bex77

Lake W Getaway

2016-08-13T21:33:33Z

We went to Lake Winnipesaukee! Overnight! After 17 months of seeing my mom through her final days, jousting with calendars, and weeks looking for a lakefront room, the stars finally aligned to get us out of town to NH! List of wonderful businesses we frequented:

Restaurants
Kitchen Cravings - breakfast and lunch place
Tavern 27 - tapas and piano bar
Kellerhaus - ice cream buffet, candy and gifts
Walter’s Basin - lakefront American restaurant

Lodging
Belknap Point Motel

Boat tour
U.S. Mail boat Sophie C

Wednesday

Our trip started a little rocky. We got on the road at 9:30 am and 5 miles out of town it started to rain. It got so bad I thought about pulling over! It was totally not forecast. It hasn’t rained all summer and we’re in a drought emergency and the one day I can be away, it’s raining? Hard not to take it personally, but I soldiered on and re-thought our plans and it slowed down to a drizzle by the time we got into NH.

We made it to Kitchen Cravings for a late breakfast at 11:30 am. We often have to wait but they seated us right away. It was my best breakfast of the year! The people are nice and the food is wonderful and it’s got this great decor with historic photos and maps of the region! I had the "Trainer" breakfast with a side of kielbasa and a unicycle - their french-toasted cinnamon roll delight!

We finished at 12:30 pm and there was a showing of “Star Trek Beyond” at the cinema across the street at 12:35 pm so we dashed over there and made it in to see it for a second time, only about 3 minutes late. It was even better the second time, as I didn’t have to puzzle over the story and could hear more dialogue and appreciate the special effects.

We went over to the Belknap Point Motel. It was a low key place - perfectly fine for our purposes - with a spectacular view of the lake and mountains! I’ve attached a photo. There are a lot more on my Facebook page if you'd like to wander over there.

I went directly to the balcony, put my feet up and sat staring at the lake for over an hour. It restores my soul. While I was out there, the weather cleared up! There is always something to see… boats, runners, noticing different islands and mountains and trees. And a chipmunk!

Hubby brought in the luggage! He was being so good.

We went in to Laconia and back out into the countryside to an old farmhouse to Tavern 27, a tapas place with a piano bar. Neil’s mom played piano in restaurants in Indianapolis for 40 years, so he had a grand time talking with the pianist and remembering her heyday. We shared the most amazing array of small plates - sweet potato chips with white bean dip (free starter), Scotch eggs with a creamy dijon sauce, French onion soup, lobster bisque, spicy grilled shrimp, duck confit egg rolls, and beef bourgeon on toast!

There was a Dairy Queen on the way back. We don’t have them around here so we drove through for a little dessert.

The motel beds were quite delightful so I collapsed and slept hard.

Thursday

I woke up early and went back out to watch the lake scene. It is so peaceful! We hemmed and hawed about whether to stay another night. Neil decided we should go home after dinner, so we packed up and headed out for another delicious breakfast at Kitchen Cravings. I tried their hash with an egg and a side of kielbasa. The hash was more like pulled pork but still tasty.

We drove over to Weirs Beach. We got tickets to the 2 pm sailing of the U.S. Mail boat Sophie C then wandered around the arcade, found 4 t-shirts for $20 for Neil! It was beastly hot, so we bought water and sat in the car with the a/c on for a bit.

We had a lovely two-hour ride around the lake. The captain is a great storyteller and historian. We sat on the lower deck out of the sun. There was a great breeze when we were moving. We stopped at five islands - Bear, Birch, Sandy, Cow and Jolly! There are summer camps at a couple of them, and the kids come down to get an ice cream or buy stamps. As we leave, they climb up on the pier posts and dive into the water!

