Excursions with Rem

School is now in full swing and Craig and the girls leave the house each day with the morning gun blast from the Constitution; Craig walking across the Navy Yard and Miren and Lise walking toward Bunker Hill Monument. Fabulous September days accompany Rem and me as we seek to fill the hours before Craig joins us for lunch or we meet the girls on their walk home from school. Mornings find us in the park building sand castles and sand cakes, searching for books and graphic novels (Rem loves these) at our neighborhood library or taking carefree walks along one of the nearby piers.

We are often more adventuresome and join the bustling masses in and around the city. These outings seem both  more relaxed and more hurried than our excursions with the entire family. I submit fully to my four year-old's whims and abilities and enjoy the running commentary of our every move.

The walk to North Station passes slowly as Rem explores the familiar route with an exaggerated freshness. He pauses under the bridge to shout, his voice amplified over the drone of cars above. I coax him on. He picks dandelions in Paul Revere Point Park making detailed wishes punctuated by flamboyant blowing. A quick run down the slide in the playground and he is off to the locks. Rem searches for trash in the Charles River and asks a thousand questions about the mechanisms of the locks that separated the Charles from the harbor.  He wonders aloud why I like the sun and he likes the rain and then we hold hands and jump over every crack along the walkway over the locks.

Rem zips through North Station rushing ahead to the stairs and the in-bound arrow before asking indulgently if we are taking the Green line T (we usually do). He leans against one of the columns, careful to stay away from the tracks. Trains noisily pass over our heads and behind us before one stops in front of us. The black of the tunnels does not dissuade Rem from sitting backwards and staring out of the window on the uncrowded T. Squealing as we enter each station and the underground world lights up briefly Rem relishes each step of our adventure.

Last week  we exited outside on Huntington Avenue for our first visit to the Museum of Fine Arts. Rem stepped off the train asking for the scavenger hunt that we prepared for his museum visit. We drew pictures of all of the things Rem thought we might encounter in the galleries and he was eager to get started. The two of us spent most of our time in the well-organized, beautiful spaces of the Art of the Americas wing. Rem loved the carousel figures and the musical instruments while I tried to linger with the John Singleton Copley and the Homer Winslow paintings. Our family is so entrenched in the Revolutionary history of Boston that Rem pointed Paul Revere and Warren Prescott like he might in photos of relatives.

Rem reached his two hour limit on schedule (after finding everything on his scavenger hunt list) and we headed to the Shapiro Family Courtyard for a quick snack before our trek home. After watching Rem's awe and delight in the over sized Chihuly icicle tower that glimmers in the sunlight, I was sorry that we hadn't visited sooner when a visiting Chihuly exhibit was on display. Because it was just the two of us we could leave after the short visit feeling fulfilled and uplifted. And I had the return trip home to look forward to.

Kiss Today Good-bye, the Sweetness and the Sorrow

 

We chose the breezy, quiet sands of Good Harbor to officially close out summer.  The girls resisted, plunging into the lacy edge of the ocean until, blue-lipped and covered in goose bumps they swaddled themselves in sweat shirts and towels, laughing and shivering. The first full week of school began today and we bid good-bye to a long, carefree summer and stepped back into the routine of family life.

The Deserted Village

Miren and I share an attraction to cemeteries whose intrigue pulls us, mesmerized, to these silent communities of stones and sculptures. We linger among the dead, drawn to the summations of lives given in chiseled dates and quotes, together filling in details born only of our imaginations. The Boston cemeteries along the Freedom Trail have rewarded us with their stark rows of dark headstones so well-maintained that they seem like reproductions. The names roll from our mouths with the pleasant after taste of candy when we say "Granary Burial Ground" or "Copp's Hill" before walking through the gates and seeking the skull motifs, the nameless mothers and the early American dates. We step away from the crowds standing around the grave sites of Paul Revere, Samuel Adams and the like to the more obscure Bostonians of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Yesterday, Miren and I took the family to the highly touted Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. The experience did not disappoint. Mt. Auburn is the country's first landscape or garden cemetery. Inspired by Pere LeChaise near (and now in) Paris and realized out of the Universalist and Unitarian movements at the turn of the 19th century that celebrated a loving God and the natural world, Mt. Auburn changed the face of cemeteries. Led by the ideas and direction of Jacob Bigelow who sought to create an environment where the dead could be honored and the bereaved inspired, Mt. Auburn turned to the horticultural arts to provide such an atmosphere. All of this is explained in the audio tour provided by the cemetery that seeks to preserve while continuing to serve as an active burial ground.

