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Pawtuckaway - Father's Day 2019

2019-06-19T20:39:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we joined 6 other families for our annual neighborhood Father's Day Weekend camping trip at Pawtuckaway State Park.

One can reserve spaces there 11 months in advance. We want the sweet spots on Neal's Cove that have swimmable waterfront plus the fun boulders off shore. So I coordinate all the neighbors to make reservations on the first available day. This year we had the entire core of Neal's Cove.

Friday night was a bit windy but pleasant. Saturday was perfect. The forecast was for rain over night Saturday and most of the day Sunday, so a couple of families departed after dinner on Saturday. It turned out to be a bit of a false alarm. It only rained a tiny bit during the night, and then was dry until 10:45 in the morning. Enough time for a relaxing breakfast and fire and packing while dry.

I made a pledge to myself to swim three times Saturday, with one of them at night. I succeeded. The lake felt chilly at first but one got used to it quickly and then it was really nice.

Carol worked all day Thursday and part of Friday before the trip to precook a ton of fantastic food. We had the best camping meals ever. Thanks, Carol!

It was a fantastic Father's Day.

It's already on my calendar to sync everyone in a few weeks on July 20 to make reservations for next year.

Acadia National Park 2018

2018-09-04T20:07:00.001-04:00

Wow, I've gotten really bad at this blog thing. I haven't posted since June, and that was a post about Mexico that was four months late!

C'est la vie.

Our neighbors Molly and Brendon go camping at Acadia National Park every Labor Day. We used to avoid traveling on holiday weekends because the Boston exodus and re-entry traffic are legendary. But last year they made it sound so attractive that we gave it a try, and loved it. We signed up again this year.

At almost the last minute, Audrey asked if her best friend Mia could join us for the trip. Carol and I thought about it for about five minutes and said, "Sure!" Mia is like our third daughter; she spends a lot of weekends at our house. I asked her during the trip whether she is a guest or a member of the family. She and everyone else agreed: the latter. She's always a pleasure to have with us, and Audrey enjoyed having a friend along.

We decided to borrow a tent and drive the new hybrid minivan this year, figuring it would be more comfortable than Ruby for the 5-hour drive - especially if it was hot. It would also allow us to drive seven people around while there without converting Ruby from apartment to vehicle every day. We all enjoyed sleeping in a tent for a change, but I think we all like the van better. For one thing, it's better at blocking out the sounds of other campers so we sleep better and later in the van.

Visiting Acadia is a wonderful mix. The National Park takes up maybe 1/3 of Mount Desert Island and the rest is quaint seaside towns including the most famous, Bar Harbor. So one can hike and bike and explore the park but still easily go into town for ice cream or meals out.

Our favorite discovery this year is the Rexall drug store with soda fountain! We had seen the store before but didn't know it had the counter. They found all the old accoutrements like the tall glass straw dispenser, and they make soft drinks like a real soda fountain by mixing syrup with carbonated water. Even Coca-cola. They have a classic lunch counter menu featuring grilled cheese, egg salad, ham salad, BLT, etc. Delicious. And cheap! Unfortunately also closed on Sundays.

The third family in our group was Kerry and Sean, who are quite the camping foodies. Kerry made a huge, gorgeous paella the first night and made fancy food on a campfire for pretty much every meal. It was fun to watch.

We all did a few hikes. Charlotte hiked to Great Head with everyone else (and Kerry and Sean's dog Barley) while Carol and Audrey and Mia and I hiked The Beehive - a short, steep hike featuring iron rungs and ladders to climb the cliffs and ledges. Slightly scary and very fun. The next day Carol and I and all the kids (including our neighbor Anna) hiked up Cadillac Mountain to the highest point on the island.

On the way home we got to participate in the legendary traffic, taking 70 minutes to travel maybe 14 miles from Maine, through New Hampshire and into Massachusetts. But the new minivan has adaptive cruise control that works all the way to a complete stop. I didn't have to touch the gas or brakes that entire time, except to tap the gas to say "move" only after coming to a complete stop. It makes bumper to bumper traffic much more tolerable.

Oh, and the weather was ideal. Lows in the high 50s at night and highs near 70 during the day, with no rain.

I suspect we'll do it again next year!

Mexico 2018

2018-06-07T18:08:00.002-04:00

Man, I'm really slacking on this blog thing.

Waaaay back in February we had a fantastic trip to Mexico. My parents reached their 60th wedding anniversary in December and we have all been planning for years to gather in Mexico to celebrate. The core of the trip was a week in Puerto Vallarta.

