The Summer Rut

Summer is in full swing for Maura and I and we’re in a bit of a rut. It hasn’t been a summer for ambitious plans or even much activity. The weather has been hot and money has been short. We’ve stayed close to home most days and not found the energy to do much while we were here. I’ve been remiss as a parent and a travel writer. I’ve left Maura mostly to her own devices—which means she’s spent her time reading, playing video games and watching TV. At least a good deal of her time is spent with her nose in a book. I don’t have to make her read.

I’ve spent my days in front of the computer screen. I’m taking on-line courses in web design so time spent at the keyboard hasn’t been entirely wasted but I have not been as productive as I would like. I have not been writing.

We have managed a few activities besides our trip to Six Flags that I wrote about last week. Jennifer ran in the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge for the second consecutive year. She’s not a competitive runner but she did finish. Maura and I were there not far from the finish line to cheer her on as she limped by. Unlike last year we didn’t make it a father-daughter dinner night. There was no money in the budget for us to go out to eat, even for a hotdog. We had an early dinner of leftovers and then traveled into Boston where we sat on a bench in the Public Garden and read our books while the runners waited for the start, then made our way to the edge of the garden to see the finishers as they ran by.

Last week Maura started her formal summer activities. She’s in WeyRec activities at Great Esker Park again this year. The first week was tubing on the Back River, which should have been enjoyable given the heat early in the week but the session seemed to be under a curse. The tubers were bothered by bees and horseflies, swept away by currents (they wear life jackets and weren’t in any danger) and chased in by a thunder storm. Maura didn’t have nearly as much fun as she had the year before.

This week seems to be going better. She’s in “Survivor” learning how to build a fire and how to find food and water in the woods. She comes home tired and muddy every day but so far has always had a smile on her face.

A Trip to Six Flags

Last Wednesday we had a family outing to Six Flags Over New England in Agawam, Massachusetts. Jennifer and I had promised Maura we would take her to an amusement park during the summer since we had reneged on our plan to go to Busch Gardens when we were in Virginia during the spring. Serendipitously we received two tickets to Six Flags from Jennifer's sister Andrea, who had won them in a raffle but could not use them. That meant we only had to buy one ticket for the family, an adult ticket because Maura counts as an adult. The ticket prices are based on height - if you are tall enough to ride all the rides you can pay full price.

We got up early so we could be at Six Flags when it opened for the day. I needed to be back by 7:30 so that I could log on for a chat session for one of the online classes I have been taking. That meant that we had to leave the park around 5:00 to be sure of getting home in time. That left us plenty of time to enjoy ourselves  on the thrill rides with a break for lunch and a magic show thrown in.

Maura loves amusement park rides. She always has a good time when we go to an amusement park or a carnival. I don't think I've ever seen her not enjoy a ride except when she insisted on riding a kiddie ride she was too old for. She still gets scared sometimes. We rode most of the rides at Six Flags except for a few of the wildest roller coasters. I would have been game for some of the wild ones if Maura had wanted the ride but she wasn't up for everything yet. She did ride most of the smaller roller coasters and at the end of the day I talked her into riding the Tomahawk, which is one of my favorite rides. It's a giant horizontal wheel that spins while it swings back and forth. Maura was afraid of it in the morning and refused to ride it with me but at the end of the day she had found her courage and, as I expected, she loved it. She always seems too, especially when she's most afraid before she gets on.

We were ready to go at 5:00. Everyone was tired and ready for a rest. I didn't get one for a while. I had to drive home. Fortunately the traffic wasn't bad except near Boston. The only problem was that Maura had been drinking soda and juice all day and had to use the bathroom right when we were in the longest gap between service plazas on the Mass Pike. Some things never fail.

ISI District 1 Championships

On the weekend of July 1^st Maura competed in the ISI District 1 Championships at the William L. Chase Arena in Natick, Massachusetts. She competed in two events at the Alpha level.  She came in 6^th out of 8 competitors in both events but she was happy with her performance, and she had a good time, which is what matters the most.

Jennifer and I got up early and drove her to Natick twice. On Friday morning we fought traffic at rush hour to get there on time because Maura had an early ice time for her individual program. She was scheduled to skate at 8:40 am but she had to be there an hour earlier. She had a special treat—her grandfather came to see her skate (she calls him Papa). He lives in Florida and hasn’t had the chance to see her compete before. On Sunday we were back for Maura’s stroking competition. Maura skated even earlier than she did on Friday but it was an easy trip because there was hardly any traffic.

