Friday, July 10, 2009
May 2009 Update from Boston and Bangalore
May 7, 2009
Went to visit Bud and Margaret Fisher and Pat Graves, three of our oldest family friends. Dad was on the Albacore submarine back in the 60s with Bud, who's now 83. Mr. Fisher went with me and the children to tour the Albacore museum. He showed me exactly where Dad had fallen when he was carrying a 185 pound engine fan for himself. He said Dad was so stubborn--he'd ask for help, but if someone couldn't do it right away, he'd go and do it by himself. Dad attributes his long history of back injuries, surgeries, and pain to that fall on the sub.
Back at the Fisher's house, the adults sat in the kitchen chatting and having coffee, while the kids went down the hallway to the den to play video games. It was exactly as it had been 35 years before, except we kids (Ski, Mary, Patty, and I) watched TV in the den. Every once in awhile Mr. Fisher would offer us kids pogey bait (what Dad called candy).
In the evening I went to Logan to pick up Patty from the airport. She came up to Mom's for six days.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Patty made me and Mary happy doing our hair again. She does an amazing job with highlights (foiling). I always tell her we can fly her out to India for a couple weeks, and she'll easily pay for her flight by doing one hair job every couple days. If only she would. I'd love both Mary and Patty to come and see where we are in Bangalore. It's so hard to imagine when you've never been here before. There are so many amenities of the west, side by side with the wonderful as well as sometimes stomach turning aromas on the street. You see clothes of every color here, whereas in the U.S., people choose less vibrant hues. One night I was going out and was going to wear a dress Mary gave me. Badri said it was just one of those things I could wear in the U.S., but here it would loook too blah, color-wise. I could see his point.
After dropping Patty at the bus station, went to the Arnold Arboretum to see lilacs with Mom and the kids. It'd probably been about 20 years since I'd been there. The lilacs were in full bloom, dozens of varieties, and bus after bus of senior citizens toured through to see them. As we were getting out of the car, Maya noticed a tiny tick on Charlie's ear. I took it off, and Maya noticed there was some left, so I got the rest. She has an eagle eye, that one. Ticks gross her out more than anything else.
After the Arboretum, we went to a little pizza joint in Jamaica Plain on the main street.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Today Max and Alex made their First Communion in Andover, and we had a double Alex birthday/first communion party at Mary and Andrews.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Headed up to Ski and Elena's for our annual lobster bake. Every year the kids get more comfortable picking up the live lobster before it's cooked. Had a great time eating, kids hanging out swinging in the hammock.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Went to Portsmouth with Mom, Mary, and Patty. Again, did our annual lunch at the Ferry Landing--melt-in-your-mouth clams and scallops. I have to say, they do those even better than the Weathervane! Did my requisite shoe shopping at the Market St. shoe stores (the one on the corner of Market Square, Footnotes I think, is my favorite).
Badri and Andrew take care of the kids on those days. I think those two are building a brother-in-law bond thanks to these outings.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
So quickly, Patty headed back to Florida.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Went to Cambridge to visit cousin Maureen with Mom and the kids. We went to a terrific park on Oxford St., very close to Lesley College, between Harvard Sq and Porter Sq in Cambridge. There's a giant climbing apparatus that looks like it was designed by some MIT chemist. The kids love it and says now it's their favorite park anywhere in the world.
Went to see a bit of Daniel's baseball game before heading back to Mom's, about half an hour drive north.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Visited the Lincoln house and met with Elizabeth, our realtor, there so she could have a look at it before listing it for rent. Lisa and Scott, who are renting it, were also there. There are dream tenants--Lisa is super-organized and communicative so we always know what's going on there.
Headed over to Mary's afterwards to play.
Badri flew to Albuquerque, New Mexico to meet with Alex, his Prediction Machines business partner.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Went to the Methuen park with the kids and Mom, then went to see Erin's daughter, Sarah, horseback riding. In the evening we went out to dinner at "Not Your Average Joe" restaurant. Had a great time catching up with Erin, and our kids have a great time together. As we headed back to Mom's on 495 north, the traffic was backed up solid at about 9pm. We'd sat in traffic for about 45 minutes for only one or two exits, so we got off at Erin's exit and slept over at her house. Maya shared Sarah's room, and Charlie, Molly, and I slept in the guest bedrooom.
