back at it....

Starting off where I finished that last post on Jeanne's & my last trip to Boston, day 2 is winding down. We spent the afternoon in East Boston, taking the Blue line out to the Maverick Station. We walked along the water (on a road, no beach here), and stopped in Piers Park for our lunch of strawberries and some photos of course.

Clockwise from upper left: Entrance to Piers Park, 2 shots of some reliefs on the pillars of one of the small pavillions in the park, covered benches along the water, giant metal fish sculture on top of a nearby marina.

As it got later, we headed back to Cambridge to wander around the Hatch, and the Charles River Esplanade. Clockwise from upper left: MIT in the background and the Longfellow Bridge in the fore (AKA the Salt & Pepper Bridge due to the pillars looking like giant S&P shakers), love the sunset setting on my camera..getting darker!, lots of people out enjoying the weather and watching the sailboats on the Charles, odd building on MIT grounds near the Kendall/MIT station, Duck boat making its way past with the Hancock tower behind.

Once it got much darker we saw what we had always wanted to and happily snapped away for about a half hour before making our way back to Dunkin Donuts and a long subway ride back to our car, and the drive back to Northampton...

Scrap Your Day #6

September 25th was Jeanne & my 6th month of Shimelle's Scrap Your Day, and we even got to hang out for a bit! We had dinner at the Bluebonnet Diner with the ladies from the bookstore we all worked at before it closed in 2005. I'm so glad we all kept in touch! I talked about the fabulous Scrod dinner I enjoyed in this post. After dinner Jeanne & I headed over to Barnes & Noble to sit & relax while reading a big stack of mags, and enjoying an after dinner coffee.

For the early part of the day I went to Easthampton, MA to see the bears of bearfest 2009. The display was only up for another couple of weeks, and I didn't quite see all of them, but I definitely enjoyed the ones I did see.

I tried to share as many Bears on the layout as I could!

As always click on the photos to see them larger.

More photos to be shared soon!

Vacation, Days 10 & 11

Well, Saturday the 26th was my last full day of vacation. I started the day with my mom at Bruegger's Bagels in Downtown Northampton. After I enjoyed my asiago cheese bagel with veggie cream cheese and a large hot coffee, we headed to the farmers market across the road. It was a chilly but sunny morning. Lots of mums, winter root veggies, pumpkins, gourds and even a few indoor plants for sale. This frog is around the corner from the market.

After the farmer's market we went to the Holyoke mall. I picked up a few fall shirts at JC Penney. We had lunch at 99's (she loves that place!!), I'll eat wherever. I had a yummy shrimp and pasta dish. On the way home we stopped at a small farm stand/gift shop. The llama wasn't too happy, but I took his picture anyway. The Tasty Top was along the ride home from the mall. It has been there for as long as I can remember.

Sunday, I finished my packing, and packed a small box to be mailed back home to FL. There is still stuff in the attic there to go thru, and I always think I'll get more done, but only manage to spread it all out, look thru it, then box it back up. I did separate the tag sale items from keep items in the spare room, so when they have a tag sale, they won't have to worry about selling anything that might have been something I wanted: *cough*huge stack of Duran Duran memorabilia*cough*

Thankfully, the majority of the rain had finally left the Atlanta area for the flight home. What a drenching they had. We did circle atlanta for a bit, for one reason or another and when I looked out my window I saw this sight.

Anyhoo, That ends the vacation blogging for now. I will eventually share more Boston photos, as well as any scrappy pages made.

So for now I think I'll relax in this comfy Adirondack chair, and hope the llama can't spit this far!

Vacation, Days 8 & 9

On to Thursday & Friday of my vacation week. Work has been busy this week, and I haven't done anything more than coming home and just crashing. Hopefully next week I will be more used to getting up early. I definitely plan on going to the Riverside Arts Market on Saturday. The St John's Town Center was calling my name tonight, but I worked a way longer day than I usually do on Friday, so maybe I'll just go tomorrow after the market. Save a little gas that way, too!

Anyhoo.. On (vacation) Thursday, the 24th I didn't do much more than rest and veg around the house. I played with the dogs some in the backyard, and fooled around on the computer, burning cd's of the pics from Boston to give Jeanne on Friday. We share our vacation shots for scrapping, and so that we have pics of ourselves out and about. I took all of 10 pics on Thursday. I went out to lunch with my mom, we went to Webster's Fish Hook, and I had a scrod sandwich with tomato and melty cheese on it. It was very good! On my way downtown, I grabbed a couple quick photos of the bits of foliage that I was able to catch. There are a few areas around my parent's house that change much earlier than usual.

