“No two gardens are the same. No two days are the same
in one garden.”

The Nichols House Museum, located on historic Beacon Hill, will host its popular celebration, the Spring Fête, on Thursday, June 6, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in the elegant setting of The Boston Athenaeum.

This popular party has become a rite of spring for Beacon Hill, where friends and neighbors welcome the season, while enjoying great conversation, delicious hors d’oeuvres, and creative cocktails.

Guests are invited to bid on an exquisite selection of silent auction items, this year focusing on one-of-a-kind objects. Unique hand-made porcelain, a stunning side table topped in cherry wood and decorated with native birch, a large format photograph, and exquisite designer jewelry are among the objects to be auctioned. Ticket price is $125 per person. Contact the Nichols House Museum at 617-227-6993, info@nicholshousemuseum.org, or visit www.nicholshousemuseum.org to purchase tickets or for more information

Proceeds from the gala benefit the museum’s preservation efforts. This year, the funds will be used to commission hand-embroidered reproductions of antique silk and linen bed hangings in the one of the museum’s bedrooms. This project will enhance visitor experience while preserving the material legacy left by Rose Standish Nichols, founder of the museum.

There is so much to be thinking about in May that it could be very easy to miss the launching of one of the more important exhibits to hit Boston in years – the Museum of Science’s ‘Dead Sea Scrolls: Life in Ancient Times.’

May brings about renewed attention to one’s gardening.

There are the endless graduation receptions.

If a sports fan, well, the Bruins’ playoff run can easily engulf a good deal of free time.

And, of course, we’ve all been in continued anguish over the Marathon events of last month.

But don’t let those things block out what is truly a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to see the most detailed look at what it was like in the very ancient world – from the philosophical to the spiritual to the mundane.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are rarely exhibited, and so getting a glimpse of them is not something that happens every year – if not every generation. Hence, that is why the museum keeps harping on the fact that the exhibit is so unique, and that it is the only stop in New England.

“It truly is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the precious remnants of the Scrolls and important Israeli artifacts that are the most comprehensive ever assembled,” said Museum of Science President Ioannis Miaoulis at a preview reception last Thursday. “It is important to note some of these precious pieces you’ll see have never been on display in North America.”

The story of the Scrolls are almost equally as interesting as their content and historic value – a story that is played up very nicely in the exhibit.

As it goes, Bedouin goat herders were in a remote area known as Qumran on the shores of the Dead Sea in 1947 when they stumbled onto the well-preserved documents. Perhaps they were looking for treasure, but the official account has them chasing a lost goat into a long-abandoned cave. Inside, they found clay pots containing 2,000-year-old manuscripts. About a month later, the herders presented the manuscripts to an Armenian antique dealer/shoemaker known as Kando. Kando thought they might be valuable. However, as the story goes, he considered using the leather in the binding for use in making shoes. Luckily he never carried out that plan.

At first, most thought the scrolls were fakes because they were in such great condition, but Kando persevered and eventually got the right person’s attention. What resulted was arguably the single most important archeological find in the 20th Century.

In the end, some 972 scrolls were uncovered in several different caves in the region. No one is quite sure who wrote them, but it is assured that they were written by an exclusive sect of Judaism that had fled from the Roman sacking of Jerusalem in 70 C.E.

In the Museum’s exhibition – which started on Sunday and runs through October 14th – 20 rare Scroll fragments will be on display 10 at a time for a three-month period. There are religious writings, rules and laws, apocryphal predictions and general commentary.

Among those fragments now on display are rare pieces of the Old Testament books of Isaiah, Psalms, Job and Leviticus – books that are universally important to the faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

While all of those texts give a rare view into the writings and interpretation of ancient scripture by a 1st-Century religious sect, the Leviticus scroll fragment is particularly moving.

