Father’s Day

Maura gave me a wonderful Father’s Day this year. She got up early to make me breakfast and in the afternoon we took a family hike. In the evening I got one of my favorite desserts and we all watched a movie together.

It has become a family tradition for Maura to help make breakfast on Father’s Day. She had her mother’s help but in the future I expect she will do more of the work herself. We have the same tradition for Mother’s Day, except that I help Maura and her mother gets to relax. This year’s Father’s Day breakfast was spectacular. Maura and her mother made a puffed pancake with a berry topping. Most of the berries were Massachusetts grown strawberries from Stillman Farms. We’re now in our fourth year participating in Stillman’s CSA and we’ll be enjoying their fresh produce until October. The local strawberries are the best I’ve ever had. They are small but very sweet. I look forward to them every year and I’ve never been disappointed yet.

In the afternoon we took advantage of the perfect weather to take a hike. We hiked in Bare Cove Park, in the neighboring town of Hingham. We had a nice hike through the woods and along the shore of the Weymouth Back River. There were lots of people near the entrance walking their dogs, but the trails further from the parking lot were nearly deserted and for most of the hike we had the place to ourselves except for the wildlife. Mostly we saw chipmunks and gray squirrels, both of which are everywhere in Southern New England. We spotted birds as well. A flock of marsh birds feeding in the salt marsh occupied our attention for a while but with our limited birding knowledge we weren’t able to identify them. Even without knowing what kind of birds they were it was pleasant to watch them moving as one when they flew from place to place in the marsh.

Later, after dinner, we all settled down to watch our family movie. Dessert was still baking in the oven. The movie was the extended DVD version of The Return of the King, so we planned on taking an intermission. Generally we won’t let Maura see movies based on books unless she has read them, or had them read to her. I had just finished reading The Return of the King to Maura earlier in the week and she was excited to be seeing the movie. She had already watched the first two in the series and heard the first two books. We all enjoyed the movie, though Jennifer and I had forgotten just how long it is. Maura got to bed a bit late. I didn’t worry too much about it. She had school on Monday but it was the last full day. I didn’t expect she would be doing anything very important. She certainly wouldn’t have any homework.

We enjoyed our dessert during an intermission at the end of the first DVD. Jennifer had made pudim, a Brazilian custard, for me. It’s been one of my favorite desserts since I lived in Brazil for several years during my childhood. I don’t get it often but it never fails to please. The sweet treat was a great capstone for a wonderful day.