Tag Archives: New England

Looking Back At April 2009 (Dog Sitting)…

April 2009…A friend of my daughter Deb’s asked us if we’d like to dog sit for their two Labs, Silas and Balou.  So Deb, her dog Chappy and I set out for MV .No matter how many times I go to the Vineyard my heart skips a beat or two when I see the above sign and the rotary welcoming you to Cape Cod. This was our first time sailing on the then new ferry, Island Home. Seven miles and 45 minutes later we touched tire in Vineyard Haven. We were about to start an Island adventure like none before.

100_8616 (2) Here is Deb surrounded by a happy, friendly threesome. Chappy on the left, Balou in the front and Silas being petted. We have never met nicer dogs, they are well behaved, sweet, gentle and loving, patient and fun. There wasn’t one moment that we didn’t enjoy being with them. Oh, okay, maybe when Balou was trying so hard to tell us things and we just were too slow on the uptake… but generally speaking (or woofing) things went very, very well.

100_8636 Except for the weather. Two of the days we were there were wet… very, very wet. And when they said soaking rain they meant it.

100_8646 (2) This picture was taken from inside our dry car looking out at Edgartown Harbor. Wet, wet, wet. It was windy too. And wet.

But there were times of no rain and actuall brilliant sunshine and so off on our walks in the woods we would venture. The 4 leggeds were happy to be out and about sniffing, walking, and being together.

In all too short a time our dog sitting adventure came to an end and it was time to head home.

Chappy is waiting to say goodbye to his new friends. He had a great time with Silas and Balou.

The Island Home is waiting for us and all too soon we are setting tire in Woods Hole and back to reality.

This of course is my take on our dog sitting adventure but Chappy himself made a guest appearance on the blog and really, you should read his… CLICK HERE

Here’s a little bit of what Chappy eloquently had to say:

*’a friend of my mom’s invited us to dog sit… I didn’t actually notice anyone sitting like a dog (except my dog friends) but humans have weird jargon sometimes. I just go with the flow and don’t ask questions.

And….

Oak Bluffs is another of our favorite towns to walk around in.  If you look really really close you can see mom and me standing outside the movie theatre on the corner.  She’s taking photos and I’m trying to keep one eye on her and one eye on gram who wandered off to the other side of the information booth.  Man, keeping them together would be so much easier if they were both leashed.

❤

Weekly Photo Challenge: Rise/Set…

Sunrises and Sunsets

Mine are mostly sunsets as I don’t seem to get up early enough for sunrises  🙂

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/rise-set/

Weekly Photo Challenge: I’d Rather Be…

Prompt:What would you rather be doing?

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Goes without saying 🙂

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Vineyard Februaries…

I’ve been to Martha’s Vineyard in February and I love it.  I love it any time but February is as different from summer on the Vineyard as you can possibly get.

There’s a  cold crispness in the air, the colors are more vivid, the Island is quiet and yet speaks volumes to those who take the time to look, listen and drink in the beauty and wonder that is the soul of Martha’s Vineyard.

February 1989…  a light dusting of snow made everything look like powdered sugar had fallen all over the Island.

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February 1995… no snow that trip but bitter cold. Did not stop me from visiting the Gay Head cliffs in Aquinnah on the western most tip of the Vineyard… or hiking through the woods of Christiantown to visit the tiny chapel there.  (Christiantown link)

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I also experimented a bit with black and white film. From top left… Edgartown harbor, Christiantown stone wall..Sengekontacket Pond and South Beach.

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February 2007… bitter cold, dusting of over night snow, icy ponds and harbors… and brilliant sunsets.

 

 

My birthday is in February and sadly the only one I’ve ever spent on the Vineyard was in 1950 when my beloved godmother, Gertrude Norris passed away. But I’m not anywhere near done having birthdays so who knows what the future will bring 🙂

 

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Variations on a Theme…

The prompt: use your camera to discover the endless variety that one thing can contain. It can be a single photo featuring some visual play on repetition and variation. You could opt for a series of shots showing the same place, person, or object in slightly different light (literally or figuratively, as the case may be).

