Holidays at Home and Away

For the first time in many years we spent Christmas away from home this year. Jennifer had vacation she needed to use up this year and, somewhat to her surprise, when she requested the week of Christmas off she got it. She didn’t have the 31^st of December off so we were back in Weymouth for New Year’s Day.

We hit the road on Saturday, December 22^nd. I must have been too excited to sleep because I awoke at 2:00 am. When I found that Jennifer was also awake we decided to hit the road early. We’d been planning to get up around 4:00 and leave before dawn to reach my parents’ home in Indiana in one long day on the road. Our bags were packed and the car mostly loaded. We were on the highway by 2:15. Dawn found us in Pennsylvania and nightfall found us in Western Ohio. By supper time we were at my parents’ home near Indianapolis.

It was very good to spend the holiday with my folks, not only my parents but my sister Marcia as well. We didn’t do much while we were there but sit around my parents’ family room. We talked. We read A Christmas Carole out loud, which we do every year at our house. Maura played Just Dance on the Wii with her Aunt Marcia. We ate lots of good food.

We did get out of the house a few times. We went out to eat. On Christmas Eve we went to church. It was the first time I’d ever been to my parents’ church. Jennifer and Maura also came, though they could have stayed home if they had chosen too. It must have been a bit strange for Maura though. I love going to church on Christmas Eve. The service is always joyous and peaceful.

My parents had made other plans but they were disrupted by the weather. On December 26^th the Indianapolis area was hit by a blizzard. The seven inches of snow that fell was not much by New England standards but high winds define a blizzard and the roads were dangerous most of the day and there was plenty of reason to stay home.  Two trips out were necessary. My parents’ beloved but aging cat Chelsea was sick and had to go to the vet. She had to be sedated to examine and treat her and she died unexpectedly when she was waking up after my parents had gone back to bring her home. I think it was a good thing that we were there. Having her granddaughter around made the loss easier on my mother.

On Friday to we all went to a movie. Everyone needed to get out of the house for a while. We saw Les Mis. Maura really wanted to see it and everyone enjoyed the show. I’ve been whistling tunes from it ever since. I was impressed that they were able to find enough actors who could sing well enough to do their roles justice. They didn’t cast anyone in the movie who couldn’t.

On Saturday we left for home. We waited until after breakfast to leave. It’s not as easy to leave before dawn when we are heading home and we take two days on the return trip. While we were driving eastward it was snowing ahead of us, so the road conditions were not always good but we avoided the worst of the weather and made it home by mid-afternoon on Sunday.

Jennifer had to work on Monday while Maura and I ran errands to prepare for the holiday. We spent New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day at home, just the three of us. We had a dinner of homemade appetizers and spent the evening watching Xena Warrior Princess on Netflix and playing Munchkin using the new cards Maura got for holiday gifts this year. At midnight we watched the ball drop on TV and then we all went to bed. New Year’s Day was more relaxing at home. I took the time during the day to write down some New Year’s resolutions—which was the first step to keeping one of them. I plan on keeping a journal this year. Time will tell how far I get.

Camping in Allegheny State Park

We spent the Labor Day Weekend camping in Allegheny State Park, in western New York State. It was a long trip for us from Weymouth, Massachusetts but we had picked our destination because of its location, roughly halfway between our home and my parents’ home in Indiana. Maura was visiting her grandparents and we needed to fetch her home before school started this week. We met them halfway to make the exchange and enjoy our final short vacation of the summer.

Allegheny State Park was a nice place to visit. The park is beautiful and has very nice facilities nestled in a semi-wild area the size of a county with lakes, streams and miles of steep wooded hills. The campground at Red House was not quite as nice as the rest of the park because the sites were small and crowded together. On Sunday it was a city of portable homes. On Monday when the crowds were gone it was quite pleasant. We will likely be back for the same reason we were there this time—it is a convenient place to meet my folks and the beauty and amenities of the rest of the park make up for a less than perfect campground.

