Garden Goodness

The first three carrots.  They are earlier than the rest of the crop.  They were just screaming at me to be pulled out!  Next year we must plant the seeds earlier (and more). 

The rest of the garden?  Well, the tomatoes have been delicious and there are still plenty more to go.  We lost a few in the heavy rain and wind over the weekend but there are still plenty.  The cucumbers continue and continue and continue to produce.  We haven't been too successful with our pumpkins.  I'm blaming it on the fact that they are suppose to be some hybrid huge things.  Next year we stick to the boring, even-an-idiot-can-grow-these type.  We have 3 cantaloupes.  One is large enough that it may mature before cold weather!  No broccoli.   If we try for it next year we'll have to be sure to start it earlier and plant it where it will get a lot more sunshine.

All in all, it's been great watching the plants growing from seeds to producing yummy veggies.  "R' has been a super gardener!

The Morning of Irene

And Mango is not impressed.

Although the storm is still not its closest............. 

The Calm Before the Storm

As Hurricane Irene moves up the east coast you can see that Mango is quite concerned.

Nothing like a long nap for storm preparedness.

Before the Storm

Generally speaking I've found that a few days before a major storm there is some rather lovely weather.  True this week and we took advantage of it.  Yes, I suppose that the good weather is given as opportunity to do the preparedness thing for the bad weather to follow...we've done a bit of that...but we took the day off on Wednesday to travel to 'the other Cape'.

The four of us loaded ourselves and some cut flowers into the car at 9 a.m. and headed for my dad's grave at the National Cemetery in Bourne.  As expected it was beautiful weather, not expected was the miserable traffic.  'R' makes fun of my complaints about highway traffic around here (I know, I know, it's not like real traffic in CA). Anyway, mid-week-after-morning-rush-hour and it should have been better on the roads.

This trip we would not be staying overnight at my cousin's house.  They already had company from out of state.  So.....the BIG drive there and back and a tour around all in one day trying to get home before too much night driving yet after Boston rush hour......phew.

We arrived at the cemetery before noon and found that they were doing some renovation work just where we needed to get by.  A slight detour brought us back on track with the first stop at my aunt and uncle's grave.  Then back to dad's.  'A' was surprised to find that her penny was still on his stone (well, slightly off the edge) from when she placed it there last year!  She put it back at top center and added another.  I guess it's 'a penny for your thoughts' kind of thing.

After the cemetery we headed along Rte. 6  west and stopped for lunch with my cousin 'D'.  Then on to cousin 'P's house for a quick visit with her and her family (those out-of-state guests).  By this time it was getting to be mid afternoon and we still had more traveling and stops to make.  Onward to New Bedford where we toured around the south end where my mom grew up and where we made another cemetery stop.  Rural cemetery is where another uncle and my grandparents are buried.  More flowers to deliver graveside and then off again!

Our next stop was to waste some time!  Yep, even though it seemed we had been traveling foreverrrrrrrr, it was too early to finish and head home.  It was only 4:15 p.m. and I didn't want to be on the road north until 5:30ish.  Had to miss that late afternoon traffic around Boston and Boston was only an hour away.  So we stopped at the Friendly's in Dartmouth for a drink  (lousy service!) before heading further west on Rte. 6 to check out the remains of Lincoln Park.

One of the spots where we could see through the fence (The Comet in the background)

Lincoln Park was a local amusement park from 1894 to 1987.  You can read a brief history here.  If you search for "Lincoln Park, Dartmouth MA" you'll find a lot more.  Our family spent many happy days at this amusement park from the 1940's through the 1970's and over more recent years have watched as the park closed, fires consumed familiar buildings and vandals left their marks.  We were curious as to how much would remain.  The answer?  Not  much at all except for a portion of the roller coaster.  The Comet, which lost it's BIG hill to collapse under the weight of snow in 2005 (I think).  When the park closed, all the rides were auctioned off.  The carousel was preserved and moved to Battleship Cove Park in Fall River. MA.  Neglect and fires destroyed what remained of the park's ballroom, rollerskating building, concessions, funhouse and arcades.  As much as the desire exists to discover old, hidden treasures within the off-limits grounds, they are just not there.

All that is left of a spot that brought so much joy.

So after a bit of peering through the chainlink fence for photo taking, we drove back east a mile or so to take a look at the house my grandfather built in the 1920's.  Then on to the highway and home, stopping only to get dinner at our local Friendly's.  It was still daylight when we arrived there but dark by the time we left for the final few miles to our door.

Eats

I rarely write about food.  I don't get very enthused about the subject.  Honestly, I think of it somewhat as a waste of money...just flushed down the...well, kinda literally.  You could eliminate the middle man and just send those bills on their way.

Oh well.

This week has been a good week for food finds.  First we visited a British import store while walking around Newburyport the other day and I found Lyle's Golden Syrup!  It's been a few years since I've been able to locate this favorite.  My grandfather got me hooked on the sweet syrup when I was very young.  Having found a new supplier, I bought two cans leaving one on the shelf for someone equally as fortunate to find it.

The other food doings became finding a recipe for sweet and sour cucumbers.  I remember Rosa making them.  I worked for Rosa and her husband, Aage, many years ago.  Aage was a Danish Masterbaker (Yummmmmmmmmmmy stuff).  Rosa used to make a hot lunch for me every day that I was there.  I particularly enjoyed her Danish meatballs with sweet and sour cucumbers.  Anyway, we've got a lot of cucumbers growing in our veggie garden and it has become obvious that we need to find a variety of menu options for them.  Today was my first attempt at the recipe below.  I just tried them...a bit too sharp.  Maybe I should switch to a different vinegar type?  Or try more sugar?

Sweet and Sour Cucumber
300ml white vinegar
75g caster sugar
1 cucumber sliced paper thin (I used two of our small bush cucumbers)
Combine the sugar and vinegar in a saucepan and heat, gently stirring the mixture to make sure all the sugar dissolves.  Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Cool, then add cucumber and let sit for at least 1/2 hour.  Drain for serving and serve chilled.

Quieter...

just a little bit.

Sunday morning calm in the North Basin

Currently...'R' and I finally finished up ALL the keywork that had backed up over a couple of weeks time.  Nothing like having a month's worth of work appear within one week!  Then....a repair job came around on a pipe organ that 'R' accepted.  That took some time.  I really enjoyed helping him with it and learning about and exploring some unfamiliar workings.

I also found out that the walls of 'my' church looked quite different in the early 1900s.  Take a look past the organ guts at the back wall and you'll see the odd blue/green with gold stenciling atop a border of burgundy and gold.  Unseen in this photo and below the border is a rather cream colored paint.  The two walls in the corner that are hidden by the organ are like this, so I'm assuming that the rest of the sanctuary sported this unusual decor!

Check out that back wall (click to enlarge)!

So right now there are two sets of keys in the shop.  One for new keytops and fronts, the other for some ivory restoration work.  I've started taking apart the 1865 melodeon as well.  Time to get on with it's restoration.

Guilt

Yes, I'm feeling a bit of it as I had promised to post about the Fourth of July.  The most I have the energy to say about it is that it was fun, hectic, and managed to include a massive thunderstorm right in the midst of parade time.

The bandstand colored by a stunning pink and violet sunset

None of the celebrations were called off, even with the storm, and everyone seemed to take all the lightning and thunder without much of a thought of safety.

RFD keeping control over the bonfire at Back Beach

As you have seen, I've included a couple of my favorite pictures. 

Drowning in the Sea of Key

Oh my goodness.

The norm is about a dozen or so sets of keys coming in for work each month.
Today there was a total of 11 sets.  What is today?  The 13th?  So far this month there have been 16 sets!  19 more days left...

I'm tired.

Not complaining (too much) because having work is a good thing.

But I am tired.

 

She Loved Flowers

Here's an email I received Wednesday morning. Changes I made to eliminate names are indicated in a different color.

Hi Deb:

 

This is a difficult e-mail for me.  Sorry to have to bring you the news that your aunt passed away this morning.  "Caregiver lady" specifically asked that we NOT let you know.  I am going against her  wishes since I think it appropriate that you and your mother are aware of your aunt's passing.  I would appreciate it if you would try to not get me in trouble for letting you know.

 

 

All Dressed Up

for Rockport's big celebration of the Fourth.