Since all flights to Puerto Vallarta from Boston go through Mexico City, we decided to go a few days early and check out the capitol. We found a great AirBnb that was near both the historic center and the Paseo de la Reforma that is sort of the modern city center.

The highlight for all of us was the street food. I had read quite a bit about it before the trip, and it made my mouth water. We brought antibiotics in case we had any intestinal issues, but my research said that the food in Mexico is much safer than it used to be 20 years ago. Most experienced travelers said "just eat everything". We did, for the most part. We enjoyed quesadillas, many kinds of tacos, corn on the cob (elote), tamales and pastries.

From our apartment window the first morning we watched a man pull up in a pickup truck and set up a kitchen on his tailgate with burners to cook. A steady stream of customers came to buy breakfast. We tried to guess what he was making. Eventually I had to go investigate, and I returned with chilaquiles (crushed tortilla chips, hot green chile sauce, shredded chicken, sour cream and cheese) and rice atole (hot milk with rice, sugar and cinnamon). Man, those were both delicious. I returned every day.

In three days in Mexico City we only ate one meal in a restaurant, and that was our least favorite meal. The street food was easy, fun and delicious.

Oh, I forgot. When we first arrived and ventured out to the grocery store a couple blocks away, we got quesadillas at a stand right outside the grocery store. They handed them to us on thin plastic plates and we walked away toward our apartment. A guy from the stand came running after us to retrieve his plates, which we had inadvertently tried to steal. Silly gringos.

I especially enjoyed taking the subway around the city (although the girls weren't so thrilled with it).

The tourist highlights were a double decker bus tour of the historic district, and our visit to the Frida Kahlo Museum in Casa Azul. Her and Diego Garcia's house and studio have been preserved as it was when they lived in it and it was enchanting and romantic. We wanted to live there. There was also a cool exhibit of her back braces and clothing that were discovered in a hidden area of the house many years after her death.

On the fourth day we took a short flight to Puerto Vallarta.

My parents rented the fantastic Casa Carole, a 5 bedroom villa that clings to a cliff just south of town in Puerta Vallarta. The villa was luxurious and spectacular. We spent many hours lounging by the pool overlooking the ocean trying to spot whales (we spotted many). We enjoyed our family meals prepared by Maria and our margaritas prepared by Pepe. We swam at the beach and walked along the beach into town, past dozens of other cool villas.

We made two day trips to Mismaloya Beach about 30 minutes south by bus. The movie "Night of the Iguana" was filmed there and apparently it was that movie, and the scandal of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton's affair during the filming, that turned Puerto Vallarta into a resort destination. Now Mismaloya is a casual, low key, beautiful little beach town. We sat all day in beach chairs at a little cafe enjoying drinks and food in between jet-skiing, snorkeling and relaxing.

We also had a few very lovely family dinners in town at beachfront seafood restaurants (Daquiri Dick's and Blue Shrimp). My sister Tricia and I ate as many shrimp as we could.

The girls also experienced their first massage at a spa recommended by a childhood neighbor of mine who goes to PV twice a year. They decided massages are alright.

Eventually, our week in paradise came to an end. On Saturday Carol, the girls and I flew back to Mexico City for one more afternoon and evening before flying back to Boston Sunday morning. We stayed at an airport hotel, but went on a subway excursion to the Basilica of Guadalupe in the north part of Mexico City. Behind the fascinating modern basilica is a lovely park with another chapel on top of a hill with a view of the city. It was a nice little bonus experience in the city.

It was really a fantastic trip that we all enjoyed very much. I can't wait to go back!

New Hampshire Foliage

2017-10-15T18:03:00.001-04:00

My family has lost interest in hiking, but I've really missed it so I decided to start going on my own. Today was the first time. It is near peak foliage color in the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the weather forecast turned decent at the last minute. I hiked the 4.5 mile Welch and Dickey Loop trail.

Much of the hike itself is in evergreen forest. But about 3/4 of the way around the loop, when one gets a view of the cirque formed by Mounts Welch and Dickey, there is an absolutely spectacular deciduous forest. I sat and admired it for a long time.

Rhodie wasn't so interested in the view, but she loved the exercise.

More to come, including probably some winter hiking.

Acadia National Park

2017-09-09T16:10:00.000-04:00

We rarely travel on three-day weekends because holiday weekend traffic on the roads in and out of Boston is legendary. But back in the spring our neighbors Brendan and Molly told us that every Labor Day they go up to Acadia National Park in Maine. We made campground reservations together, and I planned to take Thursday and Friday off to beat at least one of the traffic jams.