The kids love it there with the bunny and two dogs. In the morning they took the dogs for a walk down by the lake.
Went to Max's soccer game in the afternoon. I went to pick up Badri at the Manchester airport and the kids hung out with Mom. They had their annual lemonade sale.
May 18, 2009
Went to the kids' new favorite park: on Oxford Street in Cambridge near Lesley College. Ate lunch at The Border Cafe in Harvard Square, the kids' first experience with Auntie Mary, margarita, and nacho chips and dip. Went to her house for dinner.
My cousin Maureen had surgery to remove one of her ribs that was cancerous.
May 20, 2009
Badri and I brought Charlie for an appointment at Children's Hospital in the Longwood Medical area of Boston. We met with Dr. Lee, a urologist, because Charlie had been very uncomfortable. The doctor prescribed a topical cream and ibuprofen, and that's about it. For the princely sum of $900 and change(!). That's for approximately a 20 minute appointment, no tests. Thank goodness Badri arranged travel insurance for us before we came to the U.S. for vacation.
After his appointment, we brought Charlie to the Christian Science Center. He loved walking around the huge rectangular pool. We went on a guided tour of the Mapparium, the three-story, walk-through globe created in 1935. I think Badri and I were more impressed walking across the 30 foot glass bridge than Charlie was.
May 21, 2009
Went to the Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester with Mom and the kids. We all loved exploring around the shallow tide pools. We walked out for what seemed like a mile and were still only up to our knees! Lots of great rock climbing. Molly was quite pleased when she discovered how to climb up one of the giant rocks that was set apart from the others. She reached the top and then others followed. I haven't seen this many sand dollars since I was a kid at Fort Foster beach in Maine!
Badri went to his TIE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) conference in Waltham. It was here that he met a man who advised him he'd be better off in the U.S. than in India at this point of his start-up. When he shared this news with me, I felt like the bottom had dropped out. Really shocked. Not ready. Thought we'd be here longer.
May 22, 2009
Get together at Mary's with Ski, Elena, Mom. We went for a hike at Ware Reservation and I saw dozens of pink ladyslippers. We used to see them in the woods behind our house as kids.
May 23, 2009
Met Brinda and Shyam in Cambridge. Went to the kids' favorite park on Oxford Street, then had lunch across the way at a sandwich shop.
May 24, 2009
Met Jorge and Sandy, prospective tenants, at the Lincoln house. Then had pizza for dinner at Mary and Andrew's. with crust from Bertucci's.
May 25, 2000 Memorial Day in South Berwick
All of us drove up to Mark and Sandy Gagnon's house in South Berwick, Maine. It was a gathering of about a dozen Marshwood people, mostly our class, plus Sandy ('80) and Kenny Holmes ('78). Heavenly fish chowder, beers, lots of catching up. Especially with Eddie Worcester, Lisa Blanchard, Karen Smith, David Merrill.
Kids had a blast running around the hilly lawn, playing on the swingset, the tire swing, and in the jacuzzi.
May 26, 2009
Mary watched the kids while I packed and Badri went to a meeting. It was actually today that he called me after his meeting to drop the big news on me--that we should move back to the U.S.
May 28, 2009
Mary watched the kids--again. Badri and I went to look at apartments in Andover and checked out the Sanborn school. We had a nice lunch at a funky little eatery in town, then dinner at Mary's.
May 29, 2009
Went to Mary's, played croquet in the backyard, walked around the pond, had pizza, and the kids slept over.
May 30, 2009
Went to Max and Alex's soccer games, then to the Ferry Landing in Portsmouth with Mary.
May 31, 2009
Went to Salisbury State Beach for a windy/cool day. Kids built sand castles. Went to Browns for clams then Hodge's for ice cream.