Watching for the bonfire...it'll be a 36 hour wait!

The today pictures will follow sometime this week.

Yep, Gotta Have One!

Traffic Duty

Thought I'd add this little bit as a follow-up to my last post.

On our drive home from M & M Liberty's photo session at Pebble Beach we met up with a traffic cop trainee.  No utility work or road work, just a random checkpoint along our route.

No choice.  Officer Tom was in the road bringing traffic in our lane to a halt.  He had been watching for a little black pick-up truck and he found us.  I slowed down and finally came to a complete stop as it became evident that Officer Tom meant business.  He approached fearlessly and glared over the hood of the truck.

Not completely satisfied that he had thoroughly checked us out, he strutted over to my window and spoke harshly.  I didn't understand anything he said and he became agitated and made a swift trip around the front of my truck and over to the passenger window.

Before Officer Tom had a chance to further complain, I asked 'R' to be sure he was clear of my truck.
And then we made a successful escape!

STOP!

Officer Tom on the move

Checking us out

 

Heading for the passenger side

Sweet Liberty (thanks for the title 'R')

Some of you may remember that I collect Statue of Liberty memorabilia.  I currently own over 70 souvenir statues of The Statue.  Also you might have noticed that my profile picture has changed from the Statue of Liberty frog, stolen from some long ago magazine advertisement, to my own snowman Statue.  This week I have received two new statues for my collection.  It's amazing that I have only received two duplicates in 25 years of collecting The Statue statues.  The new ones are indeed new to the collection...no repeats this week!

This first came near the beginning of the week.  I arrived home to two surprises.  'R' had received 5 boxes of books and things that he had been waiting for.  Much to my surprise one of the boxes contained a Statue of Liberty magnet and he gave it to me!

The second Statue of Liberty was discovered by 'elizabeth down the street' and it was presented to me, by her, late yesterday afternoon.  Sweet Liberty!

And so my collection grows.  And not just with the finds that I make, but with the thoughtfulness of friends and family.

Pretty Pictures...

from the past day or so.

The sunset from Niles Beach

Massachusetts had some really bad weather yesterday.  Three tornadoes that caused severe damage and several deaths in the middle south of the state. Fortunately not near us.  The storms did provide a brilliant sunset that changed from vivid yellow to orange and then to a multitude of reds and pinks before fading to dull purple then night.

Late night we were surprised with heat lightning.  Veins of lightning intermingling from cloud to cloud.  Sorry...no pictures of that.

Today the weather was sunny with gusty winds.  We headed up to one of my favorite spots...the Moseley Estate...to wander and take photographs.

Another nice spot at the estate.

I found out that the visitor center has several rooms displaying photos depicting 'the' days at the estate including many shots of the original home.

The Main House - demolished in the mid 1900s (estate photo)

Today I took this photo of the 'Main Gate' to the house above.

Also at the center are some photographs of Moulton's Castle which once occupied the eastern end of the estate...Castle Hill.

Moulton's Castle  (estate photo)

The 'Castle' was constructed from wood and painted to look like stone!  It was demolished when the Moseley family acquired the eastern property.  It once sat high overlooking the Merrimack River.

Castle Hill (estate photo)

So we had an evening and then nearly an entire day of out and about with our cameras.  Tomorrow it's back to work.

Memorial Day

Poppies in a  Main Street garden

Busy?

Uhhhhh.  Yep.

After seven weeks of piles of key work, this afternoon I could finally say that there are no keys in the shop.  And that's for the duration of a holiday weekend!  We shipped off a set late today and there are no more expected until mid-week.  It does seem a bit odd.  The new sets coming next week include a rebushing, a keytop job and a major key wood rebuilding/tops and fronts/ bushings/re-leading. 

So I just had to keep busy with something!

Here you see the test assembly for the vacation Bible school 'mini' float. 

The blue canvas will be the backdrop for a jungle scene surround.  The second shot shows the interior (back panel not installed).  I'll take more pictures as the scenery is completed.  And of course a photo of the finished product.