We haven't visited Acadia in the eight years we've lived here because the drive is long. Google Maps says 4.5 hours, but for us that means at least 6 because 1) Ruby isn't very fast and 2) we like to stop, and we sometimes take scenic routes. But with the extra days off work it was worth the drive.

We stayed at the Blackwoods Campground, which is part of the park. It was very nice. We expected it to be packed for the holiday weekend, but I don't think we ever saw it more than 2/3 full. And, strangely, many people came for one night on Thursday, Friday and Saturday so our campground neighbors kept changing.

Acadia is an unusual national park in that it was formed from land donations and acquisitions. So it's more surrounded by "civilization" than other parks. The beautiful town of Bar Harbor is only a 20 minute drive from the campground and we ended up going into town every day, I think.

One of the major land donors was John D. Rockefeller Jr. He dreamed of making the entire Mount Desert Island car free. Toward the end, he funded and supervised construction of 50 miles of gravel carriage roads in the park, including a bunch of beautiful granite bridges. We brought four bikes with us and enjoyed a very pretty ride on Friday.

On Saturday Charlotte and I and our neighbors hiked up Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the island and in the park. The hike gains 1500' over 3.5 miles, so it's very gradual. It's a gorgeous view most of the way. Charlotte did very well. Audrey and Carol were having a mother-daughter day and met us at the top.

Sunday morning we went on a boat cruise called "Diver Ed's Dive-In Theater". Diver Ed is a manic guy who has been a commercial diver forever. They have a high tech camera rig and a hydrophone-based audio system. We motored out into Bar Harbor and next to one of the Porcupine Islands that are part of the national park and anchored in about 60' of water. Diver Ed suited up and had the kids on the boat push him in. Then he gave us a high definition video tour of the bottom with narration over the hydrophone system, with his wife as the straight man on the boat. They were hilarious. He showed us sea stars, anemones, crabs, fish and tons of lobsters - and his favorite: sea cucumbers.

He collected a lot of animals in a bag and eventually brought them back to the surface. Then he had all the kids come up to the front area and showed them the animals up close and let them handle them. When that was over they released all the animals back into the sea.

It was quite entertaining. Diver Ed is quite the character. In the off season, he dives for scallops during their season from December to April. The water gets down to 26 degrees! He also doesn't like to use a dive light because it blinds him to everything that isn't directly in its beam. So he dives in almost darkness. His wife said he regularly gets harassed by fairly large animals and has to guess what they were because he can't really see. One time, what he assumes was a seal dragged him down an embankment. Anyway, that cruise was well worth the price of admission.

On Sunday the remnants of Hurricane Harvey passed through. The original forecast was for it to rain all day, but that kept improving and the rain didn't actually arrive until 4:15pm. We got in a hike from Sand Beach around Great Head. The rocks were very cool and the views very pretty. When the rain did arrive we headed into town and found a lovely seafood restaurant for dinner with Brendan and Molly and Anna.

We did pretty well on traffic on the way home. We left Acadia around 11. We didn't really hit traffic until 7 miles from the I-95 bridge over the Piscataqua River, which forms the border between Maine and New Hampshire. Our GPS took us on a circuitous alternate route through countryside. It was probably a draw in terms of time, but at least we were moving and in shade a lot of the time instead of sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic in the hot sun on the freeway. We stopped in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for a late lunch before the last hour to home.

T'was a very lovely weekend.

Crane Beach - Aug 6

2017-08-07T18:07:00.000-04:00

Camps and vacation were crowded right against school getting out this summer, so we hadn't had a beach day, yet. We're running out of time!

We've discovered that it can be fun to go late in the afternoon. The parking lot is emptying out by then and we can park right up front with no stress. The beach is also emptying out so there's plenty of space. And we get some wonderful light for photographs (although a little intense in tonight's photos!).

It was not quite hot enough for most of us to swim, but Charlotte swam a lot and loved it.

We'll go for a proper beach day in the next few weeks.

Seattle/Richland Vacation 2017

2017-08-06T21:23:00.000-04:00

Last week we returned from our annual pilgrimage to our respective homelands.

We spent the first four days in Seattle and visited a lot with John's parents and sisters. We enjoyed dinner with Grandma Kay and Grandpa Doug and Aunt Betsy almost every night. We also had a reunion dinner with a great circle of friends from Seattle, including Kathy and Mark and their kids in town from Myanmar. This whole circle of friends met when none of us had kids; now we all have teenagers.

