Friday, August 5 - Massachusetts

Short post; a little bit more about me and who I am. You get that short little right-hand side thing when you look in. Thinking I should change it up randomly just to see if anyone notices (emoticon for evil grin inserted here!).

My brother takes care of my cats when I go away, and when he goes away I take care of his. I have 4, he has 1. I have to buy a lot more cat food than he does (mine go through 4 cans a day). Admittedly mine are more work, but his is fussier! (She is an only, and thoroughly spoiled :).)

I have a "thing" about the cans (and all my food) - the labels have to be perfectly facing one way - front. Perhaps I am a little OCD (OK, I am a bit). It truly disturbs me when the labels are not perfectly aligned. My brother likes to mess with me when I am away, and screws up the cans! Here is evidence.

Cans perfectly aligned

Cans brother messed with :)

If you click on "View My Complete Profile", I do describe some of my activities. I like to read. A lot. I am involved with the local library.





Here are some pictures of my personal library. It is, of course, sorted by genre and author etc. And yes, I have read (or consulted) every single book I own. Some (a lot) more than once. Fortunately I do not move often, as the movers hate hefting my boxes and boxes of books! They actually prefer moving the washer & dryer over my books. Go figure!

Two bookshelves

Another bookshelf (most poetry)

More books (older books)

More books

More books

Reference books

I will add more later, as I am still contemplating on how best to relay my previous Martha's Vineyard experiences with my Czech friends. Distill it, so I can best describe it all in the best way possible.

August 3 - Massachusetts

I may have a short trip coming up next month; we shall see.

Next "big one" is Martha's Vineyard the last weekend of September. I used to visit very frequently, but have not been back in years. (A tale for next week.)

I want to revisit the Island, and see some of the things I never did on all my past trips.

My brother is going with me - he has never been. Reservations for the rooms have been made, as has the car reservation on the ferry. Not a huge deal, but I have never taken a car on the ferry before.

This will be fun :) We are staying in Oak Bluffs, and will have 1 1/2 days to roam the island! I got an awesome deal on our hotel rooms - $135/night each! Weekend before Columbus Day when they roll up the sidewalks on the island :) !

Cheaper hotel rooms normally start around $300/night; I snagged a mid-range one for a much lower price :)

This is going to be fun, and will involve lighthouses, lol, much to brother's chagrin :) He is not much for lighthouses, but I will be driving this this time.

The Vineyard is only like about 28 miles around, so it is not large. Hard to avoid those lighthouses! (There are only 5, so not so bad!)

July 30- Webster, Massachusetts

The Swan / Swamp Adventure

I have been mulling over the best way to relay this tale today as I was getting caught up on the every-day. My friend Chris and I had quite the small adventure late Saturday afternoon! In retrospect,it could have ended badly for both of us. By the same token, it was quite humorous after the fact as it VERY fortunately did not.

I gave her one of my large oil paintings as a hostess gift; one that she has had her eye on for awhile. It is 2 swans under a full moon and a cool tree (sorry no pic here of that). She mentioned they have a pair of swans living in a small pond/swamp behind their house across the road.

Of course, I had to see! It was only a few minutes' walk from the house. When we got to the small cove area, there they were! Beautiful male swan and a juvenile (it was brown; hard to see in the pics further below).

Pond/swamp

The pond and adjoining swamp were down a very steep enbankment that was covered with leaves leftover from last Fall (and previous years). I took a few pictures. Chris wanted to get a little closer so I could get better pictures, but I was nervous about the enbankment. It was extremely soft due to the leaf cover, and looked difficult (steep).

My friend has no fear. She started down, turned around to reach for my hand to help me down, slid, and promptly tipped over backward, landing in a tangle of leaves and branches. Fortunately she was not hurt, and lay there laughing for a few minutes. I tried to pull her up, but the banking kept giving way beneath me and I did not want to end up on my butt halfway down the bank! Would not have helped!

Swamp

Plus the swamp part of the pond was not that far away from where she landed (I did not feel it prudent to mention it at the time!).

