Fall Pilgrimage, Sunday, September 21st

With the school year in full swing and me working on Saturday, Sunday is our day for family outings. This week we headed out to the Nashoba Valley Winery and Orchard in Bolton, Massachusetts, for our annual fall visit. Jennifer and I have been going there every fall since before Maura was born and Maura has made the trip every year of her life so far. Besides having and orchards where you can pick apples and other fruits in season, Nashoba also has a winery that makes excellent fruit wines, a micro brewery and a licensed distillery where they make their own brandy. They also have a restaurant. Nashoba Valley puts on a festival in the fall each year. This year it was Family Day, with less emphasis on their alcoholic products and more on apples and children’s activities. We were joined on our trip by our good friends, Andrew and Julie Tittler and their son Peter.

The trip to Bolton from Weymouth took about an hour, with a quick stop in Dedham to drop off our contribution to the evening’s supper at the Tittlers’. We arrived in Bolton at about one thirty. We started our festival experience with lunch while we waited for the Tittlers to join us. We had hot dogs with shared sides of beans and red cabbage coleslaw. Everything was delicious.

Once everyone had gathered we headed out into the orchard to pick some apples. The apples had some hail damage so it was a challenge to find good ones. Maura played with Peter and picked mostly for the Tittlers’ bag while Jennifer and I filled ours. We picked a peck of Liberty apples, since they seemed to be the best cooking apples that were ready for picking. They make great apple sauce and are crisp and tasty for eating fresh as well. I haven’t made any pies but I plan to try this weekend.

After apple picking we took a rest at the picnic field. A bluegrass band played live and several kids games were set up around the field. Peter wasn’t feeling well so the Tittlers headed home, but we stayed a while longer to enjoy the music and to watch a juggler perform. We shared a fresh made caramel apple and enjoyed the nearly perfect weather.

The only downside to the trip for us came on our way home. We ran into a bad traffic jam on the highway. It took us as long to go five miles to the bottleneck as it had to drive all the way from Weymouth earlier in the afternoon.

A Quiet Day, Tuesday September 16th

Maura had no school on Tuesday. It was state primary election day and our school system always schedules a teacher development day on election days for the safety of the students and the convenience of the voters. We decided to make a trip to the Children’s Museum. Because of our membership the outing would be very inexpensive. The cost of the museum visit was already paid for, as was Jennifer’s transportation and six-year-olds ride the T for free. Only my T fare had to be paid for, though we had trouble scrounging enough money for it and still leave enough for a few gallons of gas in the almost empty tank of the car.

Once we determined that there was enough money for my T fare we headed for our bus stop. We thoroughly enjoyed the rest of our morning. Maura loves the Children’s Museum any time. Weekdays during the school year are the best times for adults to tag along. The museum wasn’t crowded and the noise level was much lower than it is with a crowd. I was saved a headache and Maura didn’t have to wait to have a turn at many of the exhibits. Even the art studio wasn’t packed, though we did have to wait a few minutes when it was closed for lunch. Maura enjoyed her usual favorite exhibits and especially the art studio, always one of the highlights of our visits. On this trip we made paper beads from old magazines. They were easy and fun to make and in no time we had enough for a fairly long string of colorful beads. The only down side to our trip was that Maura was tired at soccer practice and wasn’t in the mood to run or pay attention to her coach.

The MFA, Sunday September 7th, 2008

Maura started first grade on Wednesday so our season of frequent outings is over. We’ll be limited to weekends and infrequent holidays until Winter Break begins in December. Maura loves school so she’s happy to be back. I will enjoy the quiet and the lack of interruptions when I’m working but I will miss her. Of course, she’ll only be gone weekdays from 9:00 to 3:00.


We still have weekends, of course. Weekends are even better for outings because the whole family can come along. Jennifer—my wife, Maura’s mom—has a regular Monday through Friday job. This weekend we chose to head to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, aka the MFA. Since it was the first weekend of the month and we are Bank of America customers we took advantage of the Bank of America Free Museum Weekend and get in free of charge.


As always when we go into Boston, we took the T, though we drove to the closest T-station to save time. There are few busses on Sunday. There is a conveniently located Green Line stop right in front of the museum.


Once in the Museum we headed for the Egyptian galleries. Maura likes Egyptian art and is fascinated by hieroglyphics. We moved on from there into the Classical Galleries which interested Maura less though she did really enjoy the mosaic floor. She’s working on a mosaic at home, a tile by number affair with stick on tiles. She also enjoyed hearing my story about helping to excavate a mosaic in Greece when I studied archeology in college.


After a quick pit stop we headed across the museum to see some of the collection of American Art that Jennifer likes, including the museum’s large collection of John Singleton Copley’s works. We took a rest and had a snack in the museum's courtyard garden, then finished with a trip to the museum’s collection of musical instruments. Maura was curious about the instruments and drove her mother crazy asking what each one was called.

High Tide, Tuesday September 2nd, 2008

Tuesday was Maura’s last day of summer vacation and I wanted to make it fun and memorable without driving far or spending much of money. Since it was warm and sunny we decided to go to the beach. We packed a bag and headed for Nantasket Beach, a short drive from home in the town of Hull, Massachusetts.


The first thing we noticed when we got to Nantasket was that there wasn’t much beach. The tide was high and there was more surf than I had seen at Nantasket Beach before. Near the parking lot the waves reached the boulders that line the seawall. We walked along the beach past the recently renovated bathhouse and picked a spot where there was a strip of dry sand between the water and the wall. I set up my chair while Maura stripped down to the bathing suit she wore under her clothes.