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Anyone who knows me, or reads my blog, knows that the Bandstand in Ocean Park in the town of Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard is one of my favorite places, and one that I have taken many, many pictures of.  I had no trouble this week coming up with a theme for variation.  I hope you enjoy.

 

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Favorite Pictures of 2017…

I didn’t take as many photos in 2017 as I thought I did, will do better in 2018.  Here are some of my favorites…

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Here Comes 2018…

I have a lot of fun putting together my own calendars, here are the 2 for 2018

wall calendar…  all pictures are Martha’s Vineyard taken in October, except May which is Cape May, New Jersey

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desk calendar… same here, all pictures are Martha’s Vineyard in October, except for Cape May, New Jersey for May…

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Here’s to filling our calendars of 2018 with good memories, good health and good friends 🙂


Weekly Photo Challenge: Favorites…

Define “favorite” in whatever way works best for you. Anything goes, as long as it’s a photo from 2017. If you want to share several images, that’s fine too — a “best of 2017” gallery could be fun if you can’t settle on one photo.

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I have a hard time settling on one picture for almost all of the challenges and this one is no different so here goes… my gallery…

Martha’s Vineyard is up first… I can never take enough pictures of my favorite place on the planet. These were taken in October 2017.

Cape May, New Jersey.. April 2017

And of course one must have a favorite flower picture 🙂

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But I think one of my favorite pictures is the re-creation my daughter Deb and I did of my mother and grandmother from the 1920’s, standing (and sitting) by the statue of Lincoln in front of the courthouse in Newark, New Jersey.

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https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/2017-favorites/


My One Vineyard Christmas…

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I’ve been to Martha’s Vineyard around Christmastime many times but to my recollection there is only one time in my life that I actually spent Christmas on the Vineyard. I was probably around 5 or 6 and my mother and I went to MV to be with my godparents.

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Edward and Gertrude Norris (Nana and Pop) were my godparents. They lived part of the year in their house in Oak Bluffs which is where I spent my childhood summers. The other part of the year they lived in Newark, NJ downstairs in the same house we lived in. They were the most important people in my life besides my parents. They never had children of their own and they thought of us as their family. When my mother graduated from high school on MV she moved to Newark, NJ to live with them and to find work.

One Christmas, in the early 1950’s, when Nana and Pop were elderly, having health problems and living year round on the Vineyard and missing us, my mother decided she and I should go and spend Christmas with them. I was too young to realize this might be the last Christmas for one or both of them, all I knew was that I was going to wake up Christmas morning ON THE VINEYARD. How great would that be. The only glitch was that my dad couldn’t get off work to come with us but he insisted we go. Talk about being torn.

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I seem to remember there was a dusting of snow on Christmas morning… even if there wasn’t I like to think there was.  There were presents… one in particular I remember because I asked for it every year. A nurses kit. It was a white square box with a red cross on the side. Inside were band-aids, gauze bandages, a wooden thermomenter and a stethescope, a name tag… and the most important article.. a nurses cap. I spent the most of the morning bandaging people up whether they wanted to be or not.

All of a sudden I heard a faint knock on the front door !! I ran to open it and let out a shriek… it was my dad standing there with a big smile and a shirt box. A shirt box !! Yes indeed that’s all he had with him. No suitcase. No duffle bag. Just a shirt box with a couple of clean shirts and other essentials inside it. He liked to travel light.

It turned out to be one of the most wonderful Christmases of my childhood.

I am blessed to have the memories of that one Christmas on Martha’s Vineyard and of Nana and Pop, two people who were such an important part of my life.

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….and happy holiday memories to all. ❤


Weekly Photo Challenge: Serene…

The prompt was to share a photo that means serene to you.  I’m sharing two because they both represent serenity to me.  Both taken in October on Martha’s Vineyard standing pretty much in the same spot near the Edgartown Lighthouse.

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https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/serene/