Dottie Hottie

If you’ve ever idled waiting for a train at Shawmut Station, there’s a placard on the station wall with a little featurette on “Dorchester’s Lost Homes.”  They’re not missing, you won’t find them on a milk carton.  By lost, it means, obvs, they’re gone.

Sunday’s Globe featured an interesting and important article about the demise of some of Dorchester’s real estate gems.  The Dot has some grand old dames, but when they fall into disrepair, they’re prime targets for condo redevelopment, meaning knock ‘em down and section ‘em up.  This makes the Dottie Hottie quite sad, sadder than when Starbucks discontinues the Leprechaun Latte — but that’s a whole other can of heart ache altogether.

A demolition delay granted for 1203 Adams St. has expired, and the Dorchester Historical Society worries that the circa-1795 property, once used by Walter Baker Chocolate, may be torn down. (Dina Rudick/Globe Staff)

To view the list of endangered properties from previous years, go to www.dorchesteratheneum.org and click on “architectural preservation.”

If you also have had to detour your regularly scheduled weekend T ride on the Red Line via a shuttle to JFK, rather than hopping on your favored Shawmut, Ashmont stations or the like, the wait may be over.  The Dottie Hottie recognizes that improvements are necessary in our T stations, particularly for the wheelchair bound and strollerpushing among us.  The Dottie Hottie has taken to subscribing to T-Alert notifications by e-mail to stay apprised of weekend service interruptions.  Still, the Dottie Hottie gets cranky like any good denizen reliant upon public trans.  So the Dottie Hottie was encouraged when a conversation was had with an upstanding member of the MBTA Transit Police today who informed that the Ashmont Station should be complete by early fall and buses should be circling the station like covered wagons in a caravan by late summer.  Yipee-rah! Things appear to be shaping up nicely over there at the station where the overhang looks like it was manufactured by NASA and where the sun glints off the poles like there’s going to be a bright future of non-cranky public transport right here in the near future.

Dorchester’s own Anna Ross, MFA has got the Dottie hot hands. Her new book, Hawk Weather, is the winner of the New Women’s Voices Prize in Poetry. For a mere $14 (the price of your Netflix this month, even after you discovered that new Michael Cera movie was kind of like all the other Michael Cera movies - clever and dripping with sarcasm, but still predictable), you can own Ross’ original book. You can read the poems aloud with a flat affect and a contrived black beret like a neo-beatnik. You turn them into raps in the shower. You can quote them in your e-mail signature. Imagine the things you can do with her book, hot off the press.

Support this local poet by purchasing her book here. Go to “New Releases.”

Lovely little video feature on dBar as a rare dining/dancing spot in Boston, specifically Dot. The Dottie Hottie appreciates how Billy Costa does not preface the feature with a diss on the ‘hood but rather a fond appreciation of this pocket of Boston life.

Are you all enjoying the thaw as much as the Dottie Hottie is? Lovely out there without all the snow mush, isn’t it?

Well, if you’re not yet convinced that spring has sprung but still want to turn up the heat, here are two opportunities to get your heart pumping in Dot:

HealthWorks: Instructors Wanted

The members of Codman Square’s HealthWorks Foundation have spoken and the people have listened. HealthWorks is now recruiting individuals who are certified and interested in volunteering their time to teach either yoga, pilates or a dance class. If you are interested devoting time to aid the women of Dorchester for any class, please dial 617-825-2800, or visit the HealthWorks website for more details.

As this spring slowly begins to creep in, the Codman Square Walk for Diabetes Group is looking for active walkers to participate in the group.

The Codman Square Walkers (CSW) began last year and enjoyed a conversive and energetic group of nearly a dozen walkers. This year the group is looking for a new club leader to help organize the group and to try to recruit walkers. If you would like to be a part of the CSW, whether helping lead this group or just enjoying the fresh air and good conversations, please email Codman’s Grace Moore at Grace.Moore@codman.org.

On Sunday, March 15, you can do one of two things.

You can bundle up and join the bawdy drunk masses in Southie for the parade, fighting for your rightful cubit of space to gawk at bagpipin’ men in skirts, freezing your cheeks off.

Or.

You can go to Flat Black at Ashmont for a sweet and savory Coffee Odyssey, featuring coffees of the world and delectable pastries from Boston’s own Sel de la Terre. Learn, Linger, Love. Tickets ($15 each - the price of your T pass and 1 pint of ale if you head to the parade) can be purchased at Flat Black locations downtown and at Ashmont. And if you volunteer to relieve manager Sarah from her kangaroo suit wearing duties, they may offer you a deal, but no promises.

Also, be sure to become their groupie on Facebook!