Flip-Flops, Maddi's, O'Connor's, Siam 9 the Same Week

Update April 14 to April 20


-- Flip Flops Has Flip-Flopped to The Local Tavern

Mahi Mahi Tacos 

What's in a name change? At the Flip Flops restaurant on Main Street in Holden, it amounts to the bakery being removed, the walls covered with barn board (newly hewn) and a few minor menu changes. The tables and chairs have changed too, but not for the better. The food and drinks at The Local Tavern are still fine, so that's good. The Mahi Mahi tacos were just what I wanted, and to my surprise, I ate all three this time. Generally, I take one home.

Patti had the Mediterranean wrap, which was more than she could eat, so at least we had some leftovers from her order. Looking out the window, I was wondering when the Blue Plate across the street would finally be knocked down. It's been closed for a while, and I'm not sure what's coming in to take its place, but the fencing is up, and the heavy equipment has been sitting in the yard for weeks. They could knock it down and clean it out in an afternoon. We'll see.

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READ my Blog "The Books of Richard F Wright" (Books, Bookstores, Writing)     

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-- Maddi's on Water Street is a Fun Place

My old office at 65 Water Street

I saw this restaurant featured on the Phantom Gourmet and realized it's actually been here for a while; we just haven't made it a point to check it out. We finally stopped in on this Water Street Bistro, Maddi's, on Monday. The restaurant has an eclectic menu and offers a variety of its own specialty drinks. However, when I ordered my usual Johnnie Walker Red on the Rocks, they reported they only had Johnnie Walker Black (always more expensive). What can you do? You can't switch to a three-dollar beer. So, you suck it in and get the more expensive black, which unfortunately my taste buds can't distinguish from the Red. Life is such.

Patti had the Citrus Cooler 'Tini, which was very cool. I got the Flat Iron Steak Press, and she got a wild interpretation of a BLT. I'm not sure what was in it, but it looked great. Across the street, out the window, I could see the building I worked in when I was the Director of Marketing for InstallX and SecureX America. I built their first websites and had a lot of fun doing it.

-- Olive and Lucy Made their usual Tuesday Visit

Lucy In a Creative Mood

The girls visited us as usual but, no visit is ever "usual," with these two. They bring a fresh interest in new things each week. Lucy hadn't painted for months and all of a sudden when Patti suggested it, she was very enthusiastic. I put painting smock on Lucy and prepped her paints. She proceeded to entertain herself for quite a while. When she was done with paints, she moved to markers and made some exciting artwork. Mostly she takes these gems home to show her Father but occasionally presents one or two to us. Olive demonstrated her increasing capacity to roll over. She gets stuck on her own forearm, but she is determined to keep rolling the best she can. 

-- Lunch with Ray at O'Connors

I met with Ray for lunch, and we spent a lot of time discussing retirement, which is a condition we share now. He's been at it a little longer than me, and his wife is also retired. In my case, Patti is only semi-retired. We also talked about the trip he and Nia are taking to Greece for the month of May. That sounds exciting. Nia is Greek, and so they have plans to backtrack some family ties when they get there. Having lived in neighboring Turkey for two years I can understand the attraction to the exotic travels that Greece provides. It's the core of history that still affects our modern world today. I have no desire to go back, but I'm glad I got a chance to travel there years ago. By the way, lunch at O'Connor's was such a large order that I have a lot of leftovers. Usually, the lunch portion doesn't overwhelm, but this time it surely did.

 -- Relatives visit for Easter and so we started with some Thai food at Siam 9

Patti and Mary waiting for dumplings at Siam 9

I'll report on Easter in next week's blog entry. But, the night before, when Mary and Ira arrived from Connecticut, we went to Siam 9 in Holden. It's a small place, but it is genuinely a stop we like to make when in the mood for something different. The dumplings are outstanding. When we stopped in, we saw neighbors at nearby tables, and that's not surprising. There is a vast collection of food choices nearby, and it's less necessary to ride into the city to find what you are looking for.

And speaking of "looking" for something, be advised you have to turn in at the hardware store and drive along the side of the building to find Siam 9. It's definitely worth seeking out, but it's a bit out of sight of the road. See you there.


