It’s a good feeling when ambitious plans work out.
The weather was so mild that I took the day off yesterday, starting out with a visit to the tailor shop at Mashpee Commons to drop off a pair of slacks that needed hemming.
I’d picked up the slacks last weekend at the new LL Bean outlet in Wareham, and the discount was substantial enough that it was worth it to “splurge” on professional tailoring.
Did a couple hours of clean-up at Edgewater, finally leveling off the stump grindings from the tree that used to be in the middle of the yard, a casualty of the Noel backlash, and tackled more leaves.
After that, I headed up to Dennis to visit the Cape Cod Museum of Art, which has an “admission by donation” policy on Thursdays.
The Museum of Art is located in the Cape Cod Center for the Arts complex in Dennis Village. The “campus” includes the Cape Playhouse, the Cape Cinema and several art galleries and restaurants.
I took advantage of the “Artful Thursdays” 10% lunch discount at The Mercantile. Heading back on route 6A, I got an excellent coffee to go at the Optimist Cafe in Yarmouth Port.
I’d planned to attend a 3:30 lecture at 4C’s and had just enough time to make a stop at Trader Joe’s and Joanne’s Fabrics in Hyannis.
Attended Prof. Michael Strmiska’s lecture on “Comparing Education in Japan and the USA”, a combination travelogue and commentary based on his experiences on the faculty of Miyazaki International College.
Unfortunately, due to some A/V problems, the lecture ran late, and realizing that some of us had to leave, Prof. Strmiska passed along the gist beforehand: the US is moving closer toward Japan’s highly competitive, rigid, test-oriented educational culture, the efficacy of which the Japanese themselves have questioned for many years.
I’d promised to pick James up at the Boys and Girls Club in Mashpee at 5:15, and managed to get there exactly on schedule. James found me instantly, he’d been crying because he hurt his finger, and was just as happy to go home a little earlier than his usual (he’s fine).
After dropping James off, I got back to the office in time to make a call which a colleague and I had set up the day before.
I was happy to have take time to enjoy the day: it’s been raining steadily since about 6:00 last night, so it was good to have crammed so much activity into what might be one of the last pleasant days of the year.