Prudential Center from Dorchester Heights

Prudential Center from Dorchester Heights, originally uploaded by southiejason.

After work, I brought my camera and Rosie up to Dorchester Heights for an efficient bathroom break (for her), doggie play hour (for her), and some pics of the city at sunset (for me).

Easier said than done.

Technically, dogs are not allowed off leash at Dorchester Heights. The area is a National Park, and rangers often patrol the grounds passing out warnings and fines.

That does not seem to dissuade the locals all the time.

Yesterday, for example, there must have been 15 dogs running around. It's an area offset from the street, and if the dogs remain in one clump, nobody seems to wander off.

That is, except for Rosie yesterday.

Usually, she's great there. Other dogs keep her focused, and she's always checking for where I am, staying by my side more often that running into the doggie fray.

I took her off leash and attempted to take some pics of the city at sunset. The views from Dorchester Heights are terrific. With one eye on Rosie and the other through my view finder, I took this picture of the Prudential Center, looking toward the northwest.

Then I watched Rosie wander off. She jogged down toward the north-facing railing, ignoring my stern calls of her name, and then proceeded eastward, around the bend, and down the stairs to the street.

Lovely.

Luckily another dog owner was walking up at the time, and Rosie naturally stopped to sniff the dog. He grabbed her collar and I leashed her.

Every other time at Dorchester Heights has not been an issue. I'm still a bit peeved that she blatantly ignored me, yelling her name, treat in hand, not even turning to find me.

We walked home quickly on a very short leash and she was punished by having to sit on her rug without moving. It's the same rug that she peed on a few times after she moved in. The final time she peed on it was in December, two hours after a walk. I forced to lie next to her pee for an hour. That was the final pee accident in the house.

When she followed me into the kitchen twice, she heard yelling that she's not used to, and has heard just two other times, one being the aforementioned rug peeing.

I went to the gym, and upon my return - enough time had passed that we were once again friends.

Copley Square Buildings

Copley Square Buildings, originally uploaded by southiejason.

As I often do when I'm reaching for a blog topic, I turned to my Flickr account.

It occurred to me that while I posted the Boston Skyline at Night photo a few weeks ago, I neglected to link to this one, another one of my favorites from July 30th.
Seeing the Hood blimp itself isn't THAT big of a deal. But seeing it positioned aloft at sunset between two of the main skyline landmarks of Copley Square - now that's memorable.

I wish the colors of the backdrop were a bit more stunning than the grey / pink contrast. Nonetheless, I think this is an interesting view of something that many Bostonians see daily.

Best corn thus far

I headed to my eye doctor earlier to get a pair of glasses repaired, but my real reason for the journey (besides having to move my car from our back-alley parking spot and my sheer laziness to climb all the way up 4 flights of stairs only to return back down soon thereafter for lunch) was finding yet another reason to make my way to Copley Square this afternoon (it's Tuesday = Farmer's Market day).

Today seemed to be tomato and sunflower day, because there were many vendors with TONS of those products. When you're used to shopping at Shaw's or Stop & Shop, where the produce section is remarkably the same year 'round (less some peaches in the summer and apple cider in the fall), seeing an overabundance of a particular type of produce is proof positive about what is currently ripe and in season.

I bought some raspberries, ground coffee, and corn (I already had some tomatoes) - all three of which I sampled when I came home, and all three of which were very very good. The corn was so sweet and succulent - absolutely my favorite of the season thus far, and the coffee smelled delicious in the car, that I brewed a pot this evening to have with dinner.

The best part is that I didn't even drop my eyeglasses off for repair, but rather scheduled an eye appointment for Thursday, in case my prescription changed and I need an adjustment in the lenses too. I should have scheduled it for Friday because it's Farmer's Market day at Copley again!