This year Audrey flew to Seattle two weeks before the rest of us and attended Hidden Valley Camp. John worked there as a counselor for two summers in college: 1981 and 1982. We drove to camp to pick up Audrey a few days after we arrived. The camp is still run by the same family and it was great to see them again, and to revisit camp. Audrey definitely wants to go back next year, and Charlotte is considering it.

The next morning we had breakfast with John's sister Tricia and her husband Frank. John's sisters and Frank are building a house together in Puyallup, to sell. We visited it when it was nearing completion. Tricia and Frank are also selling their current home in Puyallup and moving to Yakima. The girls helped them out by mowing their lawn with their riding lawn mower.

Then we headed over the Cascades to Richland to stay with Carol's parents. Richland is always very relaxing. We watched the entire 5 hour broadcast of the Tour de France every day (some of it through eyelids). Carol played cards with her parents every evening. And we had two wonderful boat outings on the Columbia River, one of which was with Carol's childhood friend Kim and her family. It's the second straight year we've done that and it might need to become a tradition.

One thing that does seem to have become a tradition is driving back to Seattle via Chinook Pass. It's a "minor" pass over the mountains that is closed in winter. It's very scenic, and there is a 3-mile loop hike that leaves from the summit that is very pretty. The kids thought it was a death march this year, but they survived.

Back in Seattle we turned into tourists for three days. We visited the Museum of Flight, Alki Beach and Pegasus Pizza, the Pike Place Market and the University of Washington.

We also enjoyed a lovely backyard feast with Carol's brother Bob, his wife Torii and cousin Alex and his wife Jade. Bob and Torii are foodies and the vittles are always fantastic. This year it was steamed clams and cowboy steaks - huge steaks that take special preparation and then everyone carves off what they want.

On our last day the girls got to swim in Greenlake, which is always a must.

This vacation felt nice and long, which is always a good sign. And by the end we were ready to head home.

But man, was it fun.

Winter Vacation 2017

2017-03-26T14:03:00.001-04:00

Hey, it has only taken me a month to post the photos form our winter vacation in California, Arizona and New Mexico!

We flew to Los Angeles and arrived in the evening. We picked up our freakishly cheap rental car ($77 total for a week!) and hit the road for my parents' winter home in Palm Desert, arriving there about 10:30pm.

The girls had a great time hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Betsy, as they always do. Grandma and Aunt Betsy love to take them shopping for clothes. This year we made sure to arrive with suitcase space to spare. They filled it.

We celebrated both girls' birthdays with their favorite Grandma dinners: spaghetti for Audrey and Lasagna for Charlotte. And for a bonus, Grandma made a Thanksgiving dinner! It's also a tradition for us to go to The Old Spaghetti Factory so we did that, too.

Our trip is usually the week preceding the Oscars, so Carol and I try to go to as many nominated movies as we can. This year we saw Lion, Passengers, Arrival and Manchester by the Sea.

After five days we drove to Tucson to stay with Carol's parents. Carol and I love the five-hour drive across the desert. The kids tolerate it with devices and a wifi hotspot. We make them look out the window every once in a while. We also play a game where we guess the distance to the next mountain range. The girls are getting pretty good at it!

In Tucson we spend a lot of time relaxing. That's always very welcome.

This year we took a bonus trip. In the early 80s I became friends with Barry, a coworker at Boeing, and his partner Rabih. Two years ago they retired and moved to Las Cruces, NM, where Barry went to college. Last year they built a custom home in the hills overlooking the city and the Rio Grande valley. During our visit to Tucson in 2016, Barry & Rabih came to Tucson and they and Carol's dad and us all went to Kitt Peak Observatory and we all went to a lovely dinner. We pledged to visit them in NM in 2017.

We rented a minivan so we could all make the four-hour trip in one vehicle.Once in Las Cruces we had a delicious lunch at Las Posta de Mesilla, a restaurant in what was once a stagecoach station. Then we headed to La Cueva, a BLM property that was previously the site of a sanatorium, and also housed a hermit for many years in the namesake cave. After that we returned to their house for a wonderful dinner.

In the morning, after another delicious home-cooked meal, we drove east about an hour to the White Sands National Monument. We rented sledding discs from the gift shop and had hours of fun sliding down the white sand dunes. It's a spectacular place. Great vistas and sparkling light. The weather was perfect - warm enough for t-shirts but not broiling. White Sands was a highlight of the vacation for the girls.

We had a couple of days left after returning to Tucson. We went to the go-karts and laser tag place and had fun. And this year all four of us hiked Picacho Peak. Carol and Charlotte had never been past half way, but this year we all made it to the top. Charlotte loved the cables and catwalks and did very well.

Then it was back home to winter in Boston. Although Boston had been having a warm spell and on at least one day it was warmer in Boston than where we were!

