It’s beginning to look and feel a lot like Christmas so let’s cheer those of our cool neighborhood who have survived the last year, recently returned or are still plugging away to make it back soon!
A mysterious caper…. “The Cat in the Hat” can quickly clean up messes, but he has nothing on the resourceful kitties of “Fulton & Company.” Fulton and his four feline friends — Amen-ita, Tenderly, Tiffany and Ebony — are the heroes of a new book by Southbridge Towers resident Una Perkins.
Perkins first wrote her book about her rescues from our streets years ago, then shelved the manuscript. While grieving for her last cat (she had five at one time and religiously fed strays around the area and under the Brooklyn Bridge), Perkins picked it up again for solace.
“I cried and cried when that cat died. It was so sad,” she said.
She reworked, rewrote it, and came up with practically another story. It’s a mystery for Tweens — “juveniles, not children,” she says.
But we see it as a perfect Christmas gift for children of all ages, cat lovers and anyone who still relishes the old Seaport neighborhood.
Perkins, who authored “Fulton & Company” under her pen name Una Leonora, said the cat caper is about how five little amazing felines brought down a drug ring operating in their own neighborhood. And to make the story even more purr-fect (sorry, couldn’t help myself), the drug lord was living right under their mistress’s nose. I smell something fishy!
A Seaport neighbor for more than 40 years, Perkins is proud of her neighborhood involvement on Community Board 1 and her youthful spirit. And, she notes – “I’m still working!” She is a paralegal with legal services’ Mental Health Project.
She will be signing copies of her colorfully illustrated book on Dec. 15, 2 to 6 p.m., in the Southbridge community room. Stop by.
Recently opened… Paris cafe (south Street and Peck Slip) is restored, refurbished and renewed, and open for lunch, dinner and drinks/snacks at the bar. Speaking of which, it was relocated to the south wall after Superstorm Sandy’s surge picked up the old, massive U-shaped bar and tossed it around the pub like mother more than a twig. Up the street, SUteiShi (24 Peck Slip) reopened about the same time last month. Stop by because they have a great promotion going on — put your card in the bowl and if it’s drawn, you win a platter of delectable sushi worth $100! Over at Barbalu (225 Front St.), the delicious Italian-style deli is back for sandwiches, pastas and more.
Coming soon… Barbalu is diligently working on getting its other room open. Look for fine Italian dining by Christmas. And Jack’s Coffee (222 Front St.) hopes to have those roasted stir brewed aromas wafting through the streets within weeks.
And still to come… Work progresses on Nelson Blue, Bridge Cafe and what was once Stella’s is going to become a seafood restaurant.
— By Janel Bladow