The truth is that Maura loves skating and she enjoys competing but she doesn’t care that much about winning. I think if she did she would work a little harder than she does. She has exercises to do when she isn’t on the ice but she never does them unless I bug her about them—not just remind her but bug her. It’s about as easy to get her to clean the cat’s litter box as it is to get her to practice holding her arms out for a few minutes so she can train herself to keep them up when she’s skating. I don’t expect Maura will come in first often unless she discovers that she cares more than she does now but if she is happy I am. She’s found a sport that she enjoys enough that she wants to participate regularly. It’s something she can keep doing for as long as it interests her. I’ll never be upset if she doesn’t want to be competitive.

Camping in Sandwich

The last week of June was a big week for us. Monday was Maura’s first visit to Fenway. Tuesday we all headed to Sandwich, on the upper part of Cape Cod, for a camping trip. After we had discovered that our luggage rack wouldn’t fit the car we bought in December and then fixing the problem after a quick run to REI for a part we packed up and headed out on our trip. We arrived at our campsite in Shawme-Crowell State Forest in mid-afternoon and had just enough time to get camp set up before the first of several thunder storms hit. Fortunately there was little wind and our tent was snug and waterproof, as was our picnic shelter once we threw a tarp over the top. Heavy rain made it hard to get a fire started and once we retreated to the car because of nearby lightning but the storm finally passed. We were able to enjoy our dinner and eventually s’mores around the campfire.

Wednesday was our day in and around Sandwich. We visited the Sandwich Fish Hatchery where Maura fed the trout being raised there for stocking the ponds and rivers of Massachusetts. It was fun to watch the fish swarm to the food scattered on the water.

From the Fish Hatchery we drove to Long Pasture Audubon Sanctuary in Barnstable. While I was changing into my boots a titmouse landed on my hat. Later as we hiked along the beach the same bird visited all three of us as we walked on the sand, pecking around our feet and landing on my shoulder and again on my hat. We later learned that the bird was a fledgling. He hadn’t yet learned to stay away from humans and to avoid being caught in the open. With luck he will learn the lesson before he is eaten by a hawk. On our trip to the Audubon Sanctuary we also saw crabs and mud snails, as well as two musk turtles basking on a log in a fresh water pond. Honeysuckle was in bloom and it filled the air with the sweet scent of its flowers.

After our visit to the Audubon sanctuary we headed back into Sandwich. We stopped at the Greenbrier Jam Kitchen and bought some spicy fall fruit jam, then drove down to the Cape Cod Canal to have a picnic. After lunch we visited two historic buildings in Sandwich. The Hoxie House was built ca. 1675 and once housed the family of Sandwich’s minister. We had a very nice tour from the friendly docents in the house, though I’m not sure of the accuracy of all the information that they gave us. After the Hoxie House we visited the gristmill at the other end of Lower Shawme Pond. It is a working reproduction of one built on the site in the 1650s which operated there from the 17th century until the late 19th century. It was interesting to see how flour was made before modern flour mills.

After the visit to the grist mill we headed back to camp for another evening by the fire. We had another enjoyable night in camp, this one without rain. We cooked in the open fire, had s’mores for desert again, and read stories aloud around the campfire until it was dark (and then finished the story by flashlight). The next morning after breakfast we packed up and headed home. Everyone had a good time and we returned energized and rested, but covered with mosquito bites.

Maura at Fenway

On Monday June 25th I took Maura to see the Boston Red Sox play the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. Even though the Sox lost the game we had a great time rooting for them. We had field box seats near third base with a great view of the action. The tickets were courtesy of Jennifer who had them as a perk from her job. We could never afford to buy tickets for seats that good.

It was Maua’s first time going to a game at Fenway and she was excited about it. We rode the T to the park in our Red Sox colors and found our seats about a half-hour before the game started. From the start it was fun to be there. We listened to the music on the PA and watched Wally the Green Monster rev up the crowd. We stood with our hats off for the singing of “O Canada!” and “The Star Spangled Banner” and applauded the people who were honored at the game including one young man who had given away not one but two trips to Disney World to the families of soldiers who had been killed in Afghanistan. I’m proud to say that the applause the crowd gave him was more than polite. He got a standing ovation which was what he certainly deserved for his actions.

Once the game started Maura and I watched it. We’re not huge baseball fans and I don’t pay that much attention to it most of the time (Maura pays even less) but I’ve always thought baseball was a sport best experienced live. You can see the whole field and there is a sense of scale. The crowd and the roving refreshment venders fill the empty moments in the game in a way TV color commentators never can. Maura and I enjoyed an ice cream from one of the venders during the 5th inning. I think it was the highlight of the night for Maura but she clearly was enjoying the whole experience. I certainly enjoyed it both when I was watching the game and when I was watching Maura. The only thing that detracted from the game for me was the occasionally rude fans sitting behind us. I wish they would have watched their language since there were kids present. One thing they did that didn’t bother me was the ribbing they gave the guy wearing the Yankees cap—he took it well since he was their friend and had come to the game with them.

