It’s the coast of Maine that is referred to as the rocky coast, but my childhood favorite beaches of Duxbury, Green Harbor, and Brant Rock are nothing if not rocky. I took Charley to Duxbury on a day when the beach was especially rocky and he was singularly unimpressed. But the two of us Brockton kids share a love of the same places, even if we didn’t ever know each other until 70+ years later. So we roamed, got lost, and roamed some more. And had lunch at Friiendly’s which we didn’t realize still existed. They did, in fact, have Fribbles on the menu, but I resisted, this time anyhow. The feature photo is the Scituate light, a place I never saw until this visit. Just up the coast. We have a wedding to go to this afternoon. Imagine the excitement of this morning for the bride and groom. Then tomorrow we will head up the coast to the actual rocky coast of Maine, where we will explore, and probably get lost, some more.
This stone depicts the grounding of the ship Etrusco on March 16, 1956. My friend remembers this happening, but he is, ahem, older than I am so I don’t remember this at all. The ship ran aground during a ‘devastating St. Patrick’s Day blizzard’, and the gallant members of the Civil Defense communications staff in Scituate managed to keep the lines of communication going which allowed all 30 members of the crew to be rescued.I hoped to get another view of the lighthouse, and it’s there, in the center, dwarfed by the ships masts. Kind of a Where’s Waldo thing.Rocks and more rocks.Brant Rock looking north.And again but looking south.The Fairview Inn, where my parents and their friends would go to get away from us kids when we all stayed in cottages at Duxbury Beach for the same couple of magical weeks each summer.I hadn’t realized I had captured an image of one of the watch towers along the coast. Dating from WW2, and in the process of being restored.And two Brockton kids wouldn’t head back to Brockton to meet up with old friends at the Cape Cod Cafe without a cruise through Fields Park. I said I hoped I’d see the swans. That you will see Canada Geese is a given.Just one of the families of swans that we saw.Tower Hill, where many Brockton kids tobogganed down the hill into the golf course in the winter.
At first we didn’t think we had people in common, even though we grew up in the same home town. But my cousin’s husband proved to be the link between my friend and his long-lost best friend from childhood, so our little reunion at the Cape Cod Cafe last night was worthy of a Hallmark movie. It’s so good to be ‘home’…
It must have been in the cards to visit Plymouth yesterday. That’s if finding a good parking space, or any parking space, counts for anything. This is a beautiful place to visit, even when you don’t manage to cross the street to the charming shops, or perhaps that means another visit is in order.
The Mayflower II, on display near Plymouth Rock.You don’t grow up in MA without knowing who Massasoit is. Chief of the Wampanoag Indians who made peace with the English settlers and taught them the fishing, planting, and cooking skills that helped them survive.This structure houses the rock. I overheard part of a talk given by a ranger in which he explained that the rock was an important part of life for the Pilgrims as this meeting place was where they came to share information among themselves and their children.The rock.Across the way is the wharf where we ate dinner the night before, and where we walked to in order to try another bowl of clam chowder. I liked the second one better but my friend disagreed.I loved the painted shells along the path.My friend visited Plymouth with his family often when he was a kid, more so than I did, so he feels more nostalgic about this place than I do. It’s so nice to be here.
Day two had us waking up to news of the flooding and storms in the Midwest, and I wasn’t so sure that we wouldn’t have to drive right through that weather. We did, but only for a short time and then we seemed to be skirting it as we continued. The weather on day three was great, and we reached our destination just in time to enjoy our first bowl of clam chowder in Plymouth, MA. Two tired people walked out of the restaurant and into some beautiful sunset color, and there we were without our cameras, but the best camera is the one you have with you and we are never without our iPhones. Looking at the photos in the iPad this morning and I was amazed. I hope they look as nice to you.
