Boston 2007

In October of 2007 we went to Boston to watch the Head of the Charles Regatta. What a fabulous trip -- the weather could not have been more beautiful. I was raised there, so getting to walk through Cambridge and watch the scullers was just precious to me.

Now, when I row here in Colorado, there are large pelicans in the lake. We didn't have white pelicans where I grew up, but these guys remind me a lot of swans, only with longer beaks and shorter necks. Remember, I'm going backwards most of the time so my vision isn't the clearest! Anyway, they remind me of the Swan Boats in Boston Garden, and they are not afraid of me in my shell as I drift by them. I remember when my girls were little. Boston used to hold a Duckling Parade, where children would come to Beacon Hill dressed as characters from Robert McCluskey's Make Way for Ducklings. There were lots of ducklings, some Officer Mikes, but that year we were the only ones dressed as a Swan Boat! I had the girls in a double stroller, with foam board swans on each side, and their dad pushing them wearing a tam just like the swan boat driver in the book. After the little parade, tuxedo-clan waiters came out of the Ritz bearing large silver trays with pastries shaped like swans for all the children.

So here I am in Littleton, Colorado, on a lake with pelicans, being reminded of Beacon Hill 1985. Funny how my brain works.