Friday, the 25th was our "Scrap Your Day" day. She reminded me when we met at The Bluebonnet Restaurant to have supper with a few of our former co-workers from a local bookstore we all worked at several years ago, before it closed. I'm so glad we've all kept in touch! Dinner was delicious, Jeanne & I both chose stuffed scrod, with a yummy butternut squash and roasted red potatoes. I believe I ate more seafood on this vacation than I normally eat in a year! Photos from SYD will appear in a later post when we have a chance to collaborate our efforts. But I think I can post this little tease. I can't wait to show the rest!! I'm glad I took these photos, or I would have have a very sad scrap your day!!

Vacation, Day 7

Day 7, Wednesday. This is when we hang out in Northampton, and stay out way too late watching Beau's band (the Beau Sasser trio) jamming away at Bishop's Lounge.

I met Jeanne at her place, and off we went. First to Target, then off to 'Hamp. We wandered about taking a few pics, deciding where to go for supper. A local bar/restaurant has half price appetizers during the week, so it was decided we'd go there. I got a couple sliders, and stuffed mushroom caps. Jeanne had some Chicken Ravioli and Scallops wrapped in bacon. All was delicious. It was actually pretty busy for a wednesday night, which made for some interesting people watching.

After more wandering and picture taking we sat in Starbucks for awhile enjoying a coffee and people watching. It had started to rain lightly, but as long as it stayed light we were good. The band doesn't usually start until about 10-ish, so we get there about 9 or so and start getting our drink on, making jokes with the band and bartender as they set up.

Started out with a Nut Brown Ale. I forget the brand, but was quite tasty, if not a tad heavy. I usually get Sam Adams, but the local microbrew ale's are just as good a choice.

I really thought I could fit more than one day per post, but that's not happening! Onward....

Vacation, Day 6

I need to get a little more caught up here, no? Day 6 would be tuesday, the 22nd, the day after Boston. The day with tired feet, 3 dead camera batteries, and one very full memory card. I spent a little time in the morning sorting thru the 400+ pics I got, weeding out the blurry, duplicate photos and the SP's I looked horrible in. :)

I knew my sister and I would be hanging out later in the day, but didn't know what she had planned yet. I met her in the next town over where she and her husband had a DR appointment after work. Once she got done there we took off and left Scott with their car. She then showed me the tickets to the Big E that they got thru work.

Since she was still not feeling well, we didn't go on any rides, but we definitely did plenty of walking around. We had some good food, watched the rides (which only made her more ill) and poked around the state buildings. I did good on food. I had to have stuffed clams from the Rhode Island Building, and a fresh squeezed lemonade. I only sampled the kettle korn, maple cotton candy, and pumpkin spice ice cream. YUM! Oh and I had to get the fried oreos. Kinda bummed they didn't offer a small order, because there was no way I could eat 7 of those, and they aren't much good when they get cold. Ah well.

These are a few of the rides. Top left is for those who like loop coasters, minus the parts that aren't a loop... Top right is a hang glider ride, kinda neat. If you look just to the left of the ride's name you can see the platform with 3 people on it....Bottom left is the zipper. 20 years ago, my favorite ride, hands down. Also the best place to find loose change falling out of pockets. Bottom right is the swings. I like that ride, but this one is different. Once people are on, it goes up, and up, then the ride begins. Aside from the ferris wheel, I don't like tall rides. The view is awesome, but I rather like something solid under my feet.

That ends day 6...coming soon, days 7-10.

Stay tuned..

Vacation, Day 5 - Boston!

So, day 5....Boston. Met up in Northampton at 7am to get coffee for the long ride out. Stopped to fill the tank, and program the GPS, and off we went. We don't get there as often as we'd like, so I always freak out thinking we'll miss our exit to the T station in Riverside. Traffic was fine til about 20 miles from Newton, then it just slowly crawled along. It took longer to do those last 20 miles than it did for the first 75 miles...

We couldn't have asked for better weather, it was sunny and beautiful all day long.

These are just a few of the bricks that are embedded on Winthrop Lane, There are just over 100 of them total, and I didn't get pictures of all of them. We had lunch in the courtyard of the Boston Public Library (a delicious quiche and fresh greens with vinaigrette), and supper at Dick's last Resort ('gator nuggets).

So, that's just a small portion of the day...I will add more pictures soon. Thankfully, the last few days of my visit were more leisurely and not so picture heavy. We each took just about 400 pics in Boston.

Tomorrow. I'll be flying back home, and I go right into physical inventory at work on Monday. Joy.

