Churches Pier

The weather all week was wonderful. We had to put one night aside for Nancy's Restaurant on Church's Pier. We hoped we could get a table on the balcony and we did as it faces west. I wanted to replicate the wonderful sea scallop dinner I had last year. The pan seared scallops were wonderful, as good as last year. I do have to say that the rice was undercooked and pretty much tasteless. The string beans were equally blah. I give the meal a squatting ovation. Still it did nothing to change the pleasant weather and lovely sunset. We sat right at the railing and behind us was a party of 8. They were yucking it up and having a grand time. They were loud but that was ok. Lots of laughter and good natured teasing. It was fun listening to them have fun. 
  
Here's some video from that night.



This was an unusual combination of businesses. An Asian restaurant/paint store. "I'll have an order of rice with mangled pork, some kung poo chicken thingies and a couple of gallons of patio red." 

 

 

On the third day in I started think that maybe I was beginning to tire of the place. This was our twelfth trip since 2010. We'd seen just about all the sights and I had thoughts that maybe we should give old Martha a break. Then we went back to the cliffs. It was a spectacular day and everything was just so beautiful. Unfortunately though I brought a camera I left the memory stick in the computer so no pics, though I do have many already.

Though I posted this picture last blog it turns out that this house belongs to the guy who founded the Norton Anti-virus program.

A park one block over from the hotel. I would walk here every morning, then walk up to the main road and sit by the ocean for a while, cross the street and walk back up to the hotel.

The weather was outstanding all week and continues so to this very moment. Even though I said I was a little tired of going to the island, by the last evening we took another walk to the above area as the sun was setting. There were some people on the beach. A guy was tossing a tennis ball into the water and his two dogs would race into the water to retrieve it. People collecting shells. A few couples walking on the beach and all of a sudden I was sad because we were leaving the next morning. There were people from around the world and this country. Cars from Illinois, New Mexico and Oregon. Then there were the more typical plates from Massachusetts, the rest of the New England states, New York and Pennsylvania. 

A shop owner told us that last week was the last week before it got crazy with 100,000 people arriving in July and August. We got out just in time. I still would like to go back in September if Arlene's job with the school system allows. Not to mention the financial aspect. Still I am lucky to have been able to afford it and I thank the guy back in 1972 who talked me into my original companies 401k plan. The original company was so good to us.

Ok, this is the last day of my vacation. We are getting ready for a ride to New Hampshire.

I'm outta here.

The week is almost over.

I have to say the weather has been picture perfect except for some rain on Tuesday morning. There are more people here than we usually see because this is the latest in the spring that we've been here. In fact it is really summer now. Store clerks have told us that the real insanity starts next week. Soon there will be 100,000 more people here. If I want to see lots of people I can go home. Still we are lucky to have this wonderful island a little more than two hours away.

We leave Friday morning at 11 a.m. and should be home between 2 and 3 p.m. depending on traffic. With the increase in tourists we have seen cars from California. New Mexico and Michigan as well as the usual New England states, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. As I said the weather has been wonderful. It has been around 72 degrees every day.

Our hotel is one block in.

Across the street.

The porch.

 

 Some shots from driving around.

Sea scallop supper by the harbor at sunset.

So that's it for now. There are videos to put together but that will take some time. For now...
I'm outta here.

Ya know I can tell I'm getting old, or let's say older. I still work 3 days a week, 20 to 24 hours. Working in a supermarket is more physical than one might think, not to mention all the walking. Now I can still work rings around all the young whippersnappers. Then driving home, which depending on the time I leave, can take 30 minutes to an hour. I get back to my sister's house, park along a chain link fence on the side of the house. There's no sidewalk, just grass and it slopes down from the fence. I get out of the car and all the adrenalin from work is gone and my legs are a bit rubbery particularly my left leg that I injured several years ago on vacation.
All of a sudden I feel 15 years older, trying to walk on the sloping ground or it could look like I was three sheets to the wind. I feel tired. I've noticed this in the last year so I guess I can attribute it to aging, then again I'm looking forward to slowing down when I can fully retire in 8 or so months.

So we leave tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. The weather looks good but I have to say checking it often over the last few weeks it's gone from cloudy and rainy to mostly sunny, to a couple of sunny days and rain, and so on. At this point it looks good. If we get to the pier in Woods Hole early enough we may have a good chance of taking an earlier ferry.

