Day 12.171: Exile #2's Sunday Column #254

Exile #2 writes...

As Exiles #1, #3 and #4 all had the day off work today - a rare thing this summer - we decided to go on an adventure. We headed for Massachusetts, and for the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. We were hoping that the weather would cooperate and that we’d be able to walk through the gardens, as well as tour the museum but the hour or so of rain that we drove through to get there began to make that seem unlikely. Happily, however, the rain stopped as we arrived and held off until we were almost ready to leave.

We all found favorites inside and out, and even recognized one artist from the Art Omi Sculpture Park that we used to visit near Albany, NY:

but mostly we agreed that Sculpture parks are one of our favorite things.

The rest of the reports about our visit are here: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Day 12.170: Junior black belt

Exile #4 tested for her junior black belt today. She is a year away from being old enough to test for her actual Shodan belt.

After some warm-ups and exercises:

she tested in front of the panel:

and answered some questions including a history of the Uechi karate style:

and was awarded her new too-long belt by her sensei and his sensei:

Day 12.169: Dragon

Today felt like summer and made for busy days for our daughters - one of whom is scooping ice-cream for and selling t-shirts to conference center attendees and the other is frying food for water-park visitors.

In other summery news, but otherwise unrelated, here is a visitor at our house from last weekend:

Day 12.168: Accessible

The last time we were on the beach was back on Day 12.142. We really must get back down there soon now that summer is making at least a sporadic appearance.

When we were there, we were impressed by this new addition - a sturdy ridged carpet through the dunes and as far as the bench at the top of the beach to make it accessible to wheelchairs and people who find walking on the soft sand difficult:

Day 12.167: Snipe?

As I was arriving back at work after lunch yesterday, I spotted an unusual-looking bird on the driveway. My first impression was that it looked like a tiny kiwi - with a rather long and fairly fat beak and generally squat appearance.

It was remarkable enough that I stopped the car and jumped out to try to get a better look or a photo. The photos were pretty poor - as it moved away from me and then eventually took to the air:

Current best-guess is a common snipe, but I welcome other opinions!

Day 12.166: Edited

Dance show video is edited. Phew!

Here are some stills from three more of Exile #3's performances:

Day 12.165: Art complement

One morning last week, in a random act of artiness,  E5N1 colored a popsicle stick with a double rainbow. he liked it so much, he did another one and then another one. In the end he had created a rather nice little piece of abstract art.  He hung it from an earlier piece of his own abstract art that has been up for some time on a too-narrow for most things piece of wall:

When it was pointed out to Exile #4, she said, "Is that new? I thought it had always been there!" which is a compliment of sorts I suppose for this second piece that completes his art installation.

Day 12.164: Exile #2's Sunday Column #253

Exile #2 writes...

Today we said goodbye (but not really) to one half of our husband and wife pastoring team at HopeGateWay. A is going on to a new job but will continue to be part of the worshipping community.

I’m guessing the details of that might take a while to iron out but it did make today seem like a less final occasion. Exile #1 had been part of the team hatching party plans and they did a great job organizing food, speeches and gifts. Not surprisingly the rest of the day included a nap.

Day 12.163: Summer activities

This morning I took the girls to their summer jobs (first day for Exile #4). Exile #2 and I then got down to some yard work - cutting grass and pruning shrubs and a trip to the transfer station (tip). Meanwhile E5N1 spent a good chunk of the morning playing wet games with a neighborhood friend (including finding the Slip-N-Slide) and the afternoon swimming in a home pool with a school friend. Now that seems like summer!

Day 12.162: The things we do in the dark

I have had a couple of disrupted night's sleep this week - just a lot going on in my head I think and not enough exercise to counteract it. On one occasion, fumbling for my phone by the bed I took this:

Apparently that was 2:16 on Thursday morning. Sigh!     

Day 12.161: Seventeen

We started the day celebrating Exile #3's 17^th Birthday:

After lunch, she marked the occasion by heading off for her first shift in her summer job:

but we ended the day with a more traditional celebration:

Happy Birthday!

Day 12.160: ...and a cabbage

After the dance recital, Exile #3 came away with an impressive selection of flowers - received in part at least as thanks for her assisting with the little ballerinas and choreographing for her modern dancing friends.

I was impressed to see that one of the "flowers" was in fact a cabbage.