Instead of being written in the traditional Aramaic or Hebrew, that scroll is written in what is called Peleo-Hebrew – or an ancient form of Hebrew. That writing is more of an angular, slanted script rather than the more well-known block-style script. Ancient writers used paleo-Hebrew to copy Biblical books that they thought had been literally dictated by God to Moses. The paleo style had been continued on from ancient times and was copied precisely by the Scrolls writers – giving viewers almost a direct path (perhaps once removed) to the voice of God passed down verbatim over thousands of years.

Religious or not, it is awe-inspiring to see a piece of the divine preserved in its original form.

It also sets the tone for the rest of the awe-inspiring exhibit, which contains row after row of ancient artifacts from the 7th and 8th Century B.C.

There are ancient water jars with stamps proclaiming that they belonged to Judean kings, there are everyday loom weights that are nearly 3,000 years old, there are musical instruments and, of course, religious artifacts as well. There is also a replica of a four-room house from such similar ancient times – where there is (of all things) a clay footbath to sooth the weary feet of humans living three millennia before us.

Finally, there is a three-ton stone cube that was a part of the Western Wall of the Second Temple during the time of Kind Herod. The piece on display is believed to have toppled from that Temple during the ravaging of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 C.E.

That piece of the Western Wall served as a tremendous ending to an excellent exhibit that hopefully won’t be overshadowed by recent happenings or the advent of summer.

Memorial Day usually is the unofficial start of the all too brief summer in New England.  Temperatures become hotter and days also become longer.   For many grade school students, Memorial Day means that the end of the school year is in sight with only weeks remaining of books, teachers and homework.

The deeper meaning of Memorial Day is to remember the men and women who died while serving in our armed forces.  The first Memorial Day service was held shortly after the end of the Civil War to remember all those who died from both the North and South.

Of late, it has become a day to remember our departed family members and friends who have also have died.

And perhaps this is what we as parents and mentors need to instill in this newest generation.

It seems that world is moving very fast and to get a day off is usually just accepted as a special three day weekend with really no thought of why.

We hope that on the hustle of getting the weekend homes ready for the coming season or being out on the golf course or just barbequing on Monday, that a few minutes is set aside to tell or hopefully remind children of those family members and friends who have died and what their ambitions were that have yet to be fulfilled in making this world and our neighborhood a better place to live for all, for their unfilled legacy falls to us and our children.

Have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day.

Given the timing following the three day weekend, we remind local voters that there will be a special Democratic Primary on Tuesday, May 28  to fill the State Representative seat left vacant when Marty Walz left office a few months ago.

The Democratic primary will be between Jeff Dawson and Jay Livingston.

There has been more than ample time and debates for voters to get to know the two candidates.  The candidates have also been working the neighborhoods.

We urge all eligible voters to get and cast their ballot.

When Back Bay resident Marty Walz first ran for the seat, it was considered an almost impossible task that we would retain this seat given that Cambridge had been added to the district and could control the election.

Through hard work and continuing hard work Walz has retained the seat.

We need a great turnout to show that this seat is important to us who live in this district.

May 6

37 Newbury St. – Sick/Injured/Medical – Person

553 Boylston St. – Larceny in a Building, $200 & Over

49 Gloucester St. – Investigate Person

815 Boylston St. – Property – Lost

Commonwealth Avenue    – Larceny,Vehicle Accessory, $200 & Over

May 7

230 Marlborough St. – Towed Motor Vehicle

232 Marlborough St. – Towed Motor Vehicle

225 Marlborough St. – Towed Motor Vehicle

Commonwealth Avenue    – Motor Vehicle Accident – Leaving Scene – Property Damage

