Saturday, May 28, 2011

I'm home and I think (I hope!) my blogger problems are solved.



I really couldn't have asked for better weather. I may bring my car next time. Not because I did some much traveling but it cost me $60.00 to park my car in a lot for four days while I was sitting on an off shore island. I will investigate the cost for my next trip down there. After I paid the parking lot attendant I began adding up how much money I had spent in four days. I spent enough to buy a ridiculously large flat screen television though what television could give you a live of the sunrise  picture like this.
  
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I know I mentioned that I forgot my camera though I did have use of an older 5 mega pixel camera. It has a limited capacity memory card and I couldn't transfer the shots from the camera to the little travel computer I have. That's the name I give it. It's like a teenage laptop, not quite an adult. So I just couldn't walk around snapping pictures of anything that even mildly caught my attention. On the other hand it was nice to just walk around without carrying anything unless you went into a jewelery/souvenir/tourist cash removal shop. One I found interesting was called Trip to Tibet. A small store run by someone, who to my untrained eye, could have been Tibetan. It was jammed pack with Tibetan and Indian (not Native American) trinkets, charms, clothing, sculptures, art, literature and so on. I bought a couple of things for my sisters. It just seemed odd with all the rest of the shops were selling Martha's Vinyard related items, hats, shirts and so on. This trip was planned on the idea of getting off the island just as thousands of people are getting on. It worked to perfection. The weather was beautiful and there were tourists from different parts of the country and the world. I saw license plates from other New England states, Missouri, Forida, California, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  At a restaurant I talked to a couple from Oregon who were touring New England. They had just come from a stay in Boston.
There were no crowds and getting around was simple. In a way I really didn't need my camera. We didn't stray far from where we stayed the last time and I took plenty of pictures. Not much has changed since last October. There was more sun this time, and more fog. It was part on the charm as well. I walked down to the ocean every morning at 5 or 5:30 and watched the sunrise. Everything was done at a leisurely pace. I did  indulge myself with a very touristy purchase of a Black Dog cap and shirt. The Black Dog restaurant was started in 1971 as the first open year round restaurant on the Island. It gained both residense and tourist popularity which spread with the sale of t shirts. Then there was national exposure when then President Bill Clinton was seen jogging in a Black Dog t shirt. Even more when it was revealed that he had given Monica Lewinsky several items purchased there. The Black Dog now has maybe 8 retail outles in Ma., New England another state. It was and is a restaurant. We didn't eat there this trip but last time I had some lobster ravioli. Wow ! I couldn't tell you much about the sauce except to say that it was as good as any...how should I say this? Intimate adult encounter that I've ever had. I'd bet the all the Ad and Consulting  Agencies could exploit that angle. Imagine the brand names! If this were the early days of Spaces I would imagine some names right now. My friend's meal was equally first rate. The retaurant has a rustic charm and a great view the Vineyard Haven Harbor especially at night.



 






As the days passed it was evident that there were more people arriving still it was far from crowded. As we left yesterday The ferry that was arriving had a lot of people and I'm sure a lot of cars. By contrast the ferry we were leaving on had 3 cars a small asortment of pick up trucks, 3 tractor trailers and 8 people plus crew. As of noon time, when we left, the skies were clear blue and the temperature was about 68. The fog of the early morning had lifted. We soon ran into it after 20 minutes. We slowed to a crawl. The ferry blasted it's horn. We stopped moving. This is the part of the movie where the giant octopus tentacles come over the sides of the ship and capsize it. Nah. Too dramatic. We sat there about 5 minutes, a few more blasts of the horn and we began to move. About a half an hour later we came out of the fog and there was the Woods Hole Harbor in bright sunshine. The dock was crowded with cars and people. We were the only passengers on the bus back to the parking lot. On the road home there was a four mile back up heading into the area we just left. The rest of the ride was easy and uneventful until we got to about 20 miles south of Boston. Before the city skyline was visable we were crawling along just like the traffic heading south. I'll leave out the gory details concerning the rest of the drive.
It was a nice relaxing time. I'm still on Vineyard time. No where to go. Nothing to do. I do have things to do and places I could go but I ain't doin' 'em today.

