, I sometimes drive
a 1994 BMW 325i, a very nice car in several ways, but since my wife adores the
car so, I don't protest her using it most of the time. I also drive a 1999 Subaru Legacy
Outback wagon, also a very nice car in several, if different, ways.
I have a languishing vision of putting a
1962 Austin-Healey 3000 Mk. II
back on the road, but significant lifestyle changes have made this
a very comatose project. After spending an enormous amount of time and effort (and
a fair amount of money), I have grave doubts about the outcome. It's a BT7 (so-called
4 seater), with a hard top, a grill from a Mk. I or 100-6, plenty of bondo, and
two 2 inch SU carbs, instead of three 1.5 inch carbs as originally fitted. The
2 large carbs have greater volume than the 3 small carbs, but this may have the
effect of reducing intake velocity.
These wonderful cars (like any early
British sports car) did not reward the less than dedicated owner,
so, sadly, many have been transmogrified into mounds of iron oxide. Mine was
well on its way toward this ignoble fate, but the creative lunatic (yours truly)
can perform effective (if crude) remedial actions. The well-financed purist would
scoff at my pop rivets. "Scoff, scoff!", they would scoff, "You are turning this
beauty into a perverted rattletrap!". And I would laugh at them, saying "Ha! Ha!
I care not for your scoffing! I shall pop rivet my way to paradise!"
Speaking of kayaks...
Yes, kayaks. Wonderful boats. One of the best boats in which to follow
the sage advice of the Water Rat from the Wind in the Willows:
"There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so worth doing as simply
messing about in boats."
Truer words were never spoken (or in this case, written)...
Here is a picture of my kayak:
This is a Sea Kayak, for leisurely or moderate or intense paddling in calm or
slightly rolling or highly rolling waters, which may be a river, a lake, or the
sea if calm, or most likely the sea if rolling. These are not so good for
whitewater river rapids, because they track better than they turn, unlike whitewater
kayaks, which turn better than they track. This is explained partly through length: A
sea kayak tends to be very long, while a whitewater kayak tends to be quite short.
The length and rotational inertia of a sea kayak are liabilities in the tight turns and
dips of river rapids, but blessings in the rolling waves of open water.
This kayak, called the Caribou and manufactured by
Current Designs of Canada,
is an unusual design for a sea kayak. It has very hard chines, which means there
is an abrupt transition from the side of the hull to the bottom. Notice the sharp
line between the brightly lit side and the bottom in shadow. Most sea kayaks have
softer chines, meaning a more rounded hull. The Caribou also has no rudder, a common
feature on sea kayaks. The Caribou is modeled very closely on a Greenland Inuit design,
but has a few modifications to make it more suitable for modern recreational use.
There is perhaps no better way than sea kayaking to be so intimate with the sea while
floating on it. It is a visceral experience, and a seductive one.
The picture above is from an unknown source, but I want to give credit to the unknown
photographer; it's a wonderful picture.
Now I want to talk about Massachusetts and a few of its towns.
Massachusetts is a state on the east coast of the
northeastern United States. The northeast corner of the US, comprising
the five states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New
Hampshire, and Maine is fondly known as "New England", since this is where
settlers from England, back in the early 17th century, came to build a
new life for themselves and eventually destroy the lives and culture of the natives.
But I digress.
I live in
Fitchburg,
in north central Massachusetts. Fitchburg was an industrial boom town
about 100 years ago, and is loaded with architectural treasures from
that time. Houses were built all over the place on extremely steep terrain,
in some cases so precipitous you wonder how they stay up there.
Since that time, due to changing economic conditions and some
incomprehensible decisions by government officials (such as stopping passenger rail service
for a number of years and razing an architecturally priceless railroad station),
Fitchburg began to suffer a period of decline. Too many
of the architectural treasures have been badly abused, neglected, burned, or
torn down. However, a significant number of buildings survive intact, and a
number have been rescued from the edge of doom and restored. Passenger rail was
resurrected, and a new (if architecturally uninspired) intermodal transportation
building was
built on the site of the old station. In addition to the
wealth of classic old buildings, Fitchburg has a wonderful
art museum,
a state college, and a
beautiful town park.
Fitchburg is directly north of the similarly sized city of
Leominster,
historical home of John Chapman, better known as
Johnny Appleseed because he was an arborist with a passion for apple trees.
Fitchburg is also the terminus of the northwest branch of the
MBTA commuter rail line.