Christmas 2016

2017-01-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful Christmas at home.

The girls noticed this year that as they get older, their gifts get more expensive and therefore there are fewer of them.

Santa brought an Xbox One and some new games. They've enjoyed that.

Audrey got a huge LEGO kit: the 2500-piece Parisian Restaurant. She spent the next couple of days assembling it.

Charlotte's big gift was a Chromebook all her own. It's a small one like she wanted. Bonus features are a screen that folds all the way over into a tablet, and a touch screen.

Carol received the Apple Watch she asked for, in pink. She loves it! Now she gets my texts on her wrist. She can even make phone calls on it - the Dick Tracy wristwatch phone is reality!

I got some great shirts: one for work and a couple of nice casual winter shirts; a wonderful book titled "The Eighth Day of Creation" about the birth of molecular biology; a science kit to do with the girls; and a bunch of other wonderful things. Thanks, Santa!

Charlotte Turns 11

2017-01-14T15:48:00.001-05:00

Can you believe we have two tweens now? We can't!

Charlotte turned 11 at the end of November. These are photos from her first party with just family, at home. And from her second birthday party, with friends, that included an outing to play laser tag.

Audrey Art

2016-12-03T09:39:00.003-05:00

The first trimester of middle school just ended and Audrey brought home the works she produced in art class. It's her favorite class.

She especially liked printmaking.

Click on the photo to go to the gallery. The password is always 'methot'.

Photo Flood

2016-11-27T19:39:00.000-05:00

This year I did a much worse job than usual editing and curating photos as we took them. Over Thanksgiving weekend I spent a couple of days catching up. The result is the following 13 new albums. Enjoy!

Click on each photo to go to that album.

I can't believe I've been slacking all the way back to last Christmas! Well, here you go.

Apparently the day after Christmas was very pleasant last year because it looks like we went to the beach.

I made a couple trips to the UK for meetings in the other Cambridge related to my old job at Biogen. On both trips I also spent some time in London. During this January trip I found a concert by an African musician and had a great time.

So I never posted photos four our annual February trip and no one complained! Next time, let me know!

From January through early April we had our basement remodeled by the world's best contractor. He was a dream to work with. Now it's our favorite part of the house!

Audrey stopped skating, but Charlotte continues to enjoy it. Here is video of her group's routine in the annual ice show in March.

Here's a collection of favorite photos from the first half of the year that aren't related to a specific event.

Three neighbor families joined us for a weekend camping at our favorite campground: Pawtuckaway State Park in New Hampshire.

My second trip to the UK. More time in Cambridge and in London. This time I got to spend a couple of hours at the New Tate Modern gallery.

This year both girls went to circus camp for a week, at the same time. Carol and I had a week to ourselves and a date night, during which we saw a favorite performer: Sarah Jarosz.

Favorite photos from the second half of the year.

For her birthday in September, Carol traveled to Colorado to attend Girls Gone Grape with her best friend Kim. It was modeled after the famous "I Love Lucy" episode. They stayed in a swanky hotel in Vail, stomped grapes, went on a jeep tour, had a couple of nice dinners and best of all got to spend time together.

The girls started swim team at the YMCA in September. They are really enjoying their practices even though they come home exhausted. We've been to three meets so far, and there is video of all the events in this photo album.

Mt. Monadnock

2016-10-23T08:28:00.000-04:00

Back on my birthday in May the family decided I got to choose the activity. I chose to hike up Mt. Monadnock in southern New Hampshire.

It's one of the most popular hikes near Boston. I didn't understand just how popular until we got there. I think the parking lot at the most popular trailhead could hold 300 cars (and there are multiple trailheads). The trail was as wide as a road most of the way, and filled with a constant stream of people. It was definitely the most people I've ever seen on a hike.

Those of us who grew up hiking on the west coast are spoiled by having hiked trails that were mostly built (or rebuilt) by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Depression. They built trails to common standards, including maximum grade. To meet that grade limit, they used lots of switchbacks.

Well, on the East Coast the trails predate any trail construction standards. They go straight up, over huge boulders or whatever else might be in the way. The trails are steep.

Nevertheless, the family made it very close to the top. We stopped out of the wind below the summit to eat lunch. Carol and Charlotte were tired and stayed where they were while Audrey and I continued to the actual summit.

The view was very pretty.

Afterward we stopped for ice cream.

It was a lovely birthday.

The geeks among you might like to read about the MIT's Haystack Observatory, which we passed on the drive to Mt. Monadnock. And this weird program that involved the observatory: Project Needles.