We went to Kellerhaus, the big ice cream buffet/candy/gift store up the hill. They have a/c and lovely bathrooms. We grabbed a few snacks then headed up the road to Squam Lake. I had not been there. It's gorgeous! We found a beautiful restaurant right on the water overlooking the marina - Walter’s Basin. We had a window table and watched the boats going and coming while we ate a great American meal. They bring out warm bread and butter, then I had French Onion soup and a juicy piece of swordfish with jasmine rice, green beans and carrots. I heeded the siren call of the chocolate truffle mousse cake.

I was surprised that places weren’t more crowded. With all the hotels booked, I thought we might run into lines and crowds. Don’t know where the people were but we had no trouble getting in places, there were only 10 people on the boat that seats 40… yay!

From there it was a quick hop onto I-93 south, and home in less than 2 hours with a quick pit stop at the NH border at their fancy new rest stop. We were only gone 36 hours but it felt like a real vacation! We had a great mix of visiting old favorites and seeing new places. I hope to get away again soon!

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Monday in Maine

2015-08-11T16:43:28Z

Monday I celebrated being alive! It's been four years since I finished radiation treatment for breast cancer, so being alive seems especially wonderful! We went to NH and Maine!

I took a day off from work to have some fun before the crush of work to start the semester. It was a perfect day outside - clear, 70s, breezy, so I poked around the internet to find a restaurant for brunch and something fun to do in Oqunquit. Trip Advisor and Yelp were great for me!

11:30 am We headed north.

12:30 pm Brunch - We found the little airstrip in North Hampton, NH and ate at their Airfield Cafe. It was a new find through Yelp (brunch near Seabook NH) and perfect in that "kitchy diner" way. They have a huge breakfast and lunch menu. I had Irish Eggs Benedict with corned beef hash instead of Canadian bacon. And a raspberry lime ricky.

1:30 pm We drove up to Ogunquit, Maine, found parking in the public lot and the cleanest public bathroom I've ever seen, then raced to make a boat tour.

3 pm We got on the FinestKind Lobstering Trip for $18 each. Captain Tom did a virtuoso job keeping the boat steady in the waves and showed us how to pull up lobster traps, measure lobsters and toss back the smaller ones and pregnant females. The rocky coastline along there is spectacular!

4 pm Early dinner at Barnacle Billy's Etc. So so good. We ate outside on their patio with the stunning view of Perkins Cove. I had the lobster stew, bacon-wrapped scallops, and lobster sauté with a baked potato.

5:30 pm we headed South. There was almost no traffic!

7 pm We stopped at Brandano's, the local ice cream place, for a butter pecan soft ice cream... yum.

This is the kind of day that will keep me warm all the way through to February!

-B

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Birthday celebration Part I

2014-09-08T13:46:53Z

It's my birthday and I'll write if I want to! I am taking the day off from work!

I am so lucky to have special people in my life to celebrate my birthday!

It's a beautiful day! The Facebook messages and texts and emails are rolling in!

I started celebrating early!

Sunday RI Adventure

The weather was perfect - clear with a few high clouds now and then, breezy, 70… it looked like the opening of "The Simpsons!" The sun made everything look so crisp and beautiful! It was especially appreciated after the muggy 90's and fierce thunderstorms of Saturday.

N and I made a day of it, heading out on a RI adventure! I have never seen the roads so empty! It was glorious to sail down I-93 and Rte 24.

Lunch at Quito's

We started the day in Bristol with a parking spot right out front of Quito's, a fun seafood restaurant with a covered deck right on the harbor! We shared a flight of chowders! We got a great table right at the front looking out over the big boats and beautiful water. It was great to compare the Manhattan, New England and Rhode Island versions of this classic. I liked the tomatoey Manhattan more than I thought I might, did not really care for the clear broth briny RI and adore their New England. N. had the grilled chili lime shrimp which I found tough, dry and hard to get off the skewers. The stuffed quahog was not great either… the stuffing was packed down and dry even after a liberal dosing of lemon juice. Our second course was better with crunchy clam fritters and coconut mango shrimp. N's fish and chips had two huge squares of perfect fish.

