The first clue I get that morning has broken is the splash of water on the dock. It's a ripple from a water taxi beginning it daily passage. Soon the workers, diners and museumgoers will take to the streets. But for now, as I sit here on this bench, it is still my Fort Point. When I close my eyes, I can sometimes pretend I am back on Cape Cod. The sea air hits my nose and mouth, hoisted sails ping against their masts and gull cry as they take to the air. These elements are perhaps some of the reason I have taken so forcefully to my new neighborhood. Almost 20 years ago, returning from a three-year stint in Albania, I spent the night with a friend on Summer Street. Then the neighborhood was a backwater at best. Now it's on everybody's radar. Walking to my job in the financial district, dressed as they say for success, people in all sorts of ensembles pass me going the other direction. They sport colorful shorts, maxi dresses, strappy sandals … all of the latest trends that I could not dream of wearing to my office. They are on their way to jobs in Fort Point’s start-ups. They are the hipsters. The Bill Gates in waiting. The area has been dubbed the innovation district, and everybody wants a part of it. Celebrity chefs have lined up to get a piece of the action. And now people from all over are drawn to the neighborhood to sample the fares. I love being a part of this place. I love shedding my heels and returning to my brick-walled loft with its high ceilings and large factory windows. After living for so long off the grid, people now want to come to my neighborhood to hang out. I take my proverbial hat off to the chefs here that have served me up some of the best meals I have had anywhere, not just in Boston, but in the world. More on these delights in a future blog. The first night I moved in, I went across the street to the Blue Dragon. It was to be the first of many visits I made to this restaurant, a gastropub owned by Ming Tsai. I ordered the teriyaki bison mini burgers with smoked gouda and caramelized onions. I knew with the first bite I was hooked. The place has become my go-to for late night bites, drinks and even take-out. While I’ll never be a hipster artist or tech wiz that many of these people are, I feed off their energy and innovation. Every time I walke under the Summer Street bridge, whose underside had been strewn with an undulating light installation called starry night, I am amazed at how simple artistry can add to the surroundings. I love that the Fort Point Neighborhood Association has started a vine project to grow plants and flowers along the fences that encase the parking lots that still dot the area. When I sit on that bench at the Fort Point Channel and look out across the city, I am happy that I -- somehow on a whim -- chose this neighborhood to be my home. Maybe this place will be my base only for a while, but thus far it has proven to be a surprisingly happy while.
My snowy urban landscape.
