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Play Ball!

Today I took my kids to Fenway for an afternoon Red Sox game, which is one of my favorite activities on the planet. The weather was spectacular—warm and sunny with just a few clouds, low humidity, and a light breeze. We had a blast, even though the Sox somehow managed to lose to Kansas City, if you can believe it. Carl Crawford had a chance to become my hero, but he blew it, so Tek remains at the top of my heap o' heroes.

Do I Dare to Eat a Peach?

Yes, I do! It sure pays to have friends in the Peach State, because you just might be as lucky as I am and receive a package containing two dozen gorgeous Georgia peaches, which are bigger and sweeter and juicier than any I've ever eaten.

Before:

And less than a minute after:

These beauties came from Dickey Farms, who've been growing peaches since 1897. I also got jars of luscious-looking peach chutney, Vidalia onion and peach salsa, and peach fruit spread. Oh, yum!

Many thanks to Steve and Cliff for this wonderful treat!

Camp Is Over!

This is already a strange summer for us, mainly because camp is already over! Yesterday we picked up Steph (and her mountain of laundry) and brought her home. She had a blast. She was home maybe 3 minutes before her friend came by to swoop her off to the mall! Later of course we had a welcome-home feast of Bill's Pizza and JP Licks. I think getting sick during the second half of last summer and having to come home (and go to the hospital) freaked her out, so she wanted to go for only the first session this year. She is already talking about going for the whole summer again next year. She will be in the oldest group then, and they have loads of special activities and events.

Pete and Julie, meanwhile, went to day camp for only 2 weeks, so they could be home when Andy was off from work. Julie did "general camp," which she just loves. Every day I would ask her what her favorite thing was, and she could never decide. She is especially enamored of Adventure Challenge (ropes course) and the climbing wall, but she also did martial arts, candle making, swimming, nature, arts and crafts, and more. She is truly a happy camper! Pete did one week of soccer camp, which he really enjoyed. Luckily that was the first of the two weeks, because the heat wave in the second week was so intense that the kids who were doing soccer that week could play only until lunchtime, then they had to do indoor activities or go swimming. Pete is doing travel soccer again this fall, and he is also going to try out for the school team. He is even considering becoming a ref for the younger kids' intramural program! He does love him some soccer, and he's getting really good.

The second week Pete did Extreme Sports, which is similar to the Day Trippers program he did the last couple of years, except that everything they did was sporty (Day Trippers had some sporty stuff, like kayaking, but it also had regular trips like Canobie Lake Park and a Paw Sox game). The first day they went up to SkyVenture, which is an indoor vertical wind tunnel in which you can pretend you're flying (the dream of every boy and man, right?). Here's one of the proofs from the website:

Cool, eh? The next day they went outdoor rock climbing, which was also way cool:

If I loaded this properly, below you should be able to watch a brief (49 seconds) video of Pete reaching the top!

Yeah, I could do that, no problem.

The following day was supposed to be a paintball battle, which I was already not thrilled about (although Pete sure was!), but then they switched it to an Airsoft battle, which I was really annoyed about. Apparently getting shot by an Airsoft rifle is less painful than getting hit by a paintball, but I just don't like anything about Airsoft. I don't like that they use realistic-looking guns, I don't like that kids are pretending to shoot at their friends, I don't like that they're getting hit with BB-like pellets, no, I don't like it at all. But off he went, sigh. They wore protective gear, but he said it still hurt to get hit at close range. He enjoyed it, but I think it made him a wee bit nervous too. I won't be sorry if he never does that again. Even if paintball hurts more, somehow it seems less violent to me because you just get splooshed with paint.

Anyhow, the next day they did stand-up paddleboarding, which we had never heard of! Interestingly enough, that was the same day Andy and I were up in Ogunquit, and we saw some people doing it, so it must be a newish sport that's catching on. You stand on a surfboard and propel yourself with a paddle:

(That's Pete out in front.) Pete said it was fun and not too difficult. Afterward they did some snorkeling, which he really liked too, and mostly just tried to stay cool (that was the first of the 100° days).

Finally, the last day was laser tag, which is the only one of the Extreme Sports that Pete has done before. I was glad it was an indoor activity, because that was the second 100° day! All in all, it was a great week for him, and he got to do stuff we never do because I'm too boring and overprotective.

Now I'm looking down the barrel of 6+ weeks of trying to work while my 3 kids have nothing to do all day. Julie would be happy to spend every day at our neighborhood pool, but I have to be there with her (Pete and Steph are old enough to come and go on their own). Andy is hoping to take off a week in August, and otherwise we'll just have to find enough to do to keep relatively busy the rest of the time. You know I am not the kind of parent who feels that my kids need to be entertained every minute of the day, but I do want them to have fun—and I need to get my work done too! Stay tuned.

