I see a…

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Today, Becky, Catherine and I went into Boston and met up with Mark to visit the [grand opening of the ICA’s new facility on the waterfront](http://www.icaboston.org/about/news/grand-opening/).

ppp|ICA|ppp

Unfortunately, the literature on the website failed to mention that you needed (free) tickets to get in to the museum. It *did* say that you needed tickets to get into some of the theater performances, but not the museum itself. In any case, when we arrived, we were told that it would be about an hour and forty-five minute wait to get tickets and get in to the museum itself, as they were admitting people in controlled shifts so as to not overcrowd the museum. If we had known that we would have to wait in line for tickets, we might have arrived a bit earlier, but at that point, we decided not to go in to the museum.

We did, however, take a nice stroll around the outside of the museum. It is quite a cool looking building, and it has a phenomenal view of the waterfront and the Boston skyline. We will have to come back at some point to actually tour the musem; they have free admission on Thursdays after 5, and they’re also having a free event on the 30th of this month.

We *did* get to see *some* modern art this morning, on our way to church. It was actually a set of orange traffic cones, but they were arranged around a *chair* in the middle of the road, so it looked modern art-ish:

ppp|Cones and Chair|ppp

Not quite as funky as [The Divine Gas](http://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/exhibit/aoshima/), though (which we *could* see through the front entrance of the ICA).

Check out [all of the photos from our trip to the ICA](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2006/ica/).

Mr. Biggs

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Happy Birthday to [Mr. Biggs](http://thebiggspicture.org/):

ppp|Jeremy|ppp

Good luck with [the mystery](http://thebiggspicture.org/2006/12/07/the-mystery-will-be-revealed/)! I hope that all works out for you.

U

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Toward the End of Time by John Updike

John Updike has written upwards of 50 books in his lifetime. The Beverly Public Library had nearly all of them on the shelf. What were the chances that I’d choose one that took place in my back yard?

Toward the End of time does take place here on the North Shore of Boston, but not in 2006; rather, in the year 2020. To me that date is one of two interesting themes in the novel. 2020 is no ordinary year. The US is just coming out of a nuclearly devastating war with China. Due to its distance from China, the Northeast is not heavily damaged. So life continues as it had pre-war; mostly.

It was interesting to read Updike’s take on Massachusetts in the future. There were many references to local sites and ‘current’ events. The “Big Dig” even makes an appearance! Since 2020 isn’t that far into the future the predictions were somewhat credible and encouraged my own thoughts about what the next 15 years may hold.

The main story surrounds an aging, retired gentleman (Ben Turnbull) and explores his feelings about how his life is changing. Updike is somewhat ambiguous about whether or not aging is a negative (or positive) thing. Turnbull is reevaluating relationships and activities, beliefs, politics and love. As the title suggests, Turnbull is moving towards the end of time, but maybe not as quickly as he thinks.

I found this to be a very thought provoking novel. I’m curious, though, seeing as Updike has written so many works; did I make a good selection? Have you read other works by Updike? Have you read this one? Are there others that you would recommend? I’d love to know!

A weekend with friends

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Becky, Catherine and I drove out to Lee, Massachusetts this weekend to spend some time with friends. Bob and Leah came up from New Jersey with their son Lucas, and [Jeremy](http://thebiggspicture.org/) came down from New Hampshire. We picked the location because it happened to be roughly equidistant from all three of our homes…. about two and a half hours for each of us.

We stayed at the [Black Swan Inn](http://book.bestwestern.com/bestwestern/productInfo.do?propertyCode=22036#null), did some shopping at the [Prime Outlets](http://www.primeoutlets.com/cntrdefault.asp?cntrid=1031) in Lee, visited the [Norman Rockwell Museum](http://www.nrm.org/) and walked the picturesque main street in Stockbridge, had some delicious pizza at Four Brothers Pizza Inn of Great Barrington, and just generally had a good time hanging out and catching up. The seven of us squeezed into Jeremy’s hotel room to watch [The Pink Panther](http://imdb.com/title/tt0383216/) on our laptop, which worked surprisingly well considering the 14 inch screen. 🙂

We had a great time getting to see our friends and take in a small slice of the Berkshires. If you’d like to see some photos of our weekend, head over [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2006/stockbridge/)!

Crying Over Spilt Breastmilk

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fff|ppp|Breastmilk|ppp|fff

For six months the door of our freezer has been filled with jars of frozen breastmilk. They’ve been stacked up there since Catherine was born and was unable to breastfeed right away. It is long since expired so I spent some time yesterday thawing it and pouring it down the drain.

It was somewhat of a spiritual experience for me. I cycled through several emotions before I was able to come to terms with what I was actually feeling.

