Boston

On Saturday, my family went to Boston. We were planning to do something fun with all six of us. Originally, the plan was to go to the Bronx Zoo. Then we made a backup plan in the event of rain, because none of us wanted to be in the Bronx Zoo in the rain. We kept checking the weather, and Friday morning the forecast for the Bronx Zoo for Saturday was 90* and 50% chance of strong thunderstorms. So we made the decision to head east to Boston to visit the New England Aquarium.

We all piled into Mom & Dad's new Highlander on Saturday morning. The only adult who would fit in the third seat was my brother in law Andy. So he and Syd sat in the way back, mom sat in the middle, Dad drove, and Laura & I switched back and forth from the front seat to the middle. Boston is about three hours east of Mom & Dad's.

Our first stop was the Aquarium. The seals are outside, next to the ticket counter. We bought our tickets and made our way inside. First we had to pose for the souvenir picture, and then we could go through the Aquarium. It was packed, and pretty hot in the building. There were also a lot of pregnant women. My sister and I were joking about that. I know a lot of people having babies in the next few months. I think it's the Recession- people couldn't afford to go out so they entertained themselves at home.

The Aquarium has a penguin exhibit. We really enjoyed that. Here is a cute picture that Andy took of a pair of penguins. Erich would have enjoyed the penguins, he probably would have stood there all day watching them.

The main attraction of the Aquarium is this huge round ocean tank. It is in the center of the building, and there are ramps that wind around it. You walk up the ramps, and at different levels you see different things. When you get to the top, you can look down into the tank. We saw all kinds of fish. Brightly colored fish, camouflaged fish, small fish, big fish. There were sharks as well. One of the sharks had a big wound in one side. Syd said it had been in a fight with the shark that had all the teeth. In all likelihood, she's right. When she first saw the sharks, she screamed and was very upset. Once she realized the sharks could not get to her, she enjoyed watching them swim around the tank. We saw giant turtles and stingrays too. On each floor of the Aquarium, there are smaller exhibits on the walls. One of these had seahorses, which were pretty neat.

The Aquarium was nice, but I do think the one in Newport (just across the river from Cincinnati) has more . It seems more spread out, where in Boston almost everything was in the one tank. But we enjoyed it.

The Aquarium sits on the wharf, and it was a pleasant walk along the wharf. The buildings have been beautifully redone. They were a nice touch of old and new. There were a lot of boats in the harbor, including some yachts. Sydney wanted to go on the yachts to explore them, and we had a hard time explaining to her why she couldn't just walk onto the boats. It was hot in Boston, about 80*, but there was a nice occasional breeze off the ocean. It started as a bright, sunny day, but by the time we were headed home, it was overcast and looked like it would rain any minute.

From the Aquarium, we walked to Quincy Market. It was not really close by, but it wasn't too long of a walk. Boston has a lot of cobblestone areas, and both my parents were having a hard time walking on those. Fortunately, the cobblestones are framed by large, flat pieces of concrete, so my parents were able to walk on those. We went to Cheers for lunch. Not the original one, this was 'The Replica'. Mom & I always enjoyed watching Cheers. As a Hanover grad, I seem to enjoy it even more. Woody Harrellson graduated from Hanover, my Alma Mater. And he had the writers make his character from Hanover, IN as a tribute. Although I will say, the real Hanover is not quite as podunk as Woody makes it out to be. Close, but not quite as bad. The menu was cutesy. Dad had "Rebecca's Fish & Chips". Mom had Carla's pasta. You get the idea. But it was good. I had a simple grilled chicken sandwich, which was pretty tasty. After we ate, we went to the Gift Shop (there is always a gift shop!). Our only purchase was a onesie for the new baby which said 'Even I don't know my name'. This of course, was a joke, as my sister and BIL have not settled on a name yet for Baby Boy. So far, everyone is calling him 'No Name'. (Syd was showing me her picture album, and there was the sonogram picture. I asked her who that was, and she said 'My baby brother'. I asked what his name was, and she said 'he doesn't have one'.)

