Bos to the Ton

Its the end of the year. This is a very packed couple of weeks for me. Correcting needs to be done. Contests need to be sorted. Awards need to be decided. Packed. You will all have to forgive me for not writing consistently this week... maybe the next as well.

We had our end of year class trip this past week...thus the empty Fenway picture. We have one heck of an end of year trip. We hit many of the coolest things in Boston, including, my ever-favorite, the Fenway tour. This year should have been amazing because its the 100th anniversary of Fenway. Actually, it was pretty amazing. The only problem was that our tour guide was kind of awful. No one could hear anything that he was saying and he wasn't saying a whole lot anyway. Still, there is something very special about walking out of the city and into the open fields of Fenway.

Pu Pu Platter

With huge degree of alarm, I realized that my kids have never experienced that cross-cultural, massively sensorial, and absolutely mandatory experience of a pu pu platter.

There is something completely mesmerizing about that little blue fire in the center of mounds of deep fried animal parts. It is like a little bit of neanderthal living set before you with an 80's sound track to boot.

Well, I set out to remedy this problem at once. I even called chopsticks to make sure that they had the little fire. "ring....ring..."
"Hello."
"Hello, chopsticks"
"Um, yeah, this is going to be a weird question, but: When you order a pu pu platter, does it come with a little fire in the middle of the bowl?"
"..."
"..."
"You have kids?"
"Yes"
"Ya, we bring out fire for you children."
"Thanks!"
"Click."
Wa La! (that may be the first time that I have ever actually spelled "Wa La").
We came. We ate. We felt very greasy afterward.

Today

Whew... I finally made it to today. I need to keep up with these. It's tough trying to catch up like this.

Today, the kids and I took Chauc for a pre-rainy week walk. We actually just pulled into the driveway when the pregnant, black clouds released their load on us. (that was romantic wasn't it?)

It was a nice walk, with plenty of bees, and bugs to keep Nora, Henry and myself very happy. They had mowed the fields which was great because we got to walk with Chaucer without imminent threat of ticks. The Deer ticks seem to be pretty much gone now btw. Just those big ugly wood ticks. I took some great pictures of the kids today. Along with some neat closeups. Check out the one on the piece of grass to see who was trying to stare me down!

Please remember that you can click on any of the pictures to have them blow up to full size. Say for example that humming moth.... amazing little guy. Henry just started reading this over my shoulder and would like me to mention that he believes he saw a "narrow mouthed frog" while we were in the fields... it looked more like a pickerel frog to me... maybe a bit of research is in order...

Car adventures

When I was younger, I would love to go out in my car and get as lost as I could get in the middle of massachusetts. Take a left down some road that looks like that it goes nowhere. Take the dirt road that states boldly, "dead end." Take a right off of the main highway and ignore the fact that the road gets so narrow that turning around would be completely impossible. Say hi to some cows that haven't been talked to for a very long time. Go to Ware.

I decided to take the kids down some very uncharted roads in RSP. We found a place where the river widens out and the trees grow like a hug canopy above the place. Beautiful. The kids and I have found a secret place deep in the woods of Rutland. Just wait till I get a jeep!!

The Battlefield

I came downstairs this morning to find this, the obvious remains of an epic battle.

Moore State Park

In Paxton there is Moore State Park. It used to be some sort of mill, and I can only think that the owner of said mill, had a side that appreciated beauty. I don't know the history of the place, but, at some point somebody must have realized that it would be a horrible thing to leave the place to rot. The state took over the mill and turned it into a park. It really is beautiful there. It is, in my experience, usually run over by mosquitos, but the day we went, all of the bugs must have taken a holiday. Beautiful. And, the laurel was in bloom, which is the best reason aside from the mill to visit the park.

Of Bees, Bunnies, and Water Beads

I am going to be back posting here... Its the end of the school year and my life gets pretty busy around now. I haven't been able to settle enough to really sit down and write. Most of my down time is either spent correcting or avoiding correcting. So, this post is actually from last Wednesday. It was rainy the night before, and actually just as I came home as well.

I have been waiting to see rabbits at RSP. It is amazing rabbit territory: huge fields, cut through by hedges and trees. Perfect. It is a little watership downs in itself. As for the bees part of the title, I hadn't seen any up until later this week. I was starting to get worried that Plato might be right as well as the aztecs and all of the doomsayers.