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A Proud Member of the Reality-Based Community
About Me :
I'm a grownup nerd living in the Boston burbs. I write computer programs for a living and plays for fun.
I'm married to a wonderful woman, and we share a nice little house with our daughter and our cats.
I'm a humanist, a technologist, an artist, and an idealist. I believe in reason, freedom, love, equality,
and democracy. (Did I mention that I'm
an idealist? I did, OK.)
I'm also a pragmatist and an empiricist. I reject ideology and dogma, especially when they conflict with
practical facts (i.e., pretty much always). I particularly hate willful ignorance, which tends to go hand-in-hand
with ideology and dogma.
Like the alignment of the planets, this blog gets updated as I have the time, inspiration, and inclination to do so.
Like the alignment of the planets, this blog gets updated as I have the time, inspiration, and inclination to do so.
Monday, November 01, 2004
Fall In New England
Even with the impending election, I had to take a few moments to enjoy a really beautiful fall day in New England.
I live in a lovely old New England mill town. Unlike a lot of towns this far out in the suburbs, my little town has an actual center to it. That's because of the mill, which has endured nearly two centuries, and provides an economic and architectural nucleus to the town. There's a lot of brick in town, and there has been a conscientious effort to maintain a certain restrained quality to the buildings, even as development has continued apace. So even though there have been concessions to commercial reality, such as the hideous McDonald's which dominates the busiest intersection, my town maintains a sort of timeless quality. It feels comfortable and easy to live in, it feels like home.
Fall is really the best season for a New England town like mine, and a gorgeous day like the one we had today is the best time to experience it. The sky was cloudless, the sun was shining, the leaves were only just past their peak color on the trees, but enough of them had fallen to provide a beautiful blanket. The air was crisp but not cold. All around my town, there was a lovely parade of colors, from the trees, from the sky, from the town and its people, in the sharp bright sunshine of fall. This is what people imagine New England to look like. Fall is the best time to be here. I really love this town.
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Even with the impending election, I had to take a few moments to enjoy a really beautiful fall day in New England.
I live in a lovely old New England mill town. Unlike a lot of towns this far out in the suburbs, my little town has an actual center to it. That's because of the mill, which has endured nearly two centuries, and provides an economic and architectural nucleus to the town. There's a lot of brick in town, and there has been a conscientious effort to maintain a certain restrained quality to the buildings, even as development has continued apace. So even though there have been concessions to commercial reality, such as the hideous McDonald's which dominates the busiest intersection, my town maintains a sort of timeless quality. It feels comfortable and easy to live in, it feels like home.
Fall is really the best season for a New England town like mine, and a gorgeous day like the one we had today is the best time to experience it. The sky was cloudless, the sun was shining, the leaves were only just past their peak color on the trees, but enough of them had fallen to provide a beautiful blanket. The air was crisp but not cold. All around my town, there was a lovely parade of colors, from the trees, from the sky, from the town and its people, in the sharp bright sunshine of fall. This is what people imagine New England to look like. Fall is the best time to be here. I really love this town.