“Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.”
― William Shakespeare, Sonnets
Well, it’s the last weekend of summer (unofficially). Kind of a bummer, but can’t really complain. Had some really good times, and got to see some neat things this summer. Had some great times down the Cape, and saw some strange sites down in Spring Lake. Now will be a time to buckle down a little bit and focus on some other things for a while.
When I went to go walk by this place, I didn’t realize they were doing all this construction and restoration work around it. Still, a rather cool edifice.
Here’s a couple of pictures from last year’s Schooner Festival up in Gloucester. I literally took hundreds of photos that day of which here is only two. I really need to go through those because I probably have some other great shots of the various schooners sailing about the harbor. The next one is in a couple of days but I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to make it. If not, I still have these to look and marvel at. It is pretty cool seeing them all together like this – they race them later in the afternoon against each other.
Here’s a shot along Boston’s Fort Point Channel. The small red building on the left just past the bridge is where the Boston Tea Party happened all those years ago. At the very end of this walkway is now a Starbucks coffee shop. Been kinda busy this week with other things hence the lack of updates!
Ladydoc got an iPad recently so I’ve seeing how this page displays on that device and I got to say, it looks pretty amazing. I feel it kind of makes my photos stand out better. Not sure how it looks on a Android tablet. I guess the better your display, the better they look is the bottom line.
Did you know the shortest suspension bridge in the world is the footbridge that crosses the swan boat lagoon in the Public Garden? I actually just learned this from picking up a book about Boston’s littler known facts from a Little Library outside the Legal Sea Foods in Newton where we had lunch yesterday. I had not been back to that spot in years – they did the place over, looks pretty good!
I’d have to say the Seaport area is my go-to favorite place in Boston, naturally. Anyways this afternoon we’re going to a watch party to see the horror movie “It.” One of the hosts was to scared to watch it with us in the theater when it came out but is willing to watch it on their big television screen. She’s not much into scary movies apparently. We’ve already seen it when it first came out but are going to watch it again to get ready for Part 2 in a couple of weeks, which I think she said she will gusto up and join us for!
Spent yesterday in Boston so I brought along my trusty DSLR to see whatever I could see while I was there. The great thing about Boston is it’s so historic and I love the seaport area so I feel it lends itself to some great shots. I’ll be uploading more pictures in the coming days so stay tuned. It also just happened to be that they let Old Ironsides out for a spin so I have a bunch of those coming. My legs are a little sore from all the walking I did yesterday though!
Went to Fenway Park last night as part of a work outing. Started pre-gaming at the Landsdown Pub, where we got free shots of rum, which lead to us getting free t-shirts advertising said rum, and a possible social media shot that I haven’t found yet. More later…
Anyone who’s followed me for a while knows that I just love visiting lighthouses. I’ve climbed them, read about them, studied them, and love them. Some of them are really crazy feats of engineering in the placement of some of them – they have a beauty to them, a light to guide seafarers. They can also be death traps for the people who had to run them (nowadays they’re mostly run all automatic though). Plus they’re along the sea – usually on a rocky coast.
Lighthouses are rich with symbolism and conceptual meanings. The lighthouse illustrates concepts such as danger, risk, adversity, challenge and vigilance. But it also offers guidance, salvation and safety. Lighthouses symbolize the way forward and help in navigating our way through rough waters. Nothing else speaks of safety and security in the face of adversity and challenge quite the way a lighthouse does. I guess that’s really why I love them. Stand up to the the storm! I’m going to need to – I got some cryptic news today that might not be great, but fingers crossed.
Decided to hit the beach this afternoon. I was jonesin’ for some wave time. Thankfully and somewhat strangely the beach wasn’t all the busy and it was such a perfect day for it too. The tide was just right, the waves were just right, the water temperature was just right. Everything came together awesomely and we had a really good time. Afterwards we found out that Green Harbor is only less than a mile away so we hit there afterwards and dined on some seafood.
So this morning I decided too sit out on the patio early this morning, just sipping my coffee and chilling out when I turned my head to see Brazen Bunny staring back at me from the concrete patio stairs. “Come to get seconds?”, I thought to myself but ignored him basically and went back to my crossword puzzle. Over time I notice this bunny filling its mouth up with grass and straw and running over the the corner of the deck back and forth next to the hydrangea that is there. I believe it is building a nest! Strange thing is this nest location is not all that hidden, basically in a corner just a bit under the hydrangea but in an easily photo-graphical location. So in a couple of weeks or so we may have some more babies to check out!
