We've Moved!

We've moved from Blogspot to a a new address:

http://web.mac.com/brianbouton

Come check us out at our new location as we say goodbye to Windows for good! :)

The Boutons Meet Lincoln Cole Walker Part II

All together now...AWWWWW!!!!

The Boutons Meet Lincoln Cole Walker

The most exciting part of our recent return to Florida had to be our first meeting with Lincoln Walker and his parents, Mark and Summer. I told Erin that it wouldn't be real that we were an aunt and uncle until we actually held the baby. Wow, I was right because now he is definitely and most wonderfully real. He's just beautiful, and Erin and I were in awe. And no...this doesn't mean we're starting a family this year. Thanks for asking. :)

You may not know this about me, but I don't handle a lot of infants. I don't really hang out with a lot of folks that have them around and it's not like in the normal course of life that I've ever been tasked with holding one. It's just amazing how small and complex they are. Apart from the whole miracle of life aspect which is pretty obvious to anyone holding an infant, they really are just fascinating. It's just beyond me that anything so short-lived is capable of so much wonder and majesty.

So having only been born about two weeks before our first meeting, it was understandable that Lincoln slept for our first hour together, talked little, and was a bit gassy. He made up for it later by being a great listener and exuding a casual charm that greatly impressed both Erin and myself. Many people, including myself, can be a bit wordy, but Lincoln says quite a bit with just a few gestures and facial expressions that are exact and economical. Case in point:

I think the one at the top left with the mouth wide open shows he takes after me in some ways.

Please note this following picture of him doing his best New Hampshire impersonation:

At two weeks, this kid can do a heck of a moose impersonation! I want this guy on my charades team.

Erin and I left Orlando really impressed with young Mr. Walker, and we can't wait to meet him again as soon as possible. It might be really cool to be an aunt and uncle. :) I wonder if he's seen Star Wars, yet?

Brian Visits Prep

So I visted Prep and took some shots of....umm....our dragonboat racing trophy we won our first year out. Didn't you meet up with old friends, colleagues, and students at Prep? Yes. Where are the pictures? Umm...well...see, I carry the camera in my pocket with me, and I was so excited to visit my former students playing a game I created several years ago that I didn't take any. And then I was so interested in hearing about the great new head of school and about how happy everyone is with the school, life, and everything else that I didn't remember to take the camera out of said pocket. So...I have this fine shot of a paddle.

Seriously, though, after my last visit to Prep in March when everyone's spirits were down, I was so overjoyed to see all my former colleagues and friends so optimistic and upbeat about the school's future. I love Prep so much which is probably why I've already visited twice since we've moved up here. It was far easier to leave the building than the incredible people that work within. Looking back, I might have taught at Tampa Prep for a number of years, however; I feel now that I was more of a student there learning how to become a better teacher from some of the best in the business.

Erin Visits Armwood

Erin and I returned to Florida earlier this month for her high school reunion and to meet our new nephew, Lincoln. While we were in town, Erin stopped in to see many of her Armwood friends, and I caught a few shots on the way. (I was really happy and surprised to hear how many of Erin's friends and former colleagues keep up with the blog.) Erin's former colleagues are really wonderful and have been so supportive of our marriage, our move to New Hampshire, and everything else we've ever tried. She was really lucky to have such an incredible group of friends and colleagues at her first school.

Armwood football is undefeated as of this post and Erin couldn't be happier. She still keeps up with Coach Cal and the team on TBO.com regularly.
Erin got a big kick out of wearing a visitor badge and having to sign in and out like any other person visiting the school.

Uncle Brian and Aunt Erin!!!

My brother Mark and his wife Summer were joined by Lincoln Cole Walker on Sept. 18th. Mom, Dad, and baby are all doing fine. Erin and I will be visiting with our new nephew for the first time on Sept. 28th! (And I'm sure we'll have some pictures.)

One Week Behind the Mast or Boutons and the Sea Pt. 1

"You were in the Navy? What ship?" I served in the U.S. Navy, largely a maritime service, for five and a half years and had never been to sea which over the years has become a source of slight personal embarassment. After talking with Erin, we both decided it was time to remedy the situation by spending a week aboard a dual-masted schooner out of Boston to finally get this lubber some sea legs. The above pic shows the Westward which is a fine ship and brought us safely out to sea and back under the fine command of Captain Flansberg. (I hope I'm spelling his name correctly!)

