Saturday, September 24

Very short post. Much to do next week, and not enough time :)

Less than a week until Martha's Vineyard! I cannot wait!

My brother and I head out next Friday morning; we have a 12:00 ferry to catch, Figure we can do a little sightseeing in Oak Bluffs and grab lunch in the area before we check into our rooms.

Check out a bit of the Island before dinner. Next day (Saturday) we will be up and about! I spoke to him about the lighthouses today. He is not caught up to date on my blog, but we did talk about them. He agreed to visit them with me :)

Although he did threaten to throw me over Aquinnah's cliffs if he thought I became unreasonable! So I shall not be :)

I have traveresed back and forth more times on those ferries than I can recount. To both Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs (MV has 2 incoming ports). Back when they still allowed smoking on the outside decks (dating myself, I know).

My brother has never been to Martha's Vineyard. He is excited to see the Island and its history and beauty. Part of Massachusetts he has never seen.

I am soo looking forward to the adventure as well! I want to see the Vineyard one last time, revisit some of the places I became enamored with. I am very happy to be able to share it with my brother! :)

Friday, September 16 - Pickity Place, Mason, NH

It has been almost two weeks since my last post. Much has happened!

Between the every day stuff I have had a few major car issues - U-joint replacements, cracked radiator, etc. All is well now, and boy am I glad it happened close to home.

I meant to post yesterday, but was busy with other things.

Friday my sister, her daughter (my niece!) and I headed up to Mason, NH, for lunch at Pickity Place. For those who do not know what it is, it is a cottage built in 1786, and is now a small restaurant with an abundance of herb gardens (and gift shop). With a history!

Entrance

Entrance

Everyone knows "Little Red Riding Hood" from Grimm's Fairy Tales. You might also remember "Little Golden Books" - each fairy tale condensed to one book. In 1948 Elizabeth Orton Jones chose the red cottage and grounds at Pickity Place upon which to base her illustrations for the book :)

What big eyes you have, Grandma!

It is now a very excellent restaurant located practically in the middle of nowhere. At the end of a very narrow and winding dirt road. With a TON of excellent and herb gardens and flowers that reward at the end!

The restaurant has 3 seatings a day, and the menus are fixed almost a year ahead of time. The menu changes monthly, and the same courses are served throughout the month. Reservations are necessary, as it is small (and crowded). Lunch is a 5-course meal, served at 11:30, 12:45, and 2:00. We opted for the 12:45 seating. It gave us time to peruse the herb gardens and take our time as we wandered through them and work up a bit of an appetite.

Herb gardens

Herb gardens (mostly sage)

Herb gardens

Purple peppers

It was a gorgeous day! Could not have ordered better :) Not too warm and not too chilly. Needed a jacket when I headed out in the morning, but it warmed up quite nicely later on.



The food.... wow.... to die for!!! They use their own herbs and veggies in everything. We began with caramelized onion dip and crackers, followed shortly by soup - Arugula potato. A Caprese salad and rosemary olive oil foccacia bread came after. The bread was warm and I could not stop eating it! Then came the entrees: my niece and I had asiago stuffed meatballs over spaghetti squash, and my sister opted for the vegetarian alternative. Summer veggies over grilled polenta (broccoli, portabellas, sweet peppers, tomatoes and summer squash).

They do not serve alcohol, but you are welcome to bring your own. I had 2 wine coolers, which the front desk kindly sent to the kitchen refrigerator while we were waiting, and were served on ice in a lovely ceramic container. Sister and Niece split a few same size small bottles of Prosecco :)

I was already full - overfull! Could not finish my entree (well it WAS 5 meatballs, and made very excellent leftovers!). Then dessert arrived. White chocolate praline cheesecake. With home-made whipped cream and raspberry sauce on the side. Of course I could not resist, and dug in.

It was an awesome gastronomic experience! All the food was freshly prepared, and absolutely to die for. Flavors and fresh herbs were outstanding. I think I had tears in my eyes by the time I was eating the soup :)

I did not get many pix of the food. I know it is a "thing" now, but we were all hungry and focused on the food, company, and enjoying the day. Here are a couple (I did not take).

Caprese salad

Whit chocolate cheesecake

After we rolled out of the dining room, we perused the gift shop. Pickity Place dries (and mixes) and sells a lot of what they grow for the home cook. Along with quite a few other treasures.

Shortly after that, we headed back. It was such a wonderful day, and I loved every minute of it! Made even more special by sharing it with 2 people who mean the most to me - my sister and my niece.

Rolled into bed that night (still full!), but so very, very glad of the day, the experience, and the company. I would love to return.

There is an ash tree that grows on the property. It is 60+ feet tall, and as old as the cottage. A tree well over 200 years old! Now there is another part of Mother Nature one cannot help but awe :)

Ash tree

And, of course, I will leave you with a few of my (in)famous "random" pix!

In the gardens

Gardens

Drying shed

Gardens

Gift shop

Gift shop

Tuesday, September 6 - Small Lighthouses

My niece sent me a few pictures of a small lighthouse, which triggered this post. Technically they are referred to as Cottage Lighthouses, which consist of a small single-story building with a light tower and lantern on the roof. They were quite common in early to mid 1800s; especially in the south. Typically they combined the lighthouse with a small keeper's cottage built around it, next to it or nearby.

My Niece's pic, Maine

My Niece's pic, Maine

Cottage lighthouses were usually built at the end of a pier, on a marsh jog, or on broad shoals and made of wood, which made them very vulernable to the elements. More than quite a few were rebuilt several times up through the 1960s. Not many remain, and most of those which do are in the mid-Atlantic region (Chesapeake Bay area). There are a few still remaining in New England as well :). In more recent times the small lighthouses also served as landmarks, or harbor lights, to mark the entrance to a harbor.

To give credit, there were quite a few cottage lighthouses built on the Great Lakes and the North West Coast of the US as well.

Most are no longer in operation, although a few are.

Lake Michigan

Built at end of pier

In addition to providing light at night, they also served as "Daymarks" to guide mariners into narrow coves from the sea. To that end, they were typically brightly colored or painted with distinct patterns.


To be effective at night, the lamp must be high enough to be seen before the danger is reached by a mariner. The exact height of the light is calulated by a complicated triginometry formula (really - look it up! I got lost after the first few sentences!).

From the website: Sometimes a lighthouse needs to be constructed in the water itself. Wave-washed lighthouses are masonry structures constructed to withstand water impact, such as Eddystone Lighthouse in Britain and the St. George Reef Light off California. In shallower bays, screw-pile lighthouse ironwork structures are screwed into the seabed and a low wooden structure is placed above the open framework. As screw piles can be disrupted by ice, steel caisson lighthouses are used in cold climates.

I leave you with some pictures of Cottage Lighthouses, and I thank my niece for inspring today's blog!

Caisson lighthouse Ogunquit, ME

Cottage lighthouse

At end of pier

Doubling Point, Arrowsic, ME