Back to Maine

Remember last month when Andy and I went up to Portland to see the Avett Brothers and stayed overnight sans kids? Well, a getaway that was 7 years in the making just got followed up by another one this past week! Yes, it's true, we once again headed north, but this time to Ogunquit.

Steph is still at sleepaway camp (she comes home on Sunday). I dropped Pete and Julie at day camp on Wednesday morning, and then my in-laws picked them up at the end of the day, took them out to the Biltmore (lucky kids!) and JP Licks (really lucky!), brought them back to their house to sleep, and dropped them off at camp again on Thursday morning. We were back in time to pick them up after camp, so it all worked out great!

We arrived in Ogunquit just as the heat wave was rolling in. First we got surprisingly good lobster rolls at the Village Food Market. Then we headed over to the Juniper Hill Inn even though it was too early to check in. They let us change into our swimsuits there, and we grabbed our gear and made our way down the path behind the inn that leads to the beach. It was just a 10-minute walk, and mostly in the shade. That was a real plus, because then we didn't have to pay to park in the beach lot (assuming we could get even get a spot!).

We got to the beach around 1:30, and it was nearly high tide, so we found a spot way up top. It was beautiful, as always, and we just lounged and read and looked at people's tattoos for about 3 hours. Then back up to the inn, and we got to our room. It is a large motel, and our room was modern and spotless—and cool! The inn has indoor and outdoor pools that we didn't even use, but there were lots of families taking advantage of them.

We showered and changed and drove down to the Cliff House, which is a gorgeous old hotel right on the water between Ogunquit and York. From everything I've heard, the accommodations are nothing great there, and it's quite pricey, so we didn't choose to stay there even though the view is nothing short of spectacular. We were surprised that there was just one small terrace bar with only a few people there. We had a drink overlooking the ocean and crashing waves—lovely.

Then we drove into Perkins Cove for our dinner at MC Perkins Cove. The dining room overlooks the water; every seat has a lovely view. The food was great too! We split a calamari appetizer, which was fine although nothing special. Then we split a really good Caesar salad. Andy got the sesame-crusted rainbow trout and I got the plank-roasted Arctic char. (Last year I edited a cookbook all about planking, so it was fun to finally taste it!) We both ate every morsel. Then Andy got a dessert of coconut tres leches. The same duo that owns MC Perkins also owns the famed Arrows, which is frequently named as one of the best restaurants in the country. That menu is all prix fixe and extremely fancy-shmancy, and we were too intimidated to go. Anyhow, we were very happy with our meal at MC.

I slept really well that night (nyah-nyah, Mr. Insomnia, you couldn't find me in Maine!), and the next morning we got a quick complimentary breakfast at the inn (they have a breakfast room with muffins, bagels, fruit, cereal, and so on). Then we checked out and walked back down to the beach. It was already really hot, so we stayed only about an hour. This time it was low tide, so we went all the way down by the (frigid) water. And instead of walking back, we hopped on the Ogunquit trolley with our chairs and umbrella and beach bag. We changed back into our clothes and then went looking for fried clams for lunch.

We ended up at York's Best Seafood and decided to split the seafood combo platter, which was fried clams, scallops, haddock, Maine shrimp, onion rings, and fries. We finished off the whole thing. It was definitely one of the best clam shacks we've ever been to.

Then back home, to find that our air conditioning was broken again (we'd just had it fixed on Monday!). I am now sweating here in my office waiting for the repairman to come back. Last night was unbearably hot and today is supposed to get up to 100° too. Yuck.

Nifty Indeed

Julie might as well skip the fourth grade next year, because one of the main things that fourth graders do in our school is master the United States of America—they learn the "Fifty Nifty" song so that they can recite the names of all 50 states in alphabetical order for the rest of their lives, they learn all 50 state capitals, and they learn where each state is on the map. And Julie? Well, she could already do all that stuff a couple of years ago. When Pete was in fourth grade and Julie in first, she was fascinated by what he was learning, so she kind of taught herself. We got the Scrambled States game (yet another fine Gamewright product!) and she soon became unbeatable. She hasn't learn the song yet, but she can still name all 50 states in alphabetical order (same as me). And she knows all the capitals (me, too). And she can fill in the names of the states on a blank map (which I cannot do, no way no how).

On the drive home from dropping off Steph at camp a few weeks ago, Julie started noticing the license plates of the other cars, and she just happened to have a book with her that contained a map of the U.S.A. (oy, I told you), so she started shading in every state she saw. In the space of that hour she quickly racked up all 6 New England states, plus Florida, New York, and two big surprises for our neck of the woods: Washington and Oregon. Well, that was just the beginning. She continued to find plenty of new ones on our drive up to New Hampshire the following weekend, and in the parking lot when we went canoeing at Echo Lake, we found tourists from Texas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and more. And, as is usually the case up there, quite a few from Ontario and Québec—and even one from Nova Scotia!