I have to say I have had an absolutely horrible diet today. For some reason I had a hankering for doughnuts. Though I admit to having a doughnut every once in a while, for the most part when I wake and feel hungry I make a proper breakfast. Not today. I asked my sister and brother in law if they would like some doughnuts. So out I went at about 8:00. Soon we were all enraptured with the doughnutty goodness that are doughnuts. I ate two, a  honey dipped cruller and a coconut doughnut. No lunch, because that nutritious breakfast carried me through. To balance things out though, I did have an apple. Then it was hot dogs and beans for supper. It's not that I dislike hot dog and beans, I just don't have hot dogs very often because they're loaded with sodium. One nice twist, my sister made a caprese salad which wouldn't normally be associated with beans and franks. Then we all sat out on the back porch started talking like a bunch old farts. Yes we entered old fartdom.
"Look how much energy those kids have. They never stop."
"I hope I remember to bring my knee brace on vacation."
"I had to get up three times and pee last night."

So it's after 10:00 p.m. I have to be up in seven hours. I'm not sure what we're going to do on the island, but that really doesn't matter. It's five days away from here. I will check in from down there.
I'm outta here.      

    

Nine days and counting

I've started this blog several times and have come up empty. What the heck I'll give it another shot. I toured my old apartment the other day. I had gone to Arlene's house and my landlords were on their front porch. We chatted a bit then they asked me if I wanted to see my old apartment. The walls were ready for plastering and today (Monday) and there was a plumbers van in the driveway. So things are coming along. I'm still about a month away from moving back to the house albeit it will be upstairs from where I used to live.

I've been doing quite a lot of  porch sittin', mostly back porch sittin,. Watching the planes climb from nearby Logan Airport. I actually found that sitting alone on the porch on a pleasant afternoon watching the planes head east towards the ocean or west quite relaxing. Wondering how many people were on the various planes. Where they were headed. Here's a quick video, about 37 seconds. Please forgive the dirty lens. I've never had this problem with my other cameras but I've got to learn how to clean this thing properly.  

Vacation is several days away. We both can use it but Arlene in particular needs it. She's had a rough year so far. I hope the weather cooperates but even if it doesn't we won't be around here for a bit. It's mostly a change of scenery and a change of pace. We'll be on the road this coming Sunday morning at 6:30 A.M., and by 9:45 we should be on the island.

My sister has many of my fathers painting and she has a few hanging up as I did. She has many more but they are all wrapped and stored. I took pictures of the ones she had hanging but they didn't come out well. Here are two that came out ok.

Well that's all I got for now. Time to sleep as I have to work tomorrow. Six more days....
I'm outta here.
   

Once again, back online.

Yup, I got kicked off Xfinity again. This time I lost the television service as well. Just the room I'm staying in. Televisions and wireless internet access weren't affected in the rest of the house. Back at my apartment I had the less expensive DSL connection and never had a problem. My sister had to call them again to straighten it out once again. I am not a fan of Xfinity.

Though I have been made to feel comfortable and have the run of the house, I can't wait to get back to my own place. It's one thing to be bored at your own place it's something else to be bored at someone else's place. I have become so bored that I am reading one of my sisters books, a biography of Vivian Vance, also known as Ethel Mertz of I Love Lucy fame. The book itself is interesting, but apart from that and going to see Arlene and working three days a week I am getting antsy to go home. Today (Sat.) the big excitement were low flying planes going right over the house. It was a beautiful day and the planes started around 7a.m. Living near a big city has it's perks but living there also means you live near it's airport. Landing an takeoff patterns change for various reasons. I imagine weather is a big factor . But Saturday morning they were flying over, low, early and often. A little over a minute apart for what seemed like two hours. 

So now it's Sunday. It's overcast and rainy. In all reality I won't be back in my own place until July, but at least one of those weeks will be a vacation week. Now I have to say there have been a lot of laughs while I have been living here. My sister and I have always gotten along and I do get along with my brother in law but he has been the butt of many jokes. He always leaves himself wide open for some smartass remarks. Nothing really mean, but I have had to bite my tongue on more than one occasion. My sister has no such filter. They can be a most entertaining couple.

 

 

So here I am. It's a little past noon on Sunday. In an hour or two I will be heading to Arlene's then we will be heading for a lovely meal at our favorite local restaurant, Raso's. I'm thinking of two of my favorite dishes there, Spaghetti Limoncello. It's made with artichoke hearts, roasted peppers and lemon wine sauce. You can have it with either chicken or shrimp. Then there's Spaghetti Puttanesca made with olives, capers, artichoke hearts and roasted peppers. You can have it with tonno (tuna). Both are delicious, or you could have a burger, pizza, prime rib etc. Then there is a nice selection of seafood dishes. It doesn't look like much on the outside or the inside for that matter. It's on a street that is mostly home to car dealerships, trucking companies and other businesses. Not very picturesque and it leads straight into Boston. It's one of the 4 oldest roads in the city that date back to the early-mid 1600's but the food is top shelf. It's nice to have this quality of Italian food without having to go into Boston.

 

Ok, I'm out of gas. It's time to call the boss.

I'm outta here.