Celebrate the Past to Awaken the Future

The J K Kennedy Library and Museum is located outside of Boston near the University of Massachusetts campus,  It sits on ten acres of real estate that faces the lovely Boston Harbor and the sailboats that JFK was synonymous with.  In fact there is usually a sailboat located just outside of the Pavilion but when I was visiting, the boat was out for repairs. The Pavilion is surrounded on three sides by glass and has an American flag hanging from the ceiling.  The Profiles in Courage Award sits at its apex.  Upstairs are two theaters that play images and speeches from the President Kennedy's life.  Inside the main building are documents, images, artifacts and reproductions of his life.  I have always been moved by his words.  He was such an eloquent speaker.  He told all of us to: explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, encourage art and commerce and tap the depths of the ocean.  His call to public service has sent many into the Peace Corps and it has been 50 years since its inception.  .JFK believed, "...ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your county." I was getting my fifth, sixth and seventh shots today for my stint in the Peace Corps and the nurse asked me what the Peace Corps was.

Nathan's Water Polo Match

Today was a beautiful day to play water polo.  The sun was out and there was just a hint of a breeze.  Nathan decided to forego swim team this year and take up water polo.  The team is coed and the participants have varying degrees of athleticism and height. A player needs upper body strength as well as agility in the water to move about and to toss the ball into the goal.  There are seven players on a team: one goalie and six field players. The field players work as a team to get the ball into the goal but they must also work individually to block an opponent's shot.  A game is 45 minutes with two minute breaks between the four quarters. They play in a 30 by 20 meter pool and each ball that goes into the goal is one point for the team.  Water polo is fast paced and fun to watch.

Maid(s) of the Mist @ Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls is really three falls:  American, Bridal Veil and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls.  One fifth of all the fresh water in the world comes from four of the Great Lakes and the outflow travels to the Niagara River and eventually cascades over the falls.  It is a magnificent sight.  My travel "Maids" and I were filled with awe.  Three of us walked across the Rainbow Bridge (passports in hand) into the province of Ontario, Canada.  The view is even more spectacular from the Canadian side. The water thunders down and lands in Lake Ontario.  From there it flows to the St. Lawrence Seaway and then on to the Atlantic Ocean.  When the boat, Maid of the Mist, took us below the Horseshoe Falls we were saturated in seconds and the sun shone through the water and created a rainbow that mimicked its namesake bridge.  The depth of the water is 170 feet which gives it a greenish cast. Above us the seagulls are squawking and diving even as the boat struggles to turn in a half circle and return us to the safety of the dock.

River Cats in Sacramento

   

                                            Arnold, Gray and Ronald are the "talking heads".

                                           Dinger works the crowd and the children love him.

                        It is Teacher Appreciation Night and Sarah Neuhaus is sixth from the right.

                                       Sacramento makes a lovely backdrop for the night games.

I must be a jinx.  I have attended two games and the River Cats have lost both.  This defeat did not diminish my pleasure in the game or impact my appreciation of the one dollar hot dogs. The beer was cold and it was a warm night at Raley Field.  The Tucson Padres outplayed the River Cats and I sat and watched these tall, lean young men play America's time honored sport.  Unfortunately, most of Sacramento was not there.  Many of the seats were empty. That is a shame, since the parking is cheap ($10.00) and a family can find a seat on the lawn for $7 a person.  This is less then a movie ticket.  Pac Coast Minor League is Triple A at its best and it is definitely better then television.

Through the Looking Glass

Dale Chihuly creates magic. I had the pleasure of viewing his Lime Green Icicle at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and it was breathtaking.  The glass creation stands 42 feet tall and is made up of 2,342 pieces of glass in the shape of spikes. It weighs 10,000 pounds and fills the visual field with color and refractive light.  The courtyard where it is housed is a pass through area that also has a restaurant and benches where you can sit and just stare in wonder and amazement. Seattle is opening a museum of Chihuly glass soon.  I can't wait to visit.

Fenway Park

Fenway Park is the home of the Red Sox baseball team in Boston, MA.  It is an icon in the world of sports and a model of how to build a stadium.  This year is the 100 year anniversary and we stood in line with grandfathers, dads, and sons to honor the memory of past games and heroes.  The owners opened the gates and let the fans in and they came by the hundreds.  All week they trooped by the green Monster Board and touched the wood and peeked behind the scenes. Current and former players were there to sign balls and autograph books and to eat the game food even if a game was not being played.  I hope that this symbol of Americana continues to stand and is not replaced because there is not enough luxury in the players dug out or box seats for the privileged fans.

Teddy Bear

                                                                       14 weeks old

Patrick emulates a teddy bear, squeezable and cuddly from the day he was born.  The only time he shows impatience is when he is hungry and then he can be bear (ish). For his Halloween costume, I have sewn a bear costume and purchased a sidekick.  The costume looks a bit large but I had to factor in Patrick's current intact of calories, the months until Halloween and the fact that he is filling his size six month clothing at fourteen weeks. So, Patrick will have a comfortable suit to zip into when he joins his siblings for the festivities.

Bananagrams

Every time my family gets together we play Bananagrams.  It has become our favorite game and the challenges go on for hours with people coming and going.

If you have never played, you have a treat in store.  Abraham Nathanson and his family invented the game in 2006 and since then it has taken off in terms of popularity. There is even an online version where you can earn Banana Chips. When you and your fellow players sit down you will have all of the 144 tiles in a "bunch" in the middle of the table.  If there are two to four players, then take twenty-one tiles, five to six players, take fifteen tiles and seven to eight players, take eleven tiles. After everyone has selected his/he tiles, someone says, "Split". and the fun begins.  You work independently to make a grid of connected words.  The person who finishes his/her grid first, yells, "Peel" and everyone takes an additional tile.  This adding of a tile continues until the bunch is gone. At any time in the play, an individual can put a tile back, say, "Dump", and take three new tiles.  This helps the player who is stuck with a Q and no U. The player who first uses all of his/her tiles in a connected grid after the bunch is gone, yells, "Bananas!" This person is the winner if all of his/her words pass muster in the Webster dictionary of choice.

Go play! You'll enjoy yourself.

Sacramento Underground

To visit Old Sacramento is an experience but to visit while the rain is pouring down and a guide with a Scottish brogue is telling you about the floods of the 1860s is a treat. Last Saturday, I showed up at the History Museum and was issued a head set that let me hear all the trivia and facts that our personable guide shared.  We walked throughout the old town and entered through locked doors into a world that was largely unseen until three years ago when the tours began.  Archaeologists are still excavating some of the sites and since the space below the building served as a dumping area, there is a lot of "treasure" to find.  Our guide shared the facts about Sacramento's water troubles: flooding, rain, breeched levees, and rivers that overflow.  He also shared the government's solutions:  rerouting the rivers, reinforcing the levees and raising the buildings in the central city by fourteen feet.  All of these solutions sound implausible but all of them happened.  We toured the spaces under some of the buildings that were raised and learned that the tenants did not leave their comfortable accommodations during this time but rather stayed put while the building went up 1/4 turn at a time. Only two buildings did not remain intact and they were soon rebuild.  The first project of these engineers was to raise the streets by ten feet.  It was not until later that CAL Trans added rebar. They filled in the space with mud, again, one wheel barrel at a time. Go and see for yourself.  It is impressive.

Defending Jacob

When I finish reading a book, it either goes on my bookshelf so that I can read it at a later date or I pass it on with the explanation that it is "so so" or OK.  The book, Defending Jacob, is a keeper.  The pace is fast and you are intellectual engaged the entire time.  Landay has written an original script and I felt that I was sitting in the movie, The Fifth Sense, when I got to the end, I did not see it coming. The Barber family could be your neighbors but their normalcy is on the surface and what is disconcerting is that it could be any family USA. What secrets do we have?  Are we harboring a dark history that includes a behavioral trait called the murder gene? Or a genetic history that has yet to be plotted but governs our actions and makes us predestine to act in a certain manner.
Jacob is sullen, withdrawn, prone to stay in his room and unresponsive when speaking to his parents. This is what his parents see and they compare him to other teenagers through the glasses of loyalty and love and the result is acceptable. With the allegations that Jacob murdered a fellow teenager who had been bullying him, they are forced to confront the truth.  Laurie Barber shatters like a car windshield. As she fragments she manages to hold the pieces in place until a second event sends her hurtling toward justice. Andy Barber, trudges on with blinders.  The role of father cannot be set aside, nor can it be trampled. We must determine what makes him the person he is.  We see him as a powerful adversary for the courts and we see him as a father and husband but we are left with the impression that the truth behind the man lies in his background and the events that shaped it. It is his performance that is the most riveting and compelling.