Elissa Ely

For years, the elevator in my doctor’s Cambridge office building carried patients safely up and down six floors. When COVID arrived, it was no longer safe. Every stranger’s breath was filled with fearful possibility, and even wearing masks, we stood too closely…

Day after day after day, the new library rises with exemplary efficiency. All those who put this massive project together—on budget and on time—need a medal and a bonus in a world that usually awards neither. Watching it go up, I feel…

The Girl Scouts in Belmont Center didn’t mind the weather; they were wearing mittens. The Scout mother who shepherded them was wearing ear muffs. On this raw winter morning, they were running on entrepreneurial steam, excellent saleswomen, and business was good. They…

The physical therapist on Trapelo Road is part magician, part athletic coach, part confessor and, for a limited number of visits, part nearest and dearest. She hands out hope from a drawer of resistance bands. Every orthopedic muscle and ligament is known…

Recently, someone sent me a small framed copy of Banksy’s sketch, “Girl with Balloon.” It’s propped on the kitchen counter, between the mixer stand and the telephone. This is a tenuous location. The telephone is a landline, and when it rings, sometimes…

The dog has her needs, just like the rest of us; but unlike the rest of us, every one of them is met with promptness and adoration. Many mornings, for instance, she wants to stroll through Rock Meadow conservation land, past the…

Until a few weeks ago, I would have full-heartedly recommended the nearby gourmet shop’s cinnamon bread to you. I would have served you a toasted slice without butter: naked bread, nothing but proud flavor, sold only twice a week in the store…