Here is our captain, holding the chart, guiding us out into the harbor where we moored for the first evening. The captain was amazing, and we thoroughly enjoyed talking to him and hearing about his endlessly fascinating sea, and land, stories throughout the week. It was obvious the crew loved serving under him by how happily they went about their duties. The captain also had a great sense of humor and quite a nice singing voice as he entertained us with some sea chantys on our last evening aboard. To the right of him is 1st Mate Paolino who was equally wonderful and we learned quite a bit about the sailing life from hearing about his personal experiences.

According to the film "Captains Courageous", passengers are a "Jonah" (bad luck) aboard a proper sailing vessel so we were quickly to put to work as deckhands. Even as green as we were just coming aboard, all the teachers were giving a duty section and stood watches at the lookout, helm (me at the wheel above), running messages fore and aft, and doing boat checks at regular intervals. Depending on whether we were in port or at sea, the watches were on a 24-hour rotation and that included mid-watches. Standing at the helm was a lot of fun because you had to keep the ship on course by the compass in front of you and was challenging at times in strong winds. The downside was that nobody can speak to you while you are at the wheel and it's kind of lonely.

A cold sea and hot summer temperatures in New England creates a good thick fog. This ship coming out of the mist gave us a good scare, but it was anchored and no threat to us at all. Still, Mr. Pao sat up on the bowsprit sounding his conch shell (our foghorn was out) to warn any other vessels hiding out there.

After a fogbound trip through the Cape Cod Canal, we finally hit port in New Bedford, Mass to visit this former whaling town and to see the Whaling Museum. The above pic is of the Seamen's Bethel where sailiors go to pray for a safe voyage. It's also the chapel that Herman Melville prayed in before he went on his five-year whaling voyage in prepration for writing "Moby Dick." You can see the pew he sat in when you head inside.

This bow-shaped pulpit is inside the Seamen's Bethel and was built by popular demand after the Gregory Peck film version of "Moby Dick" had many tourists asking where it was. Melville included mention of the pulpit in his novel; however, it was his own invention and is a recent addition to the chapel.

This whale skeleton hangs from the ceiling of the New Bedford Whaling Museum. While the displays inside are wonderful and do great justice to the practice and history of whaling, we were quite sad after considering how many of these wonderful creatures were killed in the process.

(Above Picture) This is scrimshaw, or carved whale bones, that sailors used to make on long whaling voyages to pass the time. Some of them are quite beautiful but then you are reminded of the cost of this artwork in lost whales.

This is a shot of our big night out together in New Bedford at Freestone's. From left and clockwise: Dave, Eric, Kevin, Dr. Glenn, Liz, Patty, Lisa, Chris, Chip, and Erin. You really could not find a more fantastic group of people to be out to sea with for a week. We hope to keep in touch with everyone.

Our captain and the crew came out to the same restaurant to have dinner so we surprised them with a round of "Apple Jack" (apple juice) and Teddy Grahams off the salty sailor menu (kid's menu.) Life at sea is dangerous and little bear-shaped graham crackers and jungle-themed mug might mean the difference between life and death out there.

What do sailors do when they hit shore? Drink and get tattoos. Liz, one of our program coordinators, had the brilliant idea to bring pirate-themed stick-on tatoos and they were a huge hit with the crew. Pictured with me is Dave who turned out to be a fellow Floridian and a librarian at my old rival school, Berkeley Prep. Dave is a hoot, and Erin absolutely loved having him as a watchmate. We'll be catching up with Dave in September when we come home for Erin's high school reunion.

Pickin' Blueberries!

Like Juan Valdez and his coffee beans, we took our burro (the Subaru) up into the mountains to load it up with blueberries which make awful coffee but a great topping for your morning cereal and can be used in at least a dozen recipes according to a book we purchased at the farm pictured above. I had never picked fruit off the vine before this so it was quite an experience to dodge the bees and wasps that also compete for the berries. Still, you can tell from the bucket above how delicious they are and so good to just pop into your mouth as a tasty treat. We left with two full buckets and came home to make blueberry hamburgers. Blueberry hamburgers? that's right. Take a hamburger patty and put bluberries in the center and grill until done. We also had blueberry pancakes with NH maple syrup which should probably be illegal it's so good. (I also bought a strawberry rhubarb pie while we were there which has nothing to do with blueberries, or this story really, but I thought you might like to know it's my favorite pie if you ever happen to entertain us in your home.) Erin went back to pick another bucket less than a week later since we were already running out. Apples are in season next month so we'll have more picking adventure pics up soon.

(Click on each of these pics to see the enlarged version.)