While cleaning out my stack of old CDs I happened across a classic I had totally forgotten about. It’s the soundtrack to the movie classic “Better Off Dead.” I’m going to listen to this again and re-live the magic.
Woke up this morning, and as I like to do, grabbed my coffee and headed out to the back deck to enjoy the cool morning air. I noticed something stirring going up the stairs, at first I thought it was squirrel – they’ve been known to climb up there. Once I even saw a chipmunk or two climb them. But lo and behold to my eyes it was neither of those. It was this little guy, who I’ve chosen to name the Brazen Bunny. Needless to stay he didn’t hang around long, but I watched him silently sniff around, take a taste of a few things, and then hop back down the stairs and take a bath. And then he was gone. I looked at what he was attempting to investigate but I didn’t see any damage to anything so maybe he was just nosy. Never a dull moment around here.
The cookout went pretty good I thought. I grilled up some chicken, hot dogs, burgers, and corn. Nothing too extravagant. I was pleased that my items come out pretty good – grilled to perfection if I may be so bold to say. I’ve become quite the grill master over the last year or two. LD put together a wonderful salad to go with. My mom was very appreciative and enjoyed the little break and change of scenery and conversations. I also had a good time last night at my belated birthday dinner. We had a lot of laughs – especially over things that we had said and done over the last week or two in catching up.
Well, I jumped on the bandwagon for this one and this afternoon partook in the trying out of an Impossible Whopper at Burger King. I had heard of this thing for about a week now so I was curious to try it myself and see just how it is. And you know what? I actually liked it. It tasted just like a regular whopper to me. It is more expensive and the patty is plant based meat substitute. So I give it a thumbs up. I would get it again.
Sean the Pumpkin Vine is really starting get long – will we get a real pumpkin out of it? Fingers crossed! We did get the flowers already. Also been watching the 90210 reboot. It’s actually not really a reboot, but a story of the actors from the show getting together to do a reboot of the show. Pretty Meta – it’s actually not bad, I find I’m kinda digging it. I never saw the originals anyway.
Got a new puzzle game to rack my brain on: Landfill. I like it, but I do find it challenging.
I decided to ride the newer bike into work today. I can’t believe it’s been over a month already since I last rode in general. Schedule just didn’t allow it, either due to weather, or other things I had going on. Anyways on the way back I happened to stop by one of those Little Libraries near Davis and scored by picking up a little book on how to repair bicycles. Might come in handy one of these days. Then after getting back on the trail I happened to notice this birdhouse just hanging in a tree. It’s probably been there for quite a while but I just noticed it today. I was rather impressed with it. Whoever built it did a really good job!
The more clouds you have in your sky, the more colorful sunset it will be.
Might expand on some activities we did later – just getting them down so I don’t forget: Popcorn Park meeting Angel the Pig (sponsored), Riverboat sunset and fireworks cruise, hanging at the beach (Long Branch/Spring Lake), watching a storm come in over the beach, Staying at an old Inn in S.L., Checking out Seward Johnson’s work statues (had seen his stuff before at Grounds for Sculpture (Link pic) and wildlife in S.L., Pooling it in Belvidere, staying at a new boutique hotel where we couldn’t figure out how to work anything, Italian dinner in Sea Girt, Motorcycle Rally on I-80, birthday one on one at Tabor’s, checking out BH90210 in S.L., Playing soccer, Crazy Diner looks, more…
Spending some nice time at the beach today. Going on a cruise to see some fireworks tonight. Even spent a little time at Popcorn Park Zoo this morning.
Another shot from yesterday along the boardwalk in Spring Lake, NJ. Not to worry though, today is nice and sunny again – Imma gonna hit da beach!
Taking a little break by heading down to the Shore. Made great time and didn’t really hit any rain until we were in for the evening. Had a nice lunch over in Long Branch and it started looking ominous there, but then we went south to Spring Lake and the weather was pretty good for the whole afternoon. We only hit the rain after having dinner at a great Italian restaurant we like in Sea Girt.
I love being near the ocean. I like visiting places that lie along the ocean. I don’t think I could live anywhere that is not a short drive from the ocean. There’s just something about the sea air, the sand, the waves lapping up against the shore. I’ve been to the mountains and they are majestic but I just don’t get the same feeling of contentment there that I do by the ocean. Not necessarily the beach as that can be a another animal altogether, although it also has it’s place. Just watching the water lap up against the rocks is enough for me. I’m glad I was able to find a person who shares those beliefs and even introduced me to so many more.