She's up to something like 36 now (including those Canadian provinces and Washington, DC). I explained why she's not likely to ever see a Hawaii plate, but told her that Alaska is certainly a possibility. (Andy actually saw an Alaska plate on his way to work last week, but we're not going to tell her.) I bet it's rare for people in, say, California, to see a Rhode Island plate, just as we are not holding our breaths for Wyoming—too few people there, and too far away. But she knows to keep her eyes peeled for rental trucks, moving vans, tractor-trailers, and RVs in particular.

I've come to several conclusions about license plates:

1. Massachusetts has the most boring license plates of all the ones we've seen.

2. I can now recognize the license plates of quite a few states from several yards away—specifically, Mass., RI, Conn., Vermont, Maine, NH, NY, NJ, Penn., Fla., and maybe a few others.

3. It's dangerous to try to read the name of the state on a license plate while driving in traffic, particularly if it's one of those stupid scripty fonts in white (I'm talkin' to you, Ohio!) or if the license plate is in a frame that partially obscures the state name at the top.

Books Come in Threes

1. I finally finished A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore, and of all the half-finished books to have gone back to, that's one I wish I'd skipped. I'd stopped reading because the first third or so was OK but lackluster; if only I'd known that the remainder was weird, scattered, aimless, and unsatisfying. It really pains me to say it, because I think Moore is an exceptionally good writer, but I've come to the conclusion that that's the case only for short stories and not longer works. This novel is about Tassie, a college student who takes a part-time job as a nanny with a couple who is trying to adopt a baby. Not one of the characters is remotely realistic. Tassie is both too clever and too clueless—yes, I know, most college students are both clever and clueless, but not the way Tassie is. She is wise beyond her years but also a complete dolt. The prospective adopting couple are two-dimensional. Moore tries to tackle way too many Big Topics here, including race relations (the couple is white and the baby they're adopting is black) and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (Tassie's brother goes off to fight). There are tons of plot "twists" that serve no purpose whatsoever—for instance, Tassie accidentally poisons her roommate, but the roommate survives. So what? The climactic scenes with Tassie's brother and with the adopting couple are eye-rollingly far-fetched and impossible to consider seriously. This is one of those books that got rave reviews from all the important newspapers and magazines, but not a single person on Amazon even liked it. Do not bother. Really.

2. Much, much better was So Much for That by Lionel Shriver. The following synopsis is not a spoiler because it is shared on the back cover and occurs within the first few pages: Shep and Glynis have been married for many years, but they've gradually lost their connection to one another. Shep's goal in life, ever since he was a teenager, was to put away enough money to retire early to some third-world country where he can live comfortably on just a few dollars a day and never have to work again. He and Glynis frequently go on "research trips" to far-flung locales to narrow down the options. Nearly all of their friends and relatives poke fun at Shep for his plans for the "Afterlife" as he calls it, and even Glynis thinks it's ridiculous. However, Shep has reached the point where he is ready. He has purchased three one-way plane tickest to an island called Pemba, off Tanzania—one for each of them and one for their teenage son Zach. (Their daughter Amelia is grown and lives on her own.) He plans to offer the tickets to Glynis and Zach and encourage them to go, but he is determined to go regardless of whether they agree to join him. The night he breaks the news to Glynis, she reveals her own news: She has mesothelioma, one of the worst cancers around, and she needs him to stay at his soul-sucking job for the health insurance coverage. So, this is how far apart they've grown, that she didn't know he was ready to leave and he didn't know she was dying. But as depressing as this sounds, the book follows how they repair their marriage and grow closer than ever as Glynis fights for her life.

The running theme throughout the novel, which I found tedious and overwrought, is the inadequacies of the U.S. health care system. Shep's best friend Jackson (who has a teenage daughter with a rare, life-threatening condition) serves the sole purpose of spouting off long diatribes about what doesn't work with the government. A few choice soliloquies here and there would've been fine, but it got to be too much. In addition, there's a plot twist involving Jackson that just did not ring true to me at all and in fact undermined the rest of the story as far as I was concerned. My other complaint about the book was that I don't think Shriver (who has no children) has the least clue about what it's like to be a parent. It seemed to me that every now and then she remembered that Shep and Glynis were supposed to have this son living there, so she'd mention him. She characterized him as one of these teenage boys who spends all day in his room in front of the computer, but that wasn't enough to explain his lack of presence in the story. It would have been more believable if they'd just been a childless couple in the first place. All this being said, however, this was a deeply affecting story, and Shriver is a terrific writer with a keen eye and an even keener sense of humor. I did find the endless passages about U.S. tax laws and the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries boring and overdone, but the story of Shep and Glynis is really beautiful. I do recommend this book, but it's definitely not for everyone.

