Water treat

The Man is feeling like he missed out today - and fair enough, because he did. 

Back at the start of the vacation (many months ago) the kids put Zoom Flume water park on their list of required summer activities.  With (to everyone's amazement) only a few vacation days left, and in the midst of a late heatwave, we'd decided we'd go today, and arranged to take a couple of friends with us.

Unfortunately one friend had to pull out at the last minute, which nearly scuppered the trip.  However, we decided to go anyway - and what a great time we had!

On our last visit the kids (and their mother) were quite cautious about all the slides and mostly kept to the least challenging ones.  This time there were only a couple which were still deemed too scary, and we had a fine time on the Twin Tubes, the Grand Prix Splashdown and the Black Vortex among others.

A new addition to the park is an open-air wave pool -  excellent fun.

With temperatures peaking 91F this afternoon, I think we picked an excellent place to spend five hours outdoors keeping active yet cool.  We're all exhausted this evening.

Kidstuff

The Girl was back at farm camp this morning. The task of the week is to create an obstacle course for the younger goats and teach them to use it. Watch this space...

I had some admin business to deal with - the children changing schools involves a forest's-worth of forms to fill out (another sort of kid-related obstacle course, if you like). I think we're all set now, though.

And then we spent the afternoon "chillaxin" (it must be a real word - it's in the dictionary).

He can, canoe?

Temperatures ramped up to the 90F mark again today. We decided to visit a beach. We headed back to North-South Lake in the Catskills where the Girl went camping a few weeks ago.

After more than hour in the car, we were a bit disappointed to arrive and find that the beaches had closed for swimming last weekend (and it's not even Labor Day yet!). However, we could still picnic, and boats were still available for hire, so we ate our lunch and set ourselves up with a canoe.

Paddling was a joint effort, and we made good progress even though the younger crew members eventually started slacking off. We pulled in at little islands (two of them had impressive beaver-built structures on them) and onto shore a couple of times for some rock-scrambling.

The sky was blue, the water smooth and clear. I'd never canoed before, but would happily do it again.

Happy coincidence

It turned out to be an unexpectedly sociable day. A friend, A, whose daughter was having a playdate with the Boy happened to mention she was going to someone's housewarming party this afternoon, which reminded me I'd also been invited to a housewarming, and it pretty soon became clear that it was in fact the same party, even though we both knew the host quite separately.

I didn't know I knew enough people in Albany for that kind of thing to happen.

Anyway, I hitched a ride to the party and met some interesting people and was pleased to see a friend so happy in her new home.

Later the rest of my family reassembled at A's house for an excellent make-your-own tacos dinner. There was entertaining talk, the kids played board games and gently tormented the cat and we all had a very enjoyable evening.

Raptor unready

I could have kicked myself for not taking a camera with us to the local playground this morning. We got really close up to what was probably a young red-tailed hawk. A great big raptor, anyway. It was busy tucking into a rat or squirrel or whatever it had just killed, and though it gave us the once over it didn't seem the least bit bothered by us. It was still there when we headed back half an hour later, but by the time I'd nipped home for the camera and returned to the spot it had finally gone.

The rest of the (rather beautiful) day was taken up with various outdoor chores, plus a hike/scoot to the library. There's some new sidewalk on our route (all the houses have lost about eight feet from their front yards. I can imagine what would happen in England if the Council tried to take 8 inches from people's gardens). They finished laying it a few weeks ago, but it's still as pristinely white as untrodden snow, making me wonder if we were the first people to use it. I certainly haven't seen anyone else walking along it. I guess you can't make people walk, no matter how much sidewalk you provide.

Despicable bee

Bees in the basement. Sounds like yet another volume of that tedious Animal Ark series which thankfully we don't have to read to the kids anymore. But bees in the basement are what we've got. I ask you - mice, chipmunks, moths, bees...it never ends.

Anyway, the Boy invited me to go downstairs and evict a bee. "Look!" he said, "If you switch the light on it'll come flying up - it's kind of like a pet." Pet be darned. I was just trying to get past it to open a window and let it out, and it stung me on the jaw! Twice! Then it flew into my shirt briefly and in doing a twisty dance to get rid of it I put my back out.

Hobbling around, I realised there were quite a few dead bees lying on the carpet, and another live one flying about. An inspection of the side of the house revealed bees flying merrily in and out of a gap in the siding. Clearly we had a problem.

I don't like to use insecticides, but in this case a death spray seemed like the best option. I'm hoping that's the end of the basement bee story.