While Maura played in the sand I relaxed in the shade by the seawall. I kept an eye on Maura but I didn’t worry much. She didn’t go in deeper than her knees or go far down the beach. Though there weren’t any other kids her age around she was clearly having a good time without getting into trouble.


I amused myself by watching people and occasionally by scanning the water with binoculars to watch the ships on their way in and out of Boston Harbor. I saw a Coast Guard helicopter hovering over the sea. Something was raised and lowered from it but it was impossible for me to tell if it was a rescue or a training mission. After the helicopter headed for shore I shifted my gaze to a container ship that was headed out of the harbor. I imagined what might be in the containers it carried.


Suddenly I was hit by a wave that came all the way to the seawall. I was soaked. So were Maura’s clothes and the beach bag. The legs of the beach chair were festooned with seaweed. Maura’s beach toys were washed away and now were racing back and forth in the surf.


I quickly put down the binoculars. Maura, a few yards down the beach, hadn’t been hit by the wave. We chased her beach toys through the surf until we caught them all. It was a good thing they were bright colored plastic. Then it was time to leave. I didn’t want to stay on the beach if the tide might still be rising.

Harbor Islands Adventure, September 1st, 2008

Monday was Labor Day and we decided to end the summer with a trip out to the Boston Harbor Islands for a day of sea, sun, history and nature. We we joined on our excursion by our good friends Andrew and Julie Tittler and their three-year-old son Peter.

Our adventure began at 9:20 in the morning when we sailed from the Quincy ferry terminal in brilliant sunshine. We had brilliant weather all day long, warm without being hot, sunny with a nice breeze. Twenty minutes later we arrived at George's Island, site of Fort Warren, built in 1833 to protect Boston from attack from the sea. Some of the fort is crumbling today but much of it is safe to walk around in and open to the public. Though built for war the fort today is a peaceful place, especially just after the first ferry arrives. We got Maura's DCR passport stamped and Peter acquired one, which was also stamped. Then we headed inside. We had the parade ground in the center of the fort almost to ourselves. We found a shady spot beneath a tree and kicked a soccer ball around for a while. It was fun.

When we got tired of soccer we split up for a time. The men and boy went off to explore the fort for a bit leaving the ladies on their own. We were in search of the dark tunnel, which the rangers guide tours through without lights, usually after telling the story of the Woman in Black, the ghost of the wife of confederate soldier who was killed trying to break her husband out of prison in Fort Warren during the civil war. We didn't find the tunnel but in searching I found my way into an ordinarily locked gallery which was truly frightening. It was completely dark, except for in one spot where some dim light shown down from somewhere above. The walls were irregular and hard to follow and sound did not help because the hard walls at odd angles made confusing echoes that seemed to come from every direction at once. I was happy to find my way out, though I was separated from the rest of my party.

Eventually the whole group got back together and we headed off to visit our second island of the day. We took the water taxi from Georges Island to Spectacle Island, closer to Boston. The two brush covered hills of Spectacle Island offered fantastic views of the city and the harbor, but little in the way of shade. The natural hills of Spectacle have been made higher with landfill from the city, including material dug out of the Big Dig. We climbed high on top of one of the hills, now habitat for birds and butterflies with brush and wildflowers and small trees that some day may give shade. We enjoyed a picnic at a pretty picnic area high on the southernmost of the two hills and then rushed down to catch the boat back to Georges Island but missed it. The hour wait for the next boat was rather enjoyable. I bought the kids ice cream sandwiches and Julie treated Jenn and I to coffee from the snack bar, which was weak but tasted good.

Back on Georges Island we all set off to explore the fort some more. Maura was at first afraid to enter anyplace even slightly dark or mysterious she got over it a bit after we coaxed her into going down the stairs with us into the demi-lune, an outwork designed to protect the gate from attack. It wasn't really very dark or scary in there. After that Maura went everywhere, even through the Dark Tunnel when we finally found it. I didn't take her through the gallery that I had found frightening. I think that might have been too much for her. We made our way back to the wharf along the outside of the fort. I'd hoped to explore some tide pools, but it was high tide, and there was nothing to see. We rested again before catching the ferry back to Quincy. We were fortunate that we allowed plenty of time to get to the ferry because it was crowded and had we arrived at the dock late we would have had to wait for the next one. We all were all pretty tired by the time the ferry landed in Quincy and everyone at our house slept very well that night.

Quincy Shore, August 26, 2008

Maura and I made another short trip in a our quest to fill her DCR park passport. A quick drive over the Fore River Bridge brought us to the Quincy Shore Reservation. We parked along Wallaston Beach and walked over to Tony's Clam Shop for lunch--fried seafood. Maura had shrimp, her very favorite food. We took a short walk along the beach to the headquarters of the reservation where we got a stamp for Maura's book. Then we moved the car, a rather difficult undertaking, to a lot on the other side of Quincy Shore drive at the south end of the beach. Maura spent some time at the nearby playground and then walked down to the edge of the Black's Creek Estuary to do some birdwatching. There, in the middle of Quincy, is an excellent spot to watch shore birds feeding at the edge of the salt marsh. Maura couldn't get a good look at the laughing gull, the willets or the Great Blue Heron because her binoculars weren't strong enough and she couldn't get the hang of focusing mine. Both of us got a wonderful view of a Great Egret as it fed on the mud flats near us and then flew away across the river. Both of us agreed it was the highlight of our day.