Pride and Joy

I don’t think of myself as a perfect parent and often not as a good one. I’m frequently aloof, often short-tempered, and not always consistent. Despite my shortcomings I often see evidence that I might be doing something right. At the very least I can see that I’m not undermining with my poor parenting the good work that Jennifer does as Maura’s mother or destroying by my inattention Maura’s essential good nature.

One of those occasions when I can see that Maura is absorbing the lessons that her mother and I want her to learn came last Friday on the final night of Chanukah when Maura opened her last gift. She had appreciated the earlier gifts and I don’t think she had any disappointments. She takes her new stuffed Panda to bed at night and she wanted to wear her new dress to school even though it isn’t appropriate and I had to tell her no. It was clear from the moment that she opened it that the last gift was her favorite--the one that gave her the most pleasure to receive.

That final gift was a boxed collection of classic books for children. Jennifer and I had spotted it at the library book sale and picked it up right away. We can’t agree on who saw it first or whose idea it was to get it but neither of us had any doubts that Maura would love it and I am proud to say we were perfectly correct. Her eyes lit up when she unwrapped her box of books and right away she wanted to start reading them.

Maura is not a strange child. She is friendly and outgoing and enjoys company. She loves to play video games and watch TV. She enjoys being active; playing outside, ice skating, playing soccer and riding her bike. When she’s cooped up inside she sometimes chooses to dance around the living room listening to music on the stereo. She also loves to read and she’ll never be a child whose reaction to receiving a book as a gift is a lukewarm thank you, but rather a smile of genuine delight.

As a parent as well as a as a writer I am really gratified by my daughter’s love of reading. Her mother and I have done our best to instill in her that love. She has always been read to and seen us reading. There are books always in the house for everyone and frequent trips are made to the library to borrow more. I’m pleased when I hear Maura say she wants to grow up to be a writer and I would not be surprised if she does, but I’m more proud that she is already a reader. It’s a big step toward whatever she chooses to become and one that I have no doubt will be a big help and pleasure for her through her whole life.

Harvard Museum of Natural History

On Tuesday, December 8th, we made an excursion to the Harvard Museum of Natural History on the Harvard Campus in Cambridge. The whole family made the trip. Jennifer had taken the day off and my parents were making their annual holiday visit to exchange gifts and see their granddaughter. It was not our most enjoyable trip, though that was hardly the fault of the museum, which has some truly spectacular exhibits. I think we were all a bit tired, my father was not feeling well, and I was in a lousy mood. Still, I think we all enjoyed the time we spent at the museum

The trip started well with lunch at the John Harvard Brewhouse in Harvard Square. The food and the service were good and for the adults there was tasty microbrewery beer. I enjoyed mine immensely. The walk across the Harvard Campus to the museum was rather less pleasant since the day was rather raw and it was a relief to arrive and get inside out of the weather.

The HMNH has some fascinating collections. On this trip we skipped the Great Hall of Mammals, probably the museum’s greatest draw, because on our last visit the fumes from the preservatives made Maura ill. This time we gave more attention to the remarkable display of glass flowers, which are truly amazing. Copies in glass of botanical specimens, they are both beautiful and accurate; superb examples of both natural beauty and remarkable craftsmanship. I would love to return alone someday to spend more time admiring them and improving my knowledge of botany.

The other highlight of the trip for me was the brief excursion we made into the Peabody Museum of Ethnography and Archaeology, which is connected to the Museum of Natural History. We spent little time there because we were already at the end of our day but I found the exhibit of mural paintings from the southwestern United States and Mexico to be really fascinating. I would love to see more of the Peabody. Next time we make a visit to museums at Harvard we’ll have to go to the Peabody first. So far we’ve barely scratched the surface of it.

Jennifer had planned a side trip after the museum visit to Burdick’s, reputed to have the best hot chocolate in the Boston Metropolitan Area. I would have preferred to skip that part of the day, but Maura was excited about it so I didn’t say anything. When we found the place it was crowded and there was no chance of the five of us finding seats. I found the place uninviting and oppressive and wanted to leave. I managed to anger Jennifer by my expression of indifference to the idea of getting something to go and my refusal to make a decision about it. I didn’t want to be blamed for disappointing Maura. In the end Maura and Jennifer got some hot chocolate, the rest of us didn’t, no one but Maura was really happy and I’ll never know if the hot chocolate’s reputation is deserved or not.

The Harry Potter Exhibition

This Sunday Jennifer, Maura and I went to see the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Museum of Science. Our good friend Joe McGlone joined us for the trip. The exhibition was a collection of props and costumes from the Harry Potter movies. They were extremely detailed and well crafted and many of them were quite beautiful. Most of them, however, were props from movies neither I nor Maura had seen. Despite that, both Maura and I enjoyed the exhibition, though I might have been slightly disappointed if we had paid full price for our tickets rather than getting them at the substantial discount available to Museum of Science members. I’m sure the real fans of the movies were completely enthralled and felt they got their money’s worth.

