A Lecture and a Concert: Cultural Enrichment for Maura

Jennifer and I believe that it is important to expose Maura to many different experiences and give her many opportunities to learn. The education she gets at school is vital and provides her with basic skills but the world is full of interesting things that she won’t be likely to learn at school. Maura is curious and smart. She takes an interest in most of the new things she is exposed to and her mother and I are comfortable in taking her to events that might not interest many nine-year-olds. This Saturday we took her to two of them.

The first event was a lecture at our local library. Authors Keith Stavely and Kathleen Fitzgerald discussed their recent book Northern Hospitality: Cooking by the Book in New England. The book (and the lecture) discusses the history of cooking in New England through the cookbooks that were used here from the 17th Century to the early 20th Century. Maura likes history and I was fairly certain that she would be interested enough to pay attention to a talk about the history of food. If she was bored she could have gone into the children’s library which is just across the hall from the room the lecture was in. She stayed through the whole lecture and was well behaved so she must have found it interesting enough to hold her attention. I found the topic fascinating. We both enjoyed tasting the plum cake, baked according to a 1796 recipe, that we had a chance to sample at the end of the lecture. Some of other patrons were surprised that Maura would eat the plum cake but it was not a surprise to her mother and I. We have always encouraged her to try new foods and by now she does so as a matter of course. Very often enjoys them. We all liked the plum cake. It was rich and lightly sweet. If we had been at home I would have had a second piece.

In the evening we went to the Cantors’ Concert at Congregation Sha’aray Shalom. Cantor Weiss of Sha’aray Shalom was joined by six of his colleagues who serve other congregations to present a concert honoring the musicians who perform in services at Sha'aray Shalom. The performers came from as far away as California, though the majority were from the Boston Metropolitan Area, They sang a variety of music—a mixture Jewish religious music, pop songs and show tunes. There were several ensemble numbers and each cantor had at least one solo or duet. They all had wonderful voices and had chosen their pieces well. Maura was well behaved but it was a late night for her and by the end of the show she was falling asleep. We stayed at the reception afterwards for a while but it was clearly time for Maura to get to bed so we didn’t stay long. We might have left as soon as the show was over but Maura would have been disappointed.

Adventures in Frugality, Part 1

Recently I learned that I will soon be losing my job. It wasn’t a good job. I won’t miss the work much. I will miss the people I’ve been working with, some of them for more than nine years. I’ll miss the money too. Even though I haven’t been well paid, selling books has contributed to our household needs.
I’m confident that in time the money issues will work themselves out. I’ll sell some of my work or I’ll find another job. In the meantime my goal is to spend as little money as possible, to stretch what we have as far as possible. I intend to have a good time while I’m doing it. It’s time for adventures in frugality.

For a start, I plan on driving the car less. Gas is expensive these days and likely to get more expensive. I can’t afford to burn any if I can avoid it. I’ve started walking Maura to school again now that the snow has melted off of the sidewalks. The mornings are brisk but if the weather is clear the walks are still enjoyable. The birds are singing in the trees and the first flowers of spring are blooming. I also walk to the library often. I can use the exercise; the library is often a good place to work and its services are still free.

The dinner table is another place we’ll be enjoying frugality. I’m trying to find ways to make inexpensive meals that please my family. No one in our house is a vegetarian but no one is a determined carnivore either. Meatless meals have always been among our favorites and I plan on making more of them. Made from scratch, they should be healthy and cheap. The challenge is to be creative enough that no one gets bored. I have plenty of time for cooking most days and I enjoy being creative in the kitchen.

I also don’t want to waste anything I can use. We already make homemade stock out of our vegetable scraps and bones. In the past leftovers often went to waste but I’m going to try harder to make sure edible leftovers get eaten and scrap paper gets used again before it gets recycled.

Our need to be thrifty will probably keep us close to home this year but Maura and I are still planning some adventures that will start as soon as the weather allows. For a school project on animals Maura researched lemmings this year. One of the things she learned was that the Southern Bog Lemming lives right here in Massachusetts. We’re planning on being amateur naturalists and searching them out in their natural habitat. While we’re at it we’ll get to know some of the other animals and plants that inhabit our local bogs and fens. I’ll write more about hunting for lemmings when we’ve made our first expedition. With luck we’ll find them close to home but I expect it may be a project that takes a good part of the summer.

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.