Ipswich River

2016-10-16T19:29:00.001-04:00

We don't visit Mass Audubon's Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary as much as we'd like any more because we can't take Rhodie there. But today was a gorgeous fall day, so we decided to leave Rhodie at home and visit our old haunt.

We used to keep bird seed in the car for our visits but we were out. Fortunately there's a pet store right on the way near the sanctuary. I bet they sell a lot of bird seed.

The birds didn't disappoint. We got the usual torrent of chickadees. But today the nuthatches and the tufted titmice weren't as shy as they have been before and we got plenty of them to visit our hands, too.

People have been feeding the birds here out of their hands for a very long time. The bird population is very accustomed to it.

Hub on Wheels

2016-10-02T18:38:00.000-04:00

There's an annual bike ride every September in Boston called Hub on Wheels. The highlight is that Storrow Drive, a major roadway along the Charles River, is closed for the event and cyclists get to ride on a road that is usually closed to us.

Last year Audrey and I rode the 10-mile route - the Storrow Drive portion - together. At the point where the riders on the longer routes split off, Audrey toyed with the idea of riding farther.

Fortunately we didn't. She hadn't had any training, and she was tired after 10 miles, and sore the next day.

This summer I asked Audrey if she wanted to ride the longer route. I told her we would need to do some training rides to work up to the 40-mile length of this year's route. She was game.

So, several weekends in a row leading up to the event we rode. First a little under 10 miles. Then 20 miles a couple of times. And finally 30 miles on the Cape Cod Rail Trail while were visiting the Cape with friends. When Hub on Wheels rolled around, we were ready.

Oh, before the Cape ride I also bought a computer for Audrey's bike so she could see her own speed and distance.

We had to get up at 6am to go on the ride. Audrey wasn't too excited about that.

I had stocked up on energy foods and had them stashed in my jersey pocket. Good thing. Audrey needed boosts now and then throughout the ride. But she powered through and we finished! Just over 40 miles on our bike computers. I was very proud of her.

She was a little sore the next day but not too bad. We'll see if she's game again next year.

The age minimum is 12, so Charlotte has another year before she has to decide whether to give it a go.

Here's the route:

Cape Cod - September

2016-09-11T21:43:00.000-04:00

For the fourth year in a row we joined our friends the Latta-Giulianas at their family cottage in Dennisport, Cape Cod, for the weekend after Labor Day.

We've established a bunch of traditions as part of this weekend:

Eat hot dogs at The Dog House
Eat ice cream at the Sundae School
Visit a cool outdoor place (this year it was Long Pasture Audubon Sanctuary)
Lots of independent kid play in the quiet cottage community

This year Audrey and I added a 30-mile bike ride. Last year she and I rode the 10-mile route at Hub on Wheels. Audrey said she'd like to ride the longer route. So we've been going on training rides to work up to the 40-mile ride around Boston next weekend. We rode on the beautiful Cape Cod Rail Trail.

It was warm and a little humid this year. But we slept with the van side door and hatch wide open (we have screens), and the girls enjoyed the screened windows on three sides in the tent upstairs. It was delightful sleeping in warm temps and a breeze.

And now it's time for fall. After the 85 degree day we're going to have on Wednesday, that is.

First Days of School

2016-08-30T21:53:00.000-04:00

Click on the photo for a larger version

Crane Beach (Aug 21)

2016-08-27T14:34:00.000-04:00

We always try to get in a few good beach days in August before heading back to school. Last Sunday we spent seven hours at Crane Beach.

Carol and the girls also went to Plum Island in the middle of the week to spend the night at a beach house rented by one of Charlotte's friend's families.

And we're going to Crane Beach again tomorrow with friend!

Seattle - Richland Vacation

2016-08-24T22:23:00.000-04:00

We had a wonderful vacation in Seattle and Richland from July 26 - August 9. Last year we didn't take this trip because we spent all our money and vacation time going to Italy. So it had been two years since our last visit home.

Audrey flew to Seattle a week before the rest of the family and had a lot of fun visiting with family and going shopping, swimming and sightseeing.

When we arrived we spent our first 24 hours in Seattle. We happened to overlap with good friends Kathy and Mark and their kids, who live in Myanmar. So we enjoyed a dinner gathering with them at mutual friends Britt and Ken's house.

The next day we drove to Richland, to Carol's homestead.

Our Richland visit this year was especially good because:

We got to spend a whole day on the river with Carol's childhood friend Kim and her family, and Grandpa Dennis.
Both of Carol's brothers, and sister-in-law-Torii came over to celebrate both Dennis and Mary's 80th birthdays. And as a bonus they brought Niece Kristen.
We enjoyed three boat outings on the river, including one at sunset and another with Grandma Mary, too.