The 175 acres of rolling hills (seven of them), a small lake and wide variety of mature trees (among them a beech planted by the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII on a visit in 1861) offers a picturesque setting for the many ornate granite sculptures as well as for the simple markers scattered along the paths and roads that wind their way thoughout this oasis away from the urban world just beyond the gates. Mt. Auburn began as a place open to the public and it became a popular place for reflective recreation drawing people to its serene grounds long before death. The cemetery led a nationwide movement toward rural, garden cemeteries and also claims to be the basis for the development of the public park.

In our short time in New England we have come to know the region as a place that celebrates itself and its people unlike any other place we have been. And it is no different in death. Large memorials and life-sized sculptures celebrate influential figures while monuments such as the civil war memorial recognize the many people whose sacrifices and daily toil made significant, if nameless, contributions.

Mt. Auburn offers a little of everything for cemetery aficionados and their families. Narrow paths wind away from the paved roads into secluded family plots that feel as intimate and remote as the mountain cemeteries in the Smokies. A lone hitching post recalls images of carriages where cars now drive. A celebrated iron gate, once commonly used to encircle family plots reminds us that even features of cemeteries grow in and out of fashion. The Washington tower rises from the cemetery's highest peak, Mt. Auburn itself, to provide, from the city of the dead, views of the vibrant city of Boston stretching beyond Cambridge and Harvard Stadium .

Even the dead accommodate. Literary lovers can seek and find the final resting places of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell and his wife, Amy, and Bernard Malamud. Art devotees might pay respects to Homer Winslow, Charles Dana Gibson and the architect Charles Bulfinch. Charles Sumner, Colonel Robert G. Shaw and Henry Cabot Lodge should satisfy those seeking storied political figures. Julie Ward Howe, Isabella Gardner and Mary Baker Eddy are among the notable women settled into the rolling hills.

The audio tour directs you to many of its popular inhabitants and to others like the Francis family, drawing attention to the four young children of a couple buried in a few short years. The high mortality rate of children in the 19th century is revealed in other similar plots and beneath the lambs and angels scattered about. Contrastingly, sheaves of granite wheat lie atop family elders, suggesting a long, full life ready for harvest.

We pulled out of the cemetery gates and listened as Miren planned a return trip. Our conversation turned to life and death and our own impending mortality (perhaps explaining why Lise does not share this interest in cemeteries). We briefly acknowledged the anchor-less ship that we now sailed, landing us in Boston, no longer tied to Asheville and so far from our Louisiana origins as Miren worked out the details of her funeral.

Craig drove in silence toward Lowell, an old mill town and the National Historical Park that would unfold the story of the industrial movement there (a short-lived bright spot followed by a long history of darkness) while Rem mimicked the voice of the GPS as she guided us to our next stop.

Sailing

The days, although sunny and warm, have been dry and the house stays cool with the harbor breezes wafting through. Glancing back over that sentence makes me smile. I am my father's daughter, obvious in the words I write, always waxing on about the weather, the humidity, the wind's direction. We are all children of parents with our combination of genes and string of nurturing history that may not define us but certainly contributes to the shaping of the people we become.
This summer seems to celebrate the paternal parentage of my children. Craig moves in and out of the house during the day often for a family lunch or a brief hello after a meeting next door. The children follow him back to the office, returning with mail or lingering through a meeting. They have always been fascinated with his work. But it is Craig's absence during the day that highlights the pieces of him left behind.

Lise begins her sailing classes next week but her obsession began weeks ago when she received confirmation of her place in the camp. She found, in constructing a model sailboat, a way to assuage her eagerness for the camp to begin. Lise is Craig's daughter in the way she loves to put things together, to understand how and why pieces and parts work in unison. She seems to have learned from him the need to extract every available morsel from an interest in order to savor and elongate all associated experiences.

Rem moves through each day with such energy and exuberance that I sometimes grow exhausted from watching him. I imagine Craig to have exhibited similar displays as a child especially when similar bursts of passionate enthusiasm escape from his middle-aged self (so much more now than a year ago). Rem's overwhelming and complete adoration of his father draws groans from his sisters and even I get tired of sitting through Rem's declarations of love for Craig. But watching Rem concentrate on his latest Lego project (lately involving forts and fortresses for Red Coats) and then needing to share his excitement on completion ignites a desire for my own ardent declarations of love for father and son.