The Boutons in Chi-Town

We're sorry about the recent lack of posts, but we had a terrible time trying to get Verizon (one of the worst companies ever) to bring our Internet back up after our recent move, but here we are again and we have a backlog of good stuff to share. Erin left Morgan and I in Dublin to go visit relatives in Florida and Oregon, and we eventually met up in my my Mother's new home, Chicago, in early August to celebrate her birthday. She's been asking us when she would make the blog so here's her debut on Granite State Strangers!

It wouldn't be a visit to Chicago with Mom unless we visited her "church", Marshall Field's, to do some shopping. (I know it's Macy's now according to reality, but I don't call the Ice Palace the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, either.)

Here is Mom in her glory at the jewelry counter. :)

We bought tickets to "Wicked" for Mom's birthday present and the pic above and several below are of our evening out at the theater. It was our second time seeing the show in Chicago since Mom and Dick bought us tickets as a honeymoon present a little over a year ago.

This is a wonderful shot of Mom and Dick outside of his school, Columbia College. Dick is in charge of their incredible music department, and we've had the great pleasure of seeing some of his amazing faculty and students perform in that very building. Dick is a great guy and an even greater host when we're in town because he kindly puts up with hearing Mom and I tell the same family stories over and over.

Ok. Chicago is a great city and it boasts some of the most amazing museums, food, music, entertainment, and shopping in the world. Still, Chicago is host to one of the worst dolphin shows I've ever seen in my life. You can see the Shedd Aquarium in the background of the above picture where we witnessed this travesty. Did you know that dolphins won't save drowning humans? Did you know dolphins can hold their breath longer than we can? Those are just a few of the amazing factoids we picked up while sitting on an uncomfortable stone bench watching dolphins literally swim from one end of a tank to the other. Did you know dolphins can swim faster than Olympic swimmers? It's true! We witnessed it. I know Mayor Daley is busy putting flowers on every street corner, but he needs to get down to the aquarium and teach those dolphins to jump through a hoop or bounce a ball on their nose and they might get the show up to the level of the '76 Marineland dolphin show in Miami.

Here I sit broken hearted after seeing the worst dolphin show ever... :)

After a successful summer at the Dublin Lake Club, I figure I'm ready to run this place next! I can never get over how beautiful the waterfront is in Chicago or how blue the water is.

This is the beautiful walkway to Mom and Dick's place (their house is on the left and up a couple doors)...

...and this is Mom's adorable bunny that she loves even though it tries to eat her flowers. :)

Erin really wanted to see Wrigley Field, so we took the train out there on game day to see what all the excitement was about. I won't say it's as cool as the Green Monster, but it is still pretty cool. Still, I couldn't get that excited about wearing a cub on my t-shirt. Red socks are much more manly! Go Sox! (And not the faded white ones.)
This is the guy that Will Ferrell impersonated on SNL. (End of history lesson.) :)

Dublin Lake Club: The Daily Grind

I'm now about a month into my sailing instructor position at the Dublin Lake Club, across the street from our school, and everything is going quite well. Starting off, I didn't know my broad reach from my close-hauled, now I know how to rig a 420 and an Opti, sail both of them, and I can give some limited instruction to people who know less than I do. I work with two really nice individuals, Brenna and Andrew, who both know far more about the fine art of seamanship than I do, but they are quite patient in showing me the ropes, or lines, literally. Sailing brings out the best in people, and I've found that most sailors are quick to help and friendly with their advice. They try to initiate as many people into the sport as possible and it's about as inclusive as you could desire.

This shot above is the view from our sailing dock of the Club's beach. As you can tell by the glassy quality of the lake, we had no wind on this day, and I had a lot of time to take pics as nobody wanted to take out boats.

This is the sailing cabin that we spend a great deal of time in each day. Lessons are held inside for beginners, ages around 5-9, and intermediates, ages around 10-13, three days a week. We use the white board to demonstrate technique and then spend the better part of two hours letting the kids sail on the lake under our supervision. The little ones sail in Optis that are about impossible to capsize since they're largely bathtubs with sails.

This boat is a 420 and we use them for the intermediate program and for checking out to adult members of the club. The take both a jib (forward sail) and a main sheet and take about 10 minutes to rig if you know what you are doing. It's exciting to me that I knew nothing about putting sails on it about 4 weeks ago, and now I can rig one in my sleep and take it out to sail. I can't believe I get paid for this! I'll have some action sailing shots once we return in August, and most exciting---I get to take Erin out for our first sail together. I can't wait.