Back in Seattle we enjoyed evenings out with good friends and lots of hanging out with family. Whenever it was warm we went swimming in Greenlake. Audrey learned how to dive!

We spent the last weekend at Aunt Tricia and Uncle Frank's house in Puyallup. We got to see their old school bus that they plan to turn into an RV; we helped Tricia prepare for and serve at a cancer program dinner at her house and just enjoyed hanging out with them.

We had a tourist day in Seattle visiting favorite sites: the Fremont Troll; the Ballard Locks and Seattle Center. We just missed being able to go up in the Space Needle (we timed it wrong).

We enjoyed another visit with Kristen over lunch, and we got to also see Nephew Ross. We also had dinner at Alki's Pegasus Pizza with Kristen and Cousin Alex and his new wife Jade.

We ended the trip with a Methot family tradition: dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. We first ate at this restaurant in Portland, OR in 1969, so this family tradition is 47 years old and going strong.

It was a wonderful trip. Can't wait until the next one!

Boston Light

2016-07-17T20:43:00.000-04:00

A couple months ago I read that Boston Light was going to be open for tours again after being closed for renovations for a couple of years. I immediately bought tickets.

There are a lot of islands, shoals and bars in Boston Harbor and it was treacherous to navigate. There were many shipwrecks in the 17th and 18th centuries. The colonists first built a lighthouse on three-acre Little Brewster Island, which marks the turn into the narrow safe channel to Boston, in 1716 (this is the 300th anniversary). The tower was rebuilt in 1783 and that's the tower that stands today.

There were tons of staff on the island. It is the only light house in the US that still has a paid keeper, and her main job is as tour hostess. There were also several National Park rangers and Coast Guard Auxiliary serving as guides. Several of the oldest artifacts owned by the Coast Guard are in the tiny museum room at the base of the lighthouse.

We had brought a picnic but we were so busy visiting the sites on the tiny island (tide pools, cistern house, bell, boathouse and of course climbing the lighthouse itself) that we never had time to eat! There was a very nice breeze so it was quite comfortable.

The girls were very reluctant to go, of course. And yet they had a wonderful time.

Annie Jr.

2016-06-11T22:10:00.001-04:00

This weekend was the Roosevelt school play, in the works since December. Charlotte was a member of the stage crew, and Carol spent many hours the past month or so designing and painting all of the sets.

There were three performances of the play. It was outstanding. And Carol, deservedly, received much praise for her work.

Only one more year at the Roosevelt for us. Then we'll have two middle schoolers for a year!

As usual, click on the photo above to see more.

Long Hill

2016-05-15T19:57:00.000-04:00

Back in mid-June of 2013, which would have been a week before I began cancer treatment, we visited Long Hill. It's a Trustees of Reservations property - they manage many of our favorite outdoor places in Massachusetts. Today we were back in that neck of the woods so we returned.

It's a former private estate and has lovely, peaceful gardens. This visit a whole different set of plants were in bloom, especially the Forget-me-nots and the peonies.

I've put it on my calendar to make regular visits through the summer so we can see different blooms each time.

Even our grumpy almost-teenager enjoyed the visit.

If you want to see photos from our previous visit, they are here. It was Father's Day 2013.

Martha's Vineyard

2016-05-01T20:02:00.000-04:00

Remember me? I used to blog here once in a while. Man, It's been a long time! Life has been busy.

My employer is the leading maker of drugs for Multiple Sclerosis, so it's a big sponsor of the Bike MS rides. I'm doing three this year, with the first being the 60-mile "Ride the Vineyard" on Martha's Vineyard yesterday.

We've been living in New England for seven years now but we had never made it to Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket. We were excited for our first visit.

A year ago at the school auction, Carol went with other moms. It was Casino Night. For some reason, as other people left they gave her their remaining chips and she ended up with a large number. She was able to choose any silent auction item she wanted and she chose a two night stay at the Bayside Resort on Cape Cod. We decided to use that stay for this weekend, and Carol and the girls came over to Martha's Vineyard to meet me after my ride and see the island.

Unfortunately I misunderstood the ferry routes and schedules and our hotel was actually 30 miles from the proper ferry landing in Woods Hole. Oh well, Carol was generous enough to get up with me at 5:35 AM and drive me to the 7:00 ferry, then go back and have breakfast with the girls and take a noon ferry.