Day 12.159: Back to school?

I don't go into Exile #3's room very often and when I do it is usually on a mission: collecting cups for the dishwasher more often than not. It is also often pretty dark in there since her blackout curtains seem to be closed at all hours. Today, I stopped in to ask her something and spotted this tableau on her desk:

The message seemed particularly timely.

"It's been on there since the beginning of the school year! I kept thinking I should change it but never got around to it!"

Junior year was a non-stop ride!

Day 12.158: The morning after

It was up and at 'em for me - a return to work with a new hire to deal with as well as a lot of left-over work from last week. Fortunately after a lazy day and a good night's sleep I was feeling a good deal more human than 24 hours earlier.

The same could probably not be said for the five teenage girls who at some point around 3 am fell asleep on the basement floor after a long celebration of Exile #4's recent birthday,

Sometime later in the day E5N1 and - appropriately enough - Exile #2 worked on building this impressive Lego dragon from a set he chose while were killing some time waiting for a table for Mother's Day lunch.

Day 12.157: Exile #2's Sunday Column #252

Exile #2 writes...

The past few weeks finally caught up with us today, Exiles #1 and #3 being particularly sore and tired after their gargantuan efforts of the last few days. The young “Exiles”, as I feel l should call them now, managed to produce a little bit of art to brighten Exile #1’s Father’s Day,

but we postponed proper celebrations until later in the week, when Exile #3 also has a birthday. Meanwhile, this evening, Exile #4 has a selection of friends over to celebrate her birthday before she starts work for the summer.

Day 12.156: Recital

Exile #3 and I spent pretty much all day at a local high school for the two performances of her dance school recital. She was in five dances, assisted with another and choreographed another. That's seven out of nineteen numbers. She was quite tired at the end of the day, as was I having done the video recording. Here's a still from one of her numbers.

The rest of the family had a slightly more normal Saturday - including karate class for Exile #4 before joining us for the second performance.

Day 12.155: Exiles no more?

I'm not actually sure if it affects our status as exiles or not, but all five of these people:

are now United States Citizens.

Day 12.154: National pastime

Sometimes things look really cool from the air, like this floodlit quintuple baseball field arrangement:

Tomorrow, we will complete the work week (me) and the school year (E5N1) then pass some time thinking about nationality and then follow up with the dress rehearsal for the dance recital.

Day 12.153: Rare birds

We put our hummingbird feeder up a couple of days ago and Exile #2 reports seeing one today - yay!

Ruby-throated hummingbirds are not really rare, but we do have some rare birds in the area as these fancy signs remind us:

The girls had their last morning of school today. A day and a half to go for E5N1 and then a busy weekend (starting on Friday afternoon) to follow!

Day 12.152: Fifteen (4)

Happy Birthday to Exile #4 - Fifteen today!

Day 12.151: Perfect timing

Our trip to Westbrook was perfectly timed to see the alewives - quite an amazing sight. We had tried to get to the brook on a previous occasion - this one in fact. That day, the trail down from the same parking spot we used this time was so icy we feared that we couldn't manage it safely in our spring footwear. It was quite different a couple of months later:

Day 12.150: Exile #2's Sunday Column #251

Exile #2 writes...

While Exile #1 headed to New Hampshire to provides some guitar playing services,

Editor's note: at a gathering of United Methodist clergy and lay-leaders on Pentecost Sunday,
expect many items of red clothing

the rest of us popped to our neighbors’ to celebrate their oldest daughter’s graduation. It was nice to meet a few new neighbors, and it was a helpful peek into what’s to come! High school graduation is definitely not the understated event that it was when I finished high school in the UK. There are days of celebrations, rounded off with the 3 hour ceremony itself. It sounds like we have to hope it will be a dry enough day that we can be outside but a cool enough day that the graduates don’t melt under their caps and gowns.

Day 12.149: Alewives

Four of us went for a short walk at Mill Brook Preserve in Westbrook this afternoon:

It was warm and very green - if a little muddy in places and rather buggy under the trees. The target of our walk was the Southern Fish Viewing Pool:

Look again and maybe you'll see that its name is very well earned at this time of year as the Alewives make their way up the brook to spawn.

Here are some more photos of the Alewives:

Quite an amazing sight - so glad we managed to get the timing right!