3. Saving the best for last: State of Wonder by Ann Patchett was truly outstanding. The only reason I can't say it was her best book was that I so adored Bel Canto, but this was a close second. It's the story of Marina Singh, a pharmacologist who does research on cholesterol for a pharmaceutical company. Years ago, the company sent brilliant but ruthless OB-GYN Annick Swenson off to the Amazon to research a tribe whose women are able to remain fertile throughout their entire lives. Swenson is so wrapped up in her work that she refuses to stay in touch with the company; she does not report on her progress or provide any kind of status updates. The company sends Marina's coworker Anders Eckman down to check on things. When he doesn't return, they send Marina. Patchett's descriptions of the Amazon—from the oppressive heat to the powerful rainstorms to the mammal-sized bugs—put you right there with Marina. All of the characters are well drawn, and the depiction of the tribe is not at all paternalistic or exploitative. The story brings up many ethical questions, from the treatment of indigenous populations and their habitats to the manufacture of drugs that can change lives. It is a fascinating, captivating, thoroughly riveting story, and it was all I could do not to read it all in one sitting (as with Bel Canto, I doled out one chapter a day to make it last). Do not miss this book—I can't think of anyone who wouldn't give it a thumbs-up. The only disappointment now is that we have to wait again for Patchett to write another.

I'm Back!

I'm still here, really! Since I last updated you, we spent two more glorious beach days at Good Harbor. Just as we arrived in the parking lot on Saturday, my cell phone rang. It was the alarm company saying that our fire alarm was going off, and since they were unable to reach us at home, they'd sent the fire department! Luckily Andy's parents were home; they have an extra key to our house, so Jerry went over to check things out and to disable the alarm and set the firefighers on their way. (That evening we ran into some neighbors who said that they'd also called 911 for us when they heard the alarm going. And going. And going.) Later that afternoon, just as we pulled into the driveway after our beach day was over, we heard the alarm start up again! I ran in and disabled it just as the alarm company was calling the house, so this time we avoided bothering the fire department.

Remember this happened just a couple of months ago? At that time I had the alarm company guy come here and check everything out, and he'd proclaimed everything fine and working—he said it could have been as simple as a spider inside the unit that disrupted the contacts for a half-second. Well, you can bet I called back yesterday and said that we either have a major spider problem, or something is really wrong. He said that we might need to replace the whole system (which was here when we moved in). Ugh, not an expense we were planning for this year.

Sometimes I think that we've all become too dependent on our cell phones, but this was a case when I was very glad that the alarm company was able to reach me, and that I was able to reach Jerry. Also because of cell phones, on Wednesday I was able to sneak off the beach for a few minutes and into the parking lot so I could participate in an important work-related conference call! I had printed out all the documents I might need, so no one was the wiser that I was in my swimsuit and flipflops in the car instead of in my office in front of the computer. I felt very sneaky.

Yesterday was the first day of my two weeks during this whole summer when all three kids are at camp. Steph is still at sleepaway camp, Pete is doing soccer camp this week and "extreme sports" next week, and Julie is doing regular camp. I finished up a big editing project over the weekend; now I have just enough work to keep me busy but to also allow some free (gasp!) time for myself.

Vacation

You think I forgot you, but I didn't. I've just been busy working and relaxing, and that leaves time for little else.

So we dropped off Steph at camp on Thursday, then Friday headed up to the White Mountains for our annual Independence Day weekend festivities. To wit: eating brisket and kugel with the in-laws, watching the corny but fun parade down Main Street, going canoeing on the breathtakingly lovely Echo Lake, playing bocce, and getting sugar-buzzed at Chutters. What our weekend did not include, for the first time ever, was pigging out at Polly's Pancake Parlor. We happened to arrive just seconds after a tour bus filled with 33 starving tourists, and we decided not to wait around. We went back to the house and made our own pancakes and bacon, which Julie proclaimed were "the next best thing to Polly's," but we all knew they were a distant second. Harumph!

On the actual Fourth of July, I had to work (boo!), but Andy took Julie to the pool. I'm not sure what Pete did here at home, but I think it involved a computer, a TV, an X-Box, an iPod, and a cell phone. All at once.

Today we had our first beach day of the year! We had no trouble getting into Good Harbor, and it was a lovely day. Upon returning home, we were surprised and delighted to find a postcard and a letter from Steph, plus an additional letter just for Julie. (We had thought that the long weekend would delay the mail a few more days.) She loves camp, blahblahblah, the usual good news. Yay!