Hammond Castle and Gloucester Harbor Fest

On Sunday we drove to Gloucester, Massachusetts, on the coast north of Boston. The trip was part of Maura’s birthday celebration and we were accompanied by my parents who were visiting partly to celebrate their granddaughter’s birthday. Maura had wanted to see Hammond Castle ever since she saw it featured in an episode of Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman several years ago.

Hammond Castle was built by John Hays Hammond, Jr. as both as a home for himself and his wife and as a display for his extensive collection of Roman, Medieval and Renaissance art. Hammond and his wife Irene Fenton Hammond moved into the building when it was finished in 1929 and lived there until their deaths (Hammond died in 1965). They first opened their home as a museum in 1930. Hammond was a noted inventor who held the second largest number of patents granted by the US patent office, behind only Thomas Edison.

Hammond Castle is worth a visit. Both the people whose home it was and the artifacts it contains have fascinating stories. It was fun to wander around the museum and its grounds for an hour or so. It’s particularly interesting thinking what it would have been like to see the inventor’s home in his lifetime when it was a combination of the very old and the ultramodern.

After our visit to Hammond Castle we headed up the road to Stage Fort Park in Gloucester for the Gloucester Harbor Festival. The Festival featured a classic car show, inflatable amusements for the kids, food, live music and a large art/artisan fair with vendors selling mostly handmade goods ranging from T-shirts to furniture and paintings. I’m not much for shopping but Jennifer, Maura and my mother enjoyed themselves. Maura particularly enjoyed looking at all the vendors who had earrings because she had just gotten her ears pierced. She won’t be able to wear any new earrings for a few months but she is interested in getting some so she will have a choice of what to wear when she can take her studs out.

After the fair we were tired. We had considered staying in Gloucester until the evening but we decided to head back to Weymouth in mid-afternoon for a rest. Before we left Maura and I took the opportunity to check out Stage Fort itself. The existing fort is a 20th Century reconstructed earthwork with a few old cannons but the first fortifications were built on the site in 1625 and the spot was used for some military purpose in every war from then until the Spanish American War in 1898. It’s easy to see why the fort was built where it was. It has a spectacular view of Gloucester Harbor and no one could sail past it undetected. There is much more to see in Gloucester and nearby towns so we may head back that way on a future trip.

Maura Turns Eight

Last week saw the arrival of Maura’s eighth birthday, celebrated in the Ellett household with a three day festival, occasioned both by her birthday and by the presence of my parents, whose visits are always an occasion for celebration.

Friday was her actual birthday and the celebrations began with dinner at Kelly’s Landing, Maura’s choice. She had a lobster. Maura loves to eat anything that once lived in the sea. I had almost as much fun watching her eat it as she had consuming it. After dinner we moved on for desert. We went to Michelle's, for ice cream. A local favorite, Michelle's offers dozens of flavors of soft serve mixed to order and almost as many flavors of hard ice cream. Later we went to an arcade to play games for a while. Maura, her grandfather and I played games and won tickets for Maura while her mother and grandmother did some shopping. We all had a good time and we won enough tickets for Maura to bring home a set of Japanese erasers, probably the best prize she’s ever won at the arcade, though it certainly cost a tiny fraction of what I spent on tokens. That mattered not at all. The fun we had was worth the money spent and would have been even if Maura had brought back no prize at all. I for one would happily have spent my small share of tokens on pinball and air hockey and Maura is a big fan of race games.

The festival continued the next day, Saturday, with a trip into Boston. We started in Chinatown for dim sum at a restaurant Jennifer had been to before and Maura wanted to try. Everyone enjoyed the meal. We all ate way too much. It was a good thing we took a walk afterwards, along the Greenway, through Quincy Market where we took in a street performance and on to City Hall Plaza where we spent some time at the Green Fair. When Maura had had her fill of bouncy houses we moved on to the Science Museum, one of our favorite destinations in Boston.

The highlight of our visit to the Science Museum was our visit to the butterfly garden, which we had not been to before. It was worth the extra charge to see it. The butterflies were beautiful and peaceful. I could have spent hours there, particularly watching the iridescent blue Common Morpho that took up residence on my dad’s hat and seemed content to stay there all day. In the end we had to gently shoo it off when it was time to leave.

Sunday was final day of the festival, the day we shared with more family and friends. Maura’s Aunt Andrea and Uncle Kevin brought her cousins. The Tittlers came by. So did our friend Joe and Maura’s friend Dominic from across the street. We had pizza from Denly Gardens, always a treat, and later cake and ice cream. It was raining so we stayed inside but everyone had a good time anyway. Maura got to show off her birthday gifts and the kids watched Fantasia for a while, which kept them almost quiet, a sure sign that it held their interest.

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.