Massachusetts

Puzzles with Granny Coco

The kids and I had a GREAT trip out east to visit family for Thanksgiving.  More and more I am realizing that such trips are really important.  They act as a touchstone to remind us of who we are.  The kids got to meet my old childhood friends as well as their own relatives.  They got to drink New England apple cider (good cider can not be found on the west coast), and see Boston.  Walk through a deciduous forest in late Fall.  They got to see my old haunts.

Here in Alaska I work at a Native run museum and a big part of our mission is helping the Alutiiq people understand their roots.  My job as an archaeologist is researching how Alutiiq people have lived through time.  What's ironic is that I am realizing that it is also incredibly important for me and my family to understand where we came from.  It is something that can not be assumed, it must be 'touched' and 'visited' so to speak.  My kids and I live in Alaska now, but understanding our New England roots is incredibly important. It is a vital part of who we are.   Patrick

Macintosh apples (the carbon based variety) - can you even buy these out west?

Stuey, Nora and I with Stewart's daughter Anna

Stuart and Stewart

Reading on the couch with Granny Coco

Family Dinner at the Sherborn Inn

Is Stuey sad because we are leaving for Alaska?

Celtics Game with the Cousins

I think the highlight of the trip for Stuey was going to a Celtics game at the Boston Garden.  We went with Polly, John, Jack and Sam.  While we went to the game granny Coco took Nora to the Boston Symphony.  To get to the game we hiked from a parking garage on Newbury Street where Polly and John were staying all the way to the North End for Dinner and then to the game.  A lot of walking!  But it was good to see Boston.  I had not walked across the Boston Common in years.

I was heartened to see that the North End is still an Italian Neighborhood and we ate at an upscale pizza place.  It was very crowded and it took forever to get us seated.  And then we joined the crowds thronging to the game.  The crowds got more and more dense as we got closer to the Garden and turned into lines.  We entered the building and slowly got closer and closer to the security at the gates.

Finally we arrived and that's where it got interesting.  We all took everything out of our pockets and put our hands holding belongings up in the air as we passed through the machines.  Everybody went through no problem but me.  A querulous, overweight women in a uniform pulled me aside and informed me that I could not take my ipad into the game.  As she put it, 'The trash can is over there'.  I did not want to throw away my ipad and tried to catch Polly and John's attention. John had the tickets on his phone.  Polly came back to help and we were trying to come up with a plan, but the obese uniformed lady summarily kicked me out.

I did the walk of shame back down all the lines and out of the Garden - people staring at me and wondering, 'What did that guy do?'  I was going to leave entirely, but Polly texted and convinced me to try and find a place to stash the ipad for the game.  I also gather that Stuey was freaking out that I had had to leave and had to be placated with Celtic logo 'loot'.  Down in North Station I was disappointed to find they no longer have lockers (good place to put bombs), but a security guard told me that this happens all the time and that I should go across Causeway Street and stash the ipad at 'Sully's' (a bar).

And so I ended up in a packed bar full of drunk carousing Bruins fans whose game had ended hours later.  I was highly skeptical.  But I found a guy and he took my 10 dollars, gave me a receipt and showed me the pile of other stuff that had not been allowed in the Garden.  HUGE side business for Sullivan's Tap to store stuff while people are at the game.

And so I made it into the game and the Celtics overwhelmed the Orlando Magic.  Stuey was in heaven watching the Celtic players sink 3 pointers at will.  Way up high in the building and the place was totally packed.  Quite the experience.

And after the game - there was my ipad behind the bar. Scarily enough, I had to wade past the same drunk Bruin's fans to get it!   Patrick

Newbury St coffee shop - Walking to the game

Quincy Market - almost to the North End!

Waiting to get seated at the restaurant

My receipt from Sullivan's Tap for the ipad I paid to have left behind the bar

Finally seated for the GAME!

Thanksgiving Family Reunion

The big event out east was a family reunion at Thanksgiving of all the descendants from my great grandfather on the paternal side.  There were over 60 people there!  I met cousins I had not seen in over 20 years.  The kids loved seeing and getting to know the relatives.

Everybody had a name tag and different colored dots on the tag that denoted which line of the family tree they came from.  Our family had the yellow circle which meant we descended from the son named Richard - my grandfather!

It's kind of amazing how two people who lived 100 years ago could have so many descendants.  I kept pondering whether all of us will have so many descendants in another 100 years?  Can the planet withstand such growth?