As the first ounces of milk hit the bottom of the sink I was thinking about waste. What a waste of good milk. Why didn’t I try to donate it to sick kids in Africa? If Catherine didn’t need it couldn’t someone else benefit from it? I also worried- what a waste of time! I spent 15-20 minutes, 8 times a day for two weeks, pumping milk with my rented Symphony breastpump– and she barely even ate any of those hundreds of ounces. I felt like it was alot of work for a product that went unused. Catherine would take in some of the milk in her feeding tube, and then a bottle, but it wasn’t all that much. By the time she was able to start nursing, at at 8 days old, we already had a freezer full of milk!

While I was pumping in those first few weeks I had envisioned bringing that milk into the hospital daily for the baby to drink and then pumping more for the next day. I don’t know how I could have thought that she would eat near as much as I brought her! I blame post-partum exhaustion for the lapse in rational thinking!

Once Catherine came home I was breastfeeing exclusively. Whenever she needed to eat, I was there. There was still no need to use the milk that I had hoarded. If I needed (or wanted) to be away from her I had the more portable Harmony pump to get through a feeding or two.

What, then, was the point of all that work? Obviously not the product; Catherine consumed maybe 10% of the milk that I pumped for her. The benefit from all the work came through the process.

Throughout my pregnancy I had planned to breastfeed. No one ever assumes that they’ll be in a position where that isn’t possible. In order to (eventually) take Catherine home and nurse her I HAD to pump as if I was feeding a baby. The milk was important to deliver to Catherine, but even more so was the practice of pumping. It ‘tricked’ my body into thinking that I was nursing and kept my milk supply up. In other words, I had to do some hard work then to glean benefits now. How many times in life, in any situation, do those words ring true?

This experience reminds me that no matter what I’m doing, whether I think it is a waste of time or energy, may have an amazing outcome somewhere down the road. It would have been so easy to stop pumping and switch the baby onto formula. I’m so glad to now have the experience of nursing her-which I would have lost had I made a different decision.

As I finished dumping the last of the milk I was struck by one final revelation. How blessed am I -are we- that Catherine is home with us and healthy? She might have had to stay in the hospital longer and have needed that milk. She might have had trouble learning to nurse and I’d still be pumping for her now! As sad as I was to “waste” that milk I was overwhelmed with joy for the baby girl that didn’t need it. Learn More Here

Weekend Walks

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This weekend, we had some pretty nice weather, so we headed out for a couple of walks.

On Friday, we took a walk down to Beverly’s Dane Street Beach:

ppp|Swinging!|ppp

Catherine (and Mom and Dad) enjoyed the swinging, the ocean, and the pleasant weather. 🙂 More Dane Street pics can be found [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2006/walk_at_dane_street_beach/).

On Sunday, we drove out to [Appleton Farms](http://www.thetrustees.org/pages/249_appleton_farms.cfm) in Ipswich. It was the first visit for any of us, and we had a great time. There were trails, old farmhouses, fields and meadows, and cows!

ppp|A Cow!|ppp

More Appleton Farms pics can be found [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2006/walk_at_appleton_farms/).

Thanksgave

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I hope that you all enjoyed that Turkey Day [picture of Catherine](http://prwdot.org/2006/11/22/gobble-gobble/)… I know that I sure did. 🙂

We spent Thanksgiving morning out in Townsend, decorating gingerbread houses and celebrating Corey’s birthday.

ppp|Becky's House

Becky’s House

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ppp|Corey's Gift

Corey opens his gift from us…

|ppp

In the afternoon, we headed down to Boston for Thanksgiving dinner (and another Corey birthday celebration) with Tom and Gabi and the boys. My personal favorite dish was the baked, seasoned squash. 🙂

See pics of [Thanksgiving in Townsend](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/thanksgiving_in_townsend/) and [Thanksgiving in Boston](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/thanksgiving_in_boston/). (The Boston pics require family access – let us know if you need it.)

Two C’s

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Happy Belated Birthday, [Corey](http://corey.prwdot.org/)! Corey’s birthday was on Saturday, and we were so busy having fun with him that we didn’t have time to post wishes. 🙂

Also, happy six month birthday to Catherine! It’s hard to believe that half a year has already gone by with Catherine in our home.

ppp|Corey and Catherine

Corey and Catherine

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Explosion

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For those who are following the story of the [explosion in Danvers](http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/11/22/explosion_rocks_danvers_several_hurt_none_seriously/), our Beverly apartment is about two miles away from the site, as the crow flies. My workplace in Peabody, [CBD](http://www.christianbook.com/), is about three miles away. No one in the Wood household felt or heard the explosion at 2:45 this morning, probably because we live in the basement, or possibly because, as new parents, our bodies needed the extra sleep much more than they needed to wake up and find out what had happened. Still, I’m pretty amazed that we didn’t notice it, since there are reports from people as far north as New Hampshire who felt the explosion.

In any case, stay tuned to [Boston.com](http://boston.com/) for more details.