South Beach wading

We motored on along the little roads of Tiverton and Little Compton, past the cow pastures and wineries and beautiful bays to the fantastic secret South Beach. N. played "I'm All About the Bass" for me until we crossed into the area were there is no cell signal or wifi, so we went off the grid! They've stopped charging for parking! We pulled most of the way down and got a beachfront parking spot. I took a bunch of photos and a video! There were a lot of people in the water, so I decided to be brave. I rolled up my pant legs, shucked my socks and clogs and waded in! It was lovely! N. tried it too! It was a little hairy getting back to the car through the stones and getting our feet cleaned off and back into our shoes, but we managed together. After a quick look at the peaceful Tuniper Pond across the road, we headed back North.

Farmstand colors

We pulled in at Walker's Farm Stand. I hadn't been there before. It's a quintessential family farm with a mix of their homegrown veggies and stuff from elsewhere, ith some cheeses and milk and goodies for the tourists. I got a couple ears of corn, then popped in to Wilma's Bakery for walnut pumpkin bread and a fresh lemonade! The displays in the farm stand were so pretty, I dashed back to the car for my phone and snapped a few photos, then walked down to the fields to look out over the bay and take some more!

Grinnell's Beach Beauty

They've locked the gate and the bathrooms. Bleh! But the views of the little island and the big house and the boats and the water are still spectacular.

General Store Treats

We went on to Fall River to find the Sky Beverage General Store. It's a beautiful rehab of an old factory building with a convenience store, frozen yogurt shop, candy store and cigar shop! We got a few Jelly Belly Beans with odd flavors like "Movie Popcorn" and made use of their strong wifi signal to upload photos.

Dinner Delights

Then it was time to go back to Tiverton for an incredible dinner overlooking Mount Hope Bay at The Boat House. We had the corner table overlooking the bay! Sarah was our waitress. Not the best we've had but a bubbly geeky enthusiastic server with a passion for a clean table. We started with their warm sourdough rolls and whipped butter in the cute little paper bag. N. had their Hall of Fame spicy corn chowder with chorizo, while I tried their clam chowder. Both are delicious! We shared the field greens with goat cheese and pecans in a champagne vinaigrette and then splurged on the raw bar sampler with 4 cocktail shrimp, 4 Point Judith Oysters and 4 Little Neck clams. I gloried in the baked stuffed lobster with bay scallop and shrimp stuffing... so divine! He had their sirloin steak with fried parmesan gnocchi and the fries. The impossibly young looking manager with the braces stopped by to wish me a happy birthday. He got a little verkelmpt when we told him this is our "go-to place" for special days. We watched the sunset over the bay as they brought me a little dessert with a candle - the dark chocolate budino (mousse) with hazelnuts and whipped cream, which was free! They didn't have hot chocolate so I had an ice cold glass of skim milk. Such a special place!

There was heavier traffic going back, but it moved along and managed to "make a pocket" away from most cars most of the way. We made it home in record time - just 66 minutes! Whee!

I uploaded way too many photos to Facebook. Please check them out over there. The sunshine made everything look spectacular!

This is the life!!!!

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A summer afternoon in Newburyport and Plum Island

2014-08-15T15:42:59Z

Neil and I had a lovely afternoon on Monday adventuring to the north. The weather was perfect - another of the series of beautiful days we've had this summer! My work is about to get super-busy so I wanted to get out and about before that hits. And Mondays are a great day to avoid the crush in the tourist/beach towns.

We set out up Rte 1 and stopped to gas up the Tucson at the cheap Hess Station, then popped in at our favorite convenience store - a random Cumberland Farms in Ipswich that has clean bathrooms and stocks interesting new products. N. picked up 3 of 4 new flavors of Lays potato chips:

Wasabi Ginger,
Mango Salsa and
Bacon Mac & Cheese.
He eschewed the Cappuccino flavor, not caring for that flavor in real life and rather horrified at the entire idea!

