Blog Break

Hi Readers!! 

Bill and I have decided to take a little late Summer blog break. 

We hope everyone has a safe and happy Summertime!!

Step away from the horn....

This picture makes me angry.  Jennie was given drum lessons this Christmas.  A great gift, if I do say so.  She hasn't signed up for them yet.

But given a chance to blow the euphonium in any old strangers yard, she takes to it like a baby to a teat. 

Jennie don't you blow....

Jennie don't you blow ... 

Jennie don't you blow your hor-or-orn

I won't be satiated until Jen is drumming like Will Ferrel in Step Brothers....

Olympic Date Night

Last night I had my monthly massage and then Bill met me at Glenn's.  I had dinner while he had a beer and we watched the Olympics.  Who knew beach volleyball could be so compelling?  I always say that I don't like the Olympics but put me in front of a screen with any sort of competition going on and I can get pretty engrossed.  Anyone else watching the Olympics this year?

Birthday Spirits

Look who came to visit on Saturday!!  Whitney and Aaron…with special guest Oona!  

Whitney was smitten.

I was also smitten…with the birthday treat that Whitney and Aaron brought me.  What do you suppose it is?

Wine!! I love it!!!

Whitney and Aaron hand selected 6 different bottles of red and bought two bottles of each - wrapped in coordinated tissue paper.  As I unwrapped each bottle they explained why they chose it.  Leave it to Whitney to know pick the perfect gift.

We spent the afternoon on the patio…after a few hours, Bret, Zoe and Oona headed home while we had dinner and got ready for the evening entertainment.

We headed to the Church yard lawn for our annual view….

Fireworks!  Happy Yankee Homecoming everyone!

Olive You, Mummy!

While we were on the lefthand side of Massachusetts we scooted over to Albany to check in with the mother of the bride.  Our afternoon activity was grocery shopping - loading up on staples like celery, carrots and olives.  We were amazed at the sheer volume of olives she purchased.  This is just the first in a series of visits to various olive bars that we made that day.

In the evening we had dinner with Heather and Andy.  I was hoping to see AJ and family as well on this visit but he has been slaving away at his new job managing a doggy daycare/grooming/boarding emporium.  Apparently he is the only one who can take care of business and is frequently called in for last minute emergencies.  Heather also has a new job - she was just given her own Cumberland Farms store to manage!  Add to that the fact that Andy starts high school this fall and there is a lot of change happening in the greater Albany area!

Nothings says family like a picture of you puking on your great grandmother.

Dinner was better than it looks in this shot.  I'm not sure why Heather is displaying a plate of carnage.

We ended our visit with Bill taking on the role of Mummy's personal cobbler.  The sole of her shoes was coming loose and I was worried she was going to trip on them but Bill and some super glue saved the day.

Berkshires or Bust!

Thursday afternoon Bill and I took a road trip.  Unfortunately we took the slow road because the traffic was horrific.  Our destination was the Berkshires to watch a Slate podcast being recorded.  But it was not to be.  It took Bill over an hour just to get from his office to my office and we could not make up the lost time.  So we accepted our fate and figured at least we were getting away for a little overnighter.

We stayed at this bed and breakfast in Pittsfield.

I wish this picture wasn't quite so dark.  The house was gorgeous.  

I had serious porch envy.

Dinner was delicious - - Salmon (me) and gourmet mac and cheese (Bill) at a little place called The District.  They had a local artist's works on the walls.

I was seriously tempted by this one but I kept myself in check.  

When we got back to the bed and breakfast we sat outside for a bit while Bill smoked his cigar - - and realized we saw a bat flying all over that big open room!!  We managed to get in and upstairs without it getting in our hair (the universal fear about bats).  The owner had to shoo it out a window after we went to bed.

When we got back to the Port we found that someone left us the biggest zucchini we've ever seen.  And a couple of onions. We think it was our carpenter, Greg, but that is still unconfirmed.

How Slow Can You Go?

One of the Yankee Homecoming events that I've never been to before is The Slow Race.

Cyclist sign up to see who can be last over the finish line.  There are multiple heats so I didn't stay for the whole thing.  There was a costume element and I'm pretty sure this was one race that "Trump" deserved to win (I never thought I'd say that sentence.)

Picture-wise it's had dot capture people going slow.  You can see that they are twisting their wheels to keep from falling over.  The guy in the yellow had suspiciously low tire pressure causing a loud chorus of "Deflate Gate!!"

Once i saw this kid I figured I saw that winner.  He had it nailed.  Half the time he peddled backwards and just rolled a fraction of an inch forward. I'd be surprised if anyone was slower than him all night.