Jennifer and I got up early on Saturday morning to make the trip to Allegheny State Park. It was an all-day drive and we needed to get there before dark to make camp, which we accomplished by leaving at 4:00 am. Once we had unloaded the car and pitched the tent we made our way to where my parents were staying in a nearby town to collect Maura. We also had the chance to spend some time with my parents and with my sister Marcia who had come along on the trip with them. Seeing Marcia is a rare treat for me—my parents visit us several times each year but Marcia isn’t retired and can’t usually make the trip with them and we don’t have the resources to go to Indiana often. We had a nice restaurant meal and then headed back to camp to because we were all exhausted.

Sunday we all spent the day together in the park. We met after breakfast at the Red House lodge. We explored the lodge’s museum and gift shop, took a short hike nearby and then ate lunch at the lodge restaurant which was a friendly place that made great sandwiches. After lunch we went down to Red House Lake and played miniature golf at the course there. The course was in an advanced state of disrepair and was barely playable because of the resulting unintended obstacles. Despite the obstacles, or perhaps because of them, we had a very good time playing it. It was worth a few laughs.

After mini-golf we went back to camp. While my dad and I built and tended a fire the rest of the group drove to nearby Salamanca for provisions. We had an enjoyable dinner of sausages cooked in the fire wrapped in foil with s’mores for desert and beer for the adults. We all had a chance to relax and unwind. At the end of the evening we said goodbye to my parents and sister. They had to return to Indiana on Monday. We were lucky enough to have another day to enjoy the park.

On Monday we took a hike along little used dirt roads to Thunder Rocks, a group of strange rock formations perched on the top of a hill. They were clearly natural boulders of coarse sandstone not moved by man but I don’t enough about the local geology of the area to know how they came to be there. Despite the litter and graffiti left by previous visitors the rocks had a mysterious and primal air. I felt almost as if I was intruding on a holy place. Maura wanted to climb them.

After the hike we took another jaunt into town for provisions and then rented a paddle boat for an hour. It was fun to tool around the lake on an oversized aquatic Big Wheel until a storm threatened. Though the storm never arrived, the gusty winds and clouds were a signal that it was time to go in. We had planned on taking on taking a dip in the lake afterward but instead returned to camp for another relaxing evening. We roasted wieners on sticks, ate s’mores again and read stories aloud around the fire by flashlight. The next day we packed up as quickly as we could and drove back to Weymouth to be ready for the first day of school on Wednesday, both for Maura and for me.

Some Time Apart

When my parents headed for home last week they took Maura with them. It has become a tradition in our family for my parents to take Maura for a week or so during the summer. They’ve taken her on vacation to Maine in the past but most often they take her home to Indiana. They have her there until next weekend.

Maura always has a great time in Indiana. My parents take her lots of places when she is visiting. On this trip they’ve been to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum, the Indiana History Museum and my parents’ lake house where they went out in their boat. Today they are going to the zoo. They also take her out to eat. Last night they went out for Brazilian food, which Maura loves.

More important than the places Maura goes is the time that she spends with her grandparents and with her Aunt Marcia. She sees my parents three or four times a year and my sister less often than that. Maura’s summer trips to Indiana give her a chance to get to know them she wouldn’t have otherwise. She’ll have memories of her grandparents and her aunt when she is an adult which will be part of who she is.

As important and enjoyable as Maura’s trips to visit her grandparents are for her they are also a treat for Jennifer and me. We know that she is being well taken care of so we can relax and not worry about her while she is gone. Our daily lives of work and chores go on but without the complications of parenthood. Dad’s taxi stays in the driveway. Jennifer and I can have adult conversations without interruption and we don’t have to worry about Maura walking in on us at inopportune moments. It is especially nice because our wedding anniversary is this week. We can celebrate without the need to make arrangements for Maura.

We miss Maura and will be glad to have her back. Talking to her on the phone every night is not a substitute for having her around. I feel bad for people whose jobs require them to be away from their children for long periods of time but because Maura is gone only for a little while we can enjoy her absence without any guilt.

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.

