Remember the days when a ringing phone meant that someone you knew, maybe a good friend, wanted to talk to you? As you heard the phone ring, you had the expectation of a nice conversation, some good news, maybe an invitation to a party. Except for the occasional wrong number, it was always someone you knew, often someone you wanted to talk to. Then things changed. Telemarketing became a huge industry and it got to the point that too many of your calls were from people you didn't know trying to see you something you didn't need. The calls would inevitably come when you were in the middle of …

In the summertime, going to camp is a major activity for lots of kids. Though many look forward to it, not all kids are happy campers. Allan Sherman's Sixties tune "Hello Muddar, Hello Faddur (A Letter from Camp)" illustrated that quite humorously. Back then, I think all camps involved what one thinks of when hearing the word "camp": the outdoors, nature, maybe sporting activities. Today, there are so many different kinds of camps, it seems there's one for every interest a kid might have. In Massachusetts alone, there are camps centered around theater, music, rock music, arts, technology, …

  They're baaack!!! As always happens when summer begins, the insects are back in full force. To me, that is the biggest downside of the season. I love warm weather, more hours of light,  no cold, no snow. Yes, sometimes it gets too hot and humid but I think it's easier to cool down when you're hot than it is to warm up when cold. I'm enjoying summer, as I generally do, but these #@!#! insects are driving me nuts! When I'm outdoors I expect to see insects, but inside my house I do not. Because I have a bird, I have lots of seed moths. I put up seed moth traps, sticky traps that emit female …

  After I moved back to Watertown about a dozen years ago, a friend invited me to go for a walk down by the Charles River near Watertown Square. It was a great place for a walk and it felt so far removed from the heavily trafficked roads that weren't that many steps away. Though I grew up in Watertown, I had never taken a walk around the river before; I never even knew that this area existed. The irony is that the friend who introduced me to the area is someone who is fairly new to the town. But this nice area around the river didn't exist when I was growing up. Those were the days of "I love…

  Remember the world before malls? When I was growing up, we bought many things at small, local stores in Watertown. Between several independent drug stores and a couple of five and dimes, we could find much of what we needed right in here in our hometown, and several chain discount stores were just a short drive away. But when any of us had to do more serious shopping, particularly for clothes, we'd "go in town." That meant going into Downtown Boston where the large department stores were located. Jordan Marsh and Filene's, the major stores, were located across the street from each other, …

  What is Memorial Day? The holiday started out as a day to remember members of the military who died while fighting for our country. Then it extended to visiting the graves of deceased family members as well. The day was both solemn and patriotic. Many cities and towns had parades to commemorate the day, and the flag was displayed everywhere. These things still happen, but Memorial Day seems to have morphed into a different kind of holiday. Everyone looks forward to the three-day weekend. Adults are happy to have a day off from work, and kids are glad that there's no school that day. It is …

When I was growing up, listening to the radio was a big part of my life. With all their iPods, computers and such, do kids even listen to the radio these days? I don't know. Starting around age 10, I always had a transistor radio pressed up to my ear when I was walking anywhere. That was true of most of the girls at that age. It seemed that boys were a little older when they started their radio days, but once boys started, they tended to get more seriously into music and to be avid listeners for a longer time. Several AM stations played rock'n'roll music back then; FM's rise to prominence was…

  When I was reading my old school newspapers from the Seventies that I wrote about in my previous two columns, I noticed a number of ads from local businesses, most of which were retail establishments. Some I remembered well, others sounded vaguely familiar, and still others were a mystery to me. I invite you to join me as I go shopping down memory lane. I'd like this to be an interactive column: I'm hoping that if you remember some of these stores, you'll comment on them below my article. Perhaps you can help me to remember some of these businesses that once populated Watertown. One store I…

When I was recently going through boxes of old stuff in the basement, I found several issues of Watertown High's student newspaper, The Bulletin. Curious to see what issues were big when I was in high school, I decided to do some reading. Many of the issues involving school governance and policies were different in the Seventies than they are today. For example. the student council formulated a smoking plan (for students) to present to the School Board and they were hopeful that it would be approved. Schools in some towns had policies that allowed student smoking; some even had a student …

"Spring forward and fall back." That's the handy phrase that we're taught to help us remember in which direction to turn the clocks at the appointed time each year. Last Sunday morning at 2 a.m. was the correct time to re-adjust our clocks from Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time. A lot of people prefer the switch in the fall to that of the spring because turning the clocks back means an extra hour of sleep that night. I remember my mother gleefully anticipating that extra hour, as well as bemoaning the loss of an hour's sleep when it was time to turn the clocks forward in the spring. To me…

