Yesterday’s Adventure

What did I  do with two kids on a hot day while I waited for my Mom’s minor procedure to finish up?   Faulkner Hospital is across the road from the Arnold Arboretum.

M running behind a shrub at the Arnold Arboretum

M  has been telling me that playgrounds have lost their charm; he wants to explore paths and woods.  Mom and I got done with the driving on rt 128 and which lane to be in to get out of the rotary and which exit did we want anyhow? (I only went around 1.5 rotations.  Really.  I wasn’t even dizzy.)  She settled in at the hospital (she packed her suduko book) I handed M the map, and we explored the bonsai, shrubs and oak section.

a bonsai behind a fence a the Arnold Arboretum

The visitor’s center has a large relief map with lights; K’s favorite.

relief map of the ArnoldArboretum

We almost borrowed a back pack with experiments, but we went for lunch first.  I decided to use the map from the visitor’s center instead of my large atlas.  Oops.  Not every road was labeled, we got on the wrong major street, of course, this being New England, only occasional roads are labeled, and none of them are at right angles to each other.  It’s as if they took the signs down for WWII and never put them all back up.

amazing  house we saw while lost

But we did find a deli, and a charming natural foods co-op where I bought organic fig newtons when Mom’s cell phone told me to come get her.  We skirted the Arboretum this time, to avoid getting lost, I had to carry K the last several blocks.

succulents and cacti in a flower box by closed shop

The kids napped in the car then played upstairs with the neighbor kids when we returned, and Mom actually brought us chicken salad for dinner, but I went to bed as soon after dinner as I could drag myself there.

I did swim this morning.