May 8

233 Commonwealth Ave. – Investigate Person

25 Marlborough St. – Indecent Exposure

Gloucester Street – Larceny, Shoplifting, $200 & Over

286 Newbury St. – Assault and Battery

343 Newbury St. – Larceny in a Building, $200 & Over

80 Marlborough St. – Investigate Person

342 Newbury St. – Larceny in a Building, $200 & Over

May 9

458 Beacon St.    – Investigate Person

Newbury Street – Larceny, Non-Accessory from Vehicle, $200 & Over

95 Newbury St. – Larceny, Shoplifting, $200 & Over

May 10

Massachusetts Avenue – Towed Motor Vehicle

507 Boylston St. – Larceny, Other, $200 & Over

Newbury Street – Larceny, Non-Accessory from Vehicle, $200 & Over

761 Boylston St. – Larceny, Other, $200 & Over

745 Boylston St. – Property – Lost

May 11

545 Boylston St. – Larceny, Other, $200 & Over

551 Boylston St. – Breaking and Entering, Non-Residence, Day – No Force

15 Arlington St. – Larceny, Shoplifting, $200 & Over

Boylston Street    – Larceny in a Building, $200 & Over

545 Boylston St. – Larceny in a Building, $200 & Over

2 Arlington St.      – Auto Theft

199 Commonwealth Ave. – Investigate Person

May 12

Commonwealth Avenue    – Violation of the Auto Laws – Operating After Revocation/Suspension

248 Newbury St. – Verbal Dispute

227 Beacon St.    – Towed Motor Vehicle

“I don’t divide architecture, landscape and gardening; to me they are one.”
(Luis Ramiro Barragán Morfín, Mexican architect 1902 – 1988)

The Esplanade Association (TEA) outlined its noteworthy achievements of fiscal ’13, recapping a fruitful business year that included a merger with another non-profit dedicated to enhancing park life, the completion of planning for the revitalization of the Charles Eliot Memorial and the establishment of the park’s first composting program.

 In its recently published Report to the Community, TEA announced its recent union with the Friends of the Esplanade Playspace, a group of local parents and other benefactors that used private donations to build a 10,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art playground near the Hatch Shell. Besides Tani Marinovich, a founding member of the Friends group who now serves as TEA director of development, three additional Friends board members have joined the other group’s board, and will take part in the newly established Family Council to provide guidance on issues in the park of interest to families.

Margo Levine Newman, TEA board chair and acting executive director, said at the group’s annual meeting at Hampshire House last Tuesday, the addition of 300 Friends would help strengthen ties with young families and provide “the next generation of leadership for the program.”

In fiscal ’13, TEA also raised $380,000 to complete planning and design phases for the restoration of the Eliot Memorial plaza, located near the Community Boating docks. The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is expected to break ground on the project this month, with completion slated for the fall.

“It will be a great new gathering spot, a revitalized gathering spot,” Newman of the Eliot Memorial.

At the Miriam and Sidney Stoneman Playground, located on the Dudley Bike Path along the Charles River, TEA commissioned Cambridge sculptor Mitch Ryerson to transform a dead oak tree into a work of public art that preserved the trunk while adorning it with other wood adornments, including a canopy, birds and a window with a river.

TEA is also moving forward with implementing Esplanade 2020 – the long-term vision for the park that the group unveiled in February of 2012  – and developing “action plans” for certain sites, beginning with the Hatch Shell area. As a direct extension of this vision, TEA and DCR have partnered to establish the Landscape Advisory Committee, which recommends and prioritizes rehabilitation projects, maintenance needs and other improvements to the future of the Esplanade’s landscape.

Also, TEA hired its first full-time horticulturist in 2012 to focus on beautifying and improving plant life at the park, as well as to supervise a team of 2,000 volunteers who provide maintenance help on the grounds. This spring, the group added a seasonal horticulturist to provide more support on the Esplanade.

As part of its move towards a more sustainable approach to land care, TEA staff established the park’s first composting program last year, collecting and composting vegetable scarps from the office, volunteers and the Women’s Lunch Place, a Newbury Street-based daytime-shelter for homeless and poor women.

“The compost is then used in the landscape to amend soil and to mulch beds throughout the park,” according to the Report to the Community. “This spring, [TEA] is starting a compost tea program to further improve the health of the park’s trees, turf, plants and soil.”

On Tuesday, May 7, the Beacon Hill Civic Association, the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay and the West End Civic Association presented a State Representative Candidates Forum for the 8th Suffolk District, which is made up of Back Bay, Beacon Hill and the West End in Boston, and Cambridgeport, Area 4 and MIT in Cambridge.