Since we arrived early and had timed tickets we had some took in some of the museum exhibits before viewing the exhibition. The Museum of Science has become one of our favorite spots to visit in Boston and we’ll be there several more times over the course of the year since we are members and our visits to the museum's galleries are paid for. We didn’t have a lot of time on this visit so we concentrated on some of our favorite spots, the mathematics gallery and the Discovery Center which features hands-on exhibits for children.

For me the most interesting thing I saw on our trip wasn’t something in the Harry Potter exhibition or even a museum exhibit. While we were in the Discovery Center we got to watch a fascinating, if gory, display of nature in action. A red-tailed hawk had taken down a squirrel in the back garden of the museum and we got to watch from the large picture windows as she ate her lunch. Though she knew she was being watched the hawk was not at all disturbed by our presence since we were safely on the other side of the windows and therefore no threat. We got a superb view as the magnificent bird devoured her unlucky victim. She took her time and I could have watched for much longer but we had to go.

The Secrets of Tomb 10A

Yesterday Maura had the day off for Veterans’ Day and by happy coincidence the Museum of Fine Arts had free admission for the day, both to the museum and to the current exhibition of Egyptian artifacts from Tomb 10A at Deir el-Bersha, excavated by a museum sponsored exhibition in 1915. Though the artifacts have been in the museum collection since 1920 many have never been exhibited before and they are quite spectacular finds. Though the tomb, which belonged to a high official named Djehutynakht and his wife, had been looted of its most valuable artifacts the robbers had no interest in the wooden coffins that once contained the mummies of the pair or in the many wooden models that substituted for the servants the two would need to provide for their needs in the afterlife. The models included scenes of domestic and agricultural chores and a fleet of boats to carry them safely on their river journeys in the afterlife. Though perhaps not as spectacular as the gold and jewels no doubt stolen by the long-ago robbers, the models are for more enlightening because they show us how the ancient people of Egypt lived. The coffins too are enlightening and beautiful. Covered with scenes and spells in painted hieroglyphics, they tell us about what the Egyptians believed and how they saw their place in this world and in the afterlife.

The exhibit was fascinating and very well put together. Since I’m an archaeologist by training I was entranced and I think Maura was too. She loves ancient Egyptian art and finds hieroglyphics fascinating. She was interested enough in the subject matter to want to read much of the explanatory text and to listen to me talk about the artifacts we saw. I’m very proud of how she takes an interest in a subject that many kids might find dry and boring—and also of how well she behaved in the museum once she began to tire.

Once we had seen the special exhibit we spent some time in the rest of the museum. Mostly I let Maura decide what we would look at. She likes Asian art, particularly Japanese Buddhist sculpture. I encouraged her to think about the pieces we saw and she encouraged me by doing what I asked of her, answering questions about the relationships between the objects we saw. It is a real joy to visit a museum with a child who enjoys learning.

Golf at the Library

Last Sunday we had a family outing to our local library to play miniature golf. The library had set up an 18-hole miniature golf course winding through the stacks, complete with greens, obstacles, and flags in the holes. The course wound from the circulation desk, through the reference area, the main stacks, the periodicals area and then down the stairs to finish in the children’s room. There were many challenging holes and a few easier ones. Maura and I both managed a hole-in-one shooting down the stairs, but it was luck for both of us. For five dollars a round we all had a great time, though we could all have done with a bit more practice. Including five dollars worth of raffle tickets the whole outing cost us $20, about what it would have cost us to go to a movie.

Unlike going to see a movie this family outing had a purpose beyond entertainment and family togetherness. The library isn’t usually open as a miniature golf course on Sunday. They tried it once as a fundraiser and by all appearances it was a big success. The links were busy when we got there and by the time we left there was a line of people waiting for their turn. I have high hopes that the library association reached its funding goals and more. In this era of tight state budgets our libraries are chronically underfunded and the money they do receive is often under threat. They can use all the extra help they can get and I urge you to support your local library. Your support may be what is needed to keep it open, relevant and free too patrons.

For me, I can think of no other public institution that directly benefits me as much as my library. I can indulge my reading habit without impoverishing myself and, even more important, keep Maura supplied with books to encourage her love of reading. Even in the age of the Internet the library remains one of the best sources of information available and a first stop for research projects when the quality of the information counts. For those who lack Internet connections at home the library offers access to the Net for free and without the need to own a computer. For me the library is also often my office, a place where I can work without the distractions of home and the place where I can connect with my town and escape the feeling of isolation that days at home can give. I cannot imagine living without the library and I hope the resources and the will can be found to keep it, and all of our local libraries, open and vital for the future.

