Waiting for Phil

In case you are wondering, Phil is a snow day. He hasn’t come to Weymouth even once this year, though last year it seemed Phil had taken up residence for the season. The name comes from lines in a song Maura sang in her school’s Winter Concert this year: "Snow Day… gonna call him Phil." It’s out of context—Phil is supposed to be the name of a snowman—but it’s fun to tease Maura with it now and then.

I’m beginning to think we might not see Phil at all this year. It’s mid-February already and we’ve hardly had enough snow to build a snowman much less cancel school. Winter is not over but the coldest and snowiest parts of a typical winter will soon be behind us. Maura is disappointed. She looks forward to sleeping in, lying around the house in her pajamas all morning, and dressing in her warm clothes to spend the afternoon playing in the snow with her friend Dominic from across the street.

I’m glad Maura hasn’t missed school this year because of weather but in a strange way I’m disappointed, too. In past years I’ve always enjoyed the surprise vacations I got courtesy of the weather. The storms themselves were exciting and unpredictable but the best part was the extra time I got to spend cuddled up with Maura and (if the weather was particularly bad) Jennifer. We couldn’t go anywhere unless we wanted to drive on the badly cleared roads but there was always time to spend together. We could share a cup of cocoa, play a board game or watch one of our favorite movies on DVD. We’ll have some time to spend together next week when Maura is out of school on her February break. We won’t be cooped up in the house the whole week unless the weather changes. The trouble is vacations are predictable. Part of the charm of a snow day is that it is never expected.

A National Holiday

We haven’t had much chance to get out for adventures recently. Money is tight and now that I’m a student and employed I am much busier than I was before. We’d made tentative plans to visit a museum on Saturday but in the end we didn’t go. I had too much work to do to get away in the afternoon. Our one family outing of the weekend was a visit on Sunday to the home of our good friends the Tittlers. The occasion was a party to celebrate a major, if unofficial, national holiday.

The holiday was Superbowl Sunday, of course. My year is not complete without watching the game. I’ll watch it alone in my living room if none of my friends are interested in watching it with me but the Superbowl is the one football game during the year that is more fun with a crowd, even though few of my close friends are big football fans. The Superbowl can be fun even for people who don’t much care about the game. I’ve known non-football fans to leave the room during play and come back in during commercial breaks to see the ads, which are unusually entertaining for TV ads.

Finger food and the half-time show were big hits with the kids. It’s great to see children eagerly devouring strips of red bell pepper and baby carrots. As always this year’s half-time show was a big-budget spectacle. I often wonder about the choice of performers for the show but the production values are always high and the music upbeat. The children at the party enjoyed the show Madonna put on even though they don’t really know her music the way their parents do, whether they want to or not. It is amazing how quickly they set up and tear down the stage.

This year’s Superbowl was certainly exciting. Though Tom Brady’s final throw wasn’t likely to result in a score it wasn’t impossible so the outcome was in doubt until the end. As a New Englander and a Patriots’ fan I was disappointed by the outcome but I think the Giants deserved their victory. I’m looking forward to next season. Unless Tom Brady unexpectedly decides to retire in the off-season the team should be better next year than it was this year. Nothing is certain in football and it’s impossible to predict the next season's outcome at the end of the last one but I expect the Patriots to be back in the playoffs next year.

Further Adventures in Frugality

I’ve now been unemployed since the middle of May and the things we do to save money are now routine. Being careful with leftovers and saving vegetable scraps and chicken carcasses to make soup no longer seem like heroic measures but more like standard procedure. I doubt I’ll make many changes in the way I shop and cook once I have an income again. I’ll certainly keep making homemade chicken and vegetable broth no matter what happens. They’ve become too much a part of my cooking. I use them in many dishes that I make and they have more flavor and probably more nutrition than what I used to buy at the grocery store.