Williamsburg Again and Yorktown

Our vacation continued on Thursday, April 19th. After breakfast we headed back to Colonial Williamsburg. Our first activity was an audience with George Washington in 1775. The people in the audience played the part of the people of Williamsburg and he addressed us as a member of the House of Burgesses and delegate to the Continental Congress. The war hadn’t started yet so he wasn’t yet General Washington. He gave a great picture of Virginia on the eve of the American Revolution and took questions without ever breaking character or forgetting his moment in time. I was very impressed. He kept everyone’s attention, even Maura's. She had been worried she might be bored. After the audience we spent the morning in Colonial Williamsburg visiting houses and shops. We had lunch at Chowning’s Tavern, which we enjoyed.

After lunch we went back to pick up the car at the Cedars and headed down the Colonial Parkway for Yorktown. It was a very pretty drive. It would have been nice to take it slowly and stop to enjoy the scenery but we were in a bit of a hurry because we needed some time to spend at Yorktown before everything there closed. We stopped at the Visitor Center to pick up Maura’s Junior Ranger book for Yorktown and then took a whirlwind tour of the battlefield. We didn’t really have enough time to explore but we did get to hit the highlights. The siege works were very impressive, particularly the remains of the British works which were repaired by the Confederate forces during the Civil War. Maura learned about the American victory at Yorktown which convinced the British to give up trying to compel the colonies to return to their allegiance and resulted, after long negotiations, in the recognition of American independence and peace between the United States and Great Britain. Maura got her paperwork in for her Junior Ranger badge just before they locked the doors. It was the second she earned on the trip and she was proud of it. Despite the rush we did get the chance to learn some interesting details. I hadn’t known that a German speaking regiment in the French Army had attacked a position held by Germans in the British service.

We drove through the town of Yorktown after our battlefield tour. We stopped for a short time at the monument commemorating the victory but nothing else in the town seemed to be open. There was much we might have seen had we been there earlier in the day. Yorktown is another place we will have to visit again if we ever make it back to that part of Virginia. Afterwards we headed back to Williamsburg for dinner and a night’s rest.

The next day was our last day in Virginia. We spent in the whole day in Colonial Williamsburg and there were many things there that we didn’t have enough time see. We had had tentative plans to visit Busch Gardens, which is nearby, but we convinced Maura to forego that part of our trip by promising a visit to an amusement park in New England over the summer. We started on the third day with another visit with a historical character. This time it was Patrick Henry, firebrand orator and first governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The man who played Patrick Henry had a very different style than the man who played George Washington just as Henry and Washington had vastly differing styles. He stayed in his character very well but didn’t stay in his time period, which I believe was 1778. He answered questions that were a bit anachronistic. I might have to read a biography of him. He was certainly a strong character and an important creator of public opinion in Virginia and throughout the Colonies in the time leading to independence. We all agreed that we preferred the audience with Washington however.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the Colonial Williamsburg. In the morning we explored the gardens of the governor’s palace, the gunsmiths and the print shop. We had lunch at the King’s Arms Tavern and we enjoyed it thoroughly. The taverns generally were less crowded at lunch time and we did not need reservations like we did in the evening. They might be busier during the high season. After lunch my parents left us to go visit some old friends who had moved to Virginia and lived an hour or so away from Williamsburg near Richmond. We went on exploring without them. We saw a working kitchen with a newly built bread oven, the courthouse, a blacksmith, and a book bindery. At the guardhouse Maura participated in the militia drill with a two smaller children. Sticks filled in for their weapons. They all had a bit of trouble telling right from left so they got posted to awkward squad.

We wanted to purchase some souvenirs so we walked to the Visitor Center to spend some time at the gift shop and bookstore. On the way we found one more of the highlights of Colonial Williamsburg, the Good Hope Plantation, which gives the visitor an idea of the environment in which most of the people of Virginia lived—on plantations in the backcountry. It had a slave cabin and a tobacco barn They raise hogs and chickens there the way they did in the 18th Century and smoke hams in their smokehouse. They also have a saw pit where they were preparing timbers for use in construction in Williamsburg. The town is as realistic as it can be but by itself it doesn’t give a very complete picture of colonial society in Virginia where the plantations were the source of the wealth that built the town and the home of most of the people, white and black.