Annual Nashoba Valley Winery Trip

This last Sunday we made our annual fall trip to the Nashoba Valley Winery in Bolton, Massachusetts, to take in one of their fall festivals. Maura has been every year since she was born and Jennifer and I have been making the trip even longer. The trip is one of the highlights of our year and we’ll likely continue it in years to come. In addition to producing some very enjoyable wines, Nashoba Valley offers apple picking in their orchard and a microbrewery that makes some very good beer. While its alcoholic products are for adults only Nashoba’s orchards and their festival events are family friendly and Maura enjoys our annual excursions there as much as her parents do.


This year our weather was bright and warm, the very best of fall weather in New England. We could sit outside and enjoy the day without bundling up. We haven’t always had such great weather for our visits. On the day of Maura’s first festival at Nashoba it was a raw cold day, New England fall weather at its almost worst. She was only two months old, a tiny baby. I wore her in a front carrier zipped up under my coat to keep her warm. Another year there had been so much rain that the field used as a parking lot turned into a swamp. Our car sank to the axles in the mud and we had to call a tow truck to pull us out. The driver stayed to pull out the dozens of other cars that needed his services.


This year we met a group of our friends for the Brews and Bluegrass Festival. The festival featured beer from the microbrewery on tap and music provided by bluegrass band Southern Rail, all outdoors in the winery’s picnic area. Between sets we enjoyed spending time with our friends while Maura and their children ran around and rolled down a grassy slope, getting dizzy and covered in grass stains.


For a treat at the end of the day we had fresh caramel apples. Maura’s treat got the better of her. When she was done with it she’d lost a tooth and covered herself in caramel. Of course, the tooth had been loose already. It got wrapped up to go under her pillow for the tooth fairy.



On our way home we took the scenic route, heading back toward Boston on route 117 through Stowe, Sudbury and Lincoln. Our route took us by the Walden Pond Reservation and through woodlands and farmlands. The bright sunshine lit the brilliant colors of the autumn trees along the way. We stopped at a farm stand for fresh pressed cider, a great ending to our beautiful day.

Camping With Maura

This past weekend Jennifer and I took Maura camping. It was her first camping trip. We had been talking about camping all summer but we didn’t have a tent and it was hard to find a weekend we could go. We finally decided that we would go Columbus Day Weekend, weather allowing, knowing that it would be the last chance we would have this year. We borrowed a tent from our friends the Tittlers, bought a new sleeping bag for Maura and found the rest of our gear in closets and the shed.

The week before the trip it looked like we might have to wait for spring. The whole family was down with a nasty cold. Maura was out sick from school for two days and I felt sick enough on Saturday night that I came home early from work. When we woke on Sunday, though, we felt well enough for camping. We had a good breakfast, loaded up the car with our food and camping gear and headed for Shawme-Crowell State Forest in Sandwich at the base of Cape Cod.

We had a good time on our trip. There were no disasters. On Sunday afternoon we stayed near our campsite enjoying the tasks of setting up camp, gathering firewood and cooking dinner. We got a nice fire going and after the sun went down and it got chilly we huddled around it. We toasted marshmallows for s’mores and sang songs. Well after dark we walked down the road to a clearing and looked at the stars. We couldn’t identify many of the constellations but we could see many more stars than we get to see when we look at the night sky here in Weymouth. It might have been the first time Maura got to see real darkness outside.

After star gazing we retired to our sleeping bags and settled in for the night. We didn’t sleep well. It was cold and none of us was used to sleeping in a tent but it was still fun. When we got up to use the bathroom the moon had risen and though it was only a crescent it was bright enough to cast shadows.

A few hours later we woke to a cold (but not quite frosty) morning. I got the fire going again and started the stove to heat water for hot cocoa and make our breakfast oatmeal. After breakfast we broke camp, packed up and cleaned up the campsite. We put Maura in charge of picking up bits of paper, most of it left behind by previous campers. We wanted to leave the site cleaner than we found it.

The rest of the morning and early afternoon we spent hiking and exploring around Sandwich. We hiked a bit in Shawme-Crowell, visited the Cape Cod Canal and learned about it at the Canal Visitor Center and explored the Greenbriar Nature Center and Jam Kitchen. Then we had a large lunch at a restaurant and headed back home. We had a wonderful time and everyone agreed we would go camping again in the spring.

Dinosaur Tracking

Last Monday Maura and I celebrated the remaining time we had together during the summer with a road trip. We headed west to Connecticut, leaving just late enough in the morning for traffic around Boston to clear. Our mission was to track a dinosaur. We knew we wouldn’t find the beast itself. It had been gone for 100 million years. It walked the sandy shores of a Connecticut lake in the early Jurassic and left its tracks set in stone to be seen by humans eons later.

Maura and I did not see the trackway preserved at Dinosaur State Park in Rocky Hill Connecticut, under a dome erected over the spot where it was found to protect the tracks from the weather. The exhibit was closed, as it is every Monday, a fact I had failed to note when I had visited the park’s web site the night before.