Now I hope and pray that some of the fancy dance steps I have had to do, including the limbo, I will be able to publish and visit around without any problems.
I'm outta here. 

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Martha's Vineyard has been nice, Blogger... not so nice.

As I mentioned in my last blog, blogging with blogger. is becoming difficult. I took Beth's advice and went to Firefox and I was able, I think to leave a comment on Carole's blog. As I write this I am wondering if I will be able to publish this entry or will I spend the time only to find out that I have hit another brick wall. This is shades of Spaces "improving" things. As we all know they improved it out of existence. I also admit to a certain amount of guilt because of my nearly month long absence from blogger. As I write this I am sitting in in a small patio area  behind the hotel. Today, Thursday, has been overcast all day and is just now clearing up. Apart from today though the weather has been perfect. Cloudless sky and 70 degrees. I did in fact, forget my camera. This is very important if you want to take pictures. I can 't stress this enough. This does not mean that there aren't any pictures. We do have an older 5 megapixel camera, which is fine however I have no way to transfer the pictures to my little teenie tiny travel computer. I did buy a couple of disposable camera's at $12 a whack. I could have bought these at a local (at home on the mainland) warehouse store for about half the price. That's the price you pay for being on an island. Everything has to be shipped over the water. Hence the term shipped. (I include that last statement for fans of the obvious.) 
People are just begining to filter on to the island as Memorial approaches. I am be outta here (Hey that has a familiar ring.) tomorrow. Unlike when I was here in September, it's begining to look like spring break as more and more young people arrive. They are renting motor scooters and there are many more cars here as well. It's still pretty quiet though. I will say that as nice as it has been on this trip I prefer the fall to the spring. There's not a hell of a lot to do. there are two movie theaters and they are still closed. Most every store closes a 6 p.m. Most restaurants close at 8 p.m. This all changes when the population goes from 15,000 resident to about 65,000 including tourist. Count me out. I've seen Cape Cod in the summer. It's a major league zoo.

Well my battery life is on the wane and besides it getting close to supper time. I've done a lot of eating here. I know I've said this a few times recently but I hope to get back to a more normal schedule in a couple of days. May was a very busy month for me starting with my uncles death and a surprise visit from my friend from California.

Ok there are only minutes left to my battery life.
I'm outtra here.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Still having bloggeer problems...

Good morning from Martha's Vineyard. I tried to leave some comments yesterday but was unsuccessful. The weather looked iffy leading up to the begining of this trip including some very thick fog  yesterday during the last leg of the drive to the ferry. However the weather soon cleared and I witnessed a beautiful sunrise this morning. On the down side...I forgot my camera. I have plenty of pictures from the last time however I would have liked to get some clear shots of the cliffs on the other side of the island. Ok Time for breakfast.

For the moment...I'm outta here.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

You might as well ask...

... what  have I been doing? First of all I have had a few days off and I finally got around to starting spring cleaning. The spring cleaning I never got around to in 2010. Gone are my rather large computer desk and equally large home entertainment center along with an old stereo component amplifier, turntable, cd player. 4 speakers, two of which were expensive, costing me $150.00 each back in 1972. I don't know what $150.00 translates in today's dollars but I would never now spend that kind of money for a set of speakers. I'm down sizing. Gone are more clothes. I'm tight on closet space. Once I've found a bed room set that suits me, gone is my old set. I am thinking about a new or very close to new, car. That is a bit off into the future though. I'm going back to Martha's Vineyard on May 22. The hotel is booked. Hopefully I've snuck in before the tsunami of summer tourists overrun the island. It's the same hotel I stayed at this past Sep-Oct. A less than a minutes walk from the ocean.

Getting back to the audio department. I recently purchased a turntable that plugs into your computer so you can convert vinyl lp's to cd's. I forgot how good lp's sounded. I won't get rid of all my lp's but there are some that I would want just a track or two. Those I can part with.

I know someone who is not coming down for breakfast. They finally got Osama. Nice work!

OK I just cobbled this together before supper to let everyone know I'm alive and well. I have company coming for the big Celtics Miami game tonight. I will try and look in on everyone after the game.

I'm outta here.