After Cheers we walked back through Quincy Market for a bit. There was a band competition going on, and it was crowded. Laura & Andy walked into a couple of stores. We sat down for a few minutes, and all of a sudden, we heard a fife and drum. We looked up, and there were two men dressed in Revolutionary War garb; one playing the fife and one the drum. They stopped in the middle of the courtyard and stood there. People took their picture, and went up to have their picture taken with them. Syd & Andy had their picture taken with the two men. I was getting overcome by the heat (pesky fibro!), so I wasn't thinking well enough to go and get a picture with them.

We started walking back towards the parking garage, and we passed the horse and carriages that were lined up. Syd wanted to take one, so mom treated us kids (Laura, Andy, Syd, & I). It was actually quite pleasant. We got to see a couple of blocks in the city. The driver told us what we were seeing. But the funniest part was Sydney. She was waving to people on the street. She was waving like a princess. I told her I felt like I was in a parade, and Sydney said "I feel like Cinderelly!" She pointed out that we had a white horse and carriage, just like Cinderelly. To her, it was a magical event.

We walked back along the wharf, enjoying the sites. There was a woman standing by the road, dressed in a white ball gown. At first we thought perhaps she was a bride, but she was far too young to be a bride. She was a beautiful young latina teenager. She had a crown, and a wand in her hand. I suspect it was her Quinceñera. Sydney looked at her in awe. Later, Sydney told people she saw a princess.

I know, as a Yankees fan, you will not expect me to say this. But Boston was really pleasant. We were all surprised at how easy it was to get to the Aquarium. The city was clean. New York always has this dingy look to it. And you see trash on the streets. We didn't see that in Boston. Maybe other parts of the city are like that, but the Wharf district and even Quincy Market, were very clean and nice. The parts of the city we saw were a beautiful comforting blend of old and new. We all agreed we would like to go back, and maybe spend a couple of days there. No worries though, I'm still a Yankees fan!

Amy Vs. Mary

Last year Mom & Dad bought a GPS system for car trips. I suppose they had to do this, because I'm not there every time they take a trip. Whenever we took a car trip, my job was always to navigate. Dad was the driver. Mom lost the navigator job permanently one year in Florida. We flew into Orlando to visit Grandma & Grandpa. Our flight had been delayed somewhere on the East Coast, and we didn't get to Orlando until about 10:30pm. We picked up our rental car, and were headed to Deltona, where Grandma lived. Mom sat in the front seat, as she normally does. For some reason, we were not taking I4 down to Grandma's; Dad wanted to take 17-92. He told mom to watch for 17-92. She saw 17 and told him where to turn. We ended up on Orange Blossom Drive in Orlando: home to the red light district. Since it was nighttime, there was a lot of activity. Laura and I were teenagers I think. Once they realized where we were, Mom said 'Girls, go to sleep!'. We closed our eyes, but kept peeking out the windows. We did get to Grandma's, around midnight, but that infamous ride cost mom the job of navigator.

My sister Laura has never been a very good navigator. She gets talking, or watching other people, and forgets to watch for signs. So that left me to be the navigator. If we were going someplace new, Dad and I would sit down with the atlas to scope out our route. If we were on a familiar road, and ran into construction or an accident, it was my job to find a way around. The atlas always went with us on road trips. Dad made sure I knew how to read a map, and how to use the scale on the map to determine distance. My navigator status was helped by the fact that I have always had a good sense of direction. I used to be able to go someplace once, and remember how to get there the next time. I still can do that to some extent, but not as well as I used to (living in Middletown, where everything is a circle, really screwed with my mind for a while).

As navigator, I had to sit in the front seat. It was also my job to talk to Dad and keep him awake, especially when we were driving at night. The navigator's job is to watch the road signs (especially when changing from one interstate to another), watch for rest areas, help Dad, talk to Dad, and make sure he had food, candy, and drinks.

When we left for Boston on Saturday, my BIL Andy programmed the address for the parking garage into the GPS, and off we went. Andy and Laura have named the GPS 'Mary'. Mary told us how to go, and it was kind of amusing as we drove through town. And she did get a bit annoying. Thankfully, however, once we got on I90, she was quiet because we had a couple hundred miles to go on I90. Mary, however, did not point out rest areas. So I still had the joy of turning around in the car and saying 'Who has to go?' . Haha! Mary doesn't like it when you veer off course. So for instance, when we pulled into a rest area, she had to recalculate. Mary, being a computer, never has to get out and stretch her legs or use the restroom. Her little chip brain has trouble understanding why we strayed off the path she chose for us. I imagined her giving an exasperated sigh when we got back into the car and resumed our trip.

As we got closer to Boston, I was reading the map provided on Mary's screen, and telling Dad how to go, before Mary told him. The other occupants of the car found that funny, that I was still faster than Mary. When we got into Boston, she would tell us 'Turn right in point eight miles'. When you are measuring that in city blocks, it seems like a long time. Dad kept asking me 'now what?'. I still had to rely on her little map to assure him we were still on the right path. As we walked through Boston, Dad and I were scoping out how to get back onto the Interstate. Mary was stuffed in the console between the two front seats in the parking garage.

So while Mom & Dad now have Mary to keep them out of red light districts, I think I can be navigator any time I want. After all, when Mary's not telling you what to do, she has nothing to say. I carried on conversations with Dad. And Mary wouldn't be able to open a fireball and give it to Dad. Sometimes a computer just can't compete with a human.

I'm Being Followed!

Last night I found out I do have readers! And tonight, I have followers!! I am so excited. Erich finds it rather amusing that I wanted people to read my blog. I suppose it is a little ironic. When I was a teenager, one of the most devastating things was if my mother, or even worse, my SISTER read my diary!!! (The most devastating thing was when I would get in trouble, and as punishment, mom would take away my hairspray! The horrors!) I would buy diaries with locks on them. I would hide the key in very creative places-sometimes I hid it so well I couldn't even find it! So I'd have to cut the strap that held the lock, which defeated the purpose. Then I switched to diaries that had a combination lock, which worked better. I have read those diaries in recent years, and I've got to tell you, there really wasn't anything in there to keep locked up.

Now I am happy people are reading my posts. Welcome to my world my friends! You've made my night! :)

How Cheez-It's are made

Have you seen the Cheez-it commercials? When a little child explains to an adult how Cheez-its are made? I don't remember all of them, but I know one had an over sized wedge of cheese that is dropped from high above onto a little cracker. Sydney explained to me how they were really made.

One day Sydney sang "God made the sun". Mom asked her "What else?"

Syd sang "God made the rain". Mom again asked "What else?". I knew there had to be a catch somewhere, Syd was going to say something either extremely cute or very funny.

Syd sang 'God made the flowers'. Mom asked 'What else?'

"God made the trees"

"What else?"

"God made the grains"

"What else?" Mom is smiling now, so I know we must be close.

"God made Cheez-its!" And Sydney burst out laughing. Mom laughed. I laughed. I asked Syd "God made Cheez-its?" Syd nodded her head solemnly. I told her "I did not know that." She said 'My teacher told me so".

Mom explained that it is a song Syd's teacher taught them. Syd then sang it all the way through, without prompting from mom. And at the end, God made Cheez-its.

When I told Erich the story, he asked if maybe it was God made Jesus. That is possible, since it is a Catholic pre-school. But all of the three year olds sing 'God made Cheez-its'. So now you know how they are really made.

Getting Reaquainted

Sydney gets very excited when I am coming home. My mom, dad, and sister all tell me that she talks about Aunt Amy, and really looks forward to my visits. When I get there, she gets shy. She has come with mom to the airport several times to pick me up. She'll tell everyone she meets that her Aunt Amy is coming in on an airplane. But the moment she sees me, she hides behind my mom. She'll pull at mom, and walk around mom to stay as far away from me as possible. The first time she did this, I was a little hurt. Now I know it's just how she is, she has to warm up to me. Thankfully, the older she gets, the less time it takes her to warm up.

This time, we decided not to have her come to the airport. Mom told her we would pick her up at school. She was very excited that Aunt Amy was going to come to her school. We walked into her classroom, and she saw mom and ran to her. She saw me, and her eyes got really wide, she looked temporarily horrified, and she grabbed mom's leg. She buries her head in mom's leg, and is very careful not to look at me as we walk to the car. She got in the car and still wouldn't talk to me. She told mom she was hungry, and mom gave her a snack. As she started eating and we left the parking lot, she started talking. She still wouldn't say 'Aunt Amy'. Mom kept asking her 'who's here?' and she wouldn't say my name. But she talked. She chattered about different things that happened that day. We told her we were going to Target, and she said she liked shopping.

When we got to Target, mom told her to hold my hand while mom locked the car. She willingly took my hand, and I knew things were warming up. I furthered this when we got to the book section at Target, and she saw books she wanted. I offered to buy them, and she was very happy. By the time we got back in the car, she was bubbly and cute, and talking to Aunt Amy. She created stories about the books. When I stopped looking at her (because I was in the front seat, and craning my neck to look at her was painful), she said 'Aunt Amy....' and then told me something else. We were on the path, somewhere between being terrified of me and being my shadow.

I learned early that a good way to warm her up is to give her something. Ok, so it's a bribe. I had a little dress and stickers in my bag for her, and I let her open my bag to find them. She loves dresses, so I scored a lot of points with that. Once she has warmed up to me, she feels the need to show me things. She always wants to show me her room. Maybe she thinks I've forgotten what it looks like. She shows me her closet, and her dresser, and her toys. She pulls out books for me to read. She shows me her pictures (most of which are of my beagles). I think it is her way of getting reacquainted. She shows me things that are important to her. She showed me the nursery, and told me again that 'we're having a baby brother'.

And then, I knew she was no longer shy. She climbed up next to me on the couch, snuggled up, and played with stickers and books. She still wouldn't give me a hug or kiss, but she would get close to me. By the end of the weekend, she was my shadow. If I left her side for a minute, she called 'Aunt Amy....' until she saw me again. There is always an adjustment period- a time for her to warm up to the idea of me being right there rather than a voice on the phone. I am thankful that the warm up period has been cut down from a day to a few minutes as she has gotten older. Of course, I'll probably have to go through it all over again with her brother. Maybe, if he sees her coming to me quicker, he'll do the same.

Home

I was gone for a few days recently. I went home to NY to visit my family for my birthday. My last few trips home have been direct flights. While the Dayton airport is closer to my house, I can get a direct flight out of Cincinnati- which makes the trip easier on my body, since I don't have to schlep through an airport. So I spend about $20 more, drive a little further, and two hours after I get on the plane, I step off in Albany.

The flight was uneventful. I did have a bit of an amusing moment at the security checkpoint. The woman ahead of me appeared to be well-to-do (expensive clothing & jewelry, hair that had that 'just stepped out of the salon' look). She was older; in her late sixties or early seventies. She noticed the full body scanners that Cincinnati recently started using, and asked the TSA agent 'what if I refuse to do that?'. The TSA agent, a burly woman that I wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley, said 'then I'll haul your ass into a private room and strip search you'. I stifled a giggle as the perturbed woman stepped into the scanner.

I always tear up when we land in Albany. I know it's silly. If it has been a particularly long time since I was there, it's an all out cry. This time it was just a few tears welling up in the eyes. Landing in Albany always brings happy tears. Even though Albany isn't 'home'. Home is about an hour east of Albany. Albany is my identifying marker. When people ask where I'm from, and I say 'NY State', Albany is the city I use as a reference. To non-NY'ers, when you say NY, they automatically think NY City. I started telling people 'NY State' and they said 'oh, like Dutchess County?' No- that's still technically NYC. Now I tell people 'Upstate NY'. To that, I get: "Buffalo?" "Syracuse?"

No. 'Near Albany'. People always ask what the name of the town is. As if they know it! There are people in Rensselaer County who do not know where Berlin is (I know this, because as a teenager I was at the Orthodontist in Troy, which is the county seat. The dental tech asked where I lived, and when I told her Berlin, she didn't know where that was. I had to explain it to her, and she was amazed it was in the same county). But still, I tell people Berlin (which is not pronounced like Berlin, Germany. Berlin, NY is pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable). And I am not surprised when people stare at me blankly.

I have started telling them Berlin is in Eastern NY. If you look on a map where the states of NY, VT, and MA meet- if you were to put a pin at that location, that's Berlin. Wikipedia states the town of Berlin is 59.9 square miles and the 2000 census listed 1, 901 residents. When people talk about growing up in a small town of 6000 people, I just chuckle. Berlin is a very rural area. Our school district covers five towns, yet there were only 43 in my graduating class. My sister had 60 in her class, and that was one of the larger classes in many years. Even in times of prosperity throughout the country; Berlin always seems depressed. There were two main employers in town: Cowee's, which made a lot of wood products, and Seagroatt's; which grew roses. Cowee's used to be one of only two places in the world that made the green wooden floral picks used in floral arrangements. They also at one time, made wooden toys for Fisher Price- before wood was replaced by plastic made in China. In the past couple of years Cowee's has significantly reduced its' workforce, and Seagroatt's has shut down.

Berlin is a beautiful area, geographically. It sits in the Taconic Mountain Range, which lie between the Catskills to the south and the Adirondacks to the north. Part of the Appalachian Trail runs through the Taconics. Berlin Mountain (which is known as Macomber by the locals), is the Eastern border of the town. It is the highest peak in the county, and at 2818 feet, is the highest point in NY outside of the Adirondacks or the Catskills.

When you stand in Berlin, you are surrounded by mountains. No matter which direction you look, you see mountains. There are a lot of forests- dark, thick, lush forests full of evergreens, maples, oak, and ferns. Even on the sunniest and brightest day, you can look into the forest and all you see is darkness. There are parts of the forests that probably never see daylight. As you drive down the road, you see the gentle rolling mountains. The peaks are not as prominent and jagged as the Rockies. The Taconics are much older, so centuries of weathering have made them more round than sharp (and you thought I wasn't paying attention in Science class!). It is a very serene place.

I remember taking my ex husband home the first time. He spent all his life in Indiana, which is very flat. To him, the bank that led from the college campus to the Ohio River was a mountain. He was actually freaked out that you could see the shadows of the clouds on the mountains in NY. I had never really noticed it before, but I find it beautiful. I was once again reminded of the difference between the Midwest and the Northeast when I was telling Erich about driving, and as we started down the mountain, we'd shift the car into a lower gear so the engine will hold the car back without wearing out the brakes. He didn't understand the need for it, but for those of us who grew up in NY, it's just a given. You know just the point in the road that you have to gear down. If you gear down too early, the car will come to a stop. Gear down too late, and you've already built up too much momentum. I haven't driven those roads regularly for 15 years, but I still know the exact part of the curve below Old Maid's turn to gear down into low. Erich laughed and said 'I live in Ohio, we don't have to do that!'.

Naturally, with the dense forests and rural nature of Berlin, there is a lot of wildlife. Deer, foxes- sure! How about hanging out in your backyard! I'm talking Bears, Moose, mountain lions. When I was a teenager we had a bear in our garden. And Mom & Dad live in the village. Last year, one of the resident Moose was in the neighborhood (mom & dad weren't home to see it, but their neighbors told them about it).

Berlin is truly a beautiful place, but also a bit sad. There are some beautiful old buildings, but a lot are dilapidated too. The town used to be a railroad stop, and had quite a bit of industry. In my lifetime, it has been more of a 'has-been', which only seems to have gotten worse in the past few years. I noticed this time when I was home that there would be a house that was abandoned (or a barn, or some other structure), and the trees were already covering it. I imagine in another few years the earth will have claimed these places, and you will never know anything stood there. In urban areas, when you have vacant or abandoned buildings, it is a blight, an eyesore. But in the country, the grass will grow up first, then weeds will grow from the high grass, then trees will sprout, and the forest will reclaim the land. All that will be left are the memories of those who remember when this house or that store stood there. Oh, I'm sure any metal will leech into the earth, it's not a completely green process. And it does not happen instantly. The places that are forests now were wide open fields when my grandfather was a boy in the 1920s. But I was amazed at places that I remember from my youth; which now stand covered with trees. The process has already started. There was something very poetic about the whole thing.

Every time I go home, I tell myself I need to take pictures of the area. Then I get so busy doing things with the family, seeing all the people I need to see, that I run out of time. I must make an effort in October to take time and take pictures. We may have been hicks or hillbillies, but I was truly blessed to grow up in such a beautiful, natural place.