Maura was disappointed but we made the best of our trip. The park itself is open every day and we stopped for a while. We ate a picnic lunch while wishing we had brought bug spray to keep off the mosquitoes. After lunch we took a nature hike. We walked through a red maple swamp and up a traprock ridge. On our way back we spotted dragon flies and watched them for a time. When we returned to our car we saw a taste of what we had come to see. Next to the parking lot was a slap of rock with several clear dinosaur footprints in it.

We took the long way home across Connecticut. We expected we would find something interesting to see along the way. We passed a historic home or two and at least one museum, but all seemed to be closed on Mondays. We still managed to enjoy the day. It was nice to spend time together away from the TV and the computer. We walked and talked together and I taught Maura a bit about geology, one of my favorite subjects. We also beat the heat. During the only real heat wave we’ve had this summer in New England we spent the day in the air-conditioned car not the very warm house.

The Great Road Trip

This year our summer vacation was a visit to my family in Indiana. Because of moderate gas prices this summer we chose to drive. It made for a long and tiring journey in both directions but the vacation was everything I wanted it to be. We enjoyed the company of my parents and my sister Marcia and had a wonderfully fun and relaxing time. Our time in Indiana was divided between my parents’ home in Zionsville, just north of Indianapolis, and their vacation home on Lake Monroe, in the south central part of the state. When Jennifer and I had to head home we left Maura behind to spend an extra week with her grandparents.

We left at eleven o’clock on Saturday night, the end of my shift at Borders. Our plan was to drive overnight, avoiding traffic and as much as possible avoiding having to deal with a bored six-year-old. We figured that driving through the darkness would encourage Maura to sleep for a good part of the trip. The plan worked. Jennifer and I shared the driving, sleeping when we were not behind the wheel, and we all arrived safely in Zionsville tired but with our sanity intact.

Our stay in the Indianapolis area was very enjoyable. We went to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum were we saw the Tutankhamen and the Great Pharaohs of Egypt exhibition. I found it fascinating and could have spent all day in the exhibition but I think Maura enjoyed the time we spent in the permanent collections of the museum more. The Indianapolis Children’s Museum is a wonder and worth a visit for anyone visiting Indianapolis, with our without children.

The other highlight of our time in Zionsville was attending an Indianapolis Indians game. The Indians are Indianapolis’s AAA minor league baseball team. We got rained on and the home team didn’t win but it was still fun to sit in the stands and root for them. Victory Park, where the Indians play, is a great place to catch a game. The stadium is intimate and friendly, the ticket prices are reasonable and the level of play, though not up to major league standards, is still thoroughly professional.

On Thursday we took a side trip down to King's Island, an amusement park in Ohio, not far from Cincinnati. It was a fun trip, though a long day. Maura loves rides and at King’s Island she added roller coasters, which she had been avoiding, to her list of favorites. Maura often has to be coaxed onto rides, but once she’s on them the wilder they are the more fun she has. While we were at King’s Island we were able to see our friend Sean and his family. Sean moved to Ohio two years ago and we don’t often get to see him now. The chance to spend a few hours catching up with an old friend made a fun day even better.

On Friday we drove down to my parents’ house on Lake Monroe. A trip to the lake house is always a highlight of any visit to Indiana. The house is on a wooded hillside overlooking the quiet end of the lake. There are neighbors but they do little to disturb the tranquility of the place. There is nothing more relaxing than sitting on the large porch overlooking the lake watching the hummingbirds buzz around the feeders like feathered bees, then watching the fireflies rise into the treetops once the sun goes down.

The end of the trip was bittersweet. We said goodbye to Maura and my parents before getting in the car for our long drive home. She spent another week with her grandparents. Jennifer and I both missed Maura but it was nice to spend time alone together. The drive home was pleasant though long. We were lucky enough to witness a natural wonder as we made our way through western Pennsylvania. A rain shower in partial sunshine produced a perfect double rainbow to cheer us on our way.

Travel Envy

My passport expired long ago and I haven’t applied for a new one. I want to have a passport. I intend to apply but I have no sense of urgency. I don’t expect to be travelling out of the United States any time soon. My circumstances now don’t allow for long or expensive trips.

I wish, often, that it were otherwise. I rarely read travel books but I find myself gazing at the pictures of exotic places that grace their covers and saying to myself, “Why am I here?” I’m not questioning my purpose in life. My life has plenty of meaning. I find it in my relationships with God and with my family. I’m just wondering why I am in Weymouth, Massachusetts, and not in Africa, or New Zealand, or Brazil, or England, or New Mexico, or anywhere else. The world is full of places that I’ve never been and want to see, and equally full of places I’ve been before and want to see again.

Many of my happiest memories are of trips I’ve taken in the past with family and friends. It is a joy to go new places, do new things, eat new foods. I miss the days when I traveled more widely, when I accumulated stamps in my passport and highway miles on my car. I do remember, though, that there were times when I longed for the comforts of home. Now that I spend most of my time in my home I need to remember to savor those comforts. And when home is too small and boring, I have to remind myself that there are adventures waiting for me in my own back yard.

