Day 11.110: Lesson one...

...first put down the sandwich!

Exile #4 is not quite at the driving lessons stage yet - although her sister is old enough to be and her time will come all too soon. Hopefully without the sandwich.

Day 11.109: Exile #2's Sunday Column #202

Exile #2 writes...

She works hard to bring this to you!

Some of the young Exiles were a little dismayed that we chose to clear out the garage rather than catch the new Avengers movie on its opening weekend, but on the plus side, E5N1 spent much of his Saturday playing with the kids in the neighborhood, I took my bike out for the first ride of the season, and having dragged the grill out, we fired it up. We also found the Pétanque and enjoyed a few rounds. There was a degree of randomness to our bowling, owing to the lumps and bumps in our lawn but it worked pretty well and E5N1 certainly got the hang of it.

We weren’t the only ones dusting off our toys. One of our neighbors has been zipping around on a hover board. It’s been quite diverting watching him drift by. I guess we can add this to the list of strange sightings on our street. We’ve already witnessed a golf cart, a miniature pony and trap, and a car pulling someone on skis. Throw in the odd horse and the person who bicycles around towing a ghost on Halloween, and I think we’re doing rather well so far.

Day 11.108: Night and Day

With dry and warm weather, it certainly felt like spring today - and with spring came spring-cleaning including a big sort-out of the garage and the shed and our first use of the grill this year. I wouldn't say that the change in the garage or in the weather was a night and day change, but it was significant.

I didn't take any photographs during all that, so here instead are the sculptures from outside the MFA called Night and Day by Antonio Lopez Garcia. I performed some magic that maybe Escher (whose exhibition inside we thoroughly enjoyed) would appreciate:

Day 11.107: That's one way to look at it

Although we all found this display of glass-work at the MFA stunning and surprising:

It was Exile #3 who pointed out that the surprising thing is that - although there is clearly a mirror behind the line of objects, you don't see yourself reflected.

So beautiful.

Day 11.106: Erie sunset

I'm home! This was the view of the western end of Lake Erie as we flew over Detroit around sunset:

Day 11.105: Midwest spring

Quick work trip to the Chicago area - it seems like Spring is a few steps ahead here despite the late shot of winter weather we both experienced:

Day 11.104: Ancient selfie

I can't be the only visitor to the MFA in Boston to see this:

and think of this:

I toyed with the idea of photoshopping her grapes into an Apple, but writing it is easier and almost as much fun.

Day 11.103: Portland 10 Miler

As Exile #2 mentioned yesterday, I ran a little race yesterday. A new 10 mile race (also part of a New England series). It was a pretty perfect day - dry and cool:

The race was great - well organized and on a really nice coastal course in my old haunts in Portland. Here I am at the finish - maybe not killing myself to get across the line, but having given it a fairly honest effort.

I was nearly a minute per mile slower than my best 10 mile race time - but marginally faster than my February race. Since we are at the end of a winter where I had little motivation to be consistent in my training - that's probably an honest assessment of where I am.

Day 11.102: Exile #2's Sunday Column #201

Exile #2 writes...

This weekend has been lovely - warm temperatures and blue sunny skies. Not quite warm enough to want to sit around outside but a welcome change in the right direction. We saw blossom and daffodils on Friday in Boston, which is a little bit ahead of us in these things. So, it feels like spring is arriving in more than just name. (We also saw some very bold city bunnies, who were totally unfazed by our presence.)

After our brilliant but busy day in Boston, we took things a little easier yesterday but we still took a couple of walks, including a walk round Saco’s historic cemetery. It has a lovely view over the Saco River but it is also the resting place of many famous locals, such as the wonderfully-named Clementine Kendrick Burns, after whom E5N1’s school is named. Today, of course, was Earth Day and Exile #1 celebrated by running all over it in a 10 mile race. I think he was fairly happy with how it went, and he enjoyed the complementary beer given out to finishers by the race sponsors. So now, Spring Break is over, and it’s back to school.

Day 11.101: Saco river view

This afternoon, Exile #2 and I walked down through Laurel Hill Cemetery to its view over one of three or four wide sections of the Saco River between the mill and the ocean:

At one point, in the distance we watched a bird hover then dive, then hover again before plummeting into the water. I couldn't work out what could be behaving like that and I doubted that my photographs at such a long range would help. As it turned out, they were good enough to see that it was a belted kingfisher.

I think it's because we've become used to seeing ocean-fishing birds that it did not cross my mind.

I also took this at a similar range of what looks like an egret soaring high above us on the thermals:

Day 11.100: MFA

We had a lovely day out in Boston - almost all of it spent at the wonderful Museum of Fine Arts.

