(Musings on our trip to the Bay State- Part III)
By Betty McCreary
We just came out of an insane election time and I hope this did not put a damper on your sharing a Thanksgiving table with family and/or friends. And if you were alone, I hope you treated yourself well and found some things to smile about.
My husband and I listened to the music from Hamilton while we prepared our big meal. Just us this year, but we made our homemade mashed potatoes and I made my special spicy cranberry sauce. While I am nostalgic for the Thanksgivings of years past at my grandma’s table and later my mother’s table, those days can not be recreated. Our holiday celebrations morph a bit each year. I am thankful for getting to spend the holiday with my husband. I am also thankful for calls and texts from family and friends we could not be with.
As I get older I am working on a daily gratitude practice, which simply calls me to find small joys each day and share them with others. This practice has really helped me get past the anger and sadness I felt at the election.
And I am so thankful for the big trip to Massachusetts that we took in July to visit our family members there.
Because of a resurgence of Covid, we tried to find things we could all do together outdoors. The whole group of 7 of us met at the New England Botanical Gardens at Tower Hill, west of Boston, at Boylston, Mass. We ate lunch at the little cafe there. It has an outdoor seating option. Then we hiked around the grounds. It was hot and humid trekking, but was fun being together and sharing the joys of this beautiful outdoor space. First we walked down a hill to a pond. There was a pavilion for sitting and looking for birds and pond critters. Then we continued on through tall trees until we came to several interesting structures and statues. Here is one of them:
Temple In The Woods
Then we headed up hill to the more landscaped part of the gardens.
Saw some plants I was familiar with like this milkweed:
Monarch On Milkweed
And some others that were new to me:
Anyone Know What These Are?
There were a couple more ponds:
Frog On Lily Pad
And some interesting landscape choices:
Plants Planted In A Pattern On A Vertical Wall
The next day we headed to another outdoor spot, minus one of our party. Mirror Lake is on the old grounds of Ft. Devens, north west of Boston. Ft. Devens was an old army base from 1917-1996. Part of it now serves as a training center for the Army reserve and National Guard. A small township has evolved there.
Mirror Lake
We parked and walked down a hill to the entrance station and paid our fee. After staking out a spot for our chairs, we all went swimming. The water was perfect for a hot day. My husband was experiencing a bit of nostalgia at being here. When he was in the Army, he did his Individual Advanced Training (AIT) at Ft. Devens. The 4 months he spent here training was in the winter and so he had not been swimming here before. This is a family friendly area with life guards and boat rentals. One of our group was a regular there this summer, getting his exercise after work. We splashed around and laughed and looked at fish in the clear water.
And then this happened:
On Our Youngest Member’s Finger
A little dragonfly took turns perching on our fingers. Dragonflies can be symbols of change and transformation. I think our family bonds changed a bit and got stronger on this trip. I am thankful for that.
I hope you enjoyed this little personal trip report and maybe will visit some of the places I did. And I hope you find some small joys each day.
For More On The New England Botanical Garden:
(Photos by Betty McCreary)
Natural Musings 