Even here in Weymouth there are places I have never been, activities that I have never tried, and foods I have never tasted. Boston is close enough that I can go for a day, do plenty, and be back for dinner without ever getting behind the wheel of my car. If I feel like driving, most of New England can be visited in a day. There are probably more things to see and do within one hundred miles of where I live than I could manage in a lifetime. So until the roads and skies of the world open up for me again and I start accumulating miles on my car and stamps in a new passport I’ll go out and find my adventures close to home. I won’t lack for travelling companions and I’ll make plenty of new memories to take with me when I’m again travelling the country and the world.

We Went to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

Last Thursday was Maura’s class field trip to the Franklin Park Zoo. At her school they get one big field trip each year so their trip to the zoo was one of the highlights of their school year. I went along as a volunteer chaperon. It was a long day but I’m glad I could help.

I arrived at school in the morning with Maura. We walked from home despite the promise of rain because I didn’t want to worry about parking at school. As a special treat we stopped for breakfast at the donut shop about halfway between home and school. One I had signed in at the office and the kids had settled into their classroom I went down to meet them. I was one of two parent volunteers for the class. I was assigned four students to watch during the day, Maura and three boys from her class. Then we boarded the bus and headed to the zoo.

It was a long and trying day for me but it was fun too. Once at the zoo the class split up and I was alone for the day with my four charges. I had not expected the class to be split up that way. It was all up to me and the kids what we did with the day. We managed to see pretty much everything the Franklin Park Zoo has to offer, except the giraffes. They were in their house staying out of the cold. It was not a warm day and it threatened to rain all day though it never did. I’m certainly glad for that. Many of the best exhibits at Franklin Park are indoors but there were lots of kids at the zoo and they all would have been crowded inside if it had been raining.
My four kids were all very good and excited about their trip to the zoo. Everyone wanted to see everything and they were remarkably patient and didn’t give me a hard time. They biggest problem was keeping them together. Someone was always running ahead or trailing behind and I feel lucky that I did not lose any of them.

Everyone has their own favorite animals at the zoo. I’m fond of the mandrills and the tamarins in the rain forest exhibit. Maura likes the lemurs. All the kids like the emus because they heard a story about emus in class. One of the peacocks that wander free in the zoo gave us a nice suprise. It fanned out its tail and put on a display for us. It was very impressive.

I was completely exhausted by the time we got back on the bus. Maura put her head on my shoulder and took a nap. I wish I could have done the same but it was a noisy and bumpy ride back to the school.

Ready to Roll

Maura received a bicycle for her birthday last year but for various reasons it sat in our shed for most of a year unridden. Our street, though fairly quiet, is still too busy for bike riding lessons and last fall we had no way to transport the bicycle to a better location. New England winters are not good times to be out on a bicycle. Now that it’s nearly summer and fair weather is expected it is time Maura learned to ride her bike. Last weekend we took the time to give her some lessons.

Our first lesson was Saturday afternoon. Once I had figured out how to mount the bike rack to the trunk of the Toyota we strapped Maura’s Hannah Montana bicycle on to it and headed to Great Esker Park where I was sure we would find a good place for Maura to ride. While the park’s most notable feature is the esker of its name, a long, steep-sided hill, near the parking lot is one of flattest places in Weymouth. A smoothly paved path that circles the ball field there is an ideal place for a bike lesson.

On Saturday I started out holding the handlebars and seat of the bike while I walked alongside reminding Maura to pedal. Soon I was letting go to jog behind her for a little while before she fell over or ran off the path out of control. Every time she fell over Maura got back on the bike with a smile on her face ready to try again. She hadn’t yet mastered bike riding by the time we had to go home for supper but she made a lot of progress.

We were back on Sunday afternoon for another lesson. While she still lost control of the bike often she was clearly getting her balance. Now instead of jogging right behind her while she pedaled slowly and unsteadily for a few yards I was running to catch up while she rode halfway around the circuit before losing control. She had a great time despite a skinned knees and I’m confident that she’ll be riding like a pro before school’s out for the summer.

Maura’s cheerful persistence in trying to ride her bike is heartening to me. She’s learned one of the lessons I’ve tried to teach her—that it is worth working at something until you get it right if it is something worth doing at all. I know that it is a lesson she will forget from time to time. I know I do. Still the better she learns it now the better she will be at dealing with failure and frustration when she needs to learn a difficult skill or one that gives her less pleasure.

Ocean Racing

Because it was Mother’s Day, last Sunday’s activities were Jennifer’s choice. She thought it would be fun to check out the Volvo Ocean Race. The Ocean Race is an around-the-world sailing race that began in Spain last fall. The racing boats are now making a three week layover in Boston before beginning the final leg of the race across the Atlantic to make quick stops in Ireland and Sweden before finishing in St. Petersburg. Boston is the only stop the boats made in North America. Much of the race route was in the Southern Hemisphere.

