Inch by inch, row by row at the Broadway Plaza with photos too

David Mallet’s song fits the transformation of Broadway Plaza over the past weekend like a garden glove. “Inch by inch, row by row / Gonna make this garden grow / All it takes is a rake and a hoe / And a piece of fertile ground / Inch by inch, row by row / Someone bless these seeds I sow / Someone warm them from below / 'Til the rain comes tumbling down. . .”

Gonna make this garden grow
It turns out that many people had the same goal to “do SOMETHING about the Plaza”—the Garden Club, Arlingtonians / landscape designers Melissa MacDonald and Clarissa Rowe, the area’s merchants and the Chamber. If you have been following this column, then you know that Kathleen Keady of La Ladybug Boutique’s call to the Chamber about the Plaza’s condition was the catalyst for to make this garden grow in all four planters.

Til the rain comes tumbling down
Rain tumbled Friday night and early Saturday morning, and while it threatened to continue, by the time planting started, we were rain free.

Someone warm them from below
It took several meetings, a gazillion group emails, garden design by the Garden Club’s Nancie Richardson and Melissa, along with plant purchasing by Barbara Popolow of Derby Farms. It meant rallying the merchants by Kathleen, poster creation and posting by Carole Katz and Randy Buck of Watertown Savings Bank, the ferrying of plants to the site on Saturday morning by many of the volunteers. Just look at the list of businesses and individuals who made all of this possible: Arlington Garden Club, Arlington High School students, Arlington Optique Boutique, Body Mind Systems , Clarissa Rowe (Board of Selectmen), Dahn Yoga & Healing , Derby Farm Flowers & Gardens, Divinity's Splendour-Glow , European Hair Design, Gail Ann's Coffee Shop, J. Chakrabarty, Janiak's Unique Shoe Boutique, Krazy Karry's Backyard Grill, La Ladybug Boutique, Leader Bank, Line & Stone, Maidpro, Melissa MacDonald, Mission Trophy, Pink Dolly & Inside Co., Ripples Beauty Salon, Ron Riesz Dispensing Optician, Starbucks, Tambone Associates, The Book Rack, The Chilly Cow , The Radocchia Family, The Regent Theatre, Town of Arlington, Watertown Savings Bank and the Chamber.

A piece of fertile ground
The Town’s DPW, under Jim Dodge’s direction, made sure that the four planters were cleaned out and prepped with good soil so that we had fertile ground. Working together, the DPW and Clarissa discovered a nearby water source that will make it much easier to take care of this task throughout the summer.

The Design

All it takes is a rake and a hoe
On Saturday morning, Melissa and Nancie arranged all of the ferried plants in their respective planters and directed the volunteers, armed with trowels, shovels, rakes and hoes. At 9:00am, a large contingent of Garden Club members, several Watertown Savings Bank employees, Kathy Keady, Charles DiVirgilio of Body Mind Systems and some of his students, teenagers, young children and even more grownups set to work. Coffee and lemonade supplied by Starbucks and Krazy Karry’s kept the crew hydrated. Jeanne Keenan from The Costume Company loaned us flower pot hats sprouting bright yellow flowers to brighten the day. Even Lily Lu helped with the digging!

Someone bless these seeds I sow
By noon, the volunteers were finished. The Plaza looks fabulous. I ask all of you to bless these plants and thank every member of this community effort—business owners and individuals, garden club members, town employees and officials—for making this happen. (You’ll find the names on the signs planted in each planter). Last and not least: Help us keep it looking like this!


Hats off to the Ladies in Bloom with and without those hats;
Four of the folks very involved in the effort, from left to right: Barbara Popolow of Derby Farms Flowers & Gardens, Kathleen Keady of La Ladybug Boutique, Melissa MacDonald, Arlingtonian (and lucky us, landscape designer) and Nancie Richardson of the Arlington Garden Club. Three of them wearing hats provided by Jeanne Keenan of The Costume Company.

Like a dog on a sock

Selectman Kevin Greeley has observed “Michèle is like a dog on a sock.” He’s right. I won’t let go. Before I tell you about the two new socks I’m on like a dog, let me take you back in time. To the first time I was a dog on a sock

July 1979. The Gila Wilderness in Arizona. To a 21-day Southwest Outward Bound course. To someone her fellow teachers bet wouldn't finish. Would she survive wearing a 50-lb.+ backpack filled with clothes, gear, food and water, hiking many miles daily, sleeping in the open, rock climbing, a 3-day fasting solo, a 10-mile run, no bathtubs, no bathrooms?

Even I wondered as I landed flat on my back soon after hoisting on the backpack and before discovering my new locus of gravity. We hadn’t even started the course.

Half way through our trip, we stopped for two days of rock climbing. I did fine until I met up with the climb they called Devil’s Dingle. I saw my team members clamber up with ease or minor setbacks. Then it was my turn. I made it up halfway to the giant outcropping. Then I fell. Not once, but time and time again. For hours I stood there, hooking and unhooking myself up to the line so I wouldn’t hold up others. The instructor shouted encouragement from above. Others did the same on the ground. Sometimes I almost made it up and over. Dusk arrived. Almost everyone had gone back to camp, except for me, my belayer (is that the right term?) and an instructor. That’s when the dog met the sock.

I hooked up, I called out and step by step, handhold by handhold I found my way. I reached the outcrop. I figured out what I needed to do and hauled myself up and over it. From there, I clambered to the top in triumph.

After that, 3 days in solitude and without food? A piece of cake. And the 10-mile run to the bus? Another piece of cake.

So what’s my point? I am going to be the same way with the socks of 2008.

This year, I have heard many business owners, Chamber members and non-members alike, complain about: the kids in the Center, the trash everywhere, the cumbersome and unreasonable sign process, that no one tells them what is going on, that they are isolated.

The ARB and the planning dept. has reached out and invited comment on sign regulations; the Chamber regularly offers opportunities to affect change, or to get involved, orto get connected. Some folks do: look at what will be happening on May 17 at Broadway Plaza. Many folks do not. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. If you do nothing with your complaints except to voice them, then you increase negative energy. The first sock: how to turn dissatisfaction into action.

Many of you business owners generously give to school groups, sports groups, non-profits and churches. Many times the same people who did the asking drive by your stores on their way out of town to buy merchandise and the services you offer, so they can save money. When this happens the social contract is broken.

The second sock: Businesses that support their community deserve the support of their community. the Chamber will make an all out effort to promote: Be Local. Think Local Fist. Buy Local First.

As Kevin Greeley would tell the socks, "Look out!"