We’re still trying to economize on transportation as well. At the end of last year we traded in both our cars on one newer one. One of our cars was a gas guzzler and was rarely driven. Because it was seldom used it seemed like every time we started the engine it needed a new repair. Our other vehicle was a reliable Toyota but its clutch was starting to fail. We took advantage of an end-of-the-year deal to get a good price on a newer Toyota, trading in unpredictable maintenance costs for a very predictable monthly payment. We can get by with only one vehicle because Jennifer commutes by public transportation. I would do the same if I worked in Boston.

One thing I haven’t been able to do this school year is walk Maura home from school in the afternoons. A few weeks after the school year began work started on a major intersection we have to pass through to get to school. The sidewalks are still torn up on all four corners of the intersection. For months it wasn’t even possible to detour through the adjacent parking lots. At least that is possible now. I may start walking again when the weather warms up whether they complete the job soon or not. I rather doubt that they will. After the end of the school year it will no longer matter. Maura will be moving to middle school next year. It’s closer to our house and in the opposite direction.

I have good news on the job front. The long siege may soon be over. At the same time I was starting classes to learn new job skills I got a lead on a job I can start right away. It’s a paid writing gig, the kind of work I’ve been looking for all along, until now without success. The details are still being worked out but I hope to be working by the end of the week. It will be a new adventure for me to be actually being paid for the job that heads my resume and graces my business cards.

Maura Moves Up

Maura isn’t competing this month but she is skating. Last week she took her test to move up to the Alpha level in ISI competition. I didn’t take her to her lesson that day—it was Martin Luther King Day and her mother had the day off—but Maura was excited to tell me that she had passed her test when she got home. I wasn’t surprised and I don’t think her coach was either. She had already begun working with Maura on her new program.

Maura has been hard at work on her Alpha routine for several weeks already. It uses the same music and has the same advanced elements but otherwise it is quite different from her Pre-Alpha program. Her path on the ice is nothing like it was before. Maura is learning it well. She has a good sense of timing and to my unpracticed eye the new routine looks almost as polished as the old one. She still has a few of the same old problems, though. Maura has always had trouble keeping her arms up.

Maura will have to skate really well when she competes again at the end of February if she wants to bring home a medal. Unlike in her last competition she won’t be the only skater her age at her level. She’ll have at least one friend from her home rink skating against her and probably others as well. There are many more skaters her age at the Alpha level than there are at the pre-Alpha level. Perhaps I can use that to motivate her to work harder getting ready.

Maura always works hard when she is on the ice with her coach. She truly loves skating and she also loves her coach. It is harder to convince her that she needs to work off the ice. She has an exercise routine that she is supposed to do every morning but she doesn’t always remember to do it, even when she is reminded. I know how she feels. I don’t like to exercise either and I’m certain that walking around with pennies on the backs of your hands isn’t nearly as fun as skating.

Back to School

Soon Maura and I will both be students. I have decided to go back to school to add to the considerable education I already possess. I’ve applied to a Web Development Certificate program through the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. It may be a while before I’m officially in the program—I made up my mind to go back to school only a few weeks ago and I will be surprised if my application is processed before the spring semester starts next week. Nevertheless I will be starting classes next week. Non-degree students can register for classes without being accepted into any program and I’m now registered for nine credits worth of courses in the spring semester.

I’m looking forward to being back in school. My memories of student life are some of the best of my life, though I do recall it can be difficult at times. It’s been more than a decade since I last set foot in a classroom as a student. It may be much longer before I'm in class again. With this program I won’t be physically attending any classes but taking them on-line. UMass Lowell is too far away for a regular commute and I plan on taking all my classes over the internet. I may never set foot on campus at all.

I’m sure I will enjoy being a student, despite not meeting my classmates or instructors face-to-face. I am not going back to school for the fun of it, though. Regular readers of Travels with Maura may recall that I’ve been out of work since May. My job search has not gone well. Too many of the available jobs wouldn’t pay enough to cover daycare for Maura and the costs of getting to work. I have seen plenty of web development jobs advertised though. I have no doubt that it would be a far better job for me than selling insurance or cell phones.