So since the slow race is a bit mediocre I'll also post a few pictures of friends.  First up - a book girl meet up in Harvard Square.  Fabbie Dawn, Elizabeth A, Callie and I spent many hours chatting about books and life one night last week.

Then it was lunch last Friday with the ginger member of Team Strunkin.  A Facebook memory came up that day to show us that we were together in 2015 doing a farm to table dinner on that very day.  In that spirit we over ordered and did tapas from the starter menu.  Fried cheese was involved.  Everything is better with fried cheese.

Kitchen Tour (Part 1?)

One of our favorite events during Yankee Homecoming is the kitchen tour!  I think it's been well established that I love nosing around other people's homes.  It's my hobby - other people knit or do yoga.  I like to walk through people's homes and picture myself living there, judging their taste thinking about what I would do differently.

Anyway, the tour….

Mr Dibley came on the tour with us and looked quite elegant in front of this bowl of irises.

This house had a beer tap on the back deck.  Will this be our next addition to the patio?

I like the skull on the wall.  By the way, I haven't adopted the "caption after the photo" methodology.  Sorry, Jessica!!

Love the toilet paper dispenser in this nautical powder room!  

Have you noticed that I haven't posted a picture of a KITCHEN yet?  Frankly, they were dull.  Mostly white cabinets, granite counter, stainless steel appliances and clear glass subway tiles.  Doesn't anyone want to do something different with their kitchen? 

Dibley was quite happy with this Dibley -sized patio furniture.  Why would anyone have two mini chairs and an umbrella on their front lawn?

The best house was on High Street - - directly next door to the house that Bill and I first lived in when we moved to the Port.  Except we lived in one room and a kitchen and this place was a mansion.

The view of the yard from the back of the house:

The kitchen.  NOT white!!  Yippee!!

Blue cabinets!!  Green tiles!!  Soapstone sink with backsplash!!  Different!! I love it!!

The view of the house from the yard.

We went into about a dozen houses so this is only a fraction of the pictures I took but it was getting hard to load more shots into one post.  If tomorrow is a slow blog day, you may see Kitchen Tour part 2.

Talking Houses

This is Yankee Homecoming's version of Pokemon Go.  80 houses around the Port wrote up some facts or history of their house to show around town.  You print out the map and start hunting them down.

Jen has started taking pictures of some.

(I'm using the Jessica method of commenting after the picture.  Trying it out for size.)

Current homeowners have lived here since the 1940's?!  That's either amazing or very sad.  What if it's an old married couple and on the 75th anniversary in this house they decide they are sick of it and go live in a yurt in Acadia.  

That would make me happy.

How did you become a ropemaker?  And when did the family ropemaking business begin to fail?  That would have been a difficult conversation.

'Father, I have something I'd like to discuss.'

'What is it boy? And why are you wearing that shirt with the puffy sleeves?'

'Father, I am going to become a Flamenco dancer.  I leave for Andalusia tomorrow.'

'But SheepShank, who will run the family rope business?  You know you are next in line after after your brothers MooringHitch and DoubleFisherman.'

'I wish you didn't name us all after knots.'

And why is this font so small?  Who thought using Helvetica 12 pt was appropriate for a sign you should be able to read from the car?

There is an 'Old Johnson' joke in here, but I'll leave it alone.

And the cousin story is wrought with potential scandal.  Might have been better to use some discretion on that point and not share it with your neighbors.

The golden cock was stolen!

Again, embarrassing story they might have wanted to keep to themselves.

And again, who can read this?

Luckily the golden cock is up again.

Friendly ghost story?  I want to hear more.

Jen and I were too late to join in the house talking fun.

We don't know the history so we were going to make something up.

We thought about incorporating a brothel, but the stolen cock would have one upped us.

Art on the Mall 2016

It's the first weekend of Yankee Homecoming - a week (and 2 weekends) of events all through out the Port.  One of our favorites is Art on the Mall.  Dozens of local artists set up tents in the Mall to show and sell their work.  Laura, Bill and I walked up as soon as it opened Saturday morning.

I don't think we're really supposed to take pictures of all the art since these people are trying to sell the pictures but I snapped a few on the sly.

Like by taking selflies…where art just happens to be behind me (along with Bill and Laura).

Bill and I were snapping selflies all over.  

But lets really take a look at the art.  This was one of my favorites.  Ok, maybe it was my favorite.  I'm not sure the iPhone picture does it justice.  The door of the water in the marsh was exquisite.  An amazing bluish green that contrasted with the maroon grass.  I'm pining for it as I type.

Instead we went with Bill's selection - which I also love.  Bill has a turned me on to pictures of telephone poles. 

Look at how happy he is!! How could I deny him his favorite painting?  Art on the Mall 2016 was a success!