This Is Framingham

I take my daily (I try for daily) morning walk through downtown and around Farm Pond, and it’s a way to get some exercise and see if any vacant stores have any signs of occupation or get a glimpse of nature.  Sometimes I see things like this:

or this:

and sometimes I see things like…this:

and then sometimes I find out things I wouldn’t normally find out unless I took a walk, like this:

I didn’t even know about phases I-III of Cushing Park’s improvement plan but this sign was recently posted on the walking path there.  You can see more detailed before and (what will be) after images the Parks & Recreations plan posted on the town website here.  After looking at their site, I noticed they also posted they will be completing a new playground across the street at Farm Pond.  You can see those plans here.  I’m hoping they don’t get rid of the metal snail I used to enjoy playing on but maybe the town will put it up for sale(?)  Just another thing to keep an eye on.

The Metrowest chapter of Mothers & More is collecting used purses in great condition as part of their Mothers Day Community Outreach project.   The collection box locations are at Natick and Framingham (main branch) libraries and they’re collecting through April 30th.
 
All purses donated will be distributed to A Suitable Image, Dress for Success, A Place To Turn (Natick) and Natick Service Council.  Empowering and inspiring women as they prepare for an interview that will hopefully change their life. 

For more information on Mothers and More and the Power of a Purse project click here.

I was away for a week so I hope to get some more frequent posting on here this week. ivermectin, doramectin, moxidectin cattle lungworm    I thought this was neat find.  My friend found this photo in her dad’s collection dated 1936 of the Hindenburg flying over Framingham, near the school that is now the Danforth Museum.
 

When I go down route 9 eastbound, I always see the sign for “Wicked RC” and I always wonder what it is and forget to look it up.  I finally I got around to it and asked the manager, Gus, if I could come in and take some pictures and ask him some questions and he was nice enough to say yes.
Wicked RC is remote control race car central. In addition to providing a track for racing, there is a rock course for ATV type remote controlled vehicles. They also offer repair services and have a big wall of motor parts for the fix-it-yourselfer.
They hold races on Mondays and Fridays and also host birthday parties.
The track is made with movable barriers to be able change the course for each race and you can control your car either on the ground level or from the loft type area on the second floor.

I’m not an RC racer but I like that this is something different in Framingham and it actually draws people here. Gus said they get people from NH and RI since there are very few RC racing venues and  there aren’t any this big.  For more information check out their site: http://www.wickedrcracing.com

There is an office building next door to our house that I don’t usually think much of.  It’s big and has a parking lot all around it.  For the most part it’s ugly, but harmless, on occasion the people coming out of the parking lot take a left instead of a right and go down our one-way street in the wrong direction (which is dangerous considering it’s only one of two streets for ambulances to use that are leaving the hospital) but that’s another post.  There are two entrances: the front, facing Myrtle St. and the back, facing Thurber (and Marian High School). 
I walk by the back of this building all the time and just assumed it had always been a place just to store the trash cans and for the tenant that lives above the offices to park.

I didn’t know if this building was built as an office or what but one day a very nice reader whose grandparents lived in this building wrote to me and sent me a photo of her grandmother standing outside and I was amazed by how different it looked.   It has a much more pleasant appearance as a home before converting it into a big white block of office space surrounded by a moat of pavement.

It made me realise what a crime renovation can be.  I would love to live next door the building in the second photo. 
I know people buy properties and have to make them rentable and they can do whatever they want, but I’m so curious as to what a lot of places downtown would look like if they hadn’t fallen victim to vinyl siding and the landlords cared a little more about maintaining the character of a building.
Thank you Judith for the photo! ??? ????????? ???????

*I’m noticing from the comments that I might offend people by my mention of vinyl siding.  but I just wanted to point out that it’s common when the siding is installed over wood, that decorative woodwork is often just sawed right off. ??????? ??? ?????   And I agree vinyl siding has come a long way but unfortunately, sometimes the end results take away from the building’s original style.  So it’s more than just the siding itself, but the ornamental details used in older architecture that end up getting destroyed because of that process. These are just a couple pictures I took on my walk this morning:

These buildings are across the street from my house:

I don’t know how, but from what the person who sent me this photo, the building in the background of this photo is one of the two buildings above:

Today someone stopped in at work who was looking for old pictures of the Shoppers World soldiers being built because he is part of a carpenters union volunteering their time to build replicas off the soldiers.  The town is providing the materials and workspace while these generous men are donating their skills and effort.   The town asked them to make 6 soldiers to better balance the amount of soldiers displayed throughout town during the holiday season (most soldiers are placed downtown and around the southside)
I was kindly invited to the shop to check out the progress and as you may know from reading this blog, I was a big fan of the original Shoppers World so it was a real treat to get to see this project in action.

There are two original soldiers that they’ve taken apart to investigate all the support beams and angles. ????? ???? ????? ?????? 2024   These guys are replicating every inch of the interior and exterior to make them look and hold up just like the originals.
Here are some pictures from my visit. ???? ?????
A dissected original soldier:

Four pairs of new legs

Almost completed new soldier:

Dismantled original:

Upper half of an original next to legs and feet of a new soldier

Thanks to Charlie Ryan and the members of Carpenters Local 475 for taking the time and effort to take on such a noble task.

I was taking a walk early in the morning so sorry for the bad picture, but if it were maybe 15 minutes later, you’d be able to see more clearly that the sign in the windows next to Wings says it there will be a liquor store coming soon called Southside Liquors.  I think its a decent match for being next door to a wing place and it’s nice to see something finally going to occupy that space.

Also, Cafe Belo, which I recently posted had closed, apparently has opened again:

I hate to say it, but it’s kind of too bad.  Only because I was looking forward to something different, I know Eb’s isn’t coming back but at this point even having it become a train station again, as some readers have suggested,  with a coffee shop in it would be nice and useful.

And also, the phone out side of the Memorial Building is out of order.  It’s nice to see they’ve found a use for at least one of the cones that used to be on the crumbling steps!