We bought our souvenirs and headed back to the main part of Colonial Williamsburg. Maura chose a wooden hoop for the hoop and stick game she had learned on the Palace Green earlier in the day. She had fun with the game and wanted to bring it home. I bought a t-shirt, my usual souvenir. Jennifer brought home cookbooks so we could duplicate some of the food we had eaten in the taverns.

Our last activity in Williamsburg was a talk the Native American actors who played the Shawnee characters in the Revolutionary City program we had seen on Wednesday. We didn’t ask many questions but the answers that the actors gave to the questions that other people asked were fascinating. It always enlightening to get a chance to see the world through other people’s eyes and the Native American point of view is one that the rest of us need to try to understand if we want to further justice in our society.

On Saturday our vacation was over. It just remained for us to drive home. We went back via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on several people’s advice. It probably would have been faster to go back Interstate 95 because the traffic was very slow through Maryland and Delaware. Crossing the bridge was neat though and the countryside of the Eastern Shore of Virginia was pretty but very flat. It was late when we arrived back in Weymouth but we’d very much enjoyed our days in Virginia.

Jamestown and Williamsburg

On Tuesday, April 17th we headed south for a vacation in the Williamsburg, Virginia area. The whole family went, including my parents. My dad did the driving. I would have taken a turn at the wheel but it was his car and he didn't want to share the task. We took my parents’ SUV because unlike our car it is large enough to comfortably hold five people with luggage. We hit the road around 8:30 after we had dropped our cats off at the vet’s to be boarded while we were away. It was a long day in the car and we arrived in Williamsburg around supper time. We checked into our B&B, the Cedars, which was very attractive and comfortable, a marvelous place to stay.

After we had unpacked the car we headed out for dinner. We picked Berret’s, the first restaurant we saw but a good choice. We all enjoyed our meals. The food and the service were excellent. None of us really needed desert but the delicious smell of the peach-apple cobbler from the next table was enough to tempt us. On our waiter’s advice we ordered two orders for the table because it was too large a dish for one. Two orders was enough but the cobbler tasted every bit as good as it smelled. In fact, it was declared to be the best desert Maura had ever had in a restaurant. We are still talking about it a week later.

After a good night’s sleep we gathered for breakfast. My birthday, which was earlier in the month, was celebrated with a candle in a muffin and Bob, our genial host, took our pictures. Then, after a quick stop at the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center to pick up our tickets we headed down the Colonial Parkway to Jamestown Island, the site of the first permanent English settlement in North America (and, of course, in Virginia). The site saw many firsts but it has long been abandoned as a town and to unpracticed eye there isn’t much there to see. Fortunately we were able to take an archaeological tour of the site of the first fort at Jamestown led by one of its excavators. Once thought to have been washed away by the James River the site of the fort was discovered in 1994 and found to be mostly still on land. Archaeologists have been at work there ever since and have discovered tens of thousands of artifacts that shed light on the history of the site and the life of the early settlers. During our tour we heard a fascinating presentation that touched on the early history of Jamestown and on the ways that archaeologists learn about it from the artifacts and the traces left behind in the soil by human activity. Afterwards we made a short visit to the Archaearium, a museum dedicated to the finds from the site. I enjoyed seeing some of the things that our guide had seen excavated but Maura was beginning to tire, so we headed back to the Historic Jamestown Visitor Center. Maura turned in her paperwork for her Junior Ranger badge and we headed back to Williamsburg for lunch and a short rest. There was much more at Jamestown that we didn’t see. We never explored most of the ruins of the 17th century town beyond the first fort. We also didn’t visit the reconstructed Jamestown Settlement on the mainland at all. Perhaps someday we will go back but we couldn’t see everything this trip.

After lunch we went to Colonial Williamsburg for the rest of the afternoon. Colonial Williamsburg is a living history museum made up of a collection of buildings, some restored originals and some reproductions based on documentary evidence and archaeological exploration of the site. Buildings that are open to the public are furnished as they might have been in the 18th century. Colonial Williamsburg is staffed by reenactors and interpreters in 18th century dress. Reenactors play the roles of 18th century people. Interpreters admit the existence of the 21st century but demonstrate some aspect of 18th century life, often by practicing an 18th century trade. On Wednesday afternoon we arrived in Williamsburg late enough that we didn’t see many of the shops and houses that were open but we did get to take in the Revolutionary City programs that reenacted events from the time of the American Revolutionary War as they happened in Williamsburg. Some of the characters were well known people such as George Washington and Benedict Arnold but others were poor whites, African American slaves, or Native Americans. The program was excellently done and gave a view of how the war affected people who might not have benefited much from American independence.

