Our home and 'hood


We are living in Brookline, which is technically a different town from the city of Boston. With the growth of Boston, it is now completely surrounded by suburbs of Boston but it still has its own mayor and public services like the Brookline police and libraries.  Brookline was first settled by European colonists in the 17th century. The borders of the town are two brooks, which explains the name! It's now an affluent suburb, with good schools and known for its safety and plentiful green space. 

In the 1841 edition of the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening, Andrew Jackson Downing described the area this way:

The whole of this neighborhood of Brookline is a kind of landscape garden, and there is nothing in America of the sort, so inexpressibly charming as the lanes which lead from one cottage, or villa, to another. No animals are allowed to run at large, and the open gates, with tempting vistas and glimpses under the pendent boughs, give it quite an Arcadian air of rural freedom and enjoyment. These lanes are clothed with a profusion of trees and wild shrubbery, often almost to the carriage tracks, and curve and wind about, in a manner quite bewildering to the stranger who attempts to thread them alone; and there are more hints here for the lover of the picturesque in lanes than we ever saw assembled together in so small a compass.

Since then, a lot has obviously changed but the verdant and English country garden feel remains. We chose this neighborhood for the schools and proximity to my work. The big lakes in the area will freeze over in winter, and we look forward to trying out ice-skating and sledding which happens in the nearby park. 

Here are some pics. This is our street, we have a big field with a running track (can you believe my luck!) and a park opposite our house. The kids have spent hours in the water fountains, cooling off in the hot and humid weather. They have also enjoyed meeting the neighbourhood dogs (and I think everyone hears the same story from them about their dogs that they are missing at home). We've enjoyed being able to send them out without concerns about safety, and being able to keep an eye on them from the window in our study or lounge. 

School is a 1km walk and it will be nice that their friends will all live nearby. Brookline is a small place, but it has 9 elementary schools because the idea was that every kid should be able to walk to school. There is only one big high school and a school bus system for that. 

We have joined the public library and made friends with the Brookline police officer who lives next door:-) We have an 85 granny living downstairs from us in the house. We have received an invitation to a neighbourhood street party (by a 70+yr neighbour), looking forward to it!















Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 10, 2021 at 7:37 PM

    It sounds like such a beautiful city. A neighbourhood street party. Devine. X

    ReplyDelete
  2. BronwynAugust 13, 2021 at 7:07 AM

    Enjoy the party with the old people ha ha 😂

    ReplyDelete

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