Being a student will give me a chance to set a good example for Maura. She’ll see me studying and doing my homework. Maura is a conscientious student but it can’t hurt to have a positive adult example to motivate her in her studies. In a year I hope I can show her an example of what good study habits can bring—a good new job.

The South Shore Natural Science Center

On Monday, January 2nd, the Ellett family visited the South Shore Natural Science Center in Norwell, Massachusetts. We got free admission, thanks to the Museum Pass program at our local library. Available to anyone with a library card at a participating library the program gives free or discounted admission to local museums. Each library only has one pass, good for four admissions, available each day for each participating institution. To use them, especially on popular dates over vacation or in the summer you need to plan ahead and reserve early but they can make visiting cultural institutions more affordable for families on a budget.

The South Shore Natural Science Center is dedicated to the local wildlife and landscape. It includes a small museum set on a property mostly in its natural state with interpretive nature trails. We didn’t come prepared to explore the trails on a winter’s day but we enjoyed the museum exhibits on the ecosystem of the South Shore. The stars of the exhibits were the live animals that live in the displays—snakes, turtles, fish, frogs and an iguana named Spike. We also got to meet Hedwig the barred owl, who lives on the property as well. Except for Spike all are local species.

We had a good time on our visit. Maura enjoys nature and is always curious so she loves seeing animals close up. I enjoyed talking with the staff who clearly enjoy their jobs working with the animals and the visitors. We’ll make a point of going back in warmer weather to explore the grounds as well as the main building.

The South Shore Natural Science Center is more than a museum. It is a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center and many of its residents are rescued animals that could not be re-released into the wild. It runs a nature oriented daycare and summer camp and hosts outings for other groups. Maura visited once before on an overnight outing with her Girl Scout troop.

The Old State House

Last Friday, the 30th of December, Maura and I took the red-line into Boston. The weather was fair for late December, not bad for walking in the city. We met Jennifer for lunch at her company cafeteria and then visited the Old State House, only a few blocks away from Jennifer’s workplace.

The Old State House is one of Boston’s iconic buildings and a colonial survival. It has been altered considerably from its 18th century floor plan as it has been adapted over the years for various purposes but its outside has been restored to approximate its 18th century appearance, including reproductions of the lion and the unicorn, symbols that once marked the building as the seat of crown authority in Massachusetts. As the seat of the colonial government the Old State House was the scene of many of the events that led up to the revolution that broke out around Boston in 1775. After independence it was also the first seat of the government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and later was used as Boston’s City Hall and as a commercial building.

In 1879 the Old State House was one of the first colonial buildings in Boston to be saved from development and preserved. It has been used by the Bostonian Society as a museum since 1881 The museum’s displays are small but very interesting for history buffs. They focus on the colonial history of the building and on the Boston Massacre, which took place in the streets immediately adjacent to the building. One gallery is dedicated to staff favorites from the Bostonian Society’s extensive collection of historical artifacts, which is much too large to be displayed at one time, and has artifacts from various periods in the city's history.

Maura enjoyed the multi-media display about the Boston Massacre. It was very well put together and raised some interesting questions about the nature of the event and the way it has been viewed, both in the immediate aftermath and since. We had to sit through it twice because we came in just after it started and Maura wanted to see it from the beginning.

For me the highlight of the visit was our interaction with the staff. We took a free tour of the upper floor led by one enthusiastic staffer. It’s not large by modern standards but it once housed all three branches of the colonial government--the office of the Royal Governor, the Massachusetts Assembly and the Supreme Judicial Court. The current floor plan is different than it was in colonial times, but instead dates from the 19th century so the tour was very helpful in imagining what the building was like when it witnessed momentous historical events including the establishment of the first court of appeals in North America and the first legal arguments against taxation without representation that led to resistance against the King and Parliament of England. We also had a fascinating conversation with another staffer about the Old State House clock,still wound and set by hand, and about Weymouth’s Town Hall, which is a replica of the Old State House. All the staff members we met were friendlyand very knowledgeable about the building and the City of Boston.