This train will take you ultimately to North Station in
Boston or anywhere along
the way, including Porter Square in
Cambridge.
Fitchburg resides along the Nashua River,
which runs northeast to Nashua, New Hampshire and the Merrimack River,
which runs out to the Atlantic Ocean at
Newburyport,
a quaint and lovely old seaport town.
Okay, now for something completely different...
Below are links to subpages which contain pictures with
captions. Each one of these has a link below the picture to bring you back here.
One of these subpages is not what it purports to be - can you guess which one?
Here is the shingle style Victorian
I bought, which I share with my lovely wife, Svetlana, who is from a very distant land. A land so distant if it were any farther away it would be closer. Therein lies another tale...
Let me show you how I look...
Let me show you Svetlana and me in a
Greek restaurant in Vienna, Austria...
Let me show you Svetlana standing in
front of a confectionery in Vienna, Austria...
Thanks for visiting!
Bradford H. Kellogg
bradfordkellogg@gmail.com
So how do I do it? Besides walking, biking, and kayaking, I sometimes drive a 1994 BMW 325i, a very nice car in several ways, but since my wife adores the car so, I don't protest her using it most of the time. I also drive a 1999 Subaru Legacy Outback wagon, also a very nice car in several, if different, ways.
I have a languishing vision of putting a 1962 Austin-Healey 3000 Mk. II back on the road, but significant lifestyle changes have made this a very comatose project. After spending an enormous amount of time and effort (and a fair amount of money), I have grave doubts about the outcome. It's a BT7 (so-called 4 seater), with a hard top, a grill from a Mk. I or 100-6, plenty of bondo, and two 2 inch SU carbs, instead of three 1.5 inch carbs as originally fitted. The 2 large carbs have greater volume than the 3 small carbs, but this may have the effect of reducing intake velocity.
These wonderful cars (like any early British sports car) did not reward the less than dedicated owner, so, sadly, many have been transmogrified into mounds of iron oxide. Mine was well on its way toward this ignoble fate, but the creative lunatic (yours truly) can perform effective (if crude) remedial actions. The well-financed purist would scoff at my pop rivets. "Scoff, scoff!", they would scoff, "You are turning this beauty into a perverted rattletrap!". And I would laugh at them, saying "Ha! Ha! I care not for your scoffing! I shall pop rivet my way to paradise!"
"There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so worth doing as simply messing about in boats."
I live in
Fitchburg,
in north central Massachusetts. Fitchburg was an industrial boom town
about 100 years ago, and is loaded with architectural treasures from
that time. Houses were built all over the place on extremely steep terrain,
in some cases so precipitous you wonder how they stay up there.
Since that time, due to changing economic conditions and some
incomprehensible decisions by government officials (such as stopping passenger rail service
for a number of years and razing an architecturally priceless railroad station),
Fitchburg began to suffer a period of decline. Too many
of the architectural treasures have been badly abused, neglected, burned, or
torn down. However, a significant number of buildings survive intact, and a
number have been rescued from the edge of doom and restored. Passenger rail was
resurrected, and a new (if architecturally uninspired) intermodal transportation
building was
built on the site of the old station. In addition to the
wealth of classic old buildings, Fitchburg has a wonderful
art museum,
a state college, and a
beautiful town park.
Fitchburg is directly north of the similarly sized city of
Leominster,
historical home of John Chapman, better known as
Johnny Appleseed because he was an arborist with a passion for apple trees.
Fitchburg is also the terminus of the northwest branch of the
MBTA commuter rail line.
This train will take you ultimately to North Station in
Boston or anywhere along
the way, including Porter Square in
Cambridge.
Fitchburg resides along the Nashua River,
which runs northeast to Nashua, New Hampshire and the Merrimack River,
which runs out to the Atlantic Ocean at
Newburyport,
a quaint and lovely old seaport town.
Below are links to subpages which contain pictures with
captions. Each one of these has a link below the picture to bring you back here.
One of these subpages is not what it purports to be - can you guess which one?
Okay, now for something completely different...
Here is the shingle style Victorian
I bought, which I share with my lovely wife, Svetlana, who is from a very distant land. A land so distant if it were any farther away it would be closer. Therein lies another tale...
Let me show you how I look...
Let me show you Svetlana and me in a
Greek restaurant in Vienna, Austria...
Let me show you Svetlana standing in
front of a confectionery in Vienna, Austria...
Thanks for visiting!
Bradford H. Kellogg
bradfordkellogg@gmail.com