Author: Lowell

Over the course of our married life, Pam and I have been relatively frequent visitors to the movie theater. We’re not movie snobs, but we are fairly selective when it comes to Hollywood productions and we don’t shy away from watching “obscure” or independent films when they catch our eye. L’s arrival has, of course, kept us away from the theater, so when we want to watch a movie, it involves renting a movie online or in-store.

I’ve become somewhat of a pessimist when it comes to movies. Even after being fairly picky in the selection process, some movies make you regret that you took the time to watch them. Others amount to little more than an agreeable means of passing the time. Only a few leave enough of a positive impression on you for you to recommend them to friends. I’ve learned to keep my expectations low. What you want from a movie is a memorable experience, but only a few ever deliver.

Well, Pam and I lucked out on a movie this weekend. We were looking for something to do on Saturday evening, so we went to Blockbuster. As happens fairly often these days, we walked around the entire store looking at all the newest releases and, having finished the walk, were left wondering if there was anything that had caught our attention enough bother renting. With the we’re-here-so-we-may-as-well-get-one attitude, we decided to rent Away From Her. It’s a Canadian-made movie about a late-middle-aged couple living through the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

I don’t know if I’ve ever been as emotionally impacted by a movie as I was with this one. (I’m not sure if it’s okay for a man to endorse a movie for this reason, but I’ll do it anyway: I may have cried more than Pam did.) Few things are as genuinely good and meaningful as long-lasting, intimate relationships between human beings. And only a few things are as genuinely evil as the things that bring those relationships to an end. This movie will remain with me for a long time.

L has really enjoyed spending time with his aunt I.

Today we decided to do some hiking. We drove to Chester and hiked into the woods to see some old bridges. The bridges were built in the 1830s and were built without the use of any mortar. All of the stones in the bridges were handcut. They are pretty impressive structures, towering 70 to 80 ft above the river.

While Canadians are celebrating Thanksgiving, Americans observe Columbus Day. In what is becoming a bit of a Columbus Day tradition, we are again hosting family from Calgary. Yesterday, we took in King Richard’s Faire. This is basically an excuse to spend a lot of money in the company of people dressed in Robin-Hood-era costumes. We had fun and will remember one of the jugglers for a long time; he had us laughing till the tears were flowing.

Today, we drove to Gloucester to see some whales.

After we enjoyed the whales, we did some sightseeing in the area. Below you see Pam and L standing in the garden of a replica of a medieval castle. The last picture was taken in Rockport, MA.

We decided to take advantage of the last few days before the start of classes by spending a little bit of time in the great outdoors. We’d never been on a hike with L before, so we thought we should give it a try–after all, if he’s going to be living with us for the next 2 decades, he’s going to have to learn to enjoy the great outdoors at some point. We decided to hike up Monument Mountain in western Massachusetts. It was a short, aggressive hike with some rewarding vistas at the summit. L was all smiles till about halfway down the mountain when he fell asleep. After the hike, we drove to Beartown State Forest for supper. We used our recently acquired camping irons–thanks Mom–to make some camping-style pizzas.

On the way home, we saw this humerous sign.

L is learning new things every day. He had some help getting into this position, but he is becoming increasingly mobile. My guess is that our house will have to be baby-proofed in, say, 2 weeks.

While in Winnipeg, L was able to use a high chair that we were borrowing from family. We didn’t have one in Massachusetts, so when we arrived back in Massachusetts, it was quite the adventure trying to feed L. Enough of an adventure, in fact, that we went and bought a high chair straightaway. Here is L in his new chair.

We’re back in Massachusetts. We traveled with some friends this time, so the trip didn’t seem quite so long. We made really good time the first day, making it all the way through Chicago, but it wasn’t quite as uneventful as one might like. It rained nearly the whole day. Just as it was turning dark, somewhere close to the Illinois border, we had a near accident. Traffic slowed unexpectedly on the freeway and I nearly rear-ended the vehicle in front of me. Fortunately, nobody ran into us from behind. The party immediately beside us wasn’t so lucky. Both Pam and the friends traveling with us witnessed the collision.

The next day we made it to Niagara Falls where we spent the better part of two days. One of the friends we traveled with has written some software for Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours. The company provided us with various complementary tickets for area activities as well as free accommodations for two nights. I had the pleasure of riding some of the rapids beneath the falls on one of the Jet Boats. We waited in line–for a very long time–to see the falls from a cave behind the falls. We had a great time at the butterfly conservatory, and we took the cable car over the big whirlpool beneath the falls. We even bought some wine from a local winery.

Having finished our sightseeing around Niagara, we made the rest of the trip back to Massachusetts. The rest of the trip was uneventful, perhaps too uneventful; we were held up at the border for two hours. Needless to say, I don’t recommend crossing the border at Buffalo.

Well, our summer in Manitoba has come to an end, and tomorrow we head back to Massachusetts. As usual, the summer wasn’t long enough. At least I survived my first stint at teaching and I was able to scratch my builder’s itch. This week I was finally able to finish the project I started in our backyard. I cut and fitted the plastic inserts, made and fastened the last of the hardware onto the gates, and wrestled the heavy, concrete-laden posts one more time, hauling them away to the landfill. Ironically, the feature of our backyard that got us started on this project, the rotten deck, is still there. The summer just wasn’t long enough. I guess I already have next summer’s project.