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Two Trips with Little Pause Between
Jul. 6th, 2019 08:48 pmJust got back from the second of two trips that were close enough together that I didn't get any time to write in between.
Two weekends ago, we went to visit Julie's parents to attend a memorial service for Julie's grandmother, who passed away last year. While of course I'd wish for a happier occasion, it was very nice to see family. Julie's sister's family was there, too, and Erica was very excited to see her cousin. (Who definitely seems to be a good influence on her, in terms of little Eris seeing the benefits of the big kid life.)
Last week, we went to Sandy Island Camp with my family. It was a particularly uneventful week for me at Sandy. Didn't get in the water at all. Didn't even go down to the beach to read. But I did get plenty of time with Erica on the playground, and I did manage to get in some reading when she was in the kids' morning program (she's old enough for the youngest group now) or having some time with grandparents. Enjoyed the side-trips to the lakeside towns (especially having a relaxing afternoon at Beveridge taproom in Wolfeboro) and got in some reading. I read:
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire - A monomaniacal alchemist attempts to incarnate the ultimate power and then the premise gets fifteen levels more convoluted. I enjoyed this novel, but it sure is hard to sum up in a sentence.
Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology by Valentino Braitenberg - This is a really strange and interesting book. The first half explains basic neuropsychology in terms of basic control theory, using thought exercises about imaginary vehicles with motors and sensors in different configurations. The second half briefly summarizes how the first half relates to the current state of neurobiology knowledge. (Since the book was written in the 1980s, I'm now really curious to see if there's something that gives an updated summary of the same material.)
Fall by Neal Stephenson - My yearly thousand-page Neal Stephenson book. Enjoyed it well enough, certainly would say that people who read all the Neal Stephenson books shouldn't avoid it. But it mostly made me want to reread Cryptonomicon.
After we got back to town, we had a really nice brunch with my parents at Peregrine, the new restaurant by the owners of Juliet.
Played some cribbage, too.
The only bad part of the trip was realizing I'd left the diaper bag on the boat on the way home. Was the usual packing mishap of getting distracted watching the kid and then both people thinking the other had it. But apparently that's been collected and will be reunited with us... eventually. Possibly couriered by someone departing for Boston tomorrow.
Two weekends ago, we went to visit Julie's parents to attend a memorial service for Julie's grandmother, who passed away last year. While of course I'd wish for a happier occasion, it was very nice to see family. Julie's sister's family was there, too, and Erica was very excited to see her cousin. (Who definitely seems to be a good influence on her, in terms of little Eris seeing the benefits of the big kid life.)
Last week, we went to Sandy Island Camp with my family. It was a particularly uneventful week for me at Sandy. Didn't get in the water at all. Didn't even go down to the beach to read. But I did get plenty of time with Erica on the playground, and I did manage to get in some reading when she was in the kids' morning program (she's old enough for the youngest group now) or having some time with grandparents. Enjoyed the side-trips to the lakeside towns (especially having a relaxing afternoon at Beveridge taproom in Wolfeboro) and got in some reading. I read:
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire - A monomaniacal alchemist attempts to incarnate the ultimate power and then the premise gets fifteen levels more convoluted. I enjoyed this novel, but it sure is hard to sum up in a sentence.
Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology by Valentino Braitenberg - This is a really strange and interesting book. The first half explains basic neuropsychology in terms of basic control theory, using thought exercises about imaginary vehicles with motors and sensors in different configurations. The second half briefly summarizes how the first half relates to the current state of neurobiology knowledge. (Since the book was written in the 1980s, I'm now really curious to see if there's something that gives an updated summary of the same material.)
Fall by Neal Stephenson - My yearly thousand-page Neal Stephenson book. Enjoyed it well enough, certainly would say that people who read all the Neal Stephenson books shouldn't avoid it. But it mostly made me want to reread Cryptonomicon.
After we got back to town, we had a really nice brunch with my parents at Peregrine, the new restaurant by the owners of Juliet.
Played some cribbage, too.
The only bad part of the trip was realizing I'd left the diaper bag on the boat on the way home. Was the usual packing mishap of getting distracted watching the kid and then both people thinking the other had it. But apparently that's been collected and will be reunited with us... eventually. Possibly couriered by someone departing for Boston tomorrow.