(Oh...and we've got the neighbor's barking dog problem again.  Nice weather, windows open, dog has been barking since before 7 p.m. and it's now almost 9:30 p.m.  I've called the dog officer 3 times in the last couple of weeks.  I'm going to call again tonight...or in the morning.  The neighbors aren't home.  Whenever they aren't home the dog barks.  Last Friday it didn't quit until they arrived home at 10:15 p.m. - from 4 in the afternoon!)

I've Avoided This for Years

Today was the 17th annual Cruise Night at Skip's.

Skip's sign at night

This is Skip's 64th year in business, same owners, nearly same location (they started directly across the street).

End of line to the left and order window is nearly the same distance away once inside!

Anyway, we have always avoided Cruise Nights assuming that the parking would be impossible and the lines tremendously long.  Well, parking wasn't bad getting there a bit early as we did and the line was manageable with a slightly early dinner. By the time we were leaving at 6 p.m. or so the line was longer than I would have stood in for a cheeseburger special.

Just some of the cars

There were about 200 cars on display with more expected to be arriving.  I enjoyed walking the lot and taking lots of photos.  I even picked out a couple cars that I wouldn't mind owning...ahemmmmm...with a frivolous pocketbook.

My 1956 Thunderbird!

All in all a fun afternoon and we are talking about cruising on up to Skip's for some future cruise nights.  (Not to mention the trips just to eat - about every other week).  Only an hour drive each way for a burger and fries!

Expect some more photos in another post.

In the Aura of Black Gold

The un-pink flamingo

We hauled four loads of heavy, smelly dirt from the transfer station to our new veggie garden.  The dirt is called black gold deservedly.  It's darn rich stuff, obviously, well, naturally fertilized.  I was challenged to take a photo of that dark stuff before planting in the morning.  A couple problems arose.  First being that it's dark out...dark soil, dark night...must use the flash...except it's foggy out, too, and that doesn't mix right with flash photography.  So I decided to use the 'good' camera.  The one that manages to shoot decent night scenes with no flash.  Problem number three...this tired laptop won't read the images from the new decent camera.

On to the bitty, tired, old camera and some not so hot shots.  Except for the one on this post.  I wonder what is emanating from that black gold that resulted in that shot!

Because 'R' Just Asked a Question...

I now know that someone else is writing a post about today's trip to Home Depot...so I'll write a bit here...the first and last post (this year) from my old laptop where I have stored NO photos to use.

Yes, we made the trip to one of my favorite stores to get more stuff for 'R's office. Other than flooring, which we priced, enough was purchased to complete the construction phase. It's coming along nicely.

However, since this is MY blog, I'll give some of MY news...work.  I'm swamped with it.  Such a change from the first few months of this year and the last few years!  I don't think that there has been more than a day in the last month or so without at least one set of keys in the shop.  Lately it seems as if there are more than two or three sets going at once.  Currently there are four sets and I've got another arriving tomorrow.  Then there is a HUGE key job that is in the works with a big rebuild shop from the southern part of the US.  It'll be fun to work on it although I think I have majorly under-bid the job.  Well...fun counts for something, doesn't it?Even when it is officially work?

Nearly Nonstop

That time of year never came this year.  Surely a good thing.  That is that there has been no springtime work slow down.  Thankfully 'R' is a big help around the shop.  I can't say as I would be able to keep up with things as well if he weren't here.  I'm not having to put in any of those 12 - 14 hour work days!  So not only has the shop work continued to build in quantity, so has the tuning work.  I'm it 'on-island'.  Seems that tech #1 has disappeared, tech #2 has retired and tech # 3 has a bit to be desired...that leaves me (and some that travel from the Boston surrounds).  I'm liking having the work.  I just need to better arrange my schedule.

Schedule...a tough one.  Juggling 'A' back and forth to work and my tuning schedule and Mom's stuff and errands and time for play.

'R' and I did go to the Fisk Open House on Saturday.  It was my third visit and his first.  I always enjoy taking in all the workshop sights.  A couple typical decorative displays are pictured below.

                                                                                       
Then there are the organ parts and the tools and fixtures.

Lots to see.

Tomorrow brings 'that time of year' around for my computer regardless of the not that time of year work-wise.  Tomorrow my computer will head to it's omniscient doctor for it's annual check up.  I'll be struggling with my slowwwwwwwww laptop for a few days.  I'll still be around...checking in and checking up on all of you.