Day Trips Archives - One Guy Outdoors

June 22, 2021

Moment of Kindness

Prologue

Today’s Prompt: Describe a moment of kindness, between you and someone
else — loved one or complete stranger.

But first, I have to play the hits for the fans. When I said this metaphor to someone, they responded, “Are you sure anyone likes you enough to use that metaphor?” I surround myself with such love and compassion. Frankly, finding a moment of kindness will be breeze. To be fair, I thought to say that before them, but wanted to give them the chance at the punchline.

With friends like these, amirite, Groucho? I don’t actually know if it was Groucho, but I’m giving him credit because he is such a comic genius.

Today is Father’s Day. Yesterday, Christine and Aiden discussed getting me a gift. It started when Aiden said that he wanted to go to Wal*Mart to get more YuGiOh cards. Like me, he goes through phases where he is interested in the game. Like her, he periodically goes on cleaning sprees. Sometimes those sprees end with him throwing out his YuGiOh cards. And, so, every few months or so, he ends up rebuilding his collection.

Christine asks him, “Are you going to get your father something for Father’s Day?” He replies, “I don’t know what to get him. What do you want for Father’s Day?” “Nothing.” My standard response when asked. I promise you it isn’t simply for the sake of argument. I genuinely don’t want for anything. Plus, our commercialized society needs to chill. But, as you know, none of that has anything to do with a moment of kindness.

The Adventure

Yesterday (I’m writing this as if it was still Sunday), I went kayaking for over four hours. Today’s plans were to go see The Green Sisters at Stone Cow and then head over to the in laws for a cookout and hopefully more kayaking. I first thought that they started playing at noon and that we might miss them because I chose them to work out as she floated in the pool. Luckily, the show started at 2pm. Unluckily, none of the boys wanted to join us there. Just have to remind myself that their grandfather is a father, too.

As always, The Green Sisters were amazing. We sat in the grass off to the side since they set up outside instead of in the barn. Good choice. The breeze in the shade was perfect and it would have been way too hot in the barn. We stayed for about two hours, long enough for us to have a beverage each and to share one. They also played my favorite song.

This isn’t from that show, but it is a great rendition of the song.

We left because Aiden texted to tell us that everyone was waiting for us to get there for dinner. So, we never made it out on the lake. It took some time to get dinner ready, so we probably could have gone out for an hour or an hour and a half. However, we visited and listened to The Green Sisters again because both her sister and parents were supposed to go with us. Plus, we really just love their music. The rest of the night involved eating dinner and playing games in the yard.

The Prompt (For Real This Time)

Today’s Prompt: Describe a moment of kindness, between you and someone
else — loved one or complete stranger.

I may have told this story before. Maybe even on this page. I was in counseling and the therapist asked me to talk about just this scenario. Tell me about something kind someone did for you in the last week. I thought for a good 5 minutes before I said, “Uhhhh,” and stammering something about how my department head bought me a coffee and I guess that’s pretty cool. Wow, that’s sad, the therapist said, that it took you that long to think of that. I shrugged.

Aside from being unnecessarily judgmental, the comment made me realize. I posted a few sappy Father’s Day posts to Instagram and Facebook. In one of them, I said that humans are designed to forget the negative and accentuate the positive. That’s definitely true in the long run. Otherwise, how do you explain nostalgia for Woodstock ’99? That concert was a dumpster fire (literally) and yet people talk about it as if it changed minds and hearts and ushered in a new era of peace an prosperity.

In the short term, I often struggle to see the good in things. It hasn’t always been this way. I used to be a more optimistic person. I guess that life accomplished its goal of beating me into submission. But, I’m back and better than ever and without a single fuck to give. (Sorry for the PG-13 language.) Even though I can’t specifically name one, I have witnessed many acts of kindness this year. Let’s see if I can narrow it to just one.

Moment of Kindness

Never mind. As I walk around the kitchen (it is now Tuesday instead of imaginary Sunday) and think of the year, I want to talk about the last few weeks. Our English department gives the students an assignment to write a letter of appreciation to a teacher. A few students wrote their letters to me. Some were expected. Several were a surprise. One or two even reminded me the impact that you can have without even knowing how.

