You may have seen them as you walk through the park on a Tuesday night, or perhaps you have just seen the results of their labors.

They are the Rose Brigade, an all-volunteer sub-group of the Friends of the Public Garden, which tends to the Garden’s four rose beds, and they are celebrating their 20-year anniversary.

They are a group that works hard at their chosen civic involvement, but they also require a light-heart and membership in the Friends of the Public Garden

“It was really Olga’s idea,” explains China Altman, co-founder and leader of the Rose Brigade, referring to Olga Marshak, a longtime member of the group.

According to Altman, her own tenure of volunteer service in the Public Garden dates back to 1982, after Proposition 2 ½ had passed and the city eliminated the maintenance budget item for cleaning up trash in the Public Garden.

“Quite literally, all the clean-up in the Public Garden stopped and trash was piling up. It looked terrible and was getting worse,” recalled Altman.

After a meeting of concerned neighbors and Friends of the Public Garden a volunteer committee of cleaners was formed, and the group spent one day a week for the next five years cleaning up trash in the Public Garden.

In 1987, the city resurrected the maintenance line item for the Public Garden and volunteers were no longer needed.

“Tom Kershaw was the official leader of the volunteer group, but I had been the leader on the ground,” said Altman. “Once the city began cleaning up the Garden again the clean-up group disbanded. A year later I got a call from Olga (Marshak) and she told me she missed working in the garden.”

Altman told her she didn’t think there was any work for them to do, but Marshak said she’d noticed that the roses needed some work. It took a bit of prodding and a few meetings between the Friends of the Public Garden and the Parks Department, but finally, the two groups agreed to let the women work on the roses on two conditions.

First, they could only work on the roses after the professional gardeners had gone home for the day, and they couldn’t tell anyone they were doing it.

“We were sub-rosa at that point, from 1988 to 1999,” said Altman. “We were allowed to go public in 1999 when Roy Blomquist became horticultural superintendent for the Parks Department.”

The Rose Brigade has a standard membership of about 20 volunteers.

“We meet every Tuesday, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. from June to mid-November,” said Altman. “Being the summer, there are usually members who are on vacation, so we hope for a turnout of about 8 to 12 each week. Our scheduled time is considered a window and people come down to work for as long as they can each week.”

Altman also explained that it is not uncommon for people strolling by to offer to help for the day and the group has even had the help of visiting tourists, young children and college students from time to time.

“We teach people if they don’t know how and we have all the tools necessary with us, so that people can come straight from work if they like,” said Altman.

Melida Demorizi is a new member, having joined the Rose Brigade this year, after being invited by Altman to help out one day.

“I wanted to give back to the community and it’s a wonderful group of ladies and gentlemen,” said Demorizi. “She (Altman) takes care of these gardens like they’re her own.”

“I joined because I used to walk by the garden every day and one day I finally said hello to them,” explained Melissa Scher, a nearly ten-year veteran of the Rose Brigade. “I should have said something sooner. (Volunteering this way) I actually feel like this is my public garden.”

Mike Rakita was volunteered by his wife one day when the couple, as they were walking by, stopped to compliment the group on the good work they were doing.

“It really is something special,” said Rakita. “You walk through the park and there is all the beautiful stuff that is done by the professional gardeners, but we’re a group of volunteers, so these just seem prettier, at least to me and those who appreciate the work we do.”

Julie Hahn, another volunteer, noted that the reward in the work the group does comes from the compliments and appreciation they receive.

“The thing that is the most fun is that people walk by and say thank you,” said Hahn. “In a big, busy world it is the little things that make a difference and to know that our work is affecting people (positively) who walk by and see it, that makes you feel good about what you are doing.”

In the Back Bay in the summertime, with flowers in full bloom and the Swan Boats gracefully sailing across the water, many residents would agree that art is all around. But this month, art really will be everywhere, through the New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University’s summer 2007 exhibition, “STENCILS: Public Space and Intervention.”

Throughout August, Back Bay residents out for an afternoon walk in the Public Garden may find themselves in the middle of a public intervention work of art about street violence, or they may be asked to consider the physical forms of gods and goddesses in a stencil performance in Copley Square one evening.

It’s all part of STENCILS, the project that curators Hiroko Kikuchi and Alice Vogler organized to push the boundaries of how the public experiences and interacts with art. Fourteen of the area’s best emerging artists specializing in interactive and performance based art have works featured in the exhibit.

Kikuchi says she and Vogler posed the simple question of “What is stenciling?” when asking artists to submit ideas for works to be included in the exhibit.

“The whole idea of stenciling has been something I’ve been very interested in as an artist,” Kikuchi says.

Vogler says that after a call for artists, she and Kikuchi selected those they knew and trusted, and the curators were pleased when the artists all branched out from their typical work and addressed various timely issues through their stenciling works.

“I never wanted to make it an issue-based show, but the artists were very interested in the subject matter, so I think it works,” says Kikuchi.

Themes of media literacy, street violence, the politics of value, gender identification, gentrification and more are addressed in the individual artists’ works. Interested viewers can learn all about the individual art performances and schedules, as well as the exhibit on the whole, at the New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University Gallery at 75 Arlington Street. The performance art works are taking place all over the Back Bay and beyond.

“The gallery is really the information station. It’s the seed of information about the project, and the work is occurring in public spaces,” says Vogler.

Viewers can then follow the schedule and choose to participate in the individual performance art works. But some of the audience will be comprised of people just walking by who happen to become involved.

“There’s an interesting dynamic to public space and personal space,” Kikuchi says. “Whoever walks by and experiences the pieces will be really central to the work.”

STENCILS opened last week at a successful reception, and Vogel and Kikuchi are pleased so far with their exhibition. The duo, friends since their days of graduate school, are already looking forward to their next project as well, thinking of new ways to challenge viewers.

