He/She is #1!

It's been a long, long time since I've posted. I intended to write some book reviews for, among others, Greg Olear's novel about a day in the crazy life of a stay-at-home dad, Fathermucker; Bill See's rock and roll memoir, 33 Days: Touring in a Van, Sleeping on Floors, Chasing a Dream; and David Roberts's Devil's Gate: Brigham Young and the Great Mormon Handcart Tragedy, a riveting non-fiction book that puts into a very harsh light the man who engineered the Latter Day Saints' emigration to the Utah Territory.

I gave up on them because as much as I love reading, I don't really enjoy writing book reviews, although I've posted several here over the years.

I've put a lot of my writing energy lately into my road trip memoir, which I'll post about here in the near future. I also put some energy into launching a for-profit photography site recently (check out Dave Brigham Photography).

Other things have gotten in the way of my posting here, as well, but I don't feel the need to get into that. Finally, though, I've been inspired to revisit the old blog, breathe some life into it, with just a little nugget of interest.

This week I was driving through Needham, the next town over. Owen, as he often is these days, was riding shotgun. He was plinking around on his phone as we pulled up to a stop sign. I looked at the white pickup truck in front of us and took special notice of the license plate. I asked Owen to snap a quick pic with his phone, and he did his best. Not sure if you can see what it reads:

The plate reads:

"Massachusetts"

"1"

"That's amazing!" I said to Owen. "Whose plate is that? Shouldn't the governor have that plate? Or one of our senators?"

Within 20 seconds, he'd looked up the owner of the license plate. We were like a finely tuned investigative team: wheelman and photographer/researcher.

"It belongs to a relative of Frederick Tudor," he told me, as though I was supposed to know who he was talking about, as though Frederick Tudor's name would ring as familiar a bell as "Edward Kennedy" or "David Ortiz."

I asked him who Frederick Tudor was, but Owen was back into checking flight radar on his phone, or doing Minecraft or whatever.

So today I looked up Frederick Tudor and his special license plate. Here's what I found out.

From the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles web site:

"Massachusetts first began issuing licenses and registration plates in June of 1903 as a result of Chapter 473 of the Acts of 1903. The public had until September of that year to comply with the law. The first plate, featuring the number '1' printed on it, was issued to Frederick Tudor in 1903 and is still held as an active registration by a member of his family."

How cool is that? The family has held onto the plate for 111 years! I love that the plate isn't on the governor's black Escalade, or whatever he's driven around in, or zipping around the Cape on an environmentally friendly car driven by a member of the Kennedy clan.

It's on an ordinary pickup truck. The Tudor family probably could have sold the plate and the truck to Scott Brown when he was tooling around Massachusetts in his barn coat and pickup when he ran for Senate a few years ago.

I hope the family passes that plate down for the next hundred years. Now, to find out who owns plate #2....

Your Holiness

Despite my sacrilegious ways (or is it "sacrilicious"?), I find beauty in houses of worship. Several months ago, I published the first post of what I promised would be a semi-regular feature here ("Holy!" from March 28, 2013).

Here's part two.

This stained glass window is one of many at Church of the Good Shepherd in Dedham, Mass. The church dates to 1876.

I love this doorway at St. John's United Methodist Church, Watertown, Mass. The building was constructed in 1895.

The former First Baptist Church, Watertown, Mass., is now known as Mount Auburn Village. It houses eight condos.

Grace Episcopal Church, Newton, Mass., built in 1873.

Remembrances of Big E's Past

While walking past a leather goods tent at the Eastern States Exposition earlier this week, I flashed back to two belt buckles I had as an awkward teenager. One was heavy, made of dark metal in the shape of an 18-wheeler; the other was a bright oval with a red sky, blue ocean and a ship commemorating my love for the band Kansas.

I'm pretty sure I purchased both of the buckles at the fair.

I loved big rigs. I watched "BJ and the Bear" and the "Smokey & the Bandit" movies. I knew all the types of trucks, from Peterbilt and Kenworth to Mack and International Harvester.

I also dug Kansas, they of "Dust In the Wind" fame. I didn't like that song, though. My sister gets credit (blame?) for turning me on to Kerry Livgren and company. Five years older than I, she owned Leftoverture, which featured the well-known "Carry On Wayward Son."

