November 30, 2023 / Obituary for Hilary Halun Bloch Hopkins 1938 - 2023
Hilary Halun Bloch Beloved Wife, Mother, and Friend. Teacher, Writer, Naturalist, Citizen Scientist. Hilary Hopkins, aged 84, died on February 2, 2023, of complications following a TMVR (transcatheter mitral valve repair) procedure, surrounded by her family. Mrs. Hopkins, a resident of Cambridge,… Read More
June 05, 2023 / Watch recorded Celebration of the Life of Hilary Hopkins
Watch celebration recorded June 17, 2023 at First Church in Cambridge Please enjoy a short but wondrous Bach Concert followed by the Service of Remembrance, Read the obituary Download the Mt. Auburn Cemetery map to the Hopkins-Leisher memorial stone Read More
March 02, 2023 / Obituary for Hilary Hopkins 1938 - 2023
Hilary Halun Bloch Hopkins, Beloved Wife, Mother, and Friend. Teacher, Writer, Naturalist, Citizen Scientist. Hilary Hopkins, aged 84, died on February 2, 2023, of complications following a TMVR (transcatheter mitral valve repair) procedure, surrounded by her family. Mrs. Hopkins, a resident of… Read More
March 31, 2015 / The Last Post
Hilary’s Places first went live on March 29, 2013, and now it is time for me to move on to something else fun and, hopefully, productive. There are 104 blog posts, one for each week of the two years, and 20 travel journals+images, on my website now. Those seem like nice round numbers. Where… Read More
March 26, 2015 / Missing Alyson
An hour ago I was riding the bus home from my water aerobics class in Harvard Square. I saw a police car ahead of us, its lights flashing slowly, and then realized that in front of it was a line of cars carrying purple FUNERAL flags, led by another police car with slowly-flashing lights. Oh dear,… Read More
March 19, 2015 / The Last Day of Winter
Maybe you have read that our Boston winter set a record. Yup, since they began keeping track of these things in 1872, this has been the snowiest winter in the history of the city. One hundred eight and six-tenths of an inch of snow fell on us. In February alone, a relentless parade of storms (or… Read More
March 17, 2015 / Your Eyes and Your Head
So—I just returned from a glorious and gorgeous week’s cruise in the Caribbean. Everywhere you look, from the ship or the shore (on these cruises) is that fantastical and improbable turquoise water. (Don’t the cruise lines put dye in there every morning??) Anyhow, I got thinking… Read More
March 06, 2015 / The Year of the Sheep
Or the goat or ram, depending on which you like. It turns out that the Chinese word for the zodiacal animal of this year can mean any of these, although “sheep” is especially good since apparently the word in Chinese looks as if it has a pair of curvy sheepish horns. In spite of… Read More
February 25, 2015 / Words from the Dalai Lama
Just now I was doing my little exercises with my weights here in my office and my eye happened to fall upon a small wall hanging with some words of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Buddhists. Twice I have been fortunate enough to have been in his presence at a public… Read More
February 24, 2015 / A Mutual Language
Yesterday afternoon we trudged through the snow and ice and crowded onto barely-running public transportation to get into the city for a concert. We came to hear the Mahler Chamber Orchestra play three Beethoven piano concertos. Demanding of both performers and listeners. Complex, full of… Read More