02/06/2025
HOME?🌳🌳🌳
Reading this 📰news story made me KIND OF UNDERSTAND WHY I FEEL A BIT DISCOMBOBULATED in Wellesley. Why I always need to hit Route 9 and drive to Natick or Framingham to grocery shop, get my hair cut, run my dogs, go to the dollar store, price new walking shoes, pay my cell phone bill, etc etc. Wellesley is a very rich town filled with very polite people who chat with you and smile. But money is king here, EVERYTHING is about money which gives you access to "the good life." Don't expect anyone here to bend too gracefully for poorer folks. Nothing is blatant; it's all done in understated good taste. It's just the way the whole town is set up. Saying NO to Mass zoning for more affordable housing a la Peter Lukes, town manager of Holden, but doing it all politely, with legal fancy footwork that gives the town until December to comply with state laws requiring the BUILDING OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING AROUND MBTA STATIONS/PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION HUBS. ... 🍞🍌🍅Pricey WHOLE FOODS and ROCHE BROTHERS are the only supermarkets in town. Me and many of my pals in Worcester count our dollars and mind our EBT card balances at the supermarket check-out lines, but the people here seem oblivious to comparative shopping! They think nothing of dropping $200 or $300 for Jeff Bezos' average groceries. Christmastime those supremely ordinary but obscenely overpriced Whole Foods Christmas wreaths and mini-Christmas trees flew out of the store's parking lot. Even if I could afford one, I'd go to Dollar Tree, spend 10 bucks and make my own Christmas decoration. It would look very Italian with all that silver tinsel!
No Price Chopper or Stop and Shop here in Wellesley. And forget about my beloved Shop Rite! I have to travel to Worcester's Southbridge Street for the guava and the flirty Puerto Rican stock boys - and all those unique food items and spices. Caliente!
The Wellesley Public Library by my apartment is hushed and lovely, but Black History Month is a blip as far as book displays in the main entrance area are concerned. If you want to be knocked out by an AMAZING Black History Month book display (hundreds of titles spread out over several kiosks and tables, plus cool bookmarks), you have to drive to next-door Natick. The Natick public library, on all floors, IS CELEBRATING Black History Month! They have all kinds of books and media set out - about famous and not-so-famous African Americans. Something for everybody. But especially for teens and young people. Recently Natick proudly declared itself a Sanctuary City. They're not afraid of our kooky and dangerous president! They're not afraid of having public bathrooms with three symbols on the doors ...
A weird Wellesley public library experience: I wanted to book a conference room in the Wellesley library to meet with a professor (another story for another time). Now if I were in, say, the Millbury Public Library, Anne, the head librarian, would write my name in the reservation book, ask me the amount of time I needed, and I'd be good to go. I've done this a few times - with the good-natured and super smart Annie. She helped me learn about/navigate the various social media platforms for CECELIA. Well, at Wellesley it's a different story: YOU HAVE TO PAY for a PUBLIC library conference room. Even if it's for 15 or 20 minutes! The librarian who relayed this information to me was young, courteous and attractive and ... direct: NO BUCKS, NO SPACE.
And why, when I went into the Wellesley Senior Center and grabbed a crappy little paper cup of bad coffee, back in October, why did a staffer there immediately say: $1 for a cup! Or why did another senior center staffer, on another occasion, follow me to the coffee bar and watch me as I looked at the cream and milk section - just a few inches away from the big, clear, plastic cube filled with the dollar bills for the crappy coffee? Was she expecting a senior citizen coffee bar HEIST?! I stopped visiting the town's senior center after a staffer there would ask me each time I walked to the front desk: DO YOU LIVE IN WELLESLEY??? DO YOU LIVE IN WELLESLEY??? Even with my card dangling from my key chain. I should have gone full Worcester on her and said: "Yeah, I live in fu***ng Wellesley! Can you fu***ng believe it?!"
Was it my dress? My jalopy? My mutt of a dog (Lilac's definitely no Wellesley Labradoodle!). Or just me, Rose? I remember how welcoming the ladies at the Worcester Senior Center used to be to my Lilac. My sweet old dog was allowed into the senior center ... to snooze at my feet as I sat at one of their tables to do CECELIA paperwork.
Today I remember that awful, gruff way the Wellesley gas station owner said to me, three days before Christmas: We're doing no more air for you! Your car's tire has a slow leak! BUY a new tire! From them no doubt. That was the last day I ever bought gas at that Wellesley gas station, though I did give the sweet special needs guy who always filled my tire there a little Christmas present.
And during Christmas season ...What is it that would make a Catholic church priest not return your phone call?! Again, the Wellesley lady at the Wellesley church rectory, like all Wellesley peeps, was soft-spoken and very polite when I asked her: Can I bring my dog Lilac to morning mass? She's 10 years old, fully vaccinated and a real sweetheart. We'll sit in the last pew - we'll be very quiet - I won't even take Holy Communion! I wanna reconnect with my Catholic faith, feel more spiritual - after all these decades! The church lady politely said she'd ask the pastor and they would call me back. But it's been months and I have yet to hear from the church. Now, what would Jesus think? So opposite of Father John Madden, pastor of Saint John's Church in Worcester! The good padre of Temple Street over-extends himself! He takes risks housing the city's homeless, feeding the city's homeless, adopting pitbulls that need a home ... Father started a soup kitchen in the church basement and when the kitchen outgrew its space, he, with the help of that Woo biz leader Frank Carroll, built a brand new building for feeding Worcester's poor! The church serves a terrific breakfast daily at the St. Francis Center. They run one of the city's busiest food pantries, and every Saturday morning there's a bread, fruits and vegetables give-away. All in the heart of the chi chi Canal District!
Yesterday I missed the way the garage owner of the Quinsigamond Village Garage on Greenwood Street used to fill my car tires - practically every week! Gruff and probably exasperated with me - yet always obliging and refusing any money from me because he knew I was poor, the QV garage guy was my hero! No Wellesley veneer or aloofness. No phony patter - just HELP when I need it. Blue-collar style! Last week I rolled into his place for old time's sake. Very un-Wellesley-like, he yelled at me: I'M GOING TO LUNCH! COME BACK AFTER 1! ... I did and he was back at his garage working. He ran out with his tire gage, asked me how many pounds of air I wanted (I always over fill - we have argued about this)...then he filled my tire, checked the tire pressure and gruffly sent me on my way.
Worcester❤️.
- R🌹
Living in this tiny town can come at a hefty price tag. What are the other hotspots for development in New England?
FB page that complements CECELIA, Worcester's alt newspaper, published by Rosalie (Rose) Tirella. Office hours 10 a to 5 p.