While the boats are in Boston they occupy a temporary Race Village set up in the parking lot next to the Federal Court House on Fan Pier. They have work areas where adjustments and repairs can be made to the boats, temporary docks, concessions and attractions for visitors. The Race organizers are putting on concerts and festivals and hosting regattas for high school and college athletes and amateur sailors. When we visited the village they were racing the ocean racers in the harbor. We saw several matches. The course was two nautical miles long and the boats sailed it twice for each race. At speeds of around 20 knots the matches took about five minutes each. We didn’t always have the best view and no one in the family knows much about sailing but it was still fun to watch them. It was particularly interesting to watch because the harbor was busy. While we were watching the races a tanker came in and there were many water taxis and pleasure boats on the water.

The rest of the afternoon of the afternoon was also fun. After spending some time at the race village we walked along the Harbor Walk to the New England Aquarium, where we watched the seals in the outdoor tank for a while. The seals at the Aquarium have always been one of Boston’s best free attractions. After that we cut through Faneuil Hall on our way back to catch the T. We saw the tail end of a street performance on our way. An escape artist got out of a rope and a straight jacket while dangling upside down by his ankles from a pyramidal frame about 10 feet off the ground. It was fairly impressive.

The dark spot on the day for me was that still not completely recovered from the previous week. I had an unhealed blister on my heel that made walking increasingly uncomfortable as the day went on. By the time we got back to the T station I was limping rather badly and ready to call it a day.

Walk for Hunger

Last Sunday Maura, Jennifer and I walked in the 40th annual Walk for Hunger as the Ellett Family Team. As a team we walked a total of 41 miles. Maura and Jennifer walked to the lunch stop at Daley Field, 10½ miles from the starting line on Boston Common. I parted company with them after lunch and finished the 20 mile course, arriving back at the Common tired and footsore but proud of my accomplishment.

We got up bright and early on Sunday morning to take the T downtown to check in and start the walk. We completed our check in and headed out around 8 o’clock. The first few miles were very pleasant. The weather was almost perfect for walking, cool but not cold, with a high overcast most of the day. We set a good pace for the first several miles. Maura at first thought she might want to do the whole 20 miles but she started to get tired around mile 6. By mile 8 she was almost ready to quit. With some encouragement, Jennifer and I convinced her to continue to the lunch stop where we took a long break. Walking 10½ miles is a great achievement for a six-year-old and I’m very proud of her.

After lunch I said goodbye to Maura and Jennifer and continued with the walk. My legs and feet were already starting to get sore and by mile 15 I was limping along, but I kept on with it until I reached the end of the course, finishing around 3 o’clock in the afternoon. The second half of the course was lonely and painful but I would happily do it again. Maura and Jennifer took the shuttle bus back to the Common from Daley Field to enjoy the free festival there and were waiting to meet me when I staggered up to the final checkpoint. I checked in, received a certificate of achievement for completing the course and collected a free ice-cream before collapsing on the grass. It was a long day for everyone but on the whole we enjoyed ourselves and felt good about helping to raise money to feed the hungry. We are planning to walk again in two years and may make the Walk for Hunger a regular family event.

April Vacation

Last week was Maura’s April vacation from school and we put the time to good use. Except for Tuesday, when Maura had a dentist appointment, we had a fun outing every day she was off from school. I’ve already written about our first outing, down to Cape Cod to go hiking on Monday. On Wednesday we visited one of our favorite haunts, the Children’s Museum. On Thursday was a trip to Weymouth’s annual April Vacation Carnival. On Friday Jennifer took the afternoon off and we took another family hike, this time in the rugged terrain of the Blue Hills Reservation.

We arrived in Downtown Boston on our Wednesday outing in time for an early lunch and a visit with Jennifer at her office building before we went to the museum. Though it rained later in the afternoon the weather was beautiful when we arrived in Boston so Maura and I ate our baloney sandwiches on the Greenway. Because it was Earth Day there was an event going on and we enjoyed listening to a rhythm band and watching stilt walkers as we ate our lunch. Afterwards we met Jennifer for a stroll and desert which she brought with her from an office party. Her building was having an Earth Day event in the lobby and we picked up some biodegradable swag. The Children’s Museum was as usual noisy, chaotic and crowded. Maura had a wonderful time. There were no new exhibits of note but there were a few Earth Day demonstrators there as well and Maura got a piggy bank for her collection.

Thursday morning we spent at home because we had a coupon for an unlimited ride bracelet that started at 2 pm. Maura was very excited all morning. Julie Tittler and Peter came over to join us at the carnival. Maura loves carnival rides and she had a great time, though she couldn’t convince Peter, who is four, to ride any rides with her. Maura is big enough to ride almost all of the carnival rides by herself now, including some of the really wild ones. I didn’t ride with her this time. I would have had fun doing but I wanted to save a little money. I did play a carnival game to win Maura a prize. I won a plush husky puppy throwing darts at balloons. Sometimes it’s worthwhile to spend ten dollars for a two dollar stuffed animal.

