Snow again today and tomorrow, but it may not stick.

[No Elephants]

I know it would be wrong to be grateful for global warming. But, when you live in New England, it's tempting.

In 1909, a blizzard in Washington, D.C. forced the inaugural for Taft to be held indoors. If it was that cold and snowy in D.C., I shudder to think what Boston was like that winter.

I moved into my Boston neighborhood after gentrification, aka yuppification. But, I have heard ninety year old women who were born here speak to each other of the weather--much colder in winter, spring and fall. (They don't seem to say much about summer.) The degree of change (no pun intended) in their lifetime alone ia impressive.

Then again, they also speak of their husbands earning a living by fishing off piers in Boston and also of their swimming in Boston harbor when they were teens. Even after a massive, costly water purification program, neither has been done here in many, many years by anyone without a death wish.) .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8h2gVcDQ9E The Standells. Love That Dirty Water. (Boston, you're my home.)

[Enthusiast]

1. Who could forget that tune.

I used to have Gibson just like the one in the video.

Pretty incredible that they could make a living from pier fishing. That was some pretty amazing fishing.

Being a fisherman I frequently ponder what fishing was like in North America in ancient times. Just the effects of the clean water act have been nothing short of amazing on the still polluted Ohio River and Lake Erie. Especially considering that spawning runs are disrupted now due to the presence of dams all along the Ohio River and tributaries. Sometimes Ohio River fishing for Walleye and Sauger is simply incredible.

[No Elephants]

2. And it was not just one fisherman who made a living at it, either. From the few

remaining widows, I gather many of the men in the neighborhood made a living fishing off the piers in downtown Boston.

There are not many of the widows left, but almost all of them have told me that they never buy fish, having been spoiled because their husband were fishermen and they got used to eat fish that had been caught within minutes of cleaning and cooking.

Many of the fishermen, or their parents, came from Sicily, especially a village called Sciacca.

A priest still blesses the harbor waters every August, and people throw flowers on the waters for some reason, so the fish will be plentiful for the fishers. It hasn't done much good in a long time. But, the fisherman are all gone anyway. Only a very few of their widows remain. The ritual is now done solely out of tradition and sentiment. But I like it.

The 100th anniversary of the Fishermens' Feast in Boston was 2010. In Sicily, it's probably been done for centuries.

Gloucester, on Boston's north shore, also has an annual blessing of the waters, but Gloucester still has a lively fishing industry, as you probably know if you saw the movie The Perfect Storm. Gloucester fishing families tend to be Portuguese American, though.

[Enthusiast]

3. Thanks for your commentary.

Good stuff, young lady.

[No Elephants]

4. Awww thanks. And you're welcome.