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READING UPDATE: I have a natural fascination with historical figures with my surname. The Wright Brothers, Author Richard Wright, Frank Lloyd Wright, etc. My interest in these namesakes is what got me started reading about them, but over the many years, I have developed a growing interest in them beyond the flimsy connection of the same name.

This biography, Wilbur and Orville by Fred Howard may be the one and only book you need to read if you only have time or interest to commit to one book. The author takes you through their childhood, their early interests in mechanical things up and through their eventual success in introducing the world to sustained, powered, controlled flight. This was no small task. Their personal genius was really the result of an unrelenting determination to seek answers where others had not begun to question.

If you want to read it, let me know. 

The Wonder of Baby Olive

UPDATE - August 12, to August 18, 2018

This was a week everyone has been looking forward to for months. Patti's daughter, Corinne, was about to deliver her second child, Olive, this week. On Sunday, Patti and I spent time shopping for the things every modern baby must have: Too Much.

We shopped a lot of places and found someplace called Backstage, which is a discount corner inside Macy's. It was new to us and seemed to have a lot of things that suddenly seemed of great value to us with a new granddaughter on the way. We also visited Kohls where we found even more things that we must have for Olive. As for me, the lunch at Bertucci's was worth all the wandering around shopping. Among things purchased were sheets designed to fit the combo Playpen/Changing Station that Patti had ordered online. That was due to arrive any day now, so I'm looking forward to finding out how hard it will be to assemble it and not have too many leftover parts.

-- Lucky August 13th! Welcome, Olive!

The plan was for Corrine to arrive at the hospital Monday morning, get induced and have the baby

Nana and Baby Olive

arrive within 24 to 36 hours. She arrived Monday morning and Olive was born Monday afternoon! There was no reason, apparently, in her mind to wait any longer. Olive Helen Parras arrived and we got to visit and meet with Mom, Dad, and the baby. Even older sister, Lucy, got to meet Olive and welcome her.

Corinne has decided to take two or three months off from work to stay home and care for Olive. Nana and I plan to continue taking care of Lucy on Tuesday's and helping out whenever we can with Olive. My first challenge is the Playpen assembly. The box has arrived and now I have to assemble it. We'll see.

-- Home Delivery on Wednesday

Papa was recruited to pick up Baby Olive and mother at the hospital on Wednesday, including

Lucy welcomes Olive 

installing the new car seat. The pick up was smooth and the arrival in Northbridge was routine. The household, once everyone got inside, was a bit hectic. Lucy wanted to "hold" the baby, teach the baby how to "crawl," and to help change diapers. She's taking being a big sister very seriously.

-- Thursday at O'Connors

My friend Ray met me for lunch at O'Connors, which has been a traditional pastime of ours for years. It's a time to step away from the routines of our daily lives and catch up. Ray spends most of the summer on the Cape, so when he breezes through town, we get together. It's been years since I could rely on the Quiche at O'Connors. For some reason, they dropped it off the menu. So, now I get the crab cakes. Ray continues to eat things that have a lot of leaves and assorted greens. It's an homage to good health I think, but maybe not.

-- Golf at Holden Hills on Friday

Patti and I got an early tee time at Holden Hills Country Club, to stay ahead of the recent heat wave. We were paired up with two senior fellows, who it turned out we didn't know but had a lot of connections with. Mike's wife was a nurse at UMass and it turns out they knew each other. Dan, it turns out, used to work at WTAG, where my Dad worked for 33 years before he retired. So the local connections were pretty thick that morning. My golfing was not as thick, as I couldn't break 90.

Reading Update: I enjoyed the biography of Carl Sagan, a Life in the Cosmos, by William Poundstone as I view Sagan as one of the gurus of our time pointing to the real reality of where life came from and not the fake reality of false prophets and other jabberwocky that serves as intellectual gibberish for the ill-informed. He wasn't afraid to be out there challenging the conventional thinking about extraterrestrials and the notion of how the universe was formed outside of religious constraints. His early life was very traditional in the sense of seeking a research approach to scientific exploration but it was his move into popular science through television and the force of his personality that intrigues me more. The book confirms my every instinct that I would have enjoyed knowing and learning from Carl Sagan. We could all benefit still.