Our dinner in the evening was at Christiana Campbell’s Tavern, one of the taverns in Colonial Williamsburg. We had been looking forward to it but the evening was not as enjoyable as we had hoped. The entertainment was good—both the singer who performed with her guitar in the dining room singing 18th century songs and the character portrayals of our waitress and of our hostess who portrayed Mistress Christiana Campbell herself. As a server the waitress seemed a bit overwhelmed. She forgot things we had ordered and brought food to the table cold. The food would have been better had we been served it promptly and the evening would have more fun and memorable as we had hoped it would be.

While dinner was a slight disappointment the day as a whole was fun for everyone and we had two more days to enjoy in the Williamsburg area which I will write about next week.

Heritage Gardens and Museums in the Spring

This week is Maura’s spring break from school and we’re taking advantage of it, especially since the weather has so far been very pleasant. Yesterday we drove from Weymouth the Williamsburg, Virginia, but we’ve seen little except the very charming bed and breakfast where we are staying so I’ll save that trip for next week. Monday we did some more local travel so that Maura wouldn’t miss her skating lesson. We drove down to Sandwich on Cape Cod to show Jennifer, and my parents who are visiting from Indiana, the Heritage Gardens and Museums.

We had a very nice day, though it was hot for April. I never saw a weather report for Cape Cod but in Weymouth the temperature was reported to have hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit, though I was never uncomfortable. It was dry and there was a nice breeze. We left early and stopped for breakfast at Persy’s Place, in Kingston. They claim to have the largest breakfast menu in New England and I find no reason to doubt them. We don’t go there often because Kingston is a bit far to go for breakfast but I like the place a lot. It is the only restaurant I know of anywhere near where we live that has hash browns, which are my favorite breakfast potatoes.

After breakfast we drove on down to Sandwich. The gardens were beautiful though not yet in their full glory. There were many blooming daffodils and a few of the hundreds of rhododendrons had started to bloom. Some day we will have to visit in May, when they are in full flower. The crowds were not as oppressive as they had been when Maura were there before, on Free Museum Friday, and we walked the labyrinth almost undisturbed. Maura and I rode the carousel while my parents and Jennifer watched from a bench. I felt like a little kid and a proud dad all at once.

At the antique automobile museum we had a chance to enjoy the air conditioning while we had a leisurely look at the collection. Maura and I sat in the model T Ford that is the only one of the cars in the museum that you are allowed to touch. I imagined what a ride must have been like back then. The seats were remarkably comfortable but the car wasn’t moving so there was no way to know how good the springs were.

After the visit to the gardens we drove to the Thornton Burgess Society’s Greenbriar Preserve not far away. We went to visit the jam kitchen. The kitchen was a popular stop on the Cape before World War Two and hasn't changed much since then. We bought two jars as souvenirs and to enjoy later. I let Maura pick out a jar of orange cranberry rhubarb relish. Jennifer and I agreed on a jar of rhubarb ginger preserves.

Afterwards we rode home in comfort for a short rest before skating and a fine dinner at Stockholders, a Weymouth restaurant we had long been wanting to try. We were not disappointed and everyone agreed that the food and the service were excellent.

Fairs and Strolls

Last weekend my parents came for their annual holiday visit. It was a short one this year. They arrived from Indiana on Thursday and left again on Monday morning. We thought about doing lots of things while they were here but in the end we spent most of our time at home. We dined in local restaurants and did a little shopping but never went far. Our big events for the weekend were on Saturday and early on Sunday. On Saturday morning Maura’s school had its annual holiday fair and in the evening we went to the Holiday Stroll and Tree Lighting in Columbian Square, South Weymouth. On Sunday we attended a craft fair.