I believe I bought the band's next album, Point of Know Return. In addition to the aforementioned "Dust In the Wind," the album features the title track, which I liked a lot. The belt buckle scene I described above was based on this album's cover art.

I thought both of the buckles were really cool, which goes some distance in explaining why I didn't have a girlfriend in high school.

I hadn't thought about those accessories in a long time, but then again, I hadn't been to the Big E, as the exposition is called, in at least 30 years.

I took the kids to the fair on Monday. They had the day off from school in recognition of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana. We met friends who'd managed to arrive nearly an hour before us by virtue of taking the "right" bridge across the Connecticut River into West Springfield. We ended up on the "wrong" bridge and waited in traffic for almost exactly the same amount of time (an hour and 20 minutes) as it had taken us to drive from Newton to Springfield.

The weather was perfect -- bright and sunny but just short of being hot. As soon as we met our friends, we sat down for lunch, to power up for all the rides I knew Owen and Amelia wanted to do.

While there were plenty of options for lunch, ranging from burgers and fries to something called the Pot Roast Sundae ("Sunday Dinner In a Bowl"), I opted for a bratwurst sandwich with sauerkraut, and a Spaten Lager to wash it all down.

I did not opt for this:

After we digested, the kids made their way to a handful of "house" amusements, not so much haunted places, as themed variations on the same thing: you walk across rope ladders, and past fun-house mirrors and avoid other obstacles.

They also, during the course of the afternoon, took in the Ferris wheel, a few sets of swings, bumper cars, a carousel and a few games. Owen even popped a few balloons with darts to win a little stuffed animal for Amelia.

The kids had a great time with their friends, Walter and Rory, and I enjoyed hanging out with their parents, Ray and Inez. I was thrilled to skip most of the rides, other than a small swing with Amelia, and the carousel.

I was proud that Owen decided to join Walter and Rory on the big crazy swing ride. He was unsure, but bucked up and enjoyed it. I jacked up the effects on this photo, but I really like how it came out.

After almost four hours, the kids needed some ice cream. While they ate, we got out of the sun and into an arena to watch some draft horses pulling weighted sleds.

I could've spent a lot more time there, but it was getting late, and we had to get home for dinner and bed, as the following day was a school day.

While walking around the fairgrounds, I was telling Ray about how when I was 12 or 13, I'd come to the Big E with my mom, specifically to see Joie Chitwood's Thrill Show, with special guest Catherine Bach -- Daisy Duke from "The Dukes of Hazzard."

Here's a quick sample of Chitwood and his boys in action:

I enjoyed both the thrill show -- with the drivers going long distances on two wheels, and gunning through flaming hoops and doing other crazy things -- and seeing Daisy. If I'd only been able to show her my belt buckle, I know she would have fallen for me.

The fair runs through September 30; I highly recommend it.

Vacation Pix

Here are some shots from our recent Cape Cod vacation, as well as a few from the day after we got back, when I took Owen to a Micro/Mini Auto Show. Enjoy!

We played a lot of ping pong, which I hadn't done since I was a kid. I had a lot of fun, but not as much as Owen did.

When Owen and Max weren't playing ping pong, swimming at the beach or riding on the Cape Cod Railroad, they were side by side, using iPad train simulators.

The kids were very excited for s'mores on the grill.

Owen came up with the idea to run from the back deck of the house down the small hill to the little beach, while being timed.

Amelia had a few turns, too!

Amelia had fun playing paddle ball with Beth's mom.

Owen and cousin Max riding the rails.

View out the back of the Cape train.

Uncle Todd teaching the kids how to fish.

Amelia takes a turn.

Hanging out at a beach in Sandwich.

Owen loved throwing and skipping rocks at the beach in Sandwich.

Post-beach slushies.

View of marshes from Sandwich boardwalk.

The Sandwich boardwalk.

Owen in front of the coolest car at the Micro/Mini Car Show at Brookline's Museum of Transportation, the day after we returned from the Cape.

Owen and his buddy Walter in the coolest car.

Owen in front of a Messerschmitt.