I picked up the Muddy Buddy Chex Mix. We shared a "Wild cherry Italian ice" which was actually mild flavored but still tasty.

We went to Michael's Harborside Restaurant on the harbor in Newburyport. It's easy to find - just a quick right and left off Rte. 1, with a huge parking lot, right next to the marina. It's a gorgeous setting - an outdoor bar, a covered deck, an open deck and an interior restaurant with big windows. We opted to sit inside and were placed right at the front with views of the boats. Our server, J.R., was helpful, if a bit busy and inattentive, but we weren't in a hurry. I had the most delicious creamy clam chowder! It was full of fresh clams and potatoes. Yum. They served hot sourdough rolls and whipped butter - a real treat! N. tried their soup du jour - a very ordinary vegetable soup with thin broth and lots of summer veggies. I saved him from having to eat a big chunk of zucchini! From there, things went downhill. He ordered the tuna with ponzu sauce and found it inedible in that "smells" way. Bleh. He mentioned to the server, who took it away and brought him a menu to try something else. His second choice was wonderful - the swordfish with garlic citrus butter. I had the lobster pie, which was an odd recipe with mascarpone cheese that overrode the lobster flavor. I tried to pull out the nice chunks and rid them of the gloppy sauce, but it was mostly bad. Both our dishes came with grilled asparagus, which was fresh and perfectly cooked. They also came with rice pilaf which was an odd mixture of overcooked and undercooked grains and inedible. And the prices were 1/3rd higher than similar places. So despite the lovely setting and perfect chowder, I can't see going back.

We took a post-prandial stroll along the harbor. They've created a lovely walk with sculpture and benches and plantings!

I had an hankering for ice cream, so we drove back down Rte 1 to the traffic circle and stopped at Haley's Ice Cream. a fun retro shop with a 50's interior and picnic tables outside. I got a sugar cone stuffed with raspberry truffle ice cream! It was a spectacular combo of raspberry ice cream with little chocolates mixed in. N. tried the ginger ice cream which had crunchy bits of real ginger. We sat outside in the afternoon sunshine and made a big mess with ice cream dripping down our hands. Thank goodness for the lovely bathroom inside to wash up!

We rolled on to the beach at Plum Island. I drove around the cute little enclave of houses and drove down to the light house on the far end. I thought we'd park after 5 pm - only $2.50 at one place - but N. wasn't feeling well, so I left him parked in the residents only section and walked on the beach myself for a few minutes. I had fun sitting on a rock, taking photos and a short video. Pop over to Google+ or Facebook to peruse those! Here's one to entice you!

We took off for home and it was only an hour! Traffic was the lightest I've seen.

Such a lovely excursion... stored up a bunch of memories to carry me through the busy fall!

Hope you are enjoying the end of your summer!

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Philly final

2011-11-07T02:25:30Z

Another lovely day in Philadelphia!

I remembered to turn my alarm clock back, so I woke up when it said 7:30 am and it was 7:30 am! I made it downstairs for breakfast at 8:30 am, scrubbed and dressed and packed! The innkeeper offered us a special - pumpkin pancakes with glazed apples and walnuts, covered in apple butter syrup. I usually want eggs, but I could not resist! They were divine! I chatted with sisters from Scranton - a nurse who runs a home health care business and a dietitian. They told me about their Italian weekend in Philly - Italian food at Davio's and a trip to the Italian markets.

I sat in the parlor and read the news and facebook and so forth on my phone, chatting with various guests on their way in or out. I met my pal and walked with her to brunch. We went back to the Marathon on the Square place three blocks away, and were seated after a brief wait. I had a bacon and swiss omelette for lunch. I was not feeling very adventurous, so we went back to the B&B and sat in the parlor chatting and looking at an amazing book of photos of Philadelphia Then and Now published in 2002.