Later today I took the Girl to one of the newer multiplexes to see Despicable Me. Maybe I was just feeling jaded because my bee-related injury meant that my back was hurting, but I was rather disappointed with the movie. Which was a shame because the buzz about it had been quite good.

Looking ahead

We had a disturbed night - the Girl was sick several times. It seems to have been food-poisoning, as she was perfectly ok again by morning and up bright and early and it was her poor parents who were the ones that had to drag themselves wearily out of bed.

We stayed close to home all morning, though in the afternoon we visited the new school both kids will be starting at in a couple of weeks. It is, conveniently, quite close to home too. More of that anon.

And this evening the Girl had a date with her Girl Scout pals. They are planning to join a mass camp-out in late September - 200 girls sleeping four to a tent and cooking their own dinners on campfires. Could be fun!

Lots of new experiences await us in the fall, then - and it'll be here before we know it.

Girl thing

The Boy was out with his other family this afternoon, and on a whim the Girl and I decided to go and see a movie. We picked Ramona and Beezus.

It is, of course, based on Beverley Cleary's Ramona series that I've enthused about before. I'm a big fan, so I approached the movie with a little trepidation as I feared they might have done terrible things with one of my favourite literary characters. But though I couldn't recognise the screen versions of the Mom or big sister Beezus, the Girl and I felt that Ramona - well-intentioned, disaster-prone original that she is - was just about right.

The movie was showing at the Madison Theatre, on Madison Avenue in Albany. It's an older-style theatre, not unlike my preferred movie house, the Spectrum 8. It's not overly comfortable (the seats are a little lumpy), and I could hear the music from the next-screen-along through the wall, but I still rated it as a good movie-going experience and will happily go there again.

Peaceful haven

On the way back home from The Clark yesterday we decided to follow a road sign marked "Peace Pagoda".

I'd known for some time about this monument near Grafton Lake, but we'd never actually visited. We had to park the car at the bottom of a lane cut through woods, and we walked up in the teeming rain. There in a clearing we found a small traditional Japanese temple, and behind it the white stupa that is the Peace Pagoda.

On entering the temple I found myself rather unexpectedly invited to take tea. I followed some other visitors to the residence at the back and together we sipped tea from tiny cups with Jun-san, the Japanese Buddhist nun behind the building of the pagoda.


It is seventeen years old, but took nine years to build, all by hand. Jun-san began it but was soon joined in her endeavour by hundreds of volunteers, of all faiths and none, all with a common mission to promote peace. Many of the volunteers were people the nun met on her many walks for peace - over the years she has walked the breadth America five times, praying as she goes. Her fervent desire is to bring people together, to recognise and celebrate what unites us as humans so that we can all strive for peace.

Describing herself as "a city girl from Tokyo" who never imagined she would find herself living like this, Jun-san exudes the calm of a person answering her vocation and doing just what she should with her life. It was more than a pleasure to meet her.

More about the pagoda here, and here.

Art at The Clark

Our original plan today was to visit an airshow. However, the rain started pouring down and showed no signs of stopping. So the children found themselves friends to spend the day with, and the Man and I set out in search of culture.

We found it at The Clark Institute in Williamstown, Mass. The Man has been eager to go for a long time. As well as a quite extensive permanent collection of European and American art (including Monet, Turner, Singer Sargent among others), we enjoyed seeing the fascinating "Picasso Looks at Degas" temporary exhibition. This explored works produced by the one artist inspired by those of the other.

Women were the major theme, from laundresses to ballet dancers. Apparently both artists enjoyed hanging out in brothels, too - there was a whole room dedicated to that subject.

There was also an exhibition of contemporary statues by Juan Munoz. Some were slightly disturbing, though the room full of smiling bald Chinese people was a cheerful experience. And these guys were out on the cafe terrace:

Quick on the draw

Tonight we've been to our neighbour's 19th annual Pork Project party. There was plenty of food and drink on offer, and entertainment laid on: an excellent magician, the host's own jazz funk band and for the kids several hand-crafted, candy-stuffed piggy pinatas to take a swipe at.

There was also a caricature artist, and the Man insisted that in the interests of this blog at least one member of the family should pose for a portrait.

Can you guess who it is yet?

In the pink

For those who missed it over in Exile world a few weeks ago, here is the very splendid Bettie's Cupcakes bus.

We found it doing business at the Altamont Fair. The Boy sampled the double-chocolate option, which his buddy recommended as being "the best cupcake in the history of the world ever". So I should think at $3 per modest-sized bun. But I admire Bettie's panache, her bus is a great gimmick and it makes me smile when I see it around town.