On Friday Maura had hot dogs from Windy City Eats for lunch and then went to pick Jennifer up at the T-station. Since we forgot our Blue Hills trail map we went to reservation headquarters to pick up a new one and started our hike from there. We hiked for about three hours, out on the very rugged Skyline Trail and a longer and flatter route back. The weather was almost perfect and the hike was wonderful. It’s really great to get out and get some outdoor exercise on a perfect spring day. We were all exhausted by the time it was over though. The steep and rocky terrain is hard on knees and ankles.

April vacation made me look forward to summer. Maura has a few weeks of activities planned over the summer, she’ll be attending a day camp at one of town parks one week and spend a week apart from us with her grandparents in Indiana and another week with us. We will both be home for most of the summer and I plan on taking her on lots of outings.

Hiking Trip to Cape Cod

Monday was the first day of Maura’s April vacation and Jennifer had the day off because it was a state holiday here in Massachusetts. As the weather was expected to be nice we planned a hiking trip to Cape Cod to enjoy spring and some family togetherness. We decided we would visit two Massachusetts Audubon Society sanctuaries we had never before visited in the Upper Cape region, that part of Cape Cod closer to the mainland than the elbow where the peninsula bends to the north. Jennifer and I have been members of the Massachusetts Audubon Society for thirteen years. We joined shortly after we moved to Massachusetts and we’ve maintained our membership ever since. We strongly support their research and advocacy on environmental issues. Free admission to their wildlife sanctuaries is side benefit we do not take advantage of often enough.

Our first stop on Cape Cod was Skunkanett River, in the town of Osterville. Skunkanett River is inland, near the center of the peninsula and features a pond, upland forests and the river that gives the sanctuary its name. We didn’t see much wildlife but we didn’t see any people either. We could hear the birds in the trees and see the early green of spring, as the deciduous plants put forth their first leaves. A chipmunk watched us from the safety of an old pipe near the entrance. We saw a pair of mallards, a male and female, swimming on the pond. A scatter of blue feathers in the middle of the trail showed where something had caught a blue jay.

After a break for lunch we took a second hike, this one at Long Meadow, on the shore of Cape Cod Bay in Barnstable. This was a different environment. Here we hiked through meadows and old fields now filled with wind twisted scrub, brier choked second growth forest and a wood with holly trees. The trail led by vernal pools and a swamp where we may have seen a frog, though it jumped away too quickly for us to be sure. A boardwalk led down into the salt marsh that fringes the bay. From the end of the boardwalk we observed sandpipers running along the beach and brants swimming in the open water. A seagull was repeatedly dropping a clam hoping to break it open to get to the good parts inside.

The trip was a wonderful family outing. It cost little and got us away from the streets and lawns of the suburb where we live and into some wilder lands. It was a great learning experience because we got to see many environments in one day. Perhaps we will go back some summer day and see how the places change with the season.

Field Trip to the DeCordova

On Sunday April 5th we took advantage of Bank of America Free Museums Weekend to visit the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts. The DeCordova is a museum of contemporary art in a lovely rural setting. It was a beautiful day with sunshine comfortable temperatures, important for a trip to the DeCordova as many of our favorite pieces in their collection are displayed outside in the sculpture garden. Our favorite sculpture garden works were Pine Sharks, a trio of circling sharks suspended in the treetops, and the Musical Fence, which was the only sculpture that was interactive. To fully experience it you needed to hit it with a stick.

Inside the museum proper some of the exhibits were hard to explain to Maura and not to everyone’s taste in our group. We all enjoyed the exhibit of contemporary portraiture even though some of the questions Maura had about the works in it were hard to answer. Many were intended to make the viewer ask questions that are hard to answer. Some of the paintings we saw in other galleries were a bit more difficult. They often dealt with adult themes that I was not comfortable discussing with a six year old. We only saw one of the short films. I would have liked to have watched more of them but Jennifer felt that my father, whose taste in art are more conservative than mine, would not enjoy them. We went back outside to the sculpture garden where everyone found works that interested them.

On our way out of the museum building we used the front door (we’d entered through a side door) and found something that I wish we had known about when we’d gone in. The DeCordova offers an interpretive activity kit for children that I think Maura would have enjoyed using. They update it when their exhibits change so it always features pieces that visitors might see. We’ll make sure we pick one up the next time we visit the DeCordova.

Before we left we visited the gift shop. Maura found a toy there that she had been looking for a long time, Popzolos. She had used them in her kindergarten class to create a character named Hut Dog that she has written many stories about. We’d identified what they were several months ago when we found them used in an exhibit at the Boston Children’s Museum but we hadn’t yet found them in a shop. She got a set as a souvenir and that topped off a very enjoyable visit.