I found a couple of semi-solid footholds, and knelt down for better traction to better assist my friend. Took all my strength, plus hers, to get her upright and untangled and pull her back to solid ground without me falling over as well. And she is NOT a very big person!

She forbade me from taking pictures - oh I was sorely tempted! But I did respect her wishes :)

We laughed so hard about it afterwards! Chris unfortunately got the brunt of it; she was covered with dirt, leaves, grass stains - you name it. I ended up with just a dirty knee on my jeans and dirty sneakers. Small bruise over my eye where a branch hit me.

We walked back to the house where she cleaned up and changed (I could not; I had not brought a clean pair of jeans with me but I was OK). Started dinner and went on with the evening!

It could have been much worse - both of us could have ended up in that swamp with the lily pads and yuck and screaming swans (they are very territorial). Fortunately, it did not.

She insisted on taking a picture of my "dirty knee"! So here it is.

Dirty knee

After that, she said "I hope you at least got a picture of the swans". Which I did. Albeit not a great picture (it is out of focus) due to circumstances. But I did get it!

It was quite the adventure!!!

 My sneakers also got really dirty that afternoon! Here is a before....

And then an after. Used my Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. That thing is wonderful!!!

Dirty sneaks

Clean sneaks

 



Here is a picture of Dennis, Chris's husband. Ever patient and spot-on with the music :) Awesome on the grill!

Den

And last but far from least, the out-of-focus pictures of the swans!

Swan

REALLY bad pic of juvenile swan

July 30-31 - Webster, Massachusetts - Part 1

I drove down to Webster, Mass., yesterday morning to spend the weekend with one of my very best friends, and visit some friends I was close with when I lived there. Had an awesome time! Arrived late morning after stopping for gas & a quick stop for adult beverages in my old stomping grounds. It has not changed much since I moved from there 2 1/2 years ago!


The street is very narrow, and yes, it really, actually IS an island. Small bridge to cross. I used to live there. Speed limit is 25, but that is pushing it, and the road is a one-way loop in most parts.

It was SOO good to see Chris and Dennis! We talked awhile (well, more than awhile!), then headed down the street to visit with Russ and Mertie :) Their house is on the lake; Chris and Dennis's is across the street from the lake.

Here is a pic of Russ and Mertie - they are so cute! We had discussed taking a ride on Russ's pontoon boat, but we spent so much time talking and catching up it did not happen. (I am hoping to get back down there for another weekend this summer and catch that boat ride!)

Russ & Mertie

Russ's boat

We sat on their deck chatting for a few hours, and I did get some good pix of the lake while I was there. As well as Mertie's flowers! (I love the candy cane stripes!)

Flowers on the deck

Gorgeous!

Webster Lake

Webster Lake, Middle Pond

Webster Lake

Webster Lake

Headed back across the street, and discussed dinner; steaks and baked potatoes on the grill. Yum. I made a Summer Salad (cucumbers, sliced red onions, red wine vinegar etc....) to go with. Dinner was really good!

Den put on some good music for dinner that night, and after dinner he built a nice fire in their firepit. My camera, once again, chose an unfortunate time to deplete its batteries when I wanted to take a picture of the fire.

Crystal clear day on the lake. Temps were down, nice breeze blowing through, and the humidity was almost non-existent. Benefits of living so near the lake!! I do miss that about the lake.

They have a really cool dog, Cody. He is kind of a boxer + ?? mix. Can be hyper, but is mostly relaxed. He remembered me from a few years ago when I was last down there! (They rescued him at a local shelter. Kudos to them for doing the right thing!) Here are a few pix of the boy!

Cody

Cody

Chris and Dennis were the best hosts! WAY WAY better than  a hotel :) :) She had my room all ready, bed made up, extra covers at the ready should I need them, A/C had the temperature perfect. She even put a glass next to the bed so I could get some water. I was overwhelmed by the hospitality! Not to mention the friendship :)

Chris and I had a little side trip while I was there. There is a small pond/swamp within walking distance of their house, and there is a pair of swans who live there. Prior to dinner last night we took a walk down to the pond.

That is a story for the "Part 2" of this post!