The weekend before Memorial Day weekend, we went to visit my family in the Boston area. I'm the oldest in a family of 5 kids (sisters Tara and Eranthe, brothers Cory and Fred) in a divorced home. We grew up in a small apartment, so the 6 of us are all rather close and family time is very important to me - especially when I only get to see them about once a year.
We went down on Friday, stopping on the way to have lunch at one of our favorite Italian places - Cafe il Cipresso in Tyngsboro, MA. Ed found this place while he was working on-site at Red Hat a few years ago. These folks make some of the best ravioli I've eaten, including sweet potato and squash filled delight, which is what I ordered...
Ed got the excellent overstuffed lobster ravioli with their Il Cipresso sauce...
Friday afternoon/evening was laid-back and included a visit to see my dear Gram. She is 94 and has finally shrunk to be below 5 feet but still has a lot of spunk, albeit less than she used to have. The rest of the evening was spent with most of my immediate family (except Tara and her sons) playing card games like Anomia.
I even got to have another Boston-area treat... Ed went to the store and came back with Italian ice!
Once everyone was together, we all thought it would be a perfect day for the beach. It was plenty sunny and hot (not compared to Texas standards, but for the area and time of year, 85 is hot). We decided who would ride in which car and set out, stopping on the way for pails and shovels for my nephews and sunscreen for Ed.
Now, Revere Beach in the "old" days had quite the boulevard with amusements, especially roller coasters. They are all long-gone now, with no real trace left of them (the last, a carousel, closed in 1973), but the lovely bandstand and pavillions built in 1895-1905 remain.
While we missed the real heyday of Revere, it is still a nice beach and is home to Kelly's Roast Beef, where we get the fried clams over the beast. Every time Ed and I come up, we make a point of trying to make it out to Revere for some clams, no matter how miserable it is. We've even sat huddled on a bench at the pavillion across the street eating fried clams while there was snow on the ground and a miserably cold wind coming off the ocean.
Of course there was no snow this time, but the sunscreen was completely unnecessary. Approaching the beach on the highway, we noticed a thick cloud bank... By the time we made the boardwalk, it was clear that there would be no sun. The clouds melded into the fog that shrouded the sea, and it was all moving inward. The visibility was not much more than a hundred yards or so... There was no rain, but we were all left damp from walking through the fog.
We did get our clams, and ate them under the pavillion as usual, then took my nephews for a stroll up the beach near where some wind surfers were standing around not surfing. Not sure why they weren't - there was a decent wind, but perhaps not quite enough for them to go out with. Or maybe it wasn't safe with all the fog. Even though the surfers looked disappointed, the boys had fun just running along the beach and throwing rocks into the water.
And horsing around a little bit, too...
Saturday evening we went to see my big "brother", Paul, his wife Amy, and their dog, Kato. Paul and I have been friends since high school and he's become an extention of our family.
In past visits, we've stayed with them, so Lu and Gideon are very familiar with their house... and Kato is a recent addition to their family whom we hadn't met yet, so we weren't sure how the dogs would react to someone new in "their" home.
We didn't have much to worry about, aside from the fact that Kato is barely out of puppyhood and is a typical Australian Shepherd... that is, she is VERY energetic and rambunctious. With Lu being 10 and Gideon being 9, and both rather mellow regardless of their age, they were much more annoyed with the energy level of the whippersnapper than anything.
Sunday morning, we met up with one of my college roommates for breakfast at Sound Bites, where I had the berry pancakes, which had blueberries and cranberries in them. It was a very nice visit, just not long enough. But we all had other plans for the rest of the day.
Paul and Amy met us at the house with Kato, where we again waited for the family to gather. This time, we headed out to Castle Island, which is just south of Boston and is home to Fort Independence.
Everyone learned their lesson from the previous day and bundled up (except Ed, who we somehow only managed to bring one long-sleeved shirt for). Fort Independence was closed, unfortunately, but we were able to traipse around the island until we were all pretty worn out. The boys loved seeing the planes as they came in to land at Logan Airport, and the ships as they docked.
Monday came much too quickly, and we headed back north... but not before making a few stops. First, the mall to go to Lush and get some of the soaps I like. Yeah, I can order online, but it's nice to be able to smell them! While I was in Lush, Ed was making an unplanned stop at Teavana, buying some cannisters of tea. The next stop was Russell Orchard in Ipswich, where we got 15 (yes, 15) bottles of wine, primarily raspberry wine that Ed actually likes, as well as blueberry, black currant, cherry, and dandelion.
Overall, it was a great visit with my family. Hopefully the bunch of us will get together again before another 2 years have passed.
Hope you keep writing in your blog after your trip. ;)
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