Here are a few of our favourite things including the very fancy tickets, fake shadows, a huge tower of glass icicles, some wonderful photographs and paintings, musical instruments and some Buddhist sculptures in a very peaceful temple-style gallery:

Day 11.099: Inflatable couch thing

I don't know what you think when you see this photo:

but I think, "This is not going to end well!" And that is even though I know it actually ended* like this:

* Moments before and after this second photo were taken are not considered as "end" for the purposes of this blog post.

Day 11.098: Choose your favorite (demon)

When asked what his favorite animal was at the Cryptozoology Museum as we were leaving - he chose the Dover Demon. Not a bad choice on account of both its cuteness and relatively local origin in Dover Massachusetts.

It certainly was a lot more appealing than the similarly named Jersey Devil - which did not get a high score from us for cuteness.

Day 11.097: Fore River bird sightings

As promised, here are the birds I managed to get photographs of on our short walk at the weekend at the Fore River Trail:

A turkey vulture, a northern mockingbird, a song sparrow, an American robin, an eastern phoebe, several buffleheads and a couple of loons. I also saw an egret of some kind in the distance and a couple of red-winged blackbirds mobbing the turkey vultures as they flew overhead.

Day 11.096: At least the ice has all gone now

This was what the day was like before it got really wet:

At lunchtime we watched the first elite racers finish the Boston Marathon on a truly miserable day for runners and spectators alike. I feel bad about complaining about an unseasonably hot and sunny April day two years ago now. I had assumed having achieved a qualifying time again but then having narrowly missed the cut-off time under that to race, that today would be a perfect running day, but apparently I'm not that important.

Anyway, the rain is still falling, the wind is still blowing, but we are indoors and home and my (much shorter) spring race is coming up next weekend when we are guaranteed perfect cool dry running weather - right?

Day 11.095: Exile #2's Sunday Column #200

Exile #2 writes...

Mid-April in southern Maine

Winter returned today with sleet and freezing rain. The robins were looking a little disgruntled. It must be hard when you’re supposed to be the harbinger of Spring but Spring refuses to show up. No Matter. While Exile #4 hung out with her youth club friends this afternoon, the rest of us returned to the scene of yesterday’s fairly bizarre walk to visit something equally bizarre, Portland’s International Museum of Cryptozoology. It’s a small space, crammed with tchotchkes and artifacts relating to the hunt for mysterious animals. Some are the stuff of legend, like Bigfoot and Nessie (or Cassie, our local version in Casco Bay). Others are creatures that were discovered after many years of evading detection, like the Megamouth Shark.

The museum walks a fine line between belief and skepticism. It debunks many myths and delights in others. It mixes pop culture, mythology, and superstition with scientific research. As with many small museums it could do with a little more interpretation, but it was a fun way to spend an hour.

Day 11.094: Fore River Trail

With the weather forecast somewhat unreliable-looking, we decided against a larger investment of driving time and instead went to explore a small trail by the Fore River Estuary at Thompson's Point in Portland. The Fore River Trail is distinct from the nearby Fore River Sanctuary.

The trail is short and fairly urban, but has some significant sections of boardwalk and some nice views of the estuary - including a surprising glimpse of a waterfall under a bridge.

Although we are always very pleased to get out of the house at this time of year, it is clearly not the most glamorous of seasons in southern Maine. We saw some birds that I will identify in a future post - and few signs of spring (and some signs of last autumn!):

At one point we took an apparently little-used side trail past this boarded-up house - we all had the feeling that despite the map we weren't sure we were in the right place. When two vultures perched on the roof it didn't make it seem any less creepy!

Soon after that, we were passed on the trail by a man cycling in a full plastic face mask - this was not a wilderness hike! We had a nice walk and then returned home for a game, dinner and some family TV time.

Day 11.093: "April fun"

The kids are off school for April break and that means that we are trying to have some family fun on the days without other commitments (such as going to work for me!). We have made a partial plan for tomorrow, but I also decided to ask Google Photos for inspiration based on what "April fun" we had had in the past.

This was one of the adorable answers:

That's the child later to be known as Exile #3 on holiday in Kent a little over a month before she became a big sister - having fun in April!

Day 11.092: Don't run with scissors...

...dancing with candles is fine however:

...especially if they are the battery operated kind!

Day 11.091: Well presented

We visited Exile #4's school this evening for the culmination of a career project they've been doing. The project involved choosing a potential career, finding an expert and other resources and finding the answer to some questions they had raised about that career.

The final presentation was either a poster session (as Exile #4 chose) with an elevator-pitch and a readiness to answer questions, or a PechaKucha-style presentation. It was an impressive evening and Exile #4 presented both herself and her material with aplomb.

Day 11.090: I didn't get the memo

...but apparently Exile #4 and E5N1 did and it seemed like an appropriate image for Siblings Day!

Day 11.089: I went to ballet class

...because it was observation week. I clearly did not take ballet class. Here is Exile #3 working hard - and smiling while doing it:

By the end of the class she was exhausted from both.