aquarium & quincy market

It's school vacation week, and I took Hannah and pals Mikal and Conor in to Boston to visit the aquarium and grab lunch and do a little shopping at Quincy Market. It was a beautiful spring day -- still a little chilly near the water but great for sitting in the sun and people watching.

This lady seemed really fascinated with these balloons. Simple pleasures are the best.

Speaking of simple pleasures, there's a group for every kind of photo obsession possible on flickr. There are groups for people who like to take pictures of (among the thousands of choices) clouds, rust, fences, manhole covers, numbers, trees, food, reflections, hydrants, curlicues, and of course, signs. I'm glad Kyria and I are not alone in this amusing pastime.

the elusive fish

In my earlier post on Sara's visit I mentioned that we saw a fish swimming at Long Beach that we couldn't identify. Well, I think I've finally solved the mystery. It turns out to be a sea robin (as some of you suggested), though I'm not sure which variety/species. It turns out there are about a bazillion types of sea robin, all looking a little different. Ours had a decidedly cat-fish sort of face, and ruffly wings when swimming. So, Oh Ye of Little Faith -- it turns out that we are not crazy, hallucinatory, or otherwise deranged. Not in this case, anyway.

Seems the only pictures available online were of the fish on the end of a hook. But ours was swimming placidly in the sparkly, shallow waters at Long Beach, trying to nibble our toes.