Tag Archives: Visiting Family

May22

A flight of New England Fancy – Rest and Relaxation in Medway

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It’s been a while since I’ve been back to Massachusetts… I think it was for Dillon and Liz’s wedding, wasn’t it? That’s sounding right… though I frankly can’t believe that was only six months ago. These last few months have felt like forever, and it was high time that I got back East. The rock was calling, family and friends beckoned, and I hadn’t seen my Grandma in far, far too long…


Tuesday through Thursday, 19-Apr-2022 to 21-Apr-2022


There’s some turmoil in the United States these days over working remotely.

Some people are for it, some people are against it… Mostly employees being for it, and executives being against it, from what I can tell…

I’ve never really had a horse in the race, to be frank. I’m operations support, so I don’t have the option to work remotely… at least not regularly. I work with people on the production floor, and I get pulled away from my computer to deal with physical problems at least a few times a day.

At the beginning of COVID I worked from home every other day… and that was glorious – I got to catch up on work, and could stay a bit calmer than normal on the days that I wasn’t in the office. It did make my days on-site a bit more crazy, and I had to make a point to go for more walks when I stayed home, but… yeah, it was nice.


The chance to spend a whole week working remotely was excellent, and I hugely appreciate the freedom to do that every so often. I definitely understand the draw… especially after spending three days working out of the dining room in Medway.

It was glorious – I started the week with nearly a full hundred to-do items on my list (yep, that over-booked at work), and I ended with maybe a dozen left. Granted, I had coworkers shouldering some of the burden while I was gone, and I didn’t want to think about all the “fun” that the production folks were saving up for my return, but… you know what? That’s fine. It’s all fine. I can live with that.


I spent time catching up with my Mom and Stepdad. I took walks, enjoyed the garden, and went to dinner with friends who were great enough to drive out from Boston to visit.

It was a good few days.






Of interesting note… I never noticed this before, but Medway has a memorial to the “Grand Army of the Republic”, listed as 1861 through 1961. Which is interesting… since the G.A.R. was an organization for civil war veterans founded in 1866, and then dissolved in 1956.

So I’m not saying this is definitely Star Wars, but… pretty sure it’s Star Wars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Army_of_the_Republic

May19

A flight of New England Fancy – Easter in New York

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It’s been a while since I’ve been back to Massachusetts… I think it was for Dillon and Liz’s wedding, wasn’t it? That’s sounding right… though I frankly can’t believe that was only six months ago. These last few months have felt like forever, and it was high time that I got back East. The rock was calling, family and friends beckoned, and I hadn’t seen my Grandma in far, far too long…

Saturday to Monday, 16-Apr-2022 through 18-Apr-2022

Man… how long has it been since I’ve been in New York to visit my Grandma?

I’d been to Upstate New York back in October of 2021, for Dillon’s bachelor party… but before then? I think it must have been 2017, maybe? Five years… that can’t be right…

It’s been along time, we’ll leave it at that.

I met my Dad and Stepmom there – they’d actually driven out from Arizona (!!!) to visit for a week or two, so just like the Seder earlier in the day, we were getting the whole family together for a long-overdue visit. It’d been ages, and I was absolutely looking forward to a good bit of time catching up with everyone!

And… we spent a good bit of time catching up!

There’s not really too much to go over, as a blog post, for this one. We spent time together, we talked, we told stories, and we took the time that we had as a very appreciated gift. We didn’t rush, we cooked great meals, and I wrote down as many stories as I could get from everyone. We helped out around the house a bit, took walks, played with the cats, and enjoyed the calm and quiet.

It was an excellent few days, and even the unexpected snowstorm on the drive home somehow felt… right.



And, as a quick addition… did I mention that we cooked a lot? I think I poached more eggs that weekend than I have in the last year – having a few experts on hand definitely helped me out, and I’m pretty sure I leveled up my Hollandaise sauce skillz at least a few points…

And, along with the excellent cooking… New recipes to try out!

Dec11

A wedding weekend! Part 4 – Visiting with Family, and Flying home

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Wednesday, 03-Nov-2021 through Monday, 08-Nov-2021


My friends Dillon and Liz are getting married!!! It’s been on the books for a while now, so it’s kind of strange to think that it’s finally happening… but this is the weekend! This is the day!

The bachelor party was a hit, the suit was tailored, and anything that I needed had already been bought. The photobook was made, and I’d checked in with Dillon and Liz to make sure there wasn’t anything else left that I could help with. My speech was mostly written, and I was as ready as I’d ever be.

All that was left was to show up, and help out in any way that I could!



Sunday, 08-Nov-2021

(Actually starting on Saturday evening)

((the 7th))

(((Of November, 2021)))


After getting home, I spent some time chatting, catching up, and filling my Mom and Stepdad in about how the wedding had gone… but the first evening back home with them after the wedding was mostly just spent saying hi, and then heading to bed. It’d been a busy few days, and I’ll freely admit that I got home a bit later than I’d planned.

Like… five hours later that I’d planned.


The next day, though, we had more than enough time to chat and catch up on stories from everyone’s lives – We drove out to visit our family out in Central Mass!

Long drives are excellent for catching up, if I do say so myself, and this one was no exception. Two hours, give or take, gave me enough time to hear all about how various projects were going… and for me to fill them in on all the excellent details from the wedding earlier in the weekend. It’s something that I do miss, from living back in Massachusetts… just having long tracts of time together gives more of a chance to really talk about the details of peoples, move than just the quick 1-hour summary of the last week or three.

The drive was lovely, is what I’m getting at.


After we arrived was no less lovely, of course. In keeping with Jewish Tradition ™ we had a huge buffet of takeout Chinese food. With no offence to Oregonian takeout, there’s just something about the Chinese takeout from back home that really hits the spot. It was excellent, delicious, and beautifully reminiscent of countless family dinners. We talked, we ate, and I got to meet my newest cousin!



There’s not much else to say, here… It’s sort of like going for a hike, visiting with family. It’s excellent in the moment, and always leaves you feeling great, but when you think back to recall the specific details… you find that they don’t quite matter as much as the feeling that you got from those details.


The sunset, however, is something I can share a bit more easily….