After breakfast Gloria and I both checked email, then I spent a few minutes on some work-related issues. By mid-morning, we were on our way in to Worcester again.

We took Route 9 in to the city, with a short detour down Grandview Avenue. My mom lived on this street when she was a child, and I wanted to show Gloria that the house in a photo I have of my mom, dated 1928, is still standing.

The North Brookfield library provided us with a museum pass, which we used to visit the Worcester Art Museum on Salisbury Street. I like this museum because it’s small enough for me not to feel immediately overwhelmed, but it’s also got some great stuff. We visited the galleries on every floor: from Pre-Columbian to American paintings and decorative arts, from medieval to modern European, from Asian to Greek, Roman, and Egyptian. I can’t say which gallery was my favorite, though on this occasion, I was most interested in the mosaics and the Roman coins and sculpture because I’ve been studying that historical period.

We then drove to Clark University, circled the campus because I missed the turn into the visitor parking lot, and walked over to the Student Center where we ate lunch in the Bistro. Just as we stepped inside, the skies opened; the downpour continued throughout the afternoon. After we finished eating, I drove down Hope Avenue to get on 290, then headed north to Exit 2 off 190, with the windshield so fogged with mist and rain that I could barely see a foot in front of me.

We arrived safely at Showcase North, in plenty of time for the 3:10 showing of The Dark Knight. Yes, we surrendered to the hype surrounding this icon of popular culture and also agreed that this newest Batman film was worth seeing. The late Heath Ledger was spellbinding as the Joker.

Dinner was later than usual, then Gloria baked brownies, which we ate as soon as they cooled.

Weather: cloudy, pouring rain
Breakfast: French toast
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: Boca burgers
Dessert: brownies