Maura was excited about her school holiday fair. She volunteered, helping with games for the younger kids, but she wasn’t needed for long. There were plenty of volunteers. She was happy that her grandparents could come and see her school. I don’t recall that they had ever seen the inside of it before. I admit that I begged off spending much time the school fair. I got a badly needed haircut while Maura was volunteering and only showed up for a short while. Maura didn’t seem to mind very much that I wasn’t there the whole time.

I was along for the trip to the Columbian Square Holiday Stroll but I wouldn’t have been upset to be left behind. It was cold and crowded and there was not much happening to excite me. Maura had a great time, though. She took part in the scavenger hunt that encouraged us to visit many of the businesses in Columbian square. I did a little shopping along the way but unfortunately my current financial troubles (I’m still unemployed) take what little joy I might otherwise find in that away. By the time we had completed most of the circuit, and Maura had claimed her prize, I was entirely out of holiday spirit. I’ve been stressed lately and I only hope I didn’t ruin everyone else’s night. I did manage to cheer up at dinner. Two bottles of Dos Equis beer and an excellent Mexican meal at El Serape in the Braintree part of Weymouth Landing were very good for my mood.

On Sunday we went to a craft fair at Congregation Sha-aray Shalom in Hingham, where Jennifer and Maura attend services. It was quite a large craft fair with about two dozen exhibitors. Most of them had beautiful things. I would have done some holiday shopping but the things I would most like to have purchased were too expensive for this year’s budget. We did pick up a few small things for Maura. Her grandmother bought her a bracelet of beads that turn from white to bright colors in the sunlight. She’s worn it to school every day since.

Maura’s First Competition

Last Saturday Maura competed in her first ever ice skating competition. She skated in the Halloween Classic at the Rockland Ice Rink, where she takes her lessons. It was fun for her to compete first on home ice where she had been working on her program all summer and fall.

Maura and her mother had been busy getting ready during the week before the competition, getting the things she would need and making sure they were all in her skating bag and ready to go. My parents came for a quick visit so they could see Maura skate. They were in the stands with Jennifer and I watching. Family friend Rheannon Swire and her dad completed Maura’s cheering section. Rhe is an accomplished skater and one of Maura’s idols. Having her in the audience was almost as special to Maura as having her grandparents come to see her.

We got to the rink early to make sure Maura had plenty of time. It was good to watch the more advanced skaters who skated before Maura. We could see what Maura will be doing in a few years. Next time we won’t arrive so early. It is easy to forget how cold it is in the rink and we were all freezing by the time Maura was ready to skate, including Maura. She wasn’t nervous though, until right before she went on.

Maura didn’t win. In fact, she came in third in a field of three. Nevertheless she did very well for her first time out. She completed her program without falling and almost on time. She will skate in competition again and next time I expect she will do even better. She learned a bit about what the judges look for and she is inspired to work a little harder, on and off the ice, so she will improve. We’re planning to enter her in one competition a month during the winter, but the first one won’t be until January. She can use the extra time to get some practice.

After Maura skated her grandfather and I gave her a big bouquet of flowers. She had a big smile on her face as she waited for the scores to be posted. I hope she continues to enjoy skating competitions as much as she enjoyed her first one, even as she takes them more seriously. I’d like to see her win someday but the important thing is that she always does her best and makes the effort to get better. That is what the competition is really about.

The End of Our Vacation

This weekend was the end of our vacation in Indiana. We had to cut it a day short in order to get our home ready for Hurricane Irene and to avoid driving through the storm. As it was we drove through some of the outermost rain bands on Saturday afternoon and ran into a traffic jam on Interstate 95 around Boston because all but one lane of the highway had been closed by flooding. That was the worst of the storm for us. We got home before the wind arrived and I was able to bring in the trash cans and lawn furniture before they blew away. Most of our town lost power during the storm but not us. I’m glad we left Indiana early. Crossing Upstate New York on Sunday would have been a dangerous nightmare and we probably would have stayed away until the roads were safe.

Our final days in Indiana were some of the best but they were not busy days. We spent them at my parents’ weekend home on Lake Monroe, near Bloomington, Indiana. We had time to relax, read, nap in the hammock and talk. Maura’s grandfather took her fishing and she caught a catfish. We saw a deer cross the back yard and watched hummingbirds buzz around the hummingbird feeders like a swarm of feathered bees.