Miren, in a distinctly feminine way, (as she will want me to emphasize) physically resembles Craig much more than the other two (Lise, of course, being a mini-me and Rem a mix). The two of them started running in the evenings so that Miren will be in shape for soccer. They create a lovely picture, heading across the yard, the lines of their bodies mirroring each other in posture and stride. And after, sweating and patting each other on the back for a good run, their crinkled blue eyes dance in unison above happy smiles.

I enjoy seeking Craig and finding him in our children. I see myself in them, too, sometimes regrettably, but also joyously. My mother, eager to share her love for the written word, pressed a book into my hand long before I started school. She read Dickens aloud on summer evenings in the den while her children listened, limbs sprawled across furniture or along stretches of thick, brown carpet. We sat huddled around the fireplace during an odd winter spell while Mom spun Shakespeare dramas on the record player. I am my mother's daughter. A book, forever pressed into my hand, one work exchanged for another. And my children, their mother's children as they fill idle afternoons but mostly long nights turning pages. Reluctant to relinquish the day or leave a chapter unfinished, they read long past the clock's passing to tomorrow. An assortment of books sit scattered about the house: a Suzanne Collins series, young adult fiction from the library, Steinbeck, Chopin, Hemingway, E.B. White.

Surviving the Heat and Each Other

The Yard continues to fill with tourists each day but the groups grow more haggard as the summer wears on. Red-faced families vie for the imagined relief of shade under the horse chestnut,oak and maple trees in front of the house. Kids collapse on the grass while parents fan their faces with museum brochures before they douse themselves with the water they haven't consumed. A woman fainted today and the ambulance came and took her away to a cooler, more comfortable place. Some of the crowd that gathered looked more than a little disappointed that they hadn't fainted, too, and then coaxed their children into another run through the Constitution Museum for some cool exhibits.

Boston temperatures have reached one hundred degrees and beyond over the last couple of days keeping us close to home. We've experienced two brown outs and reacted with a bit of country bumpkin excitement until the house grew hotter. Cooling stations opened around the city and the area pools extended their hours. The homeless are getting sunscreen and water and the elderly are getting house calls. While the city implements its heat-wave measures we have established our own. Mainly, we complain often and venture out little while there is daylight (drawing straws when the dog needs a quick romp). I periodically extol the virtues of the suffering silent and offer simple remedies such as cold showers and a change of clothes to the heat-stricken.

Rem drags his toys near one of the air conditioning units and the rest of us lie about turning pages slowly in books so as not to raise our body temperatures by even a minuscule amount. I enforce a strict "no touching" rule when it comes to sitting on furniture (to avoid the sweat beads that form where the kids' feet or legs are touching and thus dodge the arguments about who is making who miserable).

Meals now fall into the self-service category. Those willing to exert themselves for food can take whatever they find. The microwave is open to use. The oven is off-limits. Long periods in front of the open refrigerator or freezer are overlooked.

We perk up a little when the sun goes down and the breeze turns from hair-dryer hot to palatable and step outside for a little fresh air. Our evening walks have grown shorter. The city continues to twinkle invitingly across the harbor; the artificial lights currently more welcoming than the blazing sun.

The neighbors gathered around the flagpole the other night. Rem and his friend helped pull down the flag under Ranger Dan's watchful eye and Craig and I received concerned inquiries as to how we were coping with the heat.

"We grew up in South Louisiana," Craig replied. "This is nothing."

"Good," one of the neighbors returned with a smirk. "Our winters, though, are wicked brutal."

Busy Days in the Navy Yard

Rem rushes out each evening that we are home to wait for the Constitution's evening colors demonstration and the firing of the saluting battery and the chance to help take down the flag near the house. Among the patient and indulging park service workers is Ranger Dan (pictured here).

Rem had the chance to ride around the navy yard in style - courtesy of this Korean War era jeep - complete with great views of the harbor and the city.

Rem hangs out on the Friendship, a replica of an 18th century merchant ship that sails periodically through the year, this time to provide training for the Constitution's crew. Otherwise, the Friendship serves as a museum in Salem.

We enjoyed the hands-on experience on the ship. Rem took a turn at the ship's wheel before we went below deck to explore. The crew, National Park workers and volunteers, energetically explained all facets of the working ship and its historical significance.

Sometimes Rem is just an angry pirate!

