More Time In the Boot

Wife and I in Caryn's

Yesterday saw our second consecutive day celebrating the heritage of Italian-Americans, this time in Wakefield under the auspices of the Excellent Boss. He invited a cartload of co-workers and the Neighborhood Mafiosos to join him and his incomparable wife for a really entertaining afternoon and evening. The first task was getting there which was an adventure since this was a summer Saturday and Wakefield lies near the confluence of I-95 and I-495. For you flatlanders that means the weekend run of lemmings to the beaches of New Hampshire and Maine was in full flower.

Wakefield's Main Street Shut Down for the Festival

We did fine until an energetic rain shower completely flooded the road for about two minutes. It was strange considering this summer of no rain at all and that we didn’t get a glimpse of the wet stuff for the rest of the entire day. It was kind of a nostalgic ride as well as we took Route 2 through Concord which the way my father used to drive us into Boston when we were very young. I still remember him threatening to drop me off at the Concord State Prison (still there) if I didn’t stop bothering my sisters.

We finally made our way through the I-95 parking lot and gathered at the Excellent Boss’ home for some pre-game refreshments. This was followed by convoy driving to Wakefield Middle School to park and embark upon our quest to honor Italia. The Excellent Boss planned a pub crawl for certain volunteers while others would wander into closed off central Wakefield for the Festival. I think you know which group I fell into, he had me at “pub crawl”. Unfortunately the Excellent Boss’ expertise does not extend into pub crawling and we had only two bona fide pubs to hit.

Harrington's 

Caryn's

This did nothing to quell the entertainment as we started out in Harrington’s Pub just outside the festival and then wandered into the midst of the celebration with a stop at Caryn’s Sports Bar. This is where the Excellent Boss went astray leading us onto a side street thinking there were pubs there. There weren’t. I found it particularly disturbing that a long time resident of the town was not better acquainted with the pub offerings his town had. The Operations Manager loudly proclaimed at this point we should have put the planning in my experienced hands. We retreated the Caryn’s again to wait out the time before our dinner reservations.

Mafiosos Dancing in the Street

The other element had been keeping busy at the festival with my wife calling several times to insure she was aware of our location. The Neighborhood Mafiosos ended up dancing in the middle of Main Street to the delight of the pub crew. The entire group eventually rallied at Caryn’s before meandering down Main Street to a truly fabulous dinner at the Excellent Boss’ favorite restaurant, Sabatino’s. Another one of those great days shared with enjoyable people. Thank God the Neighborhood Mafioso volunteered to drive home.

Dinner at Sabatino's

Today’s pictures from California chronicled the First Blog Reader’s continued feline education. Her mother has been working with her to be gentle when approaching the cat and it was so charming to see the results of those lessons. At one point she breaks into a huge grin when the cat doesn’t do his usual bounding away after she approaches. I find getting out of bed in the morning more acceptable (even after my Italian soaked weekend) because I know I’ll have a batch of these type pictures waiting for me.