On one of the tents clear plastic walls each family used sticky notes with names on them to recreate the family tree.  After one generation it got very wide and it was difficult to fit all the family names in the space below.  Nora absolutely loved this exercise!  Patrick

Stuey and his cousin Henry

John giving the opening toast

George giving a toast

Creating the family tree

Nora points out where she fits into the family tree

Nora serenades her cousin on the violin

Fox Hunt and more Hikes

One of the highlights of the trip out east was on Thanksgiving morning when Aunt Sally called and told us to come over to the farm and watch the fox hunt ride through.  So Nora and I rushed over and watched the hunt.  Instead of chasing a fox they dragged a scent bag which left a trail for the hounds to follow.  It was a pretty 'different' type of experience.

Mink coats, guys in red jackets, lots of horses, and quite the crowd watching the event.  I think my favorite part was listening to the dogs bark and run as a pack across the field. They were very loud and raucous and flowed like a river across the field.  Not something you see or hear every day!  Patrick

Sunset hike by the river on Thanksgiving evening

My college roommate Lanny came out and visited and went for a hike with Nora and I

Rainy Day

On Wednesday it rained.  On the morning before Thanksgiving family and friends had not arrived and there was nothing for the kids to do. It was raining HARD and really too wet to do anything outside. This was a low point on the trip.  Later in the day Stuey's cousin Henry arrived and proved his salvation.

After a long morning, Nora and I decided to brave the moisture and go for a walk.  We hiked over to my aunt Sally's farm.

On the walk over we visited the family graveyard.  It is where my grandparents are buried.  I was heartened to see that the graveyard is well maintained and that there are flags on all the graves of the veterans.  I noticed that some of the men must have fought in the Revolutionary War - Freedom Fighters!

Graveyards are a sombre place to visit on a rainy day, and I knew many of the people in there.  There was also a favorite aunt who was only buried 3 years ago.  It got me a little sad.

At my aunt Sally's farm she gave us a tour of the whole house.  I visited rooms that I had not seen since my grandparents were alive way back in 1981!  I particularly liked seeing my grandfather's old wine cellar.  It looked exactly like it did back in the day.

Then there was the evening walk back in the rain.  By the time we got back it was almost dark.  Patrick

Boston on the T

On Tuesday Nora, Stuey and I took the Mass Transit or 'T' into Boston to visit the New England Aquarium.  What's funny is that I really know the subway and my way around Boston, and yet, I don't know how to pay for parking and get a ticket for the subway.  Since I last frequented Boston and the T in the late 1980s all the procedures have changed even while the physical aspects have remained the same.  It used to be free parking at Riverside - now you are encouraged to use a parking app on your phone to pay.  On the subway - no more quarters or tokens - you got to buy an electronic ticket.

And yet, on the subway I knew all the stops and their order, and when we got to Government Center I knew right where to go.  We went down the steps, pasts the Sam Adams statue (now sadly mostly associated with good beer everywhere except in Boston where people do still remember what he actually represents), and into Quincy Market.  The kids were in Heaven.  We ate at a nearby restaurant where Stuey had a 14$ grilled cheese sandwich and Nora had REALLY good clam chowder.  I had a beer - a Sam Adams seasonal!

And then off to the aquarium we went.  At the aquarium the touch tank had sharks in it!  How cool.  We also saw fur seals and sea lions, and a diver at the bottom of the tank who lay back and showed off blowing bubble circles.  Two solid hours of entertainment, and then it was time to take the T home.  Patrick

Diver blowing bubble circles like a pipe smoker blows smoke rings

Monday at the Mall

Natick Mall

One of the biggest things on Nora and Stuey's wish list for the trip out east was a visit to a mall.  I know, I know it sounds horrifying.  But it is also something that Nora and Stuey can not do on Kodiak, or even, for that matter, in Alaska.  So on a beautiful sunny day away we went with Granny Coco to the Natick Mall.  We left the car in the sunshine and walked the final 100 yards into the gigantic, totally enclosed mall. 

Hundreds of shops, long alleys, and people everywhere.  Granny Coco later confided in me that we got off lightly because Nora and Stuey do not know what all the brand name shops represent, and, hence, we did not have to visit them all or have the kids pulling us in all directions. 

So we visited a few shops, bought some shoes and clothes, and went to lunch.  Lunch was the highlight of the trip.  We ate at a sushi shop with a conveyor belt where all the food came by the table and you just grabbed what you wanted.  We let it go around once to get an idea of the variety, and then picked out what we wanted.  The kids were satisfied with California rolls, but I tried some more exotic options.  It was actually pretty good sushi.

After that we went to a movie.  The popcorn and water cost 30 bucks!  That was more than the tickets cost.  But it was all worth it in the end.  It was by far the fanciest movie theater I have ever seen. Patrick

Enjoying nature at the mall

At this sushi restaurant the food came to us on a conveyor belt.  How cool is that?

Guilt free milkshakes - I think both Nora and Granny Coco had smoothies

Check out these movie theater seats! Long way from the Orpheum of Kodiak