Cats and blogs

The kids have been nagging me for weeks to take them to see Cats and Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore. Lucky for them that I caved in today, its last day on show anywhere locally. We opted for the old-fashioned 2D version. I'm not excited about 3D except for non-fiction movies, as it doesn't add anything to plot or character development. That's my pompous opinion, anyway. The children and their friend weren't bothered either, usefully saving me $4 a head - still not enough to buy everyone popcorn.

Terrible film - evil hairless talking cat thwarted in global-domination plot by heroically bumbling talking dogs, pigeon and another talking cat. Hairball and fire-hydrant jokes a-plenty. You get the picture. No-one wanted to sit next to me, so I was able to have a little sleep.

It's three years to the day since I started writing this blog. We re-read all the August 2007 entries as a family this evening to celebrate. Good old days! I have to admit, I especially enjoyed this one.

Fairly exhausting

Though we've been to another event at the Altamont Fairground, we've never made it to the actual Altamont Fair which always takes place in August. The Girl was busy elsewhere today, but her brother and I were happy to hitch a ride with friends to enjoy the fun of the fair.

It's a huge event, part livestock show and part funfair. Last year attendance was down because in addition to the admission price people had to pay for all their rides, so they came away feeling broke. This year rides were included in the entry price. The Boy got his money's-worth with multiple goes on the bumper cars and in a fun house, and I appreciated a leisurely ride on this Ferris wheel. We also saw horses and oxen, and watched a show involving tame monkeys (I'm never quite sure about performing animals, but it is possible they were enjoying themselves).

I was sorry to miss a display of prize-winning pies and cakes, but by the time I knew about it we were at the other end of the huge fairground and some of us were a bit tired and ready to go home. Another time perhaps.

The power of three

It's three years to the day since the Man took this photo at Albany Airport at the start of our American adventure:


Haven't some of us grown!

Timer zones

Muggy and hot again today. There was a burst of thunder and a brief shower at one point, but the rain quickly evaporated. The humidity plays havoc with my hair - carefully straightened this morning and now curly like a sheep.

We've mostly been at home, odding about. One of the kids' friends came to play and we enjoyed a new game which we have named, with questionable taste, "bomb disposal squad". One person hides a kitchen timer, set for ten minutes. Everyone else has to creep around listening for its tick, trying to find it before it goes off. It's very diverting, you should try it.

This evening we made it down to the Beaver Tree Trail at Five Rivers. With it being close to dusk we thought there'd be a good chance of spotting a beaver or two - and we were right! We also saw snapping and painted turtles, and frogs. Quite a few mosquitoes, too.

By George, what a Prospect!

It was cooler than we're used to here today, and almost chilly at the summit of Prospect Mountain near Lake George which we visited this afternoon.

We drove most of the way up along the Veterans Memorial Parkway, stopping for a brief hike en route. From the top there were great views of the lake below and the mountains beyond. The views would have been even better if it hadn't been cloudy and drizzly.

One of our party urgently needed to play mini-golf, so we headed down again into Lake George village which was heaving with summer visitors in spite of the dreary weather. At least the rain had eased up by the time we'd decided which of the countless mini-golf courses we wanted to try. We opted for the "Around the World" course, with its holes themed around different countries (a windmill for the Netherlands, Tower Bridge for England, boxing kangaroo for Australia etc etc). After a combative start the kids settled down and enjoyed playing their usual random, skills-free kind of game.

Next we were aiming for Ben & Jerry's, but there were no parking spaces around and we ended up driving halfway up the lake to Bolton Landing. This is a much quieter and more charming town than Lake George, and happily it has its own Ben & Jerry's so everyone was happy. We ordered Fair Trade vanilla and chocolate ice-creams - yay for B&Js!

Not the best weather day we've had, but a good day out and we've earmarked one or two other local attractions to visit in the fall if not before.

London sights seen

It has been a beautiful day today and we've enjoyed it without straying very far from home.

Here are few more sights we saw in London the day we went to visit Lords cricket ground. Can you recognise them all?

ERrrrr...?

A couple of months ago the Boy had a bit of a medical emergency and ended up in the ER of a local hospital.

Now, in the UK in similar circumstances you would turn up at your nearest casualty unit, get treated, and all being well go home and get better. End of story.

Over here things are a little different.

For one thing, of the dozen or so hospital people you have to speak to on admission, one of the most important is the one who takes down your insurance details. If you are poor enough to qualify for Medicaid you will get treated for free. If you aren't sufficiently poor, but are uninsured or under-insured, look out - it's gonna cost you.