Older but Proud

I’m not proud of myself. Turning forty is not much of an accomplishment though it is a milestone. I have a few more gray hairs than I did last year and a little less money. I am very proud of Maura though. She can keep a secret.

My parents came for a visit last week to help me celebrate my birthday. Their arrival was a surprise. I’d begun to wonder when they were going to come, because they almost always come for a visit sometime in the spring and I had not heard a date mentioned this year but I did not know they were coming for my birthday until my mother called from the highway to tell me not to go out until they arrived. The remarkable thing is not that my parents surprised me with a visit for my 40th birthday; it’s that Maura knew they were coming for months (since December) and she never let it slip. Even when I asked her the previous afternoon why she was so excited she said it was because the next day was my birthday and did not give a hint that the real reason for her excitement was that she was going to see her grandparents.

My parents’ visit was enjoyable for everyone, as was our celebration of my birthday. We went to dinner on Friday. Where we went was another secret that Maura kept very well. She did spill the beans on that one eventually because she dropped a clue that she didn’t realize would give it away. Dinner was in the Monday Club Bar at Upstairs on the Square, on Winthrop Square in Cambridge. It was restaurant I had wanted to try for months but it’s beyond our means except for special occasions. I was not disappointed. The food and the atmosphere were superb and the company was wonderful. Three generations of Elletts were joined by my good friends Andrew and Julie Tittler (Uncle Drew and Auntie Julie to Maura). Maura made me proud once again by behaving very well at the restaurant. I hope she learns that dressing up and being on her best behavior can be fun once in a while. I think she had a good time at dinner and I made sure I told her how happy I was at her deportment.

Spring Briefly

Spring came to Weymouth on Friday. It was early and is gone again already. Spring won’t be here to stay for at least another month. Still, Friday was sunny and warm and there had been enough nearly warm days in the previous two weeks to melt the snow from the sidewalks between home and Maura’s school. So for the first time since early December I walked to the school at the end of the day and Maura and I walked home.

I’d wanted to walk for weeks. I’d watched the ice on the sidewalks thin and melt away and the mountains of snow at each intersection and parking lot diminish to hills and then to nothing. When the sidewalks were finally clear enough to negotiate I came down with a terrible cold that kept me inside for four days, too sick to consider a three mile walk in the chilly, if not subfreezing air.

It was luck that the warmest day last week fell when I felt well enough to walk and cooped-up enough that I couldn’t stay in the house any longer, despite a stiff breeze that threatened to steal my hat. It was good to stretch my legs and good to spend some time with my daughter. Maura held my hand on the walk, though she doesn’t have to except at major street crossings. She doesn’t like wind and it gusted strongly enough Friday that I joked about tying a string to her and flying her like a kite. She’s getting so grown up now. She laughed at the joke. Last year she would have taken me seriously.

I’ve really missed the walking since winter started. I won't walk often for a while. Until spring is really here most days it will be uncomfortably cold and sometimes it will be icy. Still, Friday was a taste of what’s to come. I can only look forward to many pleasant walks to school and back, one way alone, the other with the best of company.

Going Downhill Fast

This winter has been tough on Maura and I. We can’t walk to school because the sidewalks are covered with snow. Busy schedules and a lack of funds have often kept us at home even on days when Maura hasn’t been in school. The snow has given one chance we wouldn’t have had without it. When the snow is fresh and the temperatures not too cold we go sledding.

Weymouth is by no means mountainous but it is not entirely flat. We have a couple of good spots for sledding in town and they draw crowds after every snow. Maura and I have been out on the hills almost every weekend this year. It’s snowed with regularity this winter and the snow has piled up on the ground faster than it can melt or be packed down and worn away by the passage of many sleds.

This year has been particularly good for sledding so far. In past years the days with good snow have been very rare. Though we have missed a few opportunities, Maura and I have been sledding almost as many times this year as we had managed in the previous three, and winter is only half over. I imagine we’ll get more chances before spring finally melts the snow.

When we can Maura and I put on our snow pants and boots, put the sled in the trunk of the car and head for the slopes. Maura does most of the sledding these days. When she first got her sled she was three. She used to be afraid to go down the hill by herself and I had to ride down with her every time. These days she has no fear and I mostly watch while she goes down the hill. It is nerve wracking because she is not very good at steering, but in truth, neither am I. We can still fit on the sled together and sometimes she still lets me ride with her. I don’t think that will last much longer. She’s getting too big to ride with her Daddy. I think she only lets me ride with her now because she’s lazy about hauling the sled up the hill and she knows if I go down I’ll bring the sled back up for her. Next year she won’t want to go sledding with me. She’ll probably still be happy for me to take her to the park and stand in the cold watching while she sleds but the days when we can ride down together will be over. I’ll certainly miss it. I enjoy the time I’ve had to spend with my daughter and I like sledding, too. The only parents I ever see on sleds are the ones with small kids. I may never get the chance to go again. I wonder If I’ll still be up to flying down hill when I have grand children.