Big Dipper Pt. II

Another photo from yesterday’s Big Dipper. Sara and Jen operate the facepaint tent with factory-like efficiency. Says Jen, “No kid in this town gets their face or hand painted without going through us first.”

– Posted using MobyPicture.com

Big Dipper

Today was the Big Dipper, our annual All You Can Eat Ice Cream Fest in Elm Park to benefit Children’s Friend, the non-profit where I work. This year we had ten sponsors donate ice cream, ice cream cakes, and this year, for the first time, frozen yogurt. Community groups set up tables and we also have raffles, games, and hotdogs and hamburgs. It’s a big event, with lots of generous volunteers and we have a good team at work to help pull it together (my role is to help move boxes, chairs and tables from here to there). Anyways, despite the threat of rain in the a.m, and the ongoing construction on the park this summer, we raised a record amount and we estimate about 6000 people attended.

I’m not sure but I think the ice cream flavors I’m holding are Red Velvet, Cotton Candy, and White Gold.

– Posted using MobyPicture.com

Bringing the Sound of Music to Agawam

So…. Every summer since 2010 my friends Mark Mandeville and Raianne Richards, two musicians from Webster, do a Massachusetts Walking Tour. They choose two towns in different parts of the state and hike from the first to the second, bringing their instruments with them and giving free concerts in the communities where they stop each evening. The first year they walked across Massachusetts (that’s how I first met them, after my own Walk Across Mass in 06). The second year they hiked the Midstate Trail from the RI border to the NH border (the same MST we’re walking this summer), and last year they did a semicricle around Wachusett. In 2013 Mark and Raianne are hiking on the newly connected New England Scenic Trail. Over 15 days, from June 15th to June 29th, they walked almost 100 miles from Royalston to Amherst to Holyoke and ended in Longmeadow. They’re also hiking with Amy Alvey and Mark Kilianski, two singer-songwriters from the Boston area.

Tonight I drove out to Agawam to see the group play at the Agawam Public Library. It was a small audience, only two or three people (Mark and Raianne leave the concert promotion to the towns’ local cultural council; sometimes they attract a hundred people, sometimes they attract a more, um, intimate gathering.) Anyways, as always they gave a great concert (especially after walking 15 miles in the heat and rain that day). Afterwards it was good to catch up with them and hear and share some stories of their walk this year.

Mark, Mark, Raianne and Amy retired soon after the concert and I drove up to Springfield, a city I’ve driven through, but haven’t been in since I went to the Basketball Hall of Fame when I was a kid.

Based on a Google recommendation I went to Theodore’s, a BBQ/Blues restaurant (very good choice), randomly met some local Springfielders who invited me to hang out and play some pool (I nailed my best game since my college days). It was a fun night!

Anyways, for more information on Mark and Raianne’s Annual Massachusetts Walking Tour, see http://www.MassWalkingTour.com. It takes a lot of time to plan, but 2014’s route and schedule should be released this fall.

– Posted using MobyPicture.com

Garbage Plate

Jen and I are in Rochester for a wedding this weekend, and our friend Luke (who graduated from RIT) suggested we try a “garbage plate” while we were in town. So last night (technically, early this morning), after the reception, after stopping by O’Callaghan’s on Park Ave. with our new friends (fellow guests and Rochester natives Jeremy and Jamie), they took us to Mark’s 24-Hour Diner for a garbage plate – hamburger patties on top a bed of french fries and macaroni salad, smothered with ketchup, mayo and cheese. Yum!

– Posted using MobyPicture.com

Jake and Debbie

Today Jen and I drove to Rochester NY for Jake and Debbie’s wedding. Jake was my old college drinking buddy from Northeastern. He’s also the vvguy I can call if I need a partner for something crazy (like the Warrior Dash 2011). It was a fun wedding and afterwards it was still sort of early, so Josh and Jamie, two other guests we had just met, took us out to one of the bars on .

– Posted using MobyPicture.com

June 21

Happy Summer Solstice! To celebrate the longest day of the year, I went on a sunrise hike at Moore State Park in Paxton.

– Posted using MobyPicture.com

Save Ferris!

At City Hall Oval for the showing of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Here are my friend Kristy Collins and and Gabe Rollins, one of the Worcester Film Works organizers. Nikki Luperelli, who was recently in the cast of a AMC reality show, is performing in the background.

– Posted using MobyPicture.com

Taste of Shrewsbury Street

Despite rain and thunder, Sarah and I ventured out and partook of A Taste of Shrewsbury Street.

– Posted using MobyPicture.com

MST Day 2 Pt 2

Another photo from Saturday’s Midstate Trail Hike. Jena bushwacks her way through Spencer.

– Posted using MobyPicture.com

MidState Trail Day Two

After leaving off in Oxford in June, Paul, Jena and I attempted the next 18 miles of the MidState Trail today. Unfortunately, because of excessive rains this weke about four miles of the trail, through Hodgkins Dam, was flooded and inaccessible. One of the Army Corps of Engineer volunteers gave us a ride up the road in her personal vehicle. Once we got out of Oxford, the elevation rose and things began to get drier. Today was a tough hike, with more heat, mud, skeeters, ticks, and overgrown fields than last time. This is one of the coolest photos… My cousin Paul uses the old Cow Tunnel to cross under Route 20 in Charlton.

– Posted using MobyPicture.com