Vacation, Days 3 & 4

On to days 3 & 4 of my vacation. I'm a third of the way thru now, and so far the weather has been super. Saturday was sunny and warm. Instead of heading to town as we had planned Jeanne & I went to the Old deerfield Craft Fair. You can visit her blog to see more photos as well! Lots of beautiful crafts, yummy sauces and dips to try, and "shooters" of different grades of maple syrup, from light amber to an almost black one. Definitely the Guinness of maple syrups! I had an Italian Sausage Grinder/Sub and Jeanne enjoyed a stuffed baked potato. We wandered down the street some and checked out the farm. There were sheep coming in from pasture.

After the craft fair Jeanne's husband picked us up and we drove up to Pocumtuck Ridge and admired the view while the guys talked Ham Radio stuff. It was a beautiful view up there! It will be even better to see when the colors have changed!

On Sunday I drove up to my sister's house, and we decided onvisiting the Hadley Flea Market and Atkins farm. They have unbelievably good cider donuts! We were going to carve pumpkins that afternoon, but we ran out of time. My parents were away for the weekend, and I needed to get the pups fed and outside. We got to the flea market late (for the vendors, not us), as most of them were already packing up, but it was a nice walk around, anyway. There's a horse farm right next door as well, and I enjoy watching the horses. We stopped at a couple local farm stands for mums and to check out the prices on other pumpkins.

Vacation, Day 2

On Friday, My mom & I went up to Vermont for a few hours, We had planned to do a big loop, but decided instead to just go up I-91, and make our way back down Rt 5. We stopped at Harlow farm for coffee and a muffin at Cafe Loco, and she got to pick out the biggest pumpkin she could find. I, as usual, amused myself taking odd pics of everthing.







We stopped at the Dummerston Covered Bridge, built in 1872. Several cars in the lot, but noone down by the water, so it must have been a good day for kayaking. I grabbed a couple nice river stones for the trip to Boston.






The weather was sporadic for most of the day, going from cool and cloudy to sunny and hot every 10 minutes. It never did rain until after we got home to go out for dinner.

Day 1 - Sept. 2009

The travels yesterday were a little less than perfect, but since I didn't have to be anywhere important the flight delay/missed connection wasn't too big a deal, just one of life's little inconveniences. I grabbed lunch (at 9:30am) and a white chocolate mocha at Seattles Best, and settled down for the rest of the morning. This is why I prefer the window seat.

On a happier note, my rental car is awesome, way better than the poorly handling Ford Focus I had back in May. This time I got a PT Cruiser! Sweet!

Today mom & I are headed to southern Vermont to drive around and visit our favorite places noted in yesterday's post. She wants to get her pumpkin at Harlow's. :) I thnk we'll be passing through Bennington to catch a couple Moose.

Have a great day!!

Almost time..

Vacation creeps ever closer. I hope I can slow down just a bit and not feel that it's over before it even begins. I don't have the whole 10 days all planned out, so that definitely leaves me some wiggle room at least. There's Vermont on Friday with mom, stopping at one of our favorite places (Harlow's Nursery) and also Walker Farm. Saturday & Sunday I will be relaxing, maybe catch a movie with my sister, and firm up the Boston plans with Jeanne over a coffee at St. Arbucks. heh.

Did I mention Monday was our day in Boston? We've got so many ideas of what to do, pictures to take, and utter hilarity will surely ensue. People see us taking pics of ourselves, and offer to take a pic for us. We politely refuse. Maybe this time we'll let them? Maybe. No shiny, reflective surface is safe from our cameras.

Then we have the Big E. Here is a favorite shot from several years ago. The last couple of years my vacation hasn't properly aligned with it, so this year I made sure it was!

Time to finish packing!

/vacation..

If Wednesday was Wicked, then Friday was

Fabulous. We were thinking of going to a movie, because the weather was so crappy, and the only thing that came to mind as something to do for a good amount of time inside was the Butterfly Conservatory, Magic Wings. I hadn't been there in ages, and along with butterflies and moths, they have several other creatures in cages, or roaming (more or less) free.

Once we got used to the dive-bombing of the butterflies, we just stood still as possible so they would land on us. They definitely like bright colors. We both got some great shots! When we left there (3 school groups full of screaming children later) it had brightened up some, and was shaping up to be a pretty nice day.


Off we went for a drive up Mt. Sugarloaf. The view was awesome & the clouds were high enough that we could see the mountains beyond, and still see pretty far off into the distance. After Sugarloaf, it was off to Jeanne's to pick up her car, so we could both drive to Hamp. I had to be home by 5 to feed and let out the pups, and that would give us at least a whole extra hour in town.

