Category Archives: Friends and Family

CHIQUITO Y SUS ANECDOTAS

CHIQUITO Y SUS ANECDOTAS by Guest Blogger Norma Yvonne Moreira de Feldman Nuestro amado y querido Chiquito Feldman Moreira falleció rodeado del cariño y atención de su padre, mientras su madre estaba en Nueva YorK visitando a sus tios y … Continue reading

Posted in dowbrigadeStories, Friends and Family, Newton | 1 Comment

Santa Norma Blesses Us All

This Christmas, Norma Moreira and her husband are sharing their home with 45 wise men. Moreira, who immigrated to the United States from Ecuador in 1996, has been acquiring Nativity scenes for the past two decades. With her collection now … Continue reading

Posted in Blogging, Ecuador, Friends and Family, Latin America, Media News | 5 Comments

Bumpkin Country

The Dowbrigade uses an icebreaking exercise with groups of recently arrived students in which one of the categories for discussion is “One thing you really want to do before you leave Boston”. When our turn came we always list visiting … Continue reading

Posted in Boston, ESL Links, Friends and Family | 2 Comments

Mercy Killing

The call came in on Sunday morning, interrupting the time honored ritual of newspapers, coffee and pastries in bed. The unfamiliar female voice asked in halting, heavily accented English, “Is you Michol?” It turned out to be a friend of … Continue reading

Posted in Friends and Family, Humor, Latin America | 1 Comment

Lilac Tuesday and Artificial Intelligence

Every May, without fail, the Dowbrigade drifts into a fragrant nostalgic reverie when the lilacs come into bloom. We grew up in upstate New York, near Rochester’s Highland Park, which together with the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, claim to … Continue reading

Posted in Friends and Family, Prose Screeds | 3 Comments

Toilet Museum Moving to Watertown

WATERTOWN – The newest addition to Pleasant Street certainly doesn’t stink. What was once a tourist attraction in Worcester is now heading through the pipelines to Watertown. The American Sanitary Plumbing Museum, aka “the toilet museum,” is moving to the … Continue reading

Posted in business, Friends and Family, Watertown | 13 Comments

From the Eruption Zone

Boy, have we ever gotten behind in our postings. But, thats what vacations are for, we guess. Currently in Baños, Ecuador, nested in the skirts of Mt. Tunguragua, an active vocano which is currently acting up; booming and smoking and … Continue reading

Posted in Ecuador, Friends and Family, South America | Comments Off on From the Eruption Zone

Scary scary costumes

Can you spot the real Dowbrigade? On Halloween (which would have been game 7 of the World Series that wasn’t) we were confronted, at the ungodly hour of 9 AM, by an apparition that would curdle the hair of any … Continue reading

Posted in Education, ESL Links, Friends and Family | 3 Comments

Accidents Happen

As if we weren’t worried enough about our personal security, what with radioactive waste and deadly pathogens in the vicinity (see previous post), as we went to park at our local sports bar for lunch, right around the corner from  … Continue reading

Posted in Friends and Family | 2 Comments

Dowbrigade Living on Radioactive Waste

Several large properties in the East End of Watertown, including a nearly 12-acre swath of land at Greenough Boulevard and Arsenal Street that was once used to burn depleted uranium from a Watertown Arsenal nuclear reactor, are undergoing close scrutiny … Continue reading

Posted in Friends and Family, Prose Screeds, Serious News | 6 Comments

Shoulder Shopping

The Dowbrigade’s local supermarket has been undergoing a major makeover, and it was as if, had we been a pre-super hunter gatherer, the bison herd had suddenly disappeared. Despite completely reoutfitting and reorganizing the entire store, they managed to stay … Continue reading

Posted in Friends and Family, Humor | 2 Comments

Comic of the Day

This has become a regular point of contention between the Dowbrigade and his main feline spiritual advisor, Chiqui. Rather than walk on our face (always a risky proposition) Chiqui sits calmly and prudently a few inches to one side and … Continue reading

Posted in Blogging, Comics, Friends and Family | 4 Comments