I promise that this isn’t a flex in any form or fashion because I truly am not sure that I deserve all of the praise that I received. However, I am thankful for it and the students themselves. I wrote another sappy post about being a teacher and feeling like Dad to many of my students. It feels good to have that feeling validated, even if only momentarily. Even as “school Dad”, you still understand that you only get 4 years with the kids. I mean, social media has allowed us to stay more in touch, which is nice.

So, my moment of kindness is actually about a dozen moments when my kids at school handed me their letters and gifts. I keep saying that this is simultaneously the longest and shortest year ever. Also, in a year that could have been one of my worst, it was actually one of my best. I owe that all to the students teaching me what I loved about teaching.

Epilogue

I thought summer might bring more time to journal and more regular updates to this and the main page. Chris and I planned to record about the new Masters set in MTG for the main page, but first I flaked on it and then the second time was supposed to be today (Sunday, yeah Father’s Day) and we promised if it didn’t happen, we’d never discuss the podcast again. So, I’m not sure what’s happening there. We talked about shifting the focus to retro gaming, which would mean we wouldn’t have to be timely with our topics. Who cares if you talk about Mortal Kombat (the original) now or two months from now? It’s a 25 year old game.

None of that is relevant, of course. Well, some of it is. I’m finishing this entry two days late. However, I plan to catch up today and tomorrow to get “current” with my daily prompts. Who knows what will happen after Thursday as we are traveling to Florida. Maybe I will write the prompts in a notebook to post to the page when we get back in a week. That actually sounds like a good idea. For a week, you will get Florida Man perspective on the page.

June 20, 2021June 20, 2021

Tagline (Literally Perpetually Gucci)

Prologue

What the hell is that tagline? First, some background.

Yesterday I attended my first high school graduation since I left Athol High School. My new school graduated “a small but powerful class” according to our principal. Yeah, they laid it on pretty thick last night. But, I suppose that’s fair. This crew of seniors did have their last year and a half of high school more or less cancelled or “postponed”. Postponed until when, I’m not entirely sure. Honestly, though, that is neither here nor there. I met about 20 of the seniors either by having them in class or meeting them through their siblings or friends.

And, so, like the last graduation I attended, I had a vested interest in this one. Speaking of that last graduation, one of those graduates contacted me last week or the week before because her husband was playing one of the local establishments. We couldn’t make it that performance. However, another popped up for this most recent Thursday. I promised to stop in for that one. I did, we visited for an hour, and it made me feel a bit better about this year’s seniors graduating. As a teacher, you know that you only rent the kids for four years at the most, but it still hurts to lose them when they leave.

So, what’s the point? You must be new here. It often takes me some time to actually get around to the point of a post. It’s either endearing or infuriating depending on your viewpoint and how much time you have to spend here at the page. Okay, from here I can go one of two places. Either explain the tagline or continue to stall. Of course, there’s only one logical choice. Once upon a time…Okay, I kid.

The Prompt

The Prompt (from here): Often, our blogs have taglines. But what if humans did, too?
What would your tagline be?

I enlisted the advice of a trusted associate and they suggested the tagline in the title. I promised to use it without context or explanation, so there you have it.

The Adventure (Part 1)

Finding Motivation: A Play in 3 Acts, Act 1

The day started with catching up on Magic the Gathering quests. I wasn’t able to play last night because I got in late from the graduation and was spent from all of the emotion of the night. While I played, I watched some of the Euro 2020 futbol tournament. Christine came up with the idea to go kayaking. She made an appointment for an end of school year massage, but had a couple of hours before she needed to leave, so she figured we could take that time to go to the lake. Aiden and Quinn went to a friend’s house. Liam hung out at home with the dog. And, I sat on the couch and tried to find the motivation to load my kayak onto the car for our adventure. I honestly have to say that it could have gone either way. I wanted to kayak, but I also wanted to sit on the couch and play MTG and watch the futbol. Which impulse wins? Stay tuned!

The Adventure (Part 2)

*Finding Motivation: A Play in 3 Acts, Act* 2

As you can see, I chose kayaking. Or, did I? *insert spooky cliffhanger music* Maybe this is an old picture. I suppose you can verify that by checking the image properties. How invested are you in proving me a liar? I mean, you know that I will eventually reveal that I ended up kayaking, right? Or, will I? *insert spooky cliffhanger music* I will. I’m usually bad at keeping secrets. Though, I have kept secret where Christine and I are going on our 20th wedding anniversary trip. I slipped earlier and told her the state, but not the actual destination within that state. Maybe I’ll keep you in suspense until the finale.