Boats and water, which we see all the time in Florida, but somehow it just screams New England.I’ve forgotten if the ship is the Mayflower 2, but you see it’s masts breaking the horizon line.Oh my, tired as we were I knew we had to enjoy this view for a little while.I liked this little bridge.Boats were returning to the launching area, but others were just being put into the water also.Such pretty clouds.And finally it was time to get some rest.
Day one, the good news and the bad news. The good news is that the air bags didn’t go off. So I could see as I held onto the steering wheel for dear life when the 18 wheeler in the lane next to mine ahead of me hit a huge piece of truck tire laying on his lane of Rt. 95 and sent it flying into us. It happened too quickly to panic, and I was in heavy traffic so swerving wasn’t an option. But things seemed okay so we didn’t try to pull over at that point, and then I tried not to think about what might have happened, but didn’t. Eventually we reached our day’s destination and this is what we found. I’m not happy, but I am so thankful that it wasn’t worse.
I’d like to think it’s not a big deal repair, but I guess we’ll see.
I must have seen the billboards with the legend about the live baby alligators before, but they stood out to me this trip. Possibly because I wasn’t driving at the moment. That could explain how it came to be that the only time I saw an alligator in my neighborhood was in Baltimore. Never in Florida.
It has taken me all this time to notice that the kids on the playground in this neighborhood get to teeter-totter on a dragonfly. How fun.
The usual suspects seem to line up in anticipation of the sunrise every morning.My plumeria cuttings are benefitting from my gardening skills, better known as benign neglect. There were three cuttings in the right hand pot, but two didn’t make it. The third one is holding it’s own.This kitty was feral, but she has adapted to family life very well. I think she knows something is up as we pack our bags for a trip north to a wedding. But she loves her kitty-sitter so she won’t miss us too much.
I usually try to stay under the radar, for the most part. The fact that I write this blog is something that I’d have bet money against myself ever doing, if anyone had suggested it when I was young. I suppose the fact that I can write in the dark and quiet of a morning while I drink coffee is what makes it feel anonymous, and therefore allowable. So imagine my surprise to discover that my household has been the talk of the neighborhood lately. There has been some comings and goings at my house for the last week while I had a minor bathroom remodeling done at my house. While the handy men worked on the bathroom I unloaded various and sundry items that have resided in my shed since I bought the house, making room for my trike so it doesn’t have to live in my car all the time. Twice a week trash pick up was a blessing. It took both pick ups last week to get rid of all that I put out, and then sweated out whether they’d take it and if they didn’t then what was I going to do. Only they were terrific, they took everything, including the toilet that has driven me crazy ever since I bought the place.
Have you shopped for a toilet lately? You have so many choices these days. Round bowl or elongated? Slightly higher seat, or not? Able to make an entire bucket of golf balls disappear in a single flush? Or if that’s too much you might choose the one that will send 6 billiard balls into the sewer system. I would think that either of those last two options might have a tendency to backfire on you, but that’s just me. I now have a nice, level floor with fake marble tile on it, plus a toilet that flushes just what’s necessary and no balls of any kind. I am a happy camper.
So while I was home I got myself out for some sunset and sunrise pictures, taken with my camera and also my iPhone. But since I didn’t have my computer with me I never looked at the photos from my camera until today, and I had already posted iPhone pictures from those outings. But I found a couple I could use, as I get myself and my camera ready for the next adventure.
A foggy morning at Bayport, taken as an HDR in the camera and it couldn’t be worked on until I got back to the computer.There was a nice moon out that morning so I took a picture of that too. Since the camera was set for HDR it took the three shots even though I have never had Lightroom actually process a photo of the moon into HDR before. I’ve tried many times. It usually says it can’t be done, the images aren’t identical or something. But this time it worked.
The neighborhood news was that it was suspected that I was having my house worked on because I was going to sell it. I hope they weren’t looking forward to getting rid of me because I’m not selling. I might even think about working on the kitchen, I’ve always wanted to ‘do’ a kitchen…
A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens 