Still Riding, Still Dreaming

Still Riding, Still Dreaming

I took a ride on Monday this week, this time in my car, to pick up supplies at Volante Farms in Needham for this year’s sukkah. Sukkot, the Jewish harvest festival, begins Sunday night, and my family always assembles a sukkah on our back deck. Ancient Israelite...

A Personal Tour de Newton

Once a year Bike Newton organizes the Tour de Newton, a volunteer-led bicycle journey across the Garden City. Hundreds of residents of all ages participate enthusiastically- a great event! Today I decided to take a more limited tour on my own. On Sunday I had returned...

Once Upon a Time in Junior Honors English

It is only natural that education evolve over time. Today’s honors course, for example, may resemble that of times past hardly at all. Recently, I learned that all high school English classes in Newton meet but three times a week and that teachers can assign...
The Garden City Cup Returns

The Garden City Cup Returns

High school tennis in the Garden City is a big deal. The season runs from the third Monday in March through at least the first week of June, and sometimes longer. Each high school has a boys’ and a girls’ team, with two coaches and up to twenty-five...
Making Electric Cars Practical

Making Electric Cars Practical

In 2015 I purchased an electric vehicle, a BMW i3. It was not a hybrid, but it had a range extender, a small gas motor, that kicked in to charge a tapped-out battery and extend the range by about 50 miles. The combined range of the i3  is about 150 miles in the...

First World Problems

As I pedaled around town yesterday morning, my half-hour route carrying me through parts of Waban, the Highlands, and Newton Centre, I passed seven porta-potties. Two of them stood in front of houses undergoing modest renovations. The other five fronted teardowns in...
Housing in Newton

Housing in Newton

Winter in Cold Spring Park Moving into Newton these days is an expensive proposition.  A recent real estate mailing said the following:  2021 sales data is in. The average single-family home in Newton sold for $1.51M in 2021, up 14.4% from the prior year. Ouch! These...

A Biker’s Winter Odyssey

In recent years I have decided to be a very visible cyclist on Newton’s streets. After all, my cohort and I, biking enthusiasts in general and members of Bike Newton in particular, have been asking much of city government. If we demand safer roads and more bike lanes,...
Cold Spring Update

Cold Spring Update

            by Alan Nogee, President of Friends of Cold Spring Park Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! Friends of Cold Spring Park is grateful for all the community support this year. Thanks to the generosity of park neighbors and visitors from all over Newton, we...

Riviera Houses

In the last few years, as I tool around Newton on my bike, I have noticed a proliferation of new houses, usually built to replace tear-downs, with flat roofs and with large glass panels or sliding doors on the side walls. My wife and I call them Riviera or St. Tropez...

Those Crazy High School Hours

Do you recall your old high school schedule? When did you arrive, and when did classes end? According to its blog, here is the Newton South High School schedule for this academic year: Classes start at 9 AM and end at 3:45. The shift to later hours came from...