Update - October 21 – October 27
-- Paige Visits to Help with Baby Olive
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| Paige Wright |
My niece Paige has no college classes on Tuesday, so she asked if she could come over to the house each Tuesday to help care for Lucy and Olive. Patti and I agreed that it was a good idea and have encouraged her to come any time she wants. This Tuesday, Paige stopped by and immediately began helping with feeding, bathing, and rocking Olive to sleep. She also spent some quality time with Lucy including some effort guiding Lucy with coloring within the lines.
As Patti has spent over 40 years in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at UMass Memorial Hospital, she has the ideal technique for instructing anyone who wants to know how to care for an infant. In a mere moment, she can make any fussing or squirming by Olive turn into smiles and gurgles. Changing diapers, preparing formula for the bottle, and proper cradling for feeding are made easy for all. Paige has a light college schedule right now, so she has the time to visit and spend time with Lucy and Baby Olive. I know she enjoys it and it's always helpful to have additional hands around when one baby wants to sleep and the other wants to be outside trying out the bicycle.
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The Books of Richard F Wright" (Books, Bookstores, Writing)
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-- A Visit to Gale Library Book Cellar Yields New Treasures
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| Anything Named Olive Must be Great |
Lucy has a large appetite for books, as I do, so I try to add one or more to her collection each week. At the public library bookshop, I can buy children’s books for 50 cents apiece; sometimes less. So, I keep my eye open for anything I think Lucy will like. This trip found two books; one was the Bunny Rabbit’s Assistant and the other was Olive and the Embarrassing Gift. I could not resist a book with “Olive” in the title. I read it and decided it was a fun story with a good life lesson, so I picked it up.
I also bought several other books for my own reading: Bridge of Spies by Giles Whittell; The Last Stand by Nathaniel Philbrick; Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky; The New Russians by Hedrick Smith; The Yom Kippur War, edited by Moshe Davis; and Jerusalem by Karen Armstrong. My total investment, including the children’s books, was $12.
-- Learning About the Wachusett Reservoir
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| Patti and Old Stone Church |
Patti had Friday off, so we decided to make a run to BJ’s Wholesale Club where we could find things in boxes and bags big enough for someone running a restaurant, or for our household lately. Why buy 10 rolls of paper towels when you can buy 24? I guess I’m still low on the learning curve as far as the value in bulk buying for a mostly retired couple.
As part of the run to the wholesale club, we included a stop for some further leaf-peeping and photo-taking. We stopped at the Wachusett Reservoir near the Old Stone Church to get some shots. I also took the time to read about the newly completed irrigation and run-off system installed around the reservoir to cut down on pollutants draining off into the reservoir. The whole concept and design were impressive and I’m glad to see that it was done in a manner that allows it to be instructional for visitors to better understand how the reservoir is being protected.
-- Lunch in Shrewsbury at Burton’s Grill and Bar
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| Lunch at Burton's |
I was in the mood for fish tacos and Patti was hungry but didn’t know what she wanted. So, Burton’s Grill and Bar was a good choice. They have a big menu, so I knew Patti would find something she liked. It turned out to be the Mediterranean Chicken Risotto and I got the “street” tacos. Very good. She got some exotic drink and I got a glass of wine. We agreed we liked the service, the atmosphere, and the food, so it was a good visit. Burton's is in the complex of residences, businesses and retail services that took over space where Spag's used to be. It's sad that Spag's is gone, but I'm happy to see the area upgraded this way.
-- Bonus Visit from Olive and Lucy on the Weekend
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| Lucy and Paige; Artists |
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| Olive Helen Perras |
Corinne had an appointment for Saturday afternoon, so, even though Patti had to work, I agreed to take both granddaughters for the afternoon. Paige volunteered to help, so she came over in the afternoon. It was a fun day for everyone. When Baby Olive arrived, she was at the peak of interest in being fed. So, I took charge of giving her a bottle feeding while simultaneously pulling out the potty seat for Lucy to take into the privacy of the guest bathroom. I literally had my hands full; first with a squirming, hungry infant, and second with a squirming, desperate, four-year-old looking for some relief.
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| Paige, Lucy, Lilly, Marna, Olive |
Things settled down when Paige arrived so that between us we could keep everyone occupied. Lucy really enjoyed the attention she got from Paige when it was time to draw. Together, they worked at the table creating various bits of artwork to share with everyone.
When Paige was dropped off, her sister Lily and her Mother, Marna, stopped in for a while to visit with Olive. Lucy requested that everyone pose for a photo - with her in the middle (naturally). So the photo is included here so that she knows her Papa will comply with reasonable requests.
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Reading Update: I picked up "A Safe Haven" by Allis and Ronal Radosh quite a while back at Yes Books, a used bookshop, in Portland, Maine, but only just got around to reading it. I have always been struck by the fact Harry Truman was President when I was born and as the years have gone by I have come to realize he was actually a very good President. This book deals with the issue of how Truman coped with the pressures on him, the country, and the world as the Jews tried to establish a homeland in what has become Israel.
Despite a lot of promises made by many over the years, it was to finally land on Truman's desk to make the final push that allowed Israel to join the family of nations. The book reads like a fast-paced novel with intrigue, deception, bitter conflict, and recriminations that if it wasn't all true would seem like preposterous myth-making. It's no myth, Truman made the choices at the time that went against political expediency and international trauma, to finally help Jews around the world find a "safe haven."