“My hope for all art is that viewers or the audience will leave with questions in their mind and something more than what they came with,” Vogel says.

Will the little one be a girl or a boy? Will Tom be in the delivery room? Will Giselle be jealous? And what to get the baby who no doubt will have everything?

As Boston anxiously awaits the pending arrival of baby Brady-Moynahan, most of these questions will have to wait to be answered. But the Back Bay's best baby and maternity shops do have a few suggestions for those who'd like to get a present for Tom and Bridget's newborn - and a few suggestions for those of us shopping for a baby who doesn't happen to be the progeny of a Superbowl MVP and a super model.

At Mulberry Road on Gloucester Street, owner Sandy Nelson searches for hip and unique items that are sure to make any baby smile. If the Brady-Moynahan infant is a boy, she suggests a pair of football-themed Robeez -- slip-on, soft leather baby shoes and baby booties. This line of durable and comfortable footwear is perfect for a QB in training. Nelson also suggests a selection from the Urban Smalls line of onesies. These clothes are all about cool attitude with a retro vibe, and she says the onesie that reads "My Mom's a Fox" would be a great gift, because, well, it's true.

Nelson recommends a gift from the Urban Smalls onesie line for any baby. There are a variety of cute and clever sayings to choose from.

"The onesie that reads 'My Dad's a Geek' has been very popular," she says. "A lot of people seem to want to take a stab at dad."

Mulberry Road carries many more presents that will garner a chuckle, including Wry Baby's line of irreverent clothing emblazoned with witty sayings such as "Photo with Baby - $25," or "I Might Barf."

And Nelson says soft and sweet gifts are always a good choice, like Blabla's line of natural-fiber dolls and toys knitted by Peruvian artists. Sock monkeys, pig rattles and jungle-themed mobiles are all popular.

Nelson also recommends the Taggies line of security blankets or a soft Chenille baby hoodie, always a welcome gift.

At 9 Months on Newbury Street, owner Katie Tagliavia says she would outfit Tom and Bridget's baby in selections from the childish clothing line, a selection of onesies and other outfits designed for the "rock star" baby. childish is all the rage on the West Coast, with celebrity moms such as Kate Hudson, Gwyneth Paltrow and Liv Tyler all professed fans.

"It's very trendy and cool, very L.A.," says Tagliavia.
Many of the shirts and onesies are decorated with crystals, and Tagliavia says her favorite shirts are the ones that say "Will Cry for Food" or "My Dad Is My Hero."

Other presents that Tagliavia suggests include Golfini della Nonna's line of wonderfully detailed and intricate finger puppets made from the highest-quality, 100 percent Pima cotton. The puppets come in sets such as a hot air balloon, a train or a police car.

9 Months also carries Golfini della Nonna's 100 percent Alpaca fleece dolls. Tagliavia especially likes the crocodile and the octopus.

Tagliavia also loves Goody Goody's leather infant shoes, which come in fun patterns with non-skid suede soles and either Velcro side panels or elastic sides to keep the shoes on baby's feet.

"They're really whimsical with lady bugs and horses," she says.

And while shopping for a new baby, Tagliavia suggests gifting the older brother or sister with a present as well. She says "sibling gifts" are a hot trend, with parents not wanting their other children to feel left out as the family grows. For sisters, Tagliavia suggests a pretty ballerina tutu that will grow with the child up to age six. And for brothers, old-fashioned hobbyhorses are making a comeback.

For those of you shopping for the Brady-Moynahan baby, you may only have a few days or you could have a few months, depending on which reports are to be believed. So, get shopping before all the blinged-out burpie cloths are gone!

The dead of summer

It is the dead of summer – a moment when there is almost as much summer in front of us as behind. It is a relaxing, passing New England moment – the dead of summer - when we can take stock of ourselves while enjoying the warmth, which, like the summer, is fleeting.

We get only so many summers to live in a lifetime, so many warm days to wear short-sleeved shirts and dream about our lives. We don’t know how many summers we will have in a lifetime. That information is the work of fate, we suppose.

The summer of 2007 has been uneventful in this part of the nation. If summer were a notation on a baseball score card, it would read: no hits, no runs, no errors. We have been free of the natural disasters causing havoc in the great forests burning in the West. Except for a few days of uncomfortable heat and humidity, the summer has featured warm days and unusually cool evenings – great sleeping weather that reminds us that fall is never far away.

At the beach, on the Esplanade or wherever one might find himself or herself on a hot summer day, there is the typical dead of summer ambiance – babies in strollers with their bare toes peeking out; teenagers playing soccer on the low tide sand; college-age girls in their bikinis and thongs, many of them tattooed, sunning themselves on blankets spread on the grass with not much more on their minds but looking good, hooking up for a summer romance or simply killing time.

The summer of 2007 has been a summer to fall in love. It has been a summer to fall out of love. It has been a summer to get married and to begin the honeymoon, and it has been a summer to get divorced and to begin a new personal journey.

Babies have been born, old people have died. The sick have grown sicker and the needy remain, as always, needy. At the dead of summer, we are always reminded of the great Charles Dickens and his eloquent introduction to his masterpiece, “A Tale of Two Cities”.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. We had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way …”

As we meander through the remainder of the summer of 2007, we should attempt to appreciate each day as it comes, as each day of our lives on this earth might be our last. Each day of this summer might be our last … but then, this might be just another summer to be followed by 30 more.

Who knows? Who cares? It is the dead of summer of 2007. Life is treating the vast majority of us in such a way that we might justifiably say, “We wish this summer of our lives might never end. If only we could freeze ourselves in time at this moment in July, when the summer feels endless and so much more of it still awaits us.”