Fun Time In Beantown

So life here at the Chilton Club is quite rough. As you can see from the breakfast picture, they really don't provide much here in the way of service.

The whole Chilton Club experience as been a bit of an alternate reality - not in a negative way - but in a "who knew people lived that way". To show up at 287 Dartmouth, to this tiny little door. Get buzzed through a door and then meet with the kind man behind the desk.

Here is the bed. One almost needs a step ladder to get up on this bad boy.

This first stop Saturday morning was Mario's Hair Salon in the bottom of the Prudential Building. Mario's sign says that he is open at 9 - but that really means ten. It is the first time I have ever been to a barber who didn't speak to me at all. No questions about, "How I cut my hair?, How long it has been between cuts?, Where do you part your hair?" Nothing. But I did get a great cut.

Next we were on to Boston University to look at the campus. It is an unusual campus in that there is no central area - quad - where people hang out and the buildings are built around that. But it was nice to visit the campus and buy some things at the bookstore.

After that, back to Back Bay for a lunch, a shot of the old rectory - which is not apparently offices for the church staff.

A great adventure.

Great Fun in London

This picture is Thursday night, post-play (or maybe on the way to the play). We have polar opposites here. Dave loves to chat, and Maura loves to read, and never the twain shall meet.

The next photo is an expression that the public address is also saying aloud as you enter or exit the Tube. The Tube is, by far, the best form of public transport I have ever had the pleasure to use. It is clean, and we have never had to wait more than eight minutes for a train in our direction. Unbelievable.



The next shots are from Wednesday evening when we when to the Parliament building - where the Big Ben bell is housed. We got to hear it chime at five p.m., a real treat. When walked across a handsome bridge and then rode the London Eye and got an impressive view of part of downtown London.

London, Day One

Here we are having just landed. Grace and Sir Talks TooLoud to her right and Dave was sandwiched next to a rather large woman and a bore. Unfortunately, right after we started moving to get off the plane, Grace took ill. It wasn't food related, because she didn't eat, but still, poor Grace.

We took a rather long ride, or longer than I had expected to get here. The roads are narrow, the cars are narrow, and there is beautiful brick everywhere. It reminded me of Providence, Rhode Island, near Brown. Lots of gentle up and down's with narrow streets and brick homes everywhere. We are staying in a very nice part of London.

Dave and I ventured out for food, while the girls slept. Here is some of what I found...
The skinny fish with the stripes on top are mackerel, otherwise I am clueless...
More later when the girls wake up....

Wow, Maura....

So, these are long days as we wait for news from colleges here and yon. I am sure self-doubt and anxiety are running amok under the surface of things.

Karyl happened to notice a couple of Maura's papers in her trash can and she rescued a paper entitled, "The Good, The Bad, and The Road." This is Maura's paper about Cormac McCarthy's book, The Road. I am always amazed at Maura's writing. She is very, very good. Here is the last sentence of that great paper:

"Perhaps that most important key to survival is the faith that against all odds, goodness will find you, because if you can't believe that, you're already dead"

Way to stand and deliver Mo!

101 Reasons why I Love Google

Google now posts bike-friendly routes on their maps. This morning I have been researching bikes routes from San Francisco to Seattle. It looks like it is 67 miles from SFO to mom's house, which is a one day trip, if I can land early enough in the day.

From Sonoma, it is 441 miles north to Paul's house in Ashland. I would have thought I would travel that Pacific Coast Highway, but they have the trip going up the Central Valley. That is a six day haul, and the last two or three days of that beast would be in the Siskiyou Mountians. From Ashand to Portland is a bit over 300 miles which is a bit over four days. Finally the haul from Portland to Seattle is a spot over 210 miles, which might be doable in three days, or four depending on the hills and my conditioning. So that is a total of 14 days on the road (figuring 75 miles a day - which may be way too ambitious for northern California). I would imagine that I want to take a couple of stops here and there (Mom's, Paul's, Erik's, and Jeff's) and so that would add an extra week at least. What an exciting plan....

Grace's Speech and Other Highlights from the Week...

Grace gave her Senior Speech this week and she did a great job. She was a touch nervous and started off reading quite quickly, but she soon settled down and did a great job. Her speech was about being "socially awkward", a title, Grace has come to realize, that was self-assigned. Grace did a great job of detailing the circumstances that make her nervous, and then retracing her history to figure out where this all started. She then went on to discuss her attempts to battle the label she feel she has assigned herself. Grace received a long ovation for her speech.

During the introductions before Grace's speech Maura had a corker. When it was her turn she said, "Grace is my parent's favorite child." I laughed initially and then felt a bit bad for Maura. Yesterday, on our way to the State Hockey finals, Maura explained what she felt a perfect introduction should be. It should not be something mushy and nice, but something short and funny to relax the person who is about to speech. A love the girls ability to analyze life. Well done all the way around.

*******

On Wednesday our boys hockey team pounded New Ulm 11-0 to win a quarter final match in the state tournament. On Friday, we had a 1 p.m. game vs. Warroad, the team we played in the finals last year. Warroad is a big strong team that hits hard and often. We defeated Warroad by a 4-2 tally. Yesterday we played Hermantown for the finals and we really struggled. We were out played and out shot (20-31) but we squeaked out a victory with a 2-1. I chose this photo because, 1) David Crowe #25 is playing defense - are pretty well; and two, Johnny Russell, our great goal tender is in the shot. David is one of five or six guys to actually go through the whole school and end up on the team, and Johnny Russell stood on his head two years in a row for our team. Nicely done.

Edgework....

Road home after school on Thursday, February 18, 2010. The trip took over an hour. Still not much fun with all the ice on city streets. A few close calls, and to the guy in the white BMW, who raced around the corner, on 54th and Irving - "You are a dink." But, even with all the nerves, it is great to be on a bicycle.

I am going to wait until the ice is off the streets a little more.