Though the Sox lost they gave us a good game to watch, at least after the top of the first when they gave up four runs to start the game. They fought back to tie things up 5 to 5 before they lost it again in the 6th inning. We left the game when a thunder storm hit in the 7th inning and the game was rain delayed. It was already a late night for Maura and we had big plans for the next day so she needed her sleep. WE would have stayed to the end if it looked like the game would be over on time but with a rain delay it seemed likely to go very late. When we left Toronto was up by two and when I checked the score in the morning I saw that the Sox were unable to make a comeback. That was a shame but there are always other games and perhaps we will someday have the chance to see the Sox win in Fenway.

A Long Walk

Maura’s school year came to an end with a half day on Monday. We have no ambitious plans for her first week of freedom but we took the first full day of her vacation to take a hike in the nearby towns of Hingham and Cohasset. The weather was perfect. It was overcast but not rainy and warm without being hot.

After a few morning errands, including a stop at our local library, we drove to Wompatuck State Park in Hingham were we planned to hike. We parked at Mount Blue Spring, which is near the center of the park. From there we set out on what proved to be a four hour hike that took us out of Hingham and out of Wompatuck. At first we hiked on old roads through the park. We passed through quiet woodlands and damp swamps. Our route took us past ponds where frogs croaked and by the graffiti covered ruins of old military buildings.

Eventually we shifted to unpaved trails and headed over the park boundary into the Whitney and Thayer Woods Reservation, owned by the Trustees of Reservations. We struck a trail along an old rail line and followed that to the Cohasset train station. From there we walked along the shoulder of Route 3A until we came to the main entrance of the Whitney and Thayer Woods Reservation and from there back to Wompatuck State Park and eventually to our car. We made one stop along 3A, at JJ’s Dairy Hut where we took our only extended break of the day and enjoyed some ice cream. Maura had a big cone of Maine Black Bear ice cream and I had a root beer float. The rest of that leg of the trip was a bit nerve wracking. Route 3A is not a good road for pedestrians to follow. The shoulders are narrow and there are no sidewalks. Many of the drivers seemed not to be paying attention and sometimes Maura didn’t seem to be paying much either. I would not take that route again. The woods were certainly safer and more pleasant.

We didn’t have many wildlife sightings during the day. We heard frogs but didn’t see them and mammals were only in evidence from their scat. We did see two turtles sunning themselves on a log in one of the many ponds we passed. When I pointed them out to Maura she moved quickly and then they slipped into the water with a startled splash as they dove from sight.

Maura was exhausted by the time we made it back to our car but she had done a great job. I’m not sure how far we had walked but it was certainly more than a couple of miles. We walked for nearly four hours with few breaks and most of the time we kept a good pace. Maura did complain at the end of the hike but she had walked far enough without any whining that a little at the end of a long day on the trail didn’t upset me. I was glad to get back to the car myself.

Backyard Wildlife

Sometimes the best place to experience nature is your own backyard. You don’t have to travel far and sometimes you see things you might miss if you were outside your familiar surroundings. Though we live on a crowded street with apartment buildings and businesses tucked in among the houses the woods that abut our property are full of wildlife and it is not uncommon for it to wander through our yard.

Last week while I sat at my computer in my upstairs office I looked out the window for a moment and spotted a deer feeding in our neighbor’s yard. The office window was a perfect vantage spot to watch the deer. It never looked up to see me and it couldn’t hear me through the window, though it was not far away. I went downstairs to get my binoculars and then called Maura to come see. Through the binoculars the deer seemed close enough to touch. We watched it, taking turns with the binoculars, for at least five minutes as it contentedly browsed shrubs at the edge of the woods.

Watching the deer was a special moment shared with my daughter but only one of the many encounters with wildlife we’ve had on our own small patch of land. When I used to come home late at night I often saw skunks or raccoons on our driveway when I pulled in. Once I spotted a fox travelling through. A red-tailed hawk hunts on our street. Maura and my mother once saw it take a pigeon off of our lawn. When I saw it dive on its prey its quarry escaped. One summer evening around sundown Jennifer saw a coyote pass through the yard. It came out from behind our honeysuckle bushes about fifteen feet away from her and was as surprised to see her as she was to see it. I’ve only heard the coyotes’ eerie howling in the woods on cold winter nights.

I’m sure there is much more that we haven’t seen. I’d never seen the deer until this year but I expected they were there and I know there are wild turkeys in the woods because I’ve seen them elsewhere around its bounds but never on our property. I look forward to many more wildlife sightings in our own yard in the years to come.