The Adventure (Part 3)

*Finding Motivation: A Play in 3 Acts, Act* 3

Okay, you win. Or do you? All right, I give up. I can only take a joke so far before I get sick of it. Among other reasons, it’s why I never became a stand up comedian. So, yes, I chose kayaking. I tied it on the roof, pulled out of the driveway, and passed Christine on her way back to the house? Why, I wondered is she driving back home? I figured we would just meet at the lake. Perhaps she had no faith in my follow through. To her credit, she does have 25 years of experience of me flaking on commitments.

The Adventure (Epilogue)

*Finding Motivation: A Play in 3 Acts,* Epilogue

After setting up my kayak, I went to pick up Christine’s from a friend’s house while she talked to those friends. I avoided them again because I’ve been avoiding them for the better part of 6 months now and it would honestly be more awkward to just walk up to them and say, “Hello, fellow humans.” Then again, that is an odd way to start a conversation just in general. Either way, I told Christine it was because she only had like an hour and a half to kayak before her massage appointment. More than a modicum of truth in that, but not the whole truth. Oh well. I enjoyed our time together and got to tell her all about the stories from graduation the night before. Parents and teachers. We just talk constantly about our kids.

The Adventure (Post Credit Scene)

*Finding Motivation: A Play in 3 Acts,* Post Credit Scene

All in all, I spent four plus hours on the lake. Most of it was spent being blown around by the wind and unsuccessfully fishing. However, I deliberately rowed into the far cove to try to fish there and then to my other favorite fishing spots. No fish at any of them, but one of my turtles friend hung out on his favorite branch, allowing me to get a picture. Turtles have great significance for me as my father loved turtles and their symbolism. So, any time I see one, I take a picture. Because, you neve know.

Epilogue

I successfully included the tagline without context or explanation. We made it outside for the better part of the afternoon and early evening. Honestly, I only came home because Christine texted me that she went to Crazy Noodle in Amherst after her appointment and got me Pad Thai. They make the best Pad Thai I’ve ever tasted. Then we watched the new Disney+ movie, Luca as a family. Well, Liam went up to his room to chat with friends, so it was most of the family. I finished out the evening by getting frustrated at the hockey game and then switching over to the watch the Sounders score two unanswered goals and win their game. All in all, today was a great first day of summer. Sure, I have to go in on Monday to finish clean up and such, but then I’m done. And, we’re off to Florida on Wednesday/Thursday. Maybe my tagline should be, “Endless Summer”. Nah, that’s been done.

May 17, 2021May 17, 2021

Memories for Sale

Prologue

What do I mean by “memories for sale”? We will get to that. Before we do, allow me a story. Chris texted me earlier to ask how my trip to the comic book store went. There’s a comic store in Jaffrey right down the street from the school. I visited once in the past to pick up some comics I missed and I like the place. Ever since, I said more than once that I want to visit again. Of course, that requires me to do an inventory of my books. As we all know, given the end of the school year, that is far easier said than done.

I never made it to the comic store. As I wrote on Facebook and reiterated to Chris, it was “effing emotionally draining as eff. I appreciate the advice to treat this like ‘just a job’. I wish I could. I really do.” It started with a potentially suicidal student period 1 and then a verbal altercation during homeroom. Second period saw some of the teachers and students get into trouble with the principal. The rest of the day calmed down for the most part, but some students are getting their vaccine and a few of them were out yesterday. I know severe side effects are rare, but it’s still something that weighs on you. As a result, I defaulted into coast home mode on Friday instead of vising the comic book store.

The Adventure

Today’s adventure comes courtesy of our middle son. He found a kitten online. Somehow (I’m a sucker who is easily persuaded), he got me to agree to drive him to Connecticut to pick up this cat today. I left in the middle of writing this in anticipation of telling you all about our new cat, sharing a picture of said kitten, and saying how she was worth the trip. So, about that. Christine said last night that we were making memories. Well, today, no good memories for sale.

