Enough Grief

It hasn't been a great summer so far.  Death of a friend, although not unexpected as he was 98 years old, and bad health news from my dearest friend.  A is struggling with depression, she hates it here, hates her life.  She does manage to get herself moving for meals and for work, but that is about it.  She really needs to take her talks to her therapist toward this.  Mom's dementia continues to worsen and I find it very discouraging and tiring to try to keep up.

And then...

My neighbor (the one I've written about before) hits me with the most humorous accusations.

To preface:  Her husband, a very hard working gentleman, has been trying to neaten their yard.  Last week he evidently did some digging out around the area where he parks his truck next to the fence.  As I was sitting in my den window, about 20 feet away, I heard him shoveling rock into place.  I looked out the window just as some of the crushed rock shot under the fence and into the grassy area next to our back drive.  So...

The other day I was out weeding the veggie garden and along the stone area where I park.  It dawned on me about those stray stones.  I thought, gee, while I'm out here I'll go check on that.  I don't want to get hit by them when I next weedwack along that edge.  I worked my way along the drive, picking up the bits of crushed rock and gently tossing or placing them back under the fence to join the others he had shoveled.

Minding my own business.

Finished and looked up as I was to walk back down my drive.  There she stood...arms crossed in front of her.  Her comment at my shrug?  "You don't have enough stones so you have to steal ours?"

I laughed and responded that she must be joking.

She wasn't.

She proceeded to accuse me of trespassing...as she stood in my drive!

I gave up on trying to be reasonable and headed back inside.

Some Recentness...

...for those who don't do Facebook.

Last night was Illumination Night in Rockport.  For those of us who venture amongst the mobs in town, it is an opportunity to go wild with photo taking.  Thank goodness for digital, can't imagine the expense this household would rack up if we were still using 35mm (I do prefer it though).  Anyway, some severe editing and I'm posting a few shots here.

lanterns hanging in Barletta Park (and throughout town)

A view from our spot above Back Beach

Sometimes the most fun about fireworks is trying to photograph them!

Lots of action

There were dozens of boats anchored in Sandy Bay to watch the show.

Some more subtle than others

Red at night...sailor's delight.

Other-Planetary-Ish

The Bite of Snow

All that's left to be seen of the porch railing.

Well, that was a very strange storm.  After all the hype, it was sort of a fizzle.  We did get about 15 inches, and the winds picked up today.  It's gusting so violently tonight that the snow is swirling hard enough to sound like animals scratching to get in the house.  We've also experienced a strange phenomenon.  We have so much condensation forming at the end of the duct work for the bathroom vent that it is leaking in to my kitchen ceiling.  That's a first!  I think all shall be fine once the temperature moderates a bit and/or the wind calms.

Snow carried by the wind.

Today's pictures were taken at sunset from my mom's den window.  Mother Nature being weird.

Back When

Our new normal?  Under all that is a wishing fountain and part of a store.

It was a bit easier...no make that a lot easier...on the nerves to not know when a major event was about to happen.  Sure, nowadays it is safer to be prepared.  But this next storm thing is spooky.  We've got CNN and at least three other networks in town because "we are supposed to be one of the worst hit areas".  I don't want the notoriety, thank you.  I don't want to go to bed wondering what things will look like tomorrow morning.  I know all will eventually be fine and get back to normal, but in the meanwhile we have a No Drive/No Park order from 5 a.m. tomorrow morning until 5 p.m. Monday night.  This is mostly so that they can plow and do the massive clean up without having to work around nosy people.  A $250 fine, I hear, if you decide that you are too special to have to abide by the rules.

Maybe I could just go to bed tonight and sleep until, oh, Monday noontime?

A major thank you to our DPW, the National Guard, and everyone else who will HAVE to be out in it.

Friday the 13th Is a Great Day

Why?  Because it wasn't snowing.

At all.

Do you think that one of these days I'll not have any new snow photos to post here?  Some of you have seen these on that other site.  If you have seen them, you are excused from looking at them again.  If you haven't, and can stand yet more snow pics, carry on below.

Italian Ice?  No thanks, cold enough.

I don't think that he had the following images in mind.

Darn cold.

They keep piling the snow just above the beach.

The loader on top of the pile keeps moving the snow to the beach. Over and over, day after day.

Me on the back garden (haha) walk, after the third major dig out in 2 weeks.

More for the Anti Facebook Crowd

Photos of storm number two.

Yesterday they brought the big snow blower to widen the road.

This morning looked like Tuesday morning, just less room for snow.

By mid day they had brought in the big equipment to get a bit ahead of things...helped for about 15 minutes then you couldn't tell it had been around.

Guess I'll be digging out the oil fill, bulkhead, and deck again.

Tonight we got our own snow pile.  That's supposed to be Dodd's Lane on the other side of it.

Even the articulated loader has a difficult time trying to pile it higher and higher.

So Facebook Isn't Your Thing

That's okay, I understand.  I tend to do more quick posting with Facebook and many of my photos end up over there.  Over there...as if it is truly a place.  Anyway, I thought some of you might like to see what has caused me physical agony over the past few days.
We had a blizzard last Tuesday.  Approximately 30 inches of snow, wind gusts to 65 mph.  I've been shoveling and shoveling and digging and digging.  We had another couple inches last night and on Monday we are supposed to get another load of the white stuff.  Probably somewhere over another foot of it.

