Blue Moon

We had a successful outing today. We really don't get out much, it's such a major undertaking to get out the door. Dress the baby, dress myself, pack a diaper bag--these things are hard to accomplish with a baby who doesn't want to be set down for longer than 2 minutes at a stretch. He also likes to cluster feed in the mornings, so I have .5-1.5 hours between feedings, and if its a pumping day, forget it. However, I need to get out of the house for my own sanity, and Jackson just noticed the TV. I set him down on a blanket Monday and came back to find him watching the Sopranos, right as someone was getting whacked. Horribly violent images to be filling his little impressionable mind. So we're going for his sanity as well.

Today, we set out to see "The Surrealist Masters" at the WhiteSpace Gallery in New Haven, on display through June 2nd. I wanted to leave no later than 2, but for reasons mentioned previously, it was 4 before I was ready to go. New Haven is over an hour away, and I considered postponing due to the lateness, but who am I kidding, another day will have the same delays. So we went.

Turns out we could've gone anytime, its a dealer's gallery, not a museum. We'd pretty much missed the advertised show since the Picasso's had already sold, and there were only a couple Chagall's and Miro's remaining. However, they have a fairly extensive permanent collection of Dali's. They came to own the collection (several copies of each piece) through a complicated route, but they've been authenticated, and are available at a very reasonable price point. Signed and numbered lithographs, 3 foot framed pieces, for under $5K. Forget 529 plans, what could be a better tool for investing Jackson's college mone? Bonus--they have lay away! Oh, but I digress. We had a lovely time at the gallery and a nice chat with the resident artist, Denise Parri. Jackson was kind enough to sleep through this, but I was pushing his limits of time without food.

Since we were already at the coast, we headed East to look for a nice place to feed him, maybe a deserted park or something. I exited the highway in Guillford, and saw a lovely park, but it was pretty active, so I kept driving. I followed the signed for the public access to the Sound. Finding public shore access is difficult, so don't ever pass up the opportunity. The road ended at a simple parking lot with a boat ramp, and a magnificent view of the sea. We pulled up, and I fed Jackson in the car looking out at the Thimble Islands, and the lighthouse at Faulkner's Island. Then we took a little walk around the parking lot, which was becoming more popular as the evening progressed. The sun setting to the right, and the blue moon rising over the island trees to the right. Unfortunately, I didn't get a visual document of this. I saw the camera on the way out, but didn't take it, assuming photos would not be welcome at the gallery. if you're thinking of moving to the shore, consider Guillford, it had a nice atmosphere, and apparently the whole town heads out for an evening walk around sunset.

Then we headed further East for a dinner of the greatest food available in the Northeast. I acknowledge the pleasures of boiled maple syrup, blueberries, and all three colors of clam chowder. Topping these is the lobster roll. Don't be fooled into ordering a lobster salad roll, it disappoints. The lobster roll is fresh lobster meat on a buttered hot dog bun-like roll. I recommend Lenny and Joe's on Route 1 in Westbrook. Poor Jackson freaked out on the way there. I thought it would be 5 minutes, so I didn't stop right away. When I got him out, he was covered in vomitus, either causing the tears, or caused by them I couldn't say. I ordered today from their drive in in Madison, but I should've driven the extra few miles and sat down instead. It's just a little bit better there.

On the way home, Jackson cried again. It's an hour drive, so I pulled over and comforted him to sleep before heading home. He slept for 30 minutes, then woke up wailing. I gave him 10 minutes,contemplating what hunger pangs mean to the young. So I found a deserted semilit parking lot to feed him. After a few minutes, 2 older men got out of a truck and start heading toward my car. So I'm in the backseat with the doors locked and my boob hanging out, dialing to have 911 at the ready. They asked what I was doing, couldn't hear and requested I roll down the window. Well that's impossible from the backseat with the engine off, so I had to keep shouting. Turns out they were the janitorial staff at the school, and the parking lot is closed after 9pm. After eating, Jackson soiled his diaper, but I didn't want to stand outside late at night to change him, so I gave him his pacifier and set out for home. He wailed the whole way there--heartbreaking. But he was fine. I'm still calling this a successful outing because we made it 5 hours in peace, and Jackson did have impetus for the tears all 3 times.

That's a picture of Jackson and the blue moon from our house.

ps. The shutter speed on my camera is very slooow, but cool camera trick with the moon, eh? If you pull up a larger image, tubes of light appear. It's like a lunar churro (maybe that's what attracted my Latino T-shirt salesman).