The trip started fine. Unlike our previous trip, we didn’t discuss anything. I wondered if he might ask for some of the DC Comics audiobooks. Instead, he put in his headphones and listened to a Harry Potter audiobook. I hooked up the bluetooth and loaded some Marc Maron podcasts for the ride. We made it as far as an hour into Marc’s Steve Miller interview, halfway to the place, when he said, “She’s not going to sell to me because I’m 14.”

Unsure I heard him correctly, I repeated that back to him. He confirmed that she wasn’t going to sell him the kitten. I swore. He swore. I asked him where he made the deal. He responded, “Craigslist.” I told him that I suspected something like this might happen because Craigslist is infamous for this shit. So, even though we had a bit of an adventure, we have no kitten.

The Journal

Prompt: On a weekend road trip, far away from home, you stumble upon a garage sale in a neighborhood you’re passing through. Astonished, you find an object among the belongings for sale that you recognize. Tell us about it.

We’ve been planning this trip for almost two decades. It used to be a possible family summer trip. Rent an RV, drive across the country, buy plane tickets back home. Visit some national parks along the way. You can deduce that trip never happened. Instead, all three boys live on their own and maybe that’s for the best. It certainly made the plane trip home cheaper.

“Let’s find something to eat.” She says.

I shrug. “You’re driving. You make the stops.”

She pulls off the next exit that advertises a variety of restaurants, gas, and camping. As the sun is going down, and we most likely need gas for “The Beast”, we can kill three birds with one stone. Instead of driving right to a place to eat, she point at a garage sale on the side of the road. I shrug again. She’s driving and is, therefore, the boss. After pulling the car over, we both get out and wander through the garage sale individually. As usual, I don’t find anything of note. Until, I do. Buried in a box of books, I see the proof copy of my collection of short stories, “From Shadows.” These are my memories for sale. How did this get here?

Epilogue

Forgive me for what might be considered navel gazing. It’s just that someone is currently reading the book and giving me some feedback. That always inspires me. Besides, what other object brings with it as many memories as that? Maybe something to do with the kids being younger? Perhaps something from our wedding? Those stories have been a part of my life since before even Christine and the boys. So, while I do apologize for my self indulgence, I come by it honestly. What about you? Do you ever search for memories for sale?

October 12, 2017

Celebrating the Eclipse

Prologue

I wouldn’t say that I’m a Groupon professional, or even a semi-pro. We have used it more than once to enjoy a night out at dinner, or to go to the local Barcade for a birthday celebration, or to pretend to be pirates on a cruise through Cape Cod Bay. I also wouldn’t say that I’m a river kayaking pro, semi-pro, or even a well practiced amateur. However, both of these things came together when I noticed a Groupon for a local river kayak trip and, without thinking, pulled the trigger.

Journal

I have wanted a kayak for at least 15 years now. Anytime we go into a sporting goods store, I wander to look at fishing equipment, camping equipment, sometimes hunting, and the kayak aisle. The last few years, I’ve noticed that our Wal*Mart has been carrying kayaks and I drop not so subtle hints to Christine whenever we are in the store and pass by them. I bought her a paddle board a couple of years ago in the hopes that it might inspire her to get me a kayak so that we could spend time alone as a couple on the water while the boys hung out together on the beach. Heck, they are almost getting old enough to paddle themselves in the canoe. Yes, we have a canoe. More on that in a bit.

I have been on a kayak a few times. My brother in law got one a few years ago for his birthday (I know!) and our friends have a couple that they’ve taken us out with them once or twice. Once, I even got to kayak the disappearing island in Crowninshield, which was awesome! But, I still do not have a kayak of my own.

I did sort of compromise about 5 years ago and bought a canoe because the boys were all little. So, we could take them all out on the canoe together with little to no risk of capsizing. Notice that I did leave open the possibility. We were all in the canoe as a family on Emerald Lake. Liam asked if he could jump out of the canoe to swim. Sure, we responded. Well, he decided that the best course of action was literally standing up to jump out. As you can imagine, that ended up with all of us in the lake, swimming to the shore. Unable to flip myself back into it, I dragged the canoe behind me as I swam. That was one of the first phones that I ruined with water. But, at least my wallet only got wet instead of ending up at the bottom of the lake as it did last summer.

