2025 Life Logs, Day 266: Shadow Update and Field Trip to South Boston
Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2025
Weather: Partly Sunny to Cloudy, Warmer; High Temp 71, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Today’s Newcomers/Encore field trip to the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in South Boston was great.
Moakley became known as “common Joe” because he fought for the common man as a US representative from Massachusetts from 1973 until his death in 2001. He was responsible for securing funding for Boston’s Big Dig project and the federal courthouse was part of that project. So, Congress named the building for him. It is an architecturally rich building with the side facing the Boston Harbor a wall of glass.
We were given a tour by a private group called Discovering Justice and US Justice Richard Stearns invited us into his chamber to talk with us about the clean up of the Boston Harbor.
After having lunch in the federal courthouse café, we returned to Castle Island via Uber. We parked our cars near the fort on the island where parking is free and Ubered to and from the courthouse. It was a stress-free and cheap way to visit Boston. But those of us in the car I was in had a bit of stress as we drove out to the island. There was an Ice raid taking place right in front of us, so we pulled over to document and call LUCE to inform them of the incident. We were in front of Boston College High School and the young man they handcuffed and put into the ICE vehicle looked like a student. As we sat there documenting what was happening, suddenly the young man was invited to get back out of the car and was set free. All good, but still stressful to watch.
A Boston-famous ice cream establishment, Sullivan’s, is right next to Castle Island Fort Independence. So, upon our return, we were free to explore the grounds surrounding the fort and have an ice cream cone to celebrate a good day. Today’s granite fort began in 1634 as an earthwork and 2 platforms with 3 cannons serving as the sea defense of early Boston. It has gone through 7 rebuilds from wood to brick to granite and was named Fort Independence in 1799 by President John Adams.
I was able to leave Shadow at home and go on the trip today as my neighbor, Andy, came over to check on him a couple of times during the day. Since the doctor prescribed rest and relaxation for Shadow, a quiet day alone was just what the doctor ordered. He seems a little more responsive today, but not much of a change from yesterday.