Maura’s grandparents took her back to Zionsville on Thursday and let Jennifer and I have the lake house to ourselves for another day to celebrate our wedding anniversary (it was actually on Sunday). While Maura spent one last day with her grandparents we spent a wonderful day without her. We spent the morning exploring the shops and galleries of Nashville, Indiana, and had lunch at the Big Woods Brewery (the Pale Ale was wonderful and the food wasn’t bad either). Afterwards we hiked in nearby Brown County State Park. The terrain was rugged, green and beautiful and the hike felt great after a week with not enough exercise. We saw toads and a snake sunning itself on the trail but very few people, though the park is popular and much busier on weekends.

On Friday morning we drove back to Zionsville, picked up Maura and hit the highway. It was a long trip and we took two days. Maura was good in the car. She had plenty to read and is happy with her nose in a book. We aren’t fans of the New York State Thruway so we took the southern route across New York--Interstate 86 to Binghamton and 88 to Albany before picking up 90 to Boston and home. We had one disappointment on the way. On Sunday morning we’d planned to have our breakfast at the Unadilla Diner.  Jennifer and I had often stopped when we were on the road during our college days. We wanted to take Maura there because the last time we’d passed that way she was too young to remember it. We found that it had closed and it was for sale. It was a small note of sadness in what was a very happy trip.

Maura's Choice

I’d planned a big adventure with Maura on Friday but I had to give up my plans to make her happy. I'd planned to take her to Plimoth Plantation, the living history museum that recreates the first Pilgrim settlement at Plymouth. It was Plimoth Plantation’s week to take part in Free Fun Friday, so our admission would have been free. Even though she’d been there recently on a field trip from school she said she wanted to go and I have no doubt would have enjoyed the day. I’d let her wander where she wanted and linger in the places that interested her most. She’s always enjoyed history when she can take it at her own pace and ask her own questions.

Then something came up. Her maternal grandfather (she calls him Papa) called to invite her to lunch on Friday. I might have suggested another day but Maura is busy this week and there was no good time. Her grandfather lives in Florida and though he’ll be in Massachusetts for most of the summer there might not be that many opportunities for them to spend time together. While I’d be disappointed not to spend the day on another adventure with my daughter I had to let her make the choice of what she wanted to do. It was the only fair way for me to make a decision.

Maura chose lunch with her Papa. They went to Friendly’s and then to Nantasket Beach to ride the carousel and play ski ball. I didn’t go along to see for myself but Maura clearly had a wonderful time. I spent the afternoon relaxing and working at home, alone. I missed the fun we might have had together but I’m glad I gave her the choice. Maura and I will have many more opportunities to have adventures together before she goes back to school and we'll make the best of them.

A Weekend of Fun

The holiday weekend was a busy one for the Ellett family. We visited museums and enjoyed celebrating the Fourth of July holiday with friends and family.

For Maura and me the weekend started on Friday. We went to the Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich, Massachusetts. Admission was free for the day as the institution was participating in Free Fun Fridays presented by the Highland Street Foundation. Each Friday in July and August different Massachusetts museums and cultural institutions will be offering free admission. Find out more about the program and check out the calendar for the rest of the summer at www.highlandstreet.org.

Maura and I left early for our trip to Sandwich. We arrived at around 10:00 when the property opened for the day and spent about four hours exploring the gardens and poking through the museums. We both enjoyed the day. The gardens were beautiful and peaceful despite the crowds. The labyrinth and the maze garden were favorite spots for Maura and me. I’d like to return to the gardens in the spring when the rhododendrons are blooming. The Heritage Gardens bost one of the largest collections of rhododendrons in the United States. The Hidden Hollow children’s discovery garden was an interesting concept that would be fun for younger kids. It integrated musical instruments and water features with many opportunities to learn about nature. It was very crowded and I thought Maura was a bit old for it. The art museum was another favorite spot, especially the carousel exhibit, which includes a working carousel as well as fine examples of carved carousel horses and menagerie figures. The car museum didn’t particularly thrill Maura but other children might love the old cars.