We have good insurance, arranged by the Man's company, so no worries there. Our son received excellent service and had all the necessary tests etc over the course of the night. We had to pay a standard emergency treatment "co-pay" of $50 and we knew that insurance would cover the rest.

A week or so later we received a "This is not a bill" notice from the insurer, letting us know that the hospital had submitted a claim for a four figure sum, they (the insurers) would be paying out a three-figure sum (and how that works to everyone's satisfaction I can't understand) and all was settled.

Or so we thought. Today we received a bill for nearly $500 from an organisation representing the emergency physician. They claim that although the hospital, the nurses, the radiographer etc.. are on our insurance plan, she is not. She is employed by a totally separate organisation - some sort of sub-contractor arrangement - that doesn't participate in our insurance network. Kindly pay up please, maybe your insurer will pay you back...

Were we supposed to know, as the Man drove up to the hospital in the middle of the night with a kid in a bad way that even though the building was on our plan the doctor wasn't? He wasn't told this was the case - but if he had known, was he then supposed to rush off and find another hospital?

Conceivably our insurer will cover the services of the off-plan doctor in these circumstances, though there may have to be some silly process of payment and repayment. So, though I was shocked when I first opened the bill, it may all turn out just to be an annoyance. But what if this happened to someone in a different, less favourable situation? Suddenly being slapped with a hefty charge two months after the event could be seriously stressful - definitely not good for anyone's health.

The healthcare system in this country is bafflingly complex, even if you are insured to the hilt. At its worst, it fails to serve a great many of the people who need it most, and can leave people in crippling debt. Maybe Obama's reforms, making health insurance obligatory (like car insurance), will mean more people have access to healthcare - a good thing. But I fear it will go nowhere towards making the system less complicated.

The British NHS undoubtedly has its faults, but if healthcare free at the point of use is available to you be grateful and know how lucky you are.

On yer bikes

We happened to be in London (was it only seven days ago?) in the launch week of the "Boris bikes" - the new cheap short-term bike-loan scheme named after the Mayor of London. We'd seen the racks standing ready when we made our US Embassy trip at the start of our visit. It was quite exciting to see them full of shiny blue bikes less than a week later. The kids were very intrigued. When we came out of the theatre after seeing WarHorse it was also good to see that most of the bikes were off being ridden somewhere.

I hope the scheme works, because it seems like a great idea. I wonder if any US cities will take the cue - someone over here has taken notice, at least.

Stick with me, kids

Back in the spring, after the last of the snow, I cleared the lawn of a lot of fallen sticks and twigs. To the Man's dismay I stowed them all in the garage in a brown paper bag. But I knew one day they'd come in handy...

Cruise control

Some of us ventured out to the Jericho Drive-In this evening, not to watch a movie but to see a "cruise-by" of classic cars which happens there every second and fourth Tuesday during the summer. Not that I have any particular interest in cars, classic or otherwise, but we thought it might be worth a look.

It turned out to be a fairly low-key event. The classic car owners show up, park their vehicles and recline next to them on lawn chairs. Some of them pop the hoods up so you can admire the classic engines. The ice-cream bar broadcasts '50s and '60s music, and visitors stroll up and down. And that's about it really. Without the people it would have been a lot like dropping in on the denizens of Radiator Springs on a really quiet day.


Possibly there is actual cruising by if you stay late enough - if you waited until the 8 o'clock finish time you'd get to see them all cruising home at least. We had to leave earlier though. We hope to be back there soon, however, for the drive-in movie experience...

Baked good-enoughs

Kids up at 5:30am. A friend came to visit late morning and they all played outside for hours and hours in the 90F heat. Tonight they have put themselves to bed without being told.

A librarian asked me the other day what proper scones are meant to taste like, figuring that with my accent I ought to know. Surprisingly I resisted telling him that I was once (just the once) a prize-winning scone baker (my finest hour: First Prize for my six cheese scones, Linton & District Gardening Club Show 2006). But his question had put me in a baking mood. My scones today were not brilliant (they certainly wouldn't have won any prizes) but at least they weren't "cakey" like the ones the librarian had recently experienced in a local cafe.

I'll give you a little longer to work on yesterday's fluffernutter sandwich challenge. I do actually know the real answer (oh, the wonders of Google), and suspect you won't be able to come with anything nearly as revolting.

Fluff and stuff

The kids were up at 5am - an improvement on yesterday, but not by much. So it felt like midday when we set out to Indian Ladder Farms around 9:30.