What does all of this have to do with Groupon and the eclipse in August? I already mentioned that, without hesitation, I signed us up for a 2 for 1 deal on a local river kayak trip. That was in April or May. I’m not sure. It was definitely at the end of spring/beginning of summer that I bought the deal. It got added to the calendar in June, then July, and forgotten both times. We lucked out and ended up kidless for three days in July, but didn’t go. Admittedly, we both had to work, but that was only in the morning. I can’t say for certain, but I’m pretty sure that we could have still made it to the trip in the afternoon.

Whatever the case, we didn’t go on those three days. Instead, we did what we usually do and put it off until almost the last possible second. Christine insists that it wasn’t intentional, and I believe her for the most part, but she ended up making the reservation for August 21, 2017. That’s right. The day of the (sing it!) “total eclipse of the sun!” As a result, her parents had to watch the kids. While dropping them off, her father made a joke about it going dark while we were out on the water. I replied, as I always do, “Yep, you can have all our debt.” That got a chuckle and off we went.

During the drive, she admitted to being somewhat nervous because she’s never paddled in any kind of moving water. Neither have I, but I’m the sort to just take things as they come. If we end up swept over a waterfall, well at least it happened during the eclipse! Naturally, everyone was talking about it. One family, who obviously better planned for the occasion, brought their glasses to view. Christine and I sneaked peaks at the sun through clouds, doing exactly what we were told not to do.

Luckily, we didn’t damage our eyesight and we can blame our ignorance on the precedent set by our illustrious leader. After the safety speech and check, as we walked to the bus that was going to take us up river, I noticed that you could view the eclipse in the tinted rear windows of some of the vehicles. I didn’t think to take a picture, partly because I had to leave the phone behind in the car just in case of a tip. Initially, I was going to just say “Eff that”. Then, I realized that I was really saying, “Eff me and my expensive phone.” So, my pictures are only from before even getting in the boat.

As we went down the river and I found myself missing the phone because the views were simply awesome, I thought about getting some sort of waterproof camera for just those adventures. We also talked about maybe doing the trip again during the fall for the foliage, but that might get filed away as something that we discuss and then don’t follow through. For my part, though, I’ve brought it up more than once. So, who knows, maybe we will.

Epilogue

We took the time alone to both remark on the beauty around us and to talk. We didn’t talk about work or money. We didn’t talk about kids, but we did both think that they’d get a kick out of the trip. She did mention how we hadn’t been fighting as much, which is a positive step forward from where we were the past two summers.

Even though this write up comes almost a month later, looking back I see that this trip happened the day after we went to the Heath Fair. It was the last week of summer for us and we were trying to squeeze in as much as possible, it would seem. Also, even though this was more of an adventure than our other trips this year, we still stayed close to home, used the time to communicate and show our love for one another. I would say sometimes, that’s all you need. But, it should be all you need always.

September 11, 2017

Heath Fair

Prologue

Even though summer is winding down and we are all heading back to school, we still have some adventures planned through at least the autumn and hopefully we can keep the momentum going into winter this year. Quinn and I, for example, took advantage of a nice Saturday last week to attend a local fair. Not the craziest of adventures, but it was fun and worth the trip.

Journal

Quinn joined 4H this year. He is our animal lover. He is the kid who will point out and announce every dog that we pass, ask the owner to pet the dog, and then proudly proclaim to all listening that he just pet the dog. He has mentioned more than one that when he gets older, he’s going to buy a house and buy a million puppies to live with him. He even changed the lyrics to Lady Gaga’s “Million Reasons” song to “Million Puppies”.

It makes sense. He was partially raised by Christine’s cousin, who moved to the small town of Warwick on a huge plot of land to build and maintain a farm. He helped feed and raise pigs and cows while in her care. She also has two dogs and a family of barn/house cats that he loves very much and mentions often. He is an animal lover to his core.

He even loves extinct animals. For a couple of years when he was younger, he told us that he wanted to be a paleontologist when he grew up. He got a costume for Christmas one year along with an excavating kit, which was basically just a plaster cast with some fossilized poop and a bone or two. But, he put on that costume and “dug” for his treasures. Living, dead, it doesn’t matter. He loves them all.

It should come as no surprise that we used animals to convince him to join 4H. We knew that he would have a great time. However, he is often reserved when it comes to social situations. Usually, we let him have his space. In this case, though, we knew that 4H would be a perfect fit and not only because of the animals. He also enjoys crafts, gardening, reading and watching shows about nature, and being outdoors. But, we needed a hook and the animals provided it.