(costume courtesy of his Granny Catherine)

Refreshment

Just around the corner from the scale house in the Navy Yard, near the foot of one of the many piers that stretch like fingers into the harbor sits an innocuous summer savior: a fountain. Residents, like bugs to a porch light, cluster around these gems dotting the city to savor water's magical salve on a scorching summer day. Young mothers, their momentarily abandoned shoes and strollers just out of reach, bend to grasp the hands of unsteady babies be-decked in the bold prints of swimsuits, some of the fuzzy heads sporting matching head bands or sun hats. They walk in small circles, avoiding the squealing toddlers as they run happily through the cool spouts of water, splashing everyone with delight. Parents expecting only to watch the water dance, find themselves rolling up pant legs or gathering skirts into their hands so that they, too can wade.

Older children may or may not wear swimsuits and take no time to ponder what it will feel like to walk home in wet jeans or dripping cotton t-shirts. They sit in the deepest water they can find or stretch their legs out behind them, walking on their hands like bottom feeders. Some of the fountains don't have much standing water and the kids take their place under the spouts as if they were at a mass public shower where sitting was mandatory.

Although I have seen the arcs of water and the gatherings on Cross Street and Commercial Avenue, my kids like to run down to the fountain close to home at the end of a hot day of outings. Still wet and chilled, they hope to enjoy the relative coolness of the house (the large, open spaces of this early nineteenth century home are hard to air-condition on these really hot days) deep into the evening.

While Rem swam as if in a luxury swimming pool Miren and Lise talked about our favorite swimming holes in the mountains of North Carolina. They have not done much reminiscing or pining for the only home they knew for so long. Boston bewitches them with the continued unfolding of treasures (whether a store called H&M or a fifty-two storied sky walk) and its infinite depth. And both girls are still basking in the adolescent joys of a room of one's own.

We remembered the afternoons blueberry picking in Graveyard Fields. Typically unaccustomed in the mountains to the open sky above we watched in awe as clouds and showers blew past. The afternoons always ended in the wonderfully frigid waters of the deep pool down the trail from the berry bushes. I described the easy hike along Big Creek in the Smokies to the trout pool, made cooler by the surrounding trees and rising slopes, nestled as it was in the bottoms of the mountains. Miren and Lise recalled the surprising warmth of Lake James as we swam around our canoe in coves near the edge of the lake, large motor boats and jet skis darting about in the distance. "Cataloochee Creek" and "Jacob's Fork"s rolled off our tongues without pause, releasing a rush of Appalachian waters from our lips .

No tears. No longing. Just happy thoughts of summers past.

Patriots

Our first 4th of July in a city that perpetually celebrates the birth of our nation and history continues to unfold around us. Yesterday, Craig and the kids climbed the steps to the top of the Bunker Hill Monument and we sought to understand the role of our neighborhood in the revolutionary war through the exhibits in the adjacent museum. Craig sang the corresponding School House Rock song to link everything together for the kids and whether he succeeded or not, we all got a kick out of his performance.



We left the house this morning and walked the short length of pier one to honor the celebrated elder in American history as she took her annual turn about the harbor. Next year the USS Constitution will mark the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 and her first battle by sailing under her own power. But, even with assistance, Old Ironsides dominated the harbor, her masts proudly raised, as she followed a fireboat that spewed water like a floating fountain and filled the wide berth that the gunned Coast Guard boats, the harbor police and the park service fleet provided her for an outing to Castle Island and back.

An even larger crowd gathered in the steamy, sun-drenched afternoon, for the frigate's return to port. She paused before the Coast Guard Unit, equally festive under an arc of colored flags, and sent off a seventeen gun salute to the delight of the crowds along the piers and the boaters in the water (most headed in a line toward the locks and then on up the Charles River for the Boston Pops and fireworks later in the evening). People even left the refreshing waters of the pool complex across the harbor and gathered along the fence to watch the Constitution. In no time her naval crew, in period uniforms, the ribbons on their hats waving in the wind, had her home, this time with her bow pointing out.

Rem provided a running commentary for our enjoyment as well as the enjoyment of the fifty people closest to us that included actual observations about the ship such as the guns and the vast quantities of rope that he saw. He also spun elaborate tales of escapades, both past and future ones, highlighting his service on board.

Miren and Lise, both having slept through the morning's activities, complained about the heat and the sun's glare until the ship glided in front of them. Even they, difficult as they are to impress, smiled at the imposing presence of Old Ironsides and waited until she was fully back in port before one called the other stupid and we walked with the crowds back toward our house. Rem and Lise have just run out of the house, having already learned to time the evening gun blast so that they can watch and maybe help with taking down the colors on this, our first 4th of July in Boston.