We tried to pick blueberries, but only managed to fill half a punnet as the ripe fruit had all been picked yesterday. However we still had fun renewing friendships with the farm animals and enjoying snacks from the shop.


It has been a hot afternoon, and the kids spent a lot of it in the pool. I went off in search of airtight containers to store dry goods in - while we were away moths got into a whole cupboard's worth of rice, pasta, crackers etc and I've had to evict about a million caterpillars, yeurgh.

On the cafe menu at the farm this morning I noticed this item: "Fluffernutter Sandwich - Does this childhood favorite need any explanation?"

Yes!! Suggestions, anyone?

Waiter, there's a frog in my soup

Yesterday's flight was, as I mentioned, uneventful, which is a good thing. Some of our party found it rather boring though. We've got used to being spoiled on Virgin, with individual seat-back screens and a choice of 40 movies. This time we flew American Airlines and the entertainment was old school - central screens showing one dire Jennifer Aniston film and some sitcom re-runs, and nothing of any interest to children at all. The Girl had a sackload of books with her so she was ok for eight hours, but Man and Boy were a bit short on amusements. I'd cleverly bought a copy of Adrian Mole, the Prostrate Years at Heathrow, so time flew for me.

Today we were all up early, some of us very early indeed. We had some mild excitement rescuing a frog from the swimming pool and relocating it to our neighbours' pond. It has been a beautiful day here, sunny and hot but not humid, and we all enjoyed a morning visit to the local farmers' market.

The kids have been socializing with friends this afternoon, but have faded fast this evening. Early nights all round, I think.

Eighteen hours later

We're safely back. It's been a long (very long) but uneventful day, and now we all have some sleep to catch up on. Warm thanks again to everyone who helped us enjoy our UK visit so much this year.

Theatre of war

The last day of our stay has been a busy one. We all went into London, where we visited a favourite museum from my childhood, Pollocks Toy Museum. It's a little treasure trove of bygone toys and games, and it inspired me to many a doll and puppet-making project when I was younger. Our kids probably spent longer in the shop than the museum itself, but they seemed to enjoy the visit.

Then we walked to Dury Lane and joined my parents who were very kindly taking us to see WarHorse at the New London Theatre. Wow - an amazing production, with the most stunning life-size puppet horses. The theme was dark (the tragedy of the First World War), and we were concerned the children might decide it was all too much. They found some of it heavy-going, but overall I think they took a lot from the experience.

From the theatre we wandered over to Covent Garden, met my nephew and filled up on excellent noodles from Wagamama. Really authentic-tasting Japanese food, highly recommended if you get the chance to try it.

A night at the Coliseum

We've been at my parents' house in Watford most of the day. My brother and his twin girls came over in the afternoon and there was dolls-house and play-park fun.

This evening the Man went to visit his parents, and Mum and I went into London to see Carlos Acosta perform at the Coliseum. He's quite a star in the ballet world, with a compelling story - he grew up in poverty in Cuba and has achieved fame and fortune through dance.

Tonight he performed in Premieres with Zenaida Yanowsky. It was powerful and impressive dancing, but some of it was fairly disturbing - at any rate, the last piece seemed to be about domestic violence. Still, I was glad to have had the chance to watch something so challenging.

Fond farewell

Today has involved a lesson in solar energy, a climbing wall, plus nostalgic walks around the village and more encounters with old friends. Also, a lot of goodbyes.

Our Linton visit has gone by all too fast. I have to admit, I'd rather hoped to have just a fairly average visit, so that leaving again wouldn't seem too bad. But of course it was competely wonderful. Thank you all you lovely friends for welcoming us back and giving us such a fun time. See you next time...

Evening all

The Man had people to see in Cambridge today, but I hung out in Linton visiting more old friends and old haunts.

We've been very well fed here in Linton these past few days - home-made pizzas with Mr and Mrs Maths Expert, home-grown everything with the Rockfish family, and this evening a splendid spread laid on by Ninja Shoetrees for us and a gang of friends. It was just great to see so many people we care about all gathered in one place, and blow me if they didn't also take the opportunity of forming a recorder group while they were about it.

The kids, meanwhile, just got on with their own thing.




It's going to be hard to leave...

Son and air

We enjoyed coffee with neighbours this morning, then split up - the Girl and I to see friends/go for a walk, the Man and Boy to visit Duxford Air Museum.

They met up with Grandad, who used to work on Mosquitoes...


...and they spent many hours touring the exhibits.