The reason for this lengthy interlude about 4H is that it relates to our attendance at the fair. His 4H leader suggested that he go to a fair or two over the summer to get an idea of what they involved. We usually attend a larger fair at the end of the summer (coming up this weekend or next, actually), but saw that the 100th anniversary of the Heath Fair was being celebrated this year, so we made plans to attend.

He was psyched about going. His first fair was a couple of years ago and he went with just me and Christine. It was the Franklin County Fair. He had fried dough with strawberry jam topping and loved it so much that he wanted it for his birthday cake the next year. He saw pigs race, giggling as they ran across the track and into the pool. He still talks about getting to pick a pig during the race and that his pig won one of the races. It was a great experience and he has been excited about fairs ever since. Our second time was as a family and it was a trip to the Big E. Even with Big in the title, I don’t think that it emphasizes just how huge this particular fair is. Just for starters, there are 5 separate buildings that house food, drink, and other tourist events from each of the 5 New England states. There are also a ton of carnival rides and games. If you have never been and you want to get an idea of the scope, check out the web page. Last year, there was a tent with the Budweiser Clydesdale horses. It is massive.

I wasn’t sure how he’d react to a smaller fair after having experienced two of the largest in the area, if not the state. He remained enthusiastic, though. He kept talking about seeing the bunnies. Not only did we use animals to lure him in, but those animals were bunnies. Yes, we may just be the most diabolical parents. But, we are effective.

Christine and I were both going to go with him on Saturday, but something interfered with those plans and she had to work on Sunday, so that’s how it ended up being just the two of us. I’ve got to say, the price was right. 8 dollars for me, he was free, and a buck to park. Once in the fair, he did get to see his bunnies, and chickens, and cows. There were also horses, but I don’t think they were show horses.

After wandering through the show animals, we went to the other side of the fairgrounds. There was an amphitheater and I wanted to see what was happening. They were doing oxen pulls. On the way, I noticed that they were also registering cars for a classic car show. I really wanted to see the cars, but he wasn’t interested, so I figured we could come back. He did want to see the oxen pull teams, so we watched that for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Then, he got hungry, so we went in search of food. He said that he wanted sausage, but then only ate one bite of that. He did eat a basket of french fries by himself over two sittings. We wandered into the bunny area again, checked out the arts and crafts, watched a parade that he called the best he’s ever seen, watched a firefighter land what I assume was their new toy (a drone), and finished the day with french fries and more crafts.

I said in my last entry that this summer has been less about exploring places that we haven’t been and more about connecting with ourselves and each other. While this particular fair was one that we hadn’t visited before, so much so that I had to input it into the GPS and still wasn’t exactly sure where I was or where I was going, it was still familiar territory for us due to our past experiences with fairs.

We have a massive trip planned for next summer to Florida and maybe more on the east coast. Perhaps this summer was just a refueling mission to prepare us for that massive undertaking. Granted, Christine has been to Disney enough times to start saying out loud that she’s sick of it and I’ve been twice, so it’s not a completely new trip. However, the boys have only been once and Quinn was very little during our last trip, so he’s never been. It promises to be a fun trip, but it will be one of those vacations that we will have to take another vacation when it is over.

So, this year was about going to the Cape to find ourselves. It was about visiting fairs to remind ourselves. It was a summer just for us. The last few years have been stressful and chaotic. I’m not going to tempt fate by saying that will change, but if this summer is any indication, we are turning a corner. The boys have played well together, even though Quinn is left behind sometimes by the bigger boys. Christine is rested and seemed to conquered some of her demons. I’ve renewed my commitment to being a better father and husband.

Epilogue

You read about these life changing summers in books and watch them on movies and TV shows all the time so much that they are cliche. Also, I wonder if you can be so self aware as to realize that you are in the middle of one when it is happening. However, if the cliche is based in reality and you really can recognize when the universe is realigning more to your liking, then this has definitely been one of those summers.

And so, it seems, that life most often changes not in huge and immediately recognizable ways. Though, those happen, too. I’ve experienced maybe more than my share of earth shattering events such as births, deaths, marriages, and divorces. They’ve scarred and healed me accordingly. I know that physical scars don’t every fully heal and the same might be true about emotional ones, too. However, if they do heal, even if not fully, our summer together as a family has done much to accelerate that healing.