The forum was held in the Hill House Auditorium, located at 127 Mt. Vernon St. on the Flat of Beacon Hill. More than 80 neighborhood residents were in attendance in the overflow audience, including former 8th Suffolk District State Reps. Marty Walz and Paul Demakis.

During the hour-long event, the candidates running for state representative, Democrat Jay Livingstone of Beacon Hill and Democrat Josh Dawson of Back Bay, answered a series of questions posed by the event moderator, David Jacobs, publisher of the Boston Courant. The declared Republican candidate, Vic Navarro of Cambridge, was invited to participate in the forum, but declined the invitation, stating that he had suspended his campaign for state representative.

The topics covered during the forum included questions on: having more local schools in the downtown Boston neighborhoods; controlling institutional expansion in Boston and Cambridge; the pending legislation to protect Boston park spaces from shadows resulting from tall buildings; affordable housing and rent control; mass transit funding; state budget priorities; and the Patrick Administration’s pending state income tax reform legislation. The two candidates tried to distinguish themselves from one another on these issues, but, for the most part, they share similar positions on most issues. One major difference that did come to light, however, was each candidate’s position on the pending “anti-shadow” legislation, which had been originally sponsored in the state legislature by former Rep. Walz. While Livingstone stated that he was in favor of the legislation, and would join as a co-sponsor of the legislation if elected, Dawson stated his opposition to the Walz legislation.

Several questions were also posed by members of the audience.

The state primary election takes place on May 28.

April 29

16 Newbury St. – Breaking and Entering, Non-Residence, Night – Force

329 Newbury St – Larceny, Shoplifting, $200 & Over

320 Newbury St. – Larceny, Bicycle, $200 & Over

April 30

Boylston Street – Property – Found

497 Beacon St – Landlord – Tenant Service

719 Boylston St. – Larceny in a Building, $50 to $199

704 Boylston St. – Assault and Battery

73 Newbury St. – Investigate Property

545 Boylston St. – Larceny, Other, $200 & Over

May 1

725 Boylston St. – Threats To Do Bodily Harm

182 Newbury St. – Larceny in a Building, $200 & Over

222 Newbury St. – Larceny, Shoplifting, $200 & Over

May 2

Boylston Street – Investigate Property

Boylston Street – Property – Found

67 Newbury St. – Assault and Battery

Massachusetts Avenue – Violation of the Auto Laws – Pedestrian Law

3 Exeter St. – Larceny, Non-Accessory from Vehicle, $200 & Over

535 Boylston St. – Forgery or Uttering

86 Newbury St.    – Larceny, Shoplifting, $200 & Over

251 Newbury St. – Property – Receiving Stolen

Massachusetts Avenue – Motor Vehicle Accident – Involving Bicycle

May 3

Massachusetts Avenue – Towed Motor Vehicle

355 Newbury St. – Violation of the Auto Laws – Operating After Revocation/Suspension

403 Beacon St.    – Towed Motor Vehicle

146 Marlborough St.- Towed Motor Vehicle

497 Boylston St. – Larceny, Shoplifting, $200 & Over

115 Newbury St. – Other Service/Event

587 Boylston St. – Violation – City Ordinance

May 4

222 Berkeley St. – Larceny in a Building, Under $50

169 Marlborough St. – Towed Motor Vehicle

Newbury Street – Motor Vehicle Accident – Leaving Scene – Property Damage

437 Boylston St. -  Motor Vehicle Recovered in Boston (Stolen in Boston)

349 Newbury St. – License Premise Violation

497 Boylston St. – Larceny, Shoplifting, $50 to $199

Beacon Street       – Motor Vehicle Accident – Involving Bicycle

Newbury Street – Assault and Battery

725 Boylston St – M/V Accident – Property Damage

May 5

182 Newbury St. – Larceny, Shoplifting, $50 to $199