Closer to Home
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 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 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 15, 2015 / Snowing, Again
(images I made of snowflakes on my pink and black mitten) It’s snowing, again. This bit wasn’t even in the forecast when I looked at it very early this morning. The flakes are large, and gently flying sideways. Or, when they get near my window, they float up. My husband and I just… Read More
January 31, 2015 / Snowstorm
This time, we all got plenty of warning. It was going to be a humdinger, the forecasters said. There was even talk of The Great Blizzard of ’78. Friday afternoon, after listening for a while to the dire talk about the three feet due on the weekend, my husband suggested we do our… Read More
December 29, 2014 / A Christmas Day Walk
Years ago, when both my Mother and my younger daughter were still living, my husband and I would find a fine outdoor place to go walking with them on Christmas Day. Once, it was by the ocean; I have pictures of my darling Mother, who went about 5’ 1”, well-bundled up in one of my… Read More
December 18, 2014 / Driving Away the Dark
Here in the Northern Hemisphere we are fast approaching the shortest day. I have been keeping track for a couple of weeks. Right now, on December 18, following what had been our steady progress into the dark, though stuck for the past three days at 9 hours, 5 minutes of daylight, today we are… Read More