Cycling at Harold Parker State Park

It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle. ~Ernest Hemingway

Hitting out of the Trap

Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots - but you have to play the ball where it lies.
- Bobby Jones

Children watch Kenda, the 600 lb Polar Bear Swim in the pool at the EcoTarium Museum in Worcester MA

Born on December 1, 1983, Kenda is the only surviving daughter of Ursa Minor and Ursa Major. While Kenda is not considered old for a bear in captivity, she would be if she were living in the wild. In the wild females often do not live more than 20-25 years.

Kenda's mother, Ursa Minor, died in July 2001 at the age of 36, one of the oldest captive polar bears. Ursa Major, Kenda's father, passed away at the Stone Zoo in Stoneham, Massachusetts in 2000.

Safe at Second

Jeff Bailey #55 of the Boston Red Sox, slides safe into 2nd base at Sunday's afternoon game againts the Toronto Blue Jays in Boston. Final score was Toronto 15, Boston 4.

The Witches Cup 2008. Salem MA

The Witches Cup, Salem's cycling race, returned to Salem Common on August 13 after a successful rebirth of the historic race in 2007.

The Witches Cup is a criterium -- a short fast bicycle race requiring a mix of power, speed and technical skills. Those skills include the ability to corner rapidly and sharply, all while riding safely with a large group on a short circuit, requiring exceptional fitness to attack other riders and repeatedly accelerate around corners. These races are 45-60 minutes of very fast cycling, with racers averaging 25-35 mph and reaching speeds of up to 45 mph during sprints and attacks.

The Art of Hula Hooping

It's hard to believe in an age of video games and whiz-bang gadgets, but the Hula Hoop once was the hippest toy around.

The hoopla began 50 years ago (June 19, 1958) when entrepreneurs Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin sought a trademark for a plastic cylinder based on a similar toy that had enjoyed modest success in Australia's school yards.

Wham-O, the company founded by Knerr and Melin, sold more than 100 million Hula Hoops — at a suggested retail price of $1.98 apiece — after just a year on the U.S. market. That was more than one Hula Hoop for every two Americans at the time.

James Montgomery Blues Band Perform at Newburyport's Yankee Homecoming 2008