The view as I headed for morning coffee.

Read my lips....t.i.m.e.t.o.m.o.v.e.s.o.u.t.h.  We used to talk about putting a space heater on the bow of our boat and heading south, not stopping until someone asked, "What's that thing on the bow?"  Well, we did eventually move to Florida and.....
I loved it
Someday.....In the meanwhile here are some photos of the snowy northeast.

The back fence and the back of my truck got rather drifted in.

Pretty curl of snow off the truck and fence.  Should be little snow surfers!

Back drive almost dug out.

The snow pile from plowing (near the end of our back drive).

Back garden path shoveled to the deck and bulkhead (workshop) and most importantly to the oil fill.

Fun with sun?  I found the bulkhead under a four foot drift.

Some people in town had more energy left than me and built a snow shark.

And now..may Monday's forecast change to sunshine and warm temps!
HAH

A Last Glimpse of Christmas

Part of a very pretty Christmas window display.

Thank you, Sandcastles, for brightening my evening!

Keystone Bridge

Keystone Bridge viewed facing west

"R" and I took a little walk over by Granite Pier to take a look at the Keystone Bridge (Granite Street/Route 127 passes over the bridge).  There is to be a Conservation Commission meeting next week about the DPW's plan to cut back the overgrowth in the area.  This will include some trees and they have been marked with red paint streaks.  Our bank, the Granite Savings Bank is sponsoring a portion of the work and the hope is that there will be a granite bench placed somewhere near the bridge along with a plaque about the history of the bridge.

Flat Ledge Quarry (the cut and bridge enabled quarried stone to be easily transported to the pier to be loaded on boats)

Anyway, we thought we wanted to check it out.  I'll probably be representing the historical society at the Conservation Commission meeting.

Looking toward the coast from just west of the span

The work that they are proposing and the trimming and tree thinning seems appropriate.  Personally, I think it could be more radical!

A keystone bridge of dry fit granite blocks!

It is a really pretty area, supposedly off limits as it is town water supply.  No trespassing and posted so.  Makes me wonder about the bench and plaque.  Oh well, this is Rockport and everyone seems to trespass just like we did.

Walking in the Fog of a Saturday Afternoon

'A' and I are restarting our efforts toward fitness with a few long walks each week.  Here are some scenes from today.

Mill Pond

The ducks are back

Foggy Front Beach

Driftwood next to Toad Hall Bookstore

Late summer flowers at the former GAR Hall

Pears delivered fresh to the table!

and lobsters direct to the restaurant

We've Been Lit

Last Saturday evening was Illumination Night in Rockport.  I drove my mom's car down to find a parking space at about 6 p.m. and R followed in my truck.  The only reasonably close parking spot to where we would view the fireworks was at the library.  "Library Parking Only 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Violators will be towed."  However, the library did close at 5 p.m.  What to do?  I parked, got in the truck, and we drove to the police station to plead our case.  "We needed to find a parking spot for my mom's car and we will drop her off at it for fireworks time.  She isn't handicapped, but she can't walk from home.  It's just too far.  Will her car be okay there?"  After giving a description of her car, we were assured that we could leave it there.  Yay, it worked!

At 8:30, Mom, A, and I headed down in the truck.  I dropped them at the car to wait, drove home and R and I walked back down.

We all sat on the wall on Pier Avenue.  A great spot to watch the fireworks!

Martha's People Must Have People

We had a very nice Christmas.  Hope you did, too.  Everything went along pleasantly, even if one of our guests for Christmas dinner is never very pleasant.  And even though mom has a bad cold (that I think I may have caught).  Even though Mrs. Smith's frozen (ready to cook) pies were a huge disappointment with over-spiced pumpkin pie and crunchy peaches in the peach pie (I shall make them from scratch from now on).

Santa arrived at our house, 2013

We were fortunate to have had Santa deliver many good things under the tree and we are thankful for that.  Mostly we are happy that we can spend the holidays with each other and with friends.  But I do have to mention one gift...

On my Christmas list this year was a roasting pan.  I know, I know, not the most commonly requested item for Santa to deliver.  Mom didn't do too well with it, wrapping up an 8 quart stockpot (rather than roaster) with Martha Stewart's name on the product.  Mom realized that she had goofed when she was doing her gift wrapping and read the box where it said "cannot be used in oven".  The lovely salesclerk at Macy's, when specifically asked, had assured her that it could be used in the oven. At the wrapping point she figured we'd just return it after Christmas and try to find the correct item.  So, I decided to look at all the little icons on the side of the box and...Martha Stewart hasn't a clue.  The folks that work for her development team must have slave laborers working for them. 

Not only can you not use it in the oven, it is not dishwasher safe!  These days, who on earth would make pots and pans that you can't put in the dishwasher?  Oh, but it does suggest that this pot will look lovely displayed on a hanging rack.

Martha Stewart must have peons washing pots by hand for her.