Food, Dinosaurs and Distant Worlds

Jennifer took a few days off this week to spend with Maura and me. We had planned to go camping but had put off making site reservations and in the end we decided not to go. Money is tight and we have extra expenses coming up. We didn’t want to spend all our time sitting at home though. On Monday we took advantage of our Museum of Science membership and spent the afternoon there. We took in the current temporary exhibitions and saw a show at the recently renovated Hayden Planetarium.

Our first stop once we’d arrived at the museum and picked up tickets for the planetarium show was to “What I Eat: Around the World in 25 Diets”, a temporary exhibit exploring dietary habits of people around the world through photographs showing what individuals from around the world ate on one day. The exhibit was not hands on but it was fascinating for all of us. We spent quite a while reading all the captions. Maura couldn’t miss any. She wanted her mother to read them to her but after the first dozen or so we made them read them herself. The diets of the people around the world made me think about the similarities and differences in what people eat in different places and the factors that affect the quantity and quality of the food.

Our next stop was “Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries”, another temporary exhibit which will only be at the museum through August 21^st. It explores some of the new discoveries and ideas that have been made about dinosaurs in the last few years. New finds from China allow for the reconstruction of an entire Cretaceous landscape and new studies of the biomechanics of dinosaur skeletons tell us about how they walked and ate and how they might have found their mates. Some of the exhibits were hands on and others had beautiful audiovisual components.

We finished our trip to the museum by taking in a planetarium show. We had two free passes from our membership at the museum that we wanted to use before they expired so we only had to pay for Maura. The Hayden Planetarium has recently been upgraded so it can now show more than how the stars look from the surface of the Earth (though it can still do that). We saw “Undiscovered Worlds” about the discovery of planets around stars other than the sun. The program explained how the planets can be detected and what we can learn about them and discussed some of the discoveries that have been made so far. The imaginative representations of some of the worlds that have been detected based about what we know about their composition and surface temperature made for some impressive visuals. We all enjoyed the show which was both informative and visually stunning. It also had the extra advantage of letting us sit down for a while at the end of our day.

A Lemming Hunt

I’d promised Maura months ago that we would hunt lemmings this summer. We don’t want to kill any, of course. We just want to find them. Our hope is to spot one, or at least see some evidence of their presence. We’ve both of us done our research. There certainly are lemmings in Massachusetts. The Southern Bog Lemming lives in the Commonwealth. As its name suggests it inhabits bogs. It is not an easy animal to see because it lives in runs at the base of the bog vegetation and rarely comes out of cover but if you look closely it is possible to find signs of its presence in the form of distinctive green droppings and little piles of clipped off sedges.

This lemming hunt took us to an out of the way corner of the Blue Hills Reservation in Braintree. It’s cut off from the rest of the reservation by Interstate 93 and doesn’t get many visitors. We didn’t see anyone while we were there. We hiked for most of an hour. Unfortunately we didn’t see any lemmings either. On the map there appeared to be a road leading through a wetland that might be good lemming habitat. The road is there, and the wetland, but there is no way to see the wetland from the road through the dense curtain of trees and bushes that borders it.

As a lemming hunt the trip was a bust but Maura and I did have a nice hike together. We’ll go looking for lemmings again soon. The next time we will try the boardwalk on Ponkapoag Pond, which I’m certain will lead us over some likely lemming habitat and get might us close enough that we can see the signs.

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.

Summer Icetime

Maura has now been on summer vacation for a week. It hasn’t been the most exciting week for her. I’ve been busy and we haven’t got the money for long adventures. She has many plans for the summer but had nothing for the first week except the beginning of her summer skating.

Ice skating isn’t a traditional summer activity but skating will be a big part of Maura’s summer this year. She started on Thursday with her very first private skating lesson with Jenny, one of her favorite instructors. Maura began learning the program she’ll skate in her first competition, the Halloween Classic at the Rockland Rink (where she takes her lessons). She has until October to get ready.

The competition program is something entirely new for Maura. Until now she’s been focused on learning new things on the ice. Now she has to perfect what she already knows. She will be skating at the lowest, pre-Alpha level initially so her program has to demonstrate the most basic strokes and moves in skating. To do well she’ll not only have to do them correctly, but do them with style. Maura seemed to understand what was required when I watched her taking her lesson. I’ve rarely seen her concentrating so hard. Often the details seem to escape Maura but last Thursday she was clearly thinking about even the fine points of her form. Even to my unpracticed eye it was clear she has some work to do but she has plenty of time. I’m looking forward to the first time she gets to skate to her music. It will be fun to see what she does with rhythm.

Maura needs to skate more than just on her lesson days if she is going to do her best. I plan on taking her to the rink every chance I get. The Rockland Rink has open skating on Tuesdays so I took her to the rink to practice her program and cool off on a warm day. Even I didn’t mind being in the cool rink. Usually I shiver and endure it for Maura. It’s much more pleasant there in the summer.

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.

The Wax Museum

As the school winds down and Maura prepares to third grade her school work focuses on big projects and fun. Tomorrow she has her big fieldtrip for the year, a trip to Plimouth Plantation where she will learn about the Pilgrims and their Wampanoag neighbors. I expect she’ll have a good time, too. There was no call for parents to chaperone this year, so I won’t be going.

Yesterday was another of Maura’s end of school year activities. For their big end-of -ear project the students in the third grade did book reports on biographies and presented their reports on posters which were displayed in the gym. Then they dressed up as their historical subjects and answered questions that they had prepared in advance.

Maura chose Pocahontas as her subject. Her poster told the familiar story of how she saved the life of John Smith, helping the first English settlement at Jamestown to survive. It also told how she later married another Englishman, John Rolfe, and traveled with him to England where she died, leaving behind a young son.

Parents were invited to come see the wax museum, which was the name the school gives to the display of posters with their costumed presenters. I went to see Maura in the Pocahontas costume that her mother made for her. She looked very cute in it. She did an excellent job answering the three questions she had prepared and written on her poster. She also answered  a few other questions people asked about Pocahontas’s life, showing that she had learned about her subject, not just memorized a few facts. She even managed to answer some of them in character. I was very impressed with her presentation and I’m proud of her.