We first went to Local's for those delicious Burgers, onion rings and fried pickles. It was so good, and there was no way we could even finish it all. After that we wandered around Upper Main St, and into St John's Episcopal Church, then up to Smith College for the Greenhouse, Botanical Garden and some fun pictures down by paradise Pond.

We had a blast here, recounting all the memories each of us had in the area. By the time we finished there, it was already time to head back toward the cars. We made stops into Faces (they have the best t-shirts here) and Starbucks on the way, of course.

More pictures to be posted soon!!

Wicked Awesome Wednesday

What a great day we had! The weather could have been a little better, but it also could have been a lot worse. I met Jeanne at her place a little after 2pm and we headed into town. There was so much we wanted to pack into the day, where to start? Starting from the top of the parking garage in town, and just wherever we went there was something to attract our attention. Here are some of the flowers we came across.

We had an early dinner at the Teapot Restaurant, including some Bubble Tea. Here is my Mango Chicken with both of our bubble teas in the background.

After walking around some and digesting that, we decided to stop into the new-ish Local Burgers & Fries place. Wow!! I had an order of regular fries, and were they delish! So good in fact, that instead of going up north a bit as originally planned for Friday, decided to stick around closer to home and go there for lunch! Not only was the food great, the service and people working there were awesome as well. Casual, friendly, fast, reasonably priced, clean. Pretty much perfect.

We checked out the Urban Outfitters, and hung out at Starbucks before heading down to Bishop's Lounge to check out the boys.

By the time we got home it was about 2am. Thursday I had no plans but to relax. Friday is another fun day!

My Vacation So Far..

On Sunday my plane flew into Bradley just ahead of schedule. There was a nasty storm brewing towards the south/southwest, so the timing was perfect. I grabbed a shuttle down to the rentals, and picked up my car. They gave me a Ford Focus. As someone who is used to driving a Toyota Rav4, I don't like it (small cars scare me), but it's better than not having a car. As a consolation, it *does* have Sirius satellite radio. As I was driving I got to see all the familiar sights along the way. Of all of them, nothing beats the sight of mountains and hills. That is one thing I miss, Florida is so flat. One thing I came across that I don't miss: potholes. Holy Moly, the roads on the outskirts of town are just horrible. Driving thru the center of 'hamp I was stopped at a red light and snapped this photo of the Academy Of Music. Great old theater. Since it was getting

late, I decided I should get a move on, and make my way home.

Monday's photos will be shared when Jeanne & I can put our posts up at the same time. I spent most of that day at the Holyoke Mall, Barnes & Noble, and later at a Cruise Night at Atkin's Farm.

Tuesday was pretty much moving from the word GO! I got up, showered and drove down to Dunkin's with my sister, hit wal-mart to pick up snacks for our long session at the Tattoo Parlor, Then it was back home to pick up the other people going (there were 4 of us geting inked that day: my mom, me, my sister, and my niece). We hit the 99's restaurant for lunch and made our way to Guideline Tattoos in E. Hartford, CT for our 2:00 appointment with Steve. In the process of deciding what to get for my second tat, I must have changed the design and/or placement a dozen times. This is what I ended up with, and I love it!

Here is the finished tattoo. It goes all the way around, save for maybe an 1/8 of an inch. When I take off the bandage I can show the rest of it, but this is the main part of the design anyway. The back is all vine and leaves, no stars.

Today it is raining, so it remains to be seen what Jeanne & I will do this afternoon. Tonight is definitely drinks and music at Bishop's Lounge, though!

Skywatch Friday, vacation edition

Time for our weekly view of the sky. As in my last post I had my mom & sister down to visit over the weekend, and we did so many fun things. Most of them right in my own "backyard".

On the way out to Cedar Key, we saw this little farmhouse in the middle of a great big field. I had to stop. If you look closely you can just make out the bales of hay in the background. The ones by the house are a little easier to see. It was a most beautiful day for a drive, that's for sure!

Down by Atlantic Beach there is a very cool old style McDonalds. I love the Arches, and the inside is just as fun. The tables look like surfboards, and the decor is very relaxed and bright, perfect place to have a snack or cold drink after a walk on the beach.

And now for my usual sunset shot. I didn't quite make it down to the ramp in time for this one, but the colors I saw when I started down the road were gorgeous all the same. This one was taken on Halloween night.

Have a great weekend, and don't forget to check

out links to all the other participants of skywatch friday

at the SkyWatch Blog.