On Saturday we made another museum trip, this time with the whole family. We went to the Museum of Fine Arts to see the Chihuly exhibition and explore some of the new Arts of the Americas wing. Everyone enjoyed the glass artistry of the Chihuly installations. The brilliant colors and the shear imagination of the forms kept everyone entertained. Maura was a little bored in the new wing, which she had seen before but I had not. We did all enjoy the “Behind the Scenes” interactive exhibits that explored collecting and conservation for the museum.

Sunday evening we went to the Town of Weymouth’s Fourth of July celebration at Lane beach. We had planned to picnic but waited to go until after dinner to go because the weather was threatening thunder storms. The storms never materialized and the weather improved as the evening progressed. We were joined by Maura’s maternal grandfather and his long-time girlfriend. We enjoyed the family time, and Maura enjoyed playing with some of her friends that we met at the beach. The New Band played live for entertainment before the fireworks started and the fireworks were worth waiting for. I’ve seen better, but not this year.

We spent the Fourth of July relaxing. We attended a barbecue at our friends' the Longs and had a very pleasant afternoon of food and conversation. It was a great way to finish what had been an enjoyable but busy long weekend.

A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

My parents came from Indiana last week on their annual spring visit. They make a point of visiting several times a year because we don’t have many chances to visit them. They don’t want to miss their only granddaughter growing up. I doubt we’d see them quite as often if it were only Jennifer and me. As always everyone enjoyed the visit though we didn’t have as many adventures as I had planned.

They arrived last Tuesday. Jennifer took the whole week off and Maura was on her spring break so we were all here to greet them when they arrived. We went out to lunch to Sweet Lemons, our local Thai restaurant, which we go to for lunch almost every time they visit. We all enjoy going out to eat.  The rest of the day we just spent relaxing. My parents had had a long drive and I didn’t want to wear them out.

On Wednesday I’d tentatively planned to take a trip to the Cape Cod National Seashore but the weather was lousy. We stayed closer to home instead. The rink where Maura takes ice skating lessons had a free skate period during the day so we took a drive there so Maura could practice and show off her progress to her grandparents. Damp chilly weather doesn’t matter much in the ice rink. It’s always cold in there. We all enjoyed the time, though, despite the shivering. We went out for a nice dinner in the evening.

On Thursday we made an expedition to Cambridge to visit the Longfellow National Historic Site, which consists of the house where the poet Longfellow lived along with its grounds. In an earlier generation the building had been George Washington’s headquarters. We were disappointed because the house was not open for tours, though we had assumed it would be because Jennifer had found it on a list of National Park properties that would be free that week. The gardens were open, and free, but they are always free. They were quite beautiful with early blooming trees, though they will be even more gorgeous in a month or two. We will have to go back during the summer, when I expect the house will be open for tours. Our trip was not a complete waste. We had a nice lunch and did some shopping. Maura got two gifts, both of them books. She tends to get what she wants when her grandparents are around but I’m proud of what she wants. In the evening I took my parents to church with me for Maundy Thursday services.

On Friday Maura went to the Weymouth Carnival with her mother and grandparents. I stayed home because I’d come down with a nasty cold. Maura had a great time. I know because I’ve seen the pictures. I am not surprised. Maura loves carnival rides. It was back to church in the evening for me and my parents for the Good Friday service. Despite being under the weather, I did not want to miss it.

We took Saturday off. I was still not feeling well and everyone else seemed to want a rest. I did have to work in the evening.

Sunday we celebrated Easter. For my parents and me it is a religious holiday and we started the day with church but the centerpiece of the day for Maura and Jennifer was dinner. We had Easter dinner with our friends the Tittlers. We’ve been friends with them long enough that they’ve gotten to know my parents and everyone enjoyed the visit. Julie Tittler is a good cook and she does her best work on holiday meals. It would be hard not to enjoy a meal that good eaten among friends.

Maura was back to school on Monday. We all went out for pizza in the evening and followed it with ice cream at Nona’s in Hingham. They make their own ice cream there, and it’s a real treat. It was a good end to the visit. In the morning my parents hit the road and headed back home to Indiana.

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.