Here Comes The Sun

What a glorious Saturday it's been! It all started with the weather...

The past few days have been miserably cold and rainy in Boston. This is supposed to be high summer, but that's hard to believe when the thermometer tells you it's 16 degrees centigrade outside. So when the rain looked like holding off for a while this morning, we made a dash for DeCordova sculpture park. And what a good idea that turned out to be!

When a wealthy merchant named Julian de Cordova died in 1945, his will stated that his estate should be used to create a public museum of art. The trustees duly built a museum in his mansion. But they did not stop there. They turned the grounds of the estate into a giant outdoor museum and filled it with large outdoor sculptures and installation art.

By the time we got there, the sun was out and it was a perfect summer day, exactly the sort that we had not seen for a week and more. It was the ideal setting for two adults, a toddler and a dog to satiate their artistic appetites. We'd amble past a couple of bronzes, then stretch out under a tree for a break, then nod appreciatively at a set-piece constructed of wire-frames and thousands of pine-cones, then stop under yet another tree to nibble at a sandwich. Quite a far cry from your stereotypical "Museum Of Contemporary Art & Sculpture".

And then there was the unexpected bonus when the cashier at the museum cafe jealously asked where I'd gotten the Andy Warhol t-shirt that I was wearing. "I've been looking for one for ages", she said, "I even looked for it at the Warhol museum in Pittsburgh but they were out of stock." With intense glee and a nonchalant look I told her. "Oh, I got this for free at an exhibition in Singapore."

By then I knew that this was one of those days where everything goes like a dream. I went to a toy store and found exactly what I was looking for: action figures of Yoda and R2D2 from Star Wars and Blackout from Transformers. I went to the neighbourhood wine shop and got some great deals on New Zealand wines. (Oddly enough, whenever I miss Singapore, Kiwi wines always seem to cheer me up).

And then there were the Olympics. Finally I got to watch sports that I actually understand. Trust me, I've tried very hard to watch baseball, but (a) it's hard work and (b) every time I've watched the Red Sox they've lost. So it's with an intense combination of relief and pleasure that I've been watching volleyball, handball, and most of all I've been lapping up the gymnastics.

Somehow gymnastics have always been the centrepiece event of the Olympics for me. The've always had the most drama, because the top countries always seemed to have some sort of political tensions playing in the background. But more importantly, it blows my mind to watch the combination of strength, control and precision that Olympic gymnasts bring to bear. And then there is the tension when a gymnast stretches their routine to go for the spectacular: will they pull it off and get the extra thousandths of a point that will lead to a medal? Or will they overreach and fail completely?

And just to put the finishing touches on it all, I had my first taste of decent Chinese food in weeks.

Oh yes, this is the Saturday that I've longed for.