94. Learning a Skill

Week 94.  4/18/17

This is a bit different. Paul volunteered to teach the surveying merit badge to Boy Scouts at Camp Squanto during this school vacation week. It's been a while since he's done this sort of thing so I helped him prepare by playing the part of the scout and letting him teach me.

We started by discussing how surveying fits into the building trades, how it uses science, technology, engineering and math, safety considerations and so forth.

I learned a lot, actually. I think Paul learned a lot from me about the kinds of mistakes that newbys can make. We measured and turned 5 angles around the blueberry bushes. 

The last step is the calculation part. I wondered how the boys would do with the trigonometry, since some will be middle school age.

Paul did well and the boys completed the project. Some were a bit young, and there were more boys than he expected - 13. Also he had no assistant. I think it's quite an accomplishment.

93. Another Leg of the Charles Journey

Week 93  4/12/17

We have a warmish early spring day and the rivers are high. It's just the time to continue our journey toward completing the Charles River in stages. This time we put in at Corcoran Dam on the Needham/Dover town line and took out 4.5 miles later at Needham Street, Great Plain Ave in Dedham.

Parts of the river were very swift, so we wore our flotation the whole way.  We saw quite a few mansions which are not visible or barely visible from the road.

 Every bridge has a mileage marker like this one. 30.2 miles to Boston Harbor from here.

We trespassed on someone's riverside resting area for our lunch.

92. New (to us) Museum Find

Week 92  4/6/17

I had read in the Boston Globe about an exhibit of contemporary cut paper art at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, New Hampshire. This rainy day seemed like the right time to go.

This sculpture is just outside the entrance.

The museum building is very appealing. It is large enough to hold a large variety of permanent pieces and some special exhibits.

The Currier owns a very large collection of art glass. Here are a couple. They had hundreds of paperweights on display from a range of time periods and styles.

This installation kept our attention for a long time. The forms moved, sending shadows up, down and around the room.

The cut paper exhibition was in three rooms. We saw a film and all sorts of cut paper art in 2-D and 3D. Most of them required an extreme amount of patience and precision to execute.

This page from the New York Times has been rearranged with every letter, space and punctuation mark grouped and alphebetizes. The photographs were cut apart pixel by pixel and rearranged according to the spectrum.

Before we left Manchester, Paul wanted to try the diner we have seen so often on television prior to the New Hampshire primary - the Red Arrow. They were very friendly and made a big deal about our being first-time visitors, but I don't think I'll go back. The food was extremely greasy and salty. Oh well.

91. Clear, Blue Water - Part 2

Week 91  3/26/17 

Our week in Belize continues. Andy and I went on an eco-adventure one day while the guys fished. From the San Pedro airport, we flew to mainland Belize and landed at a small air strip on a sugar plantation in the Orange Walk district. I sat in the front seat near where the copilot kept tabs on his checklist. This was one of several small flights for me on this trip. On one of them there was no co-pilot so a passenger was put in that seat!

Then we traveled south with a guide for 25 miles on the New River where we saw large and small crocodiles, iguanas, monkeys and many birds. 

Here is a plantation where white and brown sugar, molasses and rum are produced. 

Next door to the rum factory is a rehabilitation clinic for alcoholics. It is very large and looks nice from the outside.

This spider monkey was waiting for us, and the banana we fed him. I'm sure the same monkey must show up every day at tour-time.

There is a large Mennonite population here.

We arrived at the site of the Lamanai archaeological site where we hiked through the jungle and explored the ruins. Most of the site is not yet excavated, but the mounds covering large pyramids and temples can be seen. The guide told us that this site had been owned by Coca Cola which planned to grow citrus here. The Belizian government tried to buy it back, but were not able to complete the sale until they were aided by the Massachusetts Audubon Society!!

Some small local groups ran gift shops near the boat launch. There is also a museum housing artifacts from the site. In one or two cases, replicas were installed at the original sites so the real artifacts could be better protected in the museum.

The High Temple has some crumbly areas that were cordoned off, but we were told of a safe route to the top.

This is the view from quite near the top of the pyramid.

Pyramids are pointy! When I got to the top where the space was very small, I was hit by vertigo. I took a quick picture of the horizon without looking, then pointed my camera down to the survey marker and immediately descended. On the larger stone stairs, I sat down, step-by-step.

There were several groups of howler monkeys.

This is the Jaguar Temple. Most of it is still underground. If exposed, it would be taller than the High Temple.

The guide served us a homemade traditional meal of chicken, rice, vegetables and plantains. And of course rum.

Here is a crocodile.

The airport was pretty small and basic.

On the Becky/Paul fishing day, I planned to just watch, since I didn't have a license. But Cinoeh convinced me to fish anyway. Here he is catching our bait.

I had no experience, but Cinoeh was a good teacher. After explaining the use of the reel and the technique - boy there is a lot to remember - he told Paul to just let me get the feel of it. That worked and I caught a few snapper. This is a red snapper.

Between the three of us, we caught 36 snapper,  mostly by Paul.

But the biggest fish was caught by me - a brown snapper, about 2 pounds. We need to wear lots of sun protective gear here near the equator. We succeeded in not getting bad sunburns.

Here we traveled through the canal at the north end of Belize. The mangroves on the left are in Mexico and the mangroves on the right are in Belize.

We stopped at this National Park headquarters on the way back to the lodge. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site mainly because of the barrier reef which intersects the shore and runs close to the land for about a kilometer.

While Cinoeh prepared our lunch, we went into the park museum. We had a rainstorm at this time - the only rain on the whole trip. But it cleared up before we ate. This ranger showed us around and joined us for lunch later.

Most of the snapper went home with Cinoeh at the end of the day, for his family Sunday feast. But he also cooked us a huge lunch using our snapper cooked with some extremely nice Mexican spices plus vegetables and fruit he brought from El Pescador. 

 We waved goodbye to the ranger's four companions.

Passing through the San Pedro canal in the afternoon, we caught a view of the daily after-school swim.

On Charlie and Andy's turn having a couple's fishing day, Paul and I began with a kayak trip through the mangroves and lagoons behind the lodge.

In the afternoon, we joined a snorkeling trip, first at Mexico Rocks, then at Tres Cocos.
The guide at Mexico Rocks handed me a live sea urchin. We saw a sea turtle up close, had thousands of colorful fish swimming around us on all sides, large grouper, many corals, nurse sharks etc. I loved seeing conch walking around on the bottom.

On the way back we were served individual coconut tarts in pie crust. The final touch was a splash of rum.

At our last dinner, it was Paul and Charlie's turn to receive their pins for the fish they caught. Pins are given for bonefish, tarpon and permit - one pin per species no matter how many you catch. They are really quite beautiful. Here are Paul's.

Here is our farewell photo. I think this group will make other trips in the future.