  When I went to school at Watertown High, the most meaningful thing I participated in was "The City Program," in which 15 kids from WHS and 14 from Boston's English High went to school together in a building on Beacon Hill. It was an experiment in metropolitan education that brought students from the suburbs together with students from an urban school, with the city being our "learning environment." The formal name of the program was Open City – Boston '76 and it was a pilot program of the Visual Arts Laboratory in Urban Education (VALUE), which had a goal of integrating visual arts into the…

Convenience is relative. Whenever I hear an ad touting the "convenient location" of the establishment being advertised, I have to chuckle. I think of  a "convenient location" as a place that is quick and easy to get to, and I assume a place advertised as "convenient" is probably located near a highway. Though a store might be right along a major thoroughfare, if it's 50 miles from my home, it is not convenient to me. I've often heard Watertown residents cite its convenience as one of the reasons they like living here. I assume they are referring to the town's proximity to Boston and access to…

Is celebrating the New Year a big deal to you? Do you just have to go out on New Year's Eve, to a great party, or a nice restaurant, or maybe to First Night? Do you make New Year's resolutions every year? When I was younger, New Year's Eve was a big deal to me, but as the years have gone by, I find that I don't care about it as much anymore. In my younger days, I just had to spend New Year's Eve at a party. One year in high school, a friend from school invited me to a New Year's party at her house. I brought a couple of friends, one of whom went to St. Pat's High and didn't know that many …

Are you sick of hearing Christmas music yet? Once Thanksgiving is over, it's played everywhere. I know that a lot of people love this music and it helps get them in the Christmas spirit. But for many others, hearing the same songs ad nauseam gets quite tiring, annoying, maddening. I was in Stop & Shop the Saturday after Thanksgiving when suddenly the sound of "sleigh bells" permeated my consciousness. I immediately tried to ignore it. I haven't been shopping much this holiday season, but when I was in Filene's Basement in the Arsenal Mall last week, Christmas tunes were playing nonstop. …

It’s that time of year again — time for the winter parking ban. From November 27, 2011 through April 1, 2012, no vehicle can be parked on the street for more than one hour between 1 a.m. - 6 a.m. Last year, the town’s web site read, “The Department of Public Works needs to have the streets clear of any parked vehicles in order to perform street cleaning, catch basin clearing, and the removal of snow and ice from the roads.” I would be very surprised if the first two activities are done every single night of the four months that the parking ban is in effect. And when the town declares a snow …

When I was in junior high and high school, my friends and I always went to the Thanksgiving Day football game between Watertown and Belmont. Since my cousin Judie was from Belmont, that meant a fun rivalry between us leading up to the big game every year. Then after the game, we all went our separate ways as we returned home for Thanksgiving dinner with our families. Thanksgiving was always my least favorite holiday. Holidays at our house were rather small and quiet affairs. Because I’m an only child, there were no siblings to hang out with. The only guests were my grandmother, one aunt (my …

I had always resisted signing up for Facebook because I figured it would end up taking up too much of my time. I finally relented and went on board after a couple of my cousins who I never see requested that I sign up. I thought it would give me a better opportunity to stay in touch with them, and it did. It turned out I was also right about it taking up too much of my time, but I'm still glad I signed up because it has enabled me to catch up with a number of folks I hadn't seen or talked to in years. The wonderful thing about Facebook is being able to stay in touch with people I've known …

The U.S Postal Service is currently considering closing the East Watertown Post Office in Coolidge Square and the New Town branch on Galen Street. The East End Post Office serves residents in that part of town as well as the many businesses in Coolidge Square. I can walk to that office if I'm so inclined, and many elderly people in the area also frequent that location. It's a quicker trip for me than the office in Watertown Square: going to the latter means a longer drive to get there and often a long line inside. I imagine that the Galen Street office is also important to residents in that …

What do we think of when we think of the fall season? Kids go back to school. Birds fly south. The weather gets cooler. The days get shorter and it gets dark earlier, even more so after we turn the clocks back. Football season begins. But I'd say the thing most associated with fall is the changing of the leaves. For a short time, the trees sport leaves of red, orange and yellow, then they fall to the ground, where they remain crunchy underfoot until someone rakes them up and disposes of them. But for the brief time before they fall, the leaves bring a special beauty to our world. On Columbus …

I look forward to the Faire on the Square every year. I enjoy walking around and stopping at the tables of various companies and community groups in town. I might learn about a company's new product at one table and find out about a community group running some great programs that I wasn't aware of at another. Just about every table has information-to-go, such as fliers, brochures and perhaps sample newsletters, and I find it quite helpful to take some home to peruse later. Two stages host singers and dancers, and with various genres of music represented, I usually can find something good to …