My ride was great. The first half, "up island" (the western end) was hilly and tiring early in the season, but the second half, though windy, was flat and pleasant. I had a great tour of the island. A highlight was visiting Gay Head. The current incarnation of the lighthouse was built in 1874, quite far back from the bluff. But 140 years of storms have eroded the bluff such that the lighthouse was threatened. They are just completing the project of moving it farther from the bluff. The project happens to be the subject of NOVA this week.

We met up easily after the ride and I changed into normal clothes and we were off to sightsee.

The first order of business was lunch. We went to the Offshore Ale Company in Oak Bluffs, one of the two main tourist towns on the island. It also has the oldest continuously operating carousel in the country (which wasn't open yet - we were visiting well ahead of peak season), and "the campground" - a collection of 300 very cute gingerbread cottages that were the origin of the town.

Then we shopped a little. Carol and the girls all wanted MV sweatshirts. Coincidentally, they all chose purple!

We thought we wanted to rent scooters so I could show them some of the island highlights I had seen on my ride. The guys at the scooter place reminded us that it was kind of chilly out. They offered to rent us a jeep for the rest of the day for a very reasonable rate, and it had a big sunroof flap that would simulate a scooter ride if we wanted. We took it.

I had been reading about the geography of the island and learned that Chappaquiddick is reachable by a 100-yard ride on a 3-car ferry. There is also a conservation property there called "Mytoi" that I had read about years ago but thought I'd never visit. We headed to the ferry!

Finding it was an adventure. The streets in Edgartown are very narrow. The ferry dock is down at the end of one of them.

Mytoi was pretty. It reminded us very much of Kubota Gardens in Seattle.

The parking lot at Mytoi had a map that showed that there were multiple related conservation lands quite nearby. One of them was Cape Poge, a large barrier island that is only navigable by 4WD vehicle over deep sand.

Guess what? We had a Jeep!

We were all over that.

We had a blast navigating the sand up the ocean beach, then slightly more inland, until we reached Cape Pogue Lighthouse - our goal. The girls really enjoyed the ride, especially since it was at 15 mph and they could stand up out of the sunroof the whole way.

Cape Pogue, by the way, is reached via the tiny Dike Bridge, which happens to be the bridge Edward Kennedy's car drove off of in 1969 (although it's not entirely clear he was driving it).

We eventually made our way back to the tiny ferry and back to Oak Bluffs where we found ice cream. Then we headed back to the big ferry and returned to our Cape Cod hotel very late.

Sunday we slept in, then enjoyed the hotel breakfast and a swim in the pool.

As were leaving, we encountered another family from Melrose who noticed a Melrose sticker on our car. They were headed to the Edward Gorey House. That sounded like fun, so we headed there, too!

We ended up taking a charming tour given by his cousin. Then we spent a bunch of money in the gift shop, including a piece of art for our newly finished basement.

One more stop for a late lunch. Carol had a Monte Cristo sandwich that was delicious and we decided we need to make them at home.

Finally we made the two-hour trek back to Melrose. We all enjoyed that weekend very much.

Charlotte Turns Ten

2015-11-28T17:35:00.002-05:00

Charlotte's tenth birthday was yesterday. Since it was a holiday, she had the whole day planned out. It was very fun.

A few weeks ago we replaced our decrepit old waffle iron and we've been a waffle craze since. So we started the day with waffles, but this time some of us topped them with chocolate syrup and whipped cream.

Yum!

Mom and Dad did some chores, but then we went to Bonkers, a party/play place nearby. It's in a large former grocery store and has a huge Habitrail-like "maze" with cool slides. Like a McDonald's playland but four or five times as big. Plus it has lots of arcade games, and pizza.

We were there for three hours and the girls had a wonderful time with each other.

Since we spent Thanksgiving at our friends' house, we didn't have leftovers. So Carol cooked our own Thanksgiving dinner on Charlotte's birthday. Then we put candles in the pumpkin pie since it is one of Charlotte's favorite desserts.

We can't believe our little girl is 10 years old!

Cape Cod 2015

2015-11-26T10:16:00.000-05:00

In mid-September we joined the Latta-Giulianas at their family cottage in Dennis Port on Cape Cod. It's becoming an annual event. It's great to be there after the crowds of summer have departed.

This year the weather and the ocean were still warm enough for swimming and we spent a fair bit of time at the beach a block from the cottage.

The cottage is in a "cottage park" that has a pond and wooded areas. This year, for the first time for our kids at least, the kids disappeared for long periods of time and explored the woods. After they had them mapped out, they took the adults on a tour.

One of the highlights was a dead heron.

We also had our traditional meal at the Dog House.