Summah

I always appreciate when Bostonians show good humor regarding the local accent! And they do indeed say "shark" in just this way. Dean and I headed in to Boston this week to catch the exhibit at the aquarium, and weren't disappointed.We've touched and fed our share of rays, but this was our first opportunity to pet a shark. They were pretty sand-papery rough and firm -- solid. Nothing like the mushy wet-velvet feel of the rays. And even though you know that of course they would only put harmless ones in a touch-tank, it still takes some bravery and a leap of faith to stick your hand into a pile of sharks....Heading back home around noon, we ran right in to this major league thunderstorm (that's the Federal Reserve Bank straight ahead); first time I've ever had to pull off the highway because of torrential downpours (this was snapped about 3 minutes before the raindrops started to fall and just before we merged onto the highway). I have a tendency to do the "soldier on" thing -- just keep going carefully to get through the bad patch -- but was proud of myself for showing the good sense to pull over and wait it out.

Clear skies yesterday gave us all the opportunity for a short hike at Purgatory Chasm, where you look at the path ahead of you and wonder if you are capable of doing it and then find that indeed you can do it and then some. It only looks impossible.
And you can't hike at Purgatory without playing a round of mini-golf afterwards at West End Creamery, where you go specifically for the ice cream celebration when it's all done. It's a gorgeous course -- well-maintained and beautifully landscaped. Dean and Ken each had two holes-in-one, and I had one but kind of two (the second one was on a hole that's up a hill -- first try my ball rolled right back down to me and second time it jumped right in -- yes, I scored that as a '2', but still). Okay, so I did win, actually -- I mention it mainly because it has been such a very long time since I felt on my game and even longer since I've won. 44 on a par 40. Ahhhh.

Gearing up for a week ahead of work, and camp for Dean, and the ongoing challenge of clearing out and cleaning up the house. The lack of creativity is taking a toll even on my ability to think creatively, but I'll be back in the saddle before you know it.

Hey -- did everyone at your house love Pirates of the Caribbean (movie OR ride?). Be sure to rent Captain Blood, which is the movie that catapulted Errol Flynn to fame AND formed the basis for what we know about pirates, and Pirates. It was all right there. (And incidentally, the name sounds worse than it is -- his last name just happened to be 'Blood.')