My ride appeared at 1:40 pm so we said our good-bye and took off North. It moved along much faster today. We made it to the Montvale service area in Northern NJ in 2.5 hrs rather than 3.5! We sailed on across the Tappan Zee at sunset... gorgeous! We stopped at Rein's Deli in Vernon, CT tat 6:30 pm to pick up Rueben sandwiches, herring in cream sauce, Dr. Brown's diet Black Cherry soda, sour cream coffee cake... yum. We made it home in 7 hours, including 2 stops. Wow. My driver and his wife told me that I am a very good passenger!

Great food, great weather, great company, great sights. Wow!

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Philly adventures Day 2

2011-11-06T01:26:26Z

I had another wonderful day! I started with an elegant breakfast in the grand dining room of my Bed & Breakfast. I chose the "egg bake" special which was two eggs with chives, romano cheese and parsley gently baked, two sausages, wheat toast and OJ. Yum. The chef chatted about his nine years in the army working at NATO headquarters for some general, and I chatted about theater with a nice couple from Staten Island and a mother/daughter from Paris!

My pal drove us to Chadds Ford. She had a hair appointment, so I hung out at Starbucks then strolled around the strip mall. There was bad traffic so we detoured South into Delaware briefly to get back to I-95. So that made my 6th state in two days!

We had a lovely lunch at Tria Cafe, a wine bar near Rittenhouse Square. I tried the butternut apple bisque and a panino with chicken, Caciocavallo cheese, Piquillo Peppers and Balsamic Onion - a delicious combination of tastes.

http://triacafe.com/cafe/food.php

We strolled over to the Rosenbach Museum and Library, where my pal is the curator. What an amazing place! I wish I had you with me there - they have an incredible eclectic collection of objects and books and manuscripts and furniture and art! There were two brothers who collected whatever struck their fancy and ended up with over 30,000 books and 20,000 objects! A small portion of that is displayed in two homes next to each other on Delancey Street. The most interesting thing there right now is a mural painted by Maurice Sendak. They pulled it out of an apartment in Brooklyn (all 1,400 pounds of wall) and reinstalled it at the museum!

http://www.rosenbach.org/learn/objects/chertoff-mural

I also got to see Bram Stoker's original notes for "Dracula," a lot of original drawings for the "Alice in Wonderland" book, the original manuscript for Joyce's "Ulysses," a Crown Prince of Austria's suicide notes, and both the Shakespeare second folio and a very rare third folio! It is an incredible collection of history, literature and art.

We went to Judy's house briefly. It is down a historic alley, one room wide and three floors high. She has lovingly restored it. So wonderful to put my friend in context.

We went over to the UPenn area in W. Philly. We were early so we camped out at a Starbucks for a few minutes.

We had supper at the very trendy "Pod" restaurant, one of celebrity restauranteur Stephen Starr's places. It's a pan-Asian place attached to the Hilton Hotel, with very space age white plastic furniture and changing lights. It's a loud space. The menu was tough to figure out. They called things odd names without explanation. Do you know what robata is? It was not my scene, and pricy, but the food was delicious. I had the rock shrimp tempura with pineapple and candied walnuts, then the seafood fried rice with shrimp, scallops, lobster and egg. Both were very light and yummy. I got to meet the conservator of the Sendak mural, a very interesting artistic woman. She was interested in my adventures with Theater@First.

www.podrestaurant.com/

They were headed out to an Indian dance recital, which is not my thing, so I cabbed it back to the B&B for a quiet evening. I did more walking today than usual and I am bushed, but so happy to have a friend involved with such an amazing place who could give me an insider tour, and to have adventures around Philly today.

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Driving Ms. Beckie

2011-11-05T04:08:13Z

I decided I'd rather be in Philadelphia this weekend! Heh.

Tuesday afternoon, one of my grad student workers asked for Friday off so he and his wife could road trip to Philly. I joked, "Sure! If you take me with you..." And he replied seriously, "Sure, come on along!" I said,"Really? Wouldn't that be weird?" He said, "No! It'll be fun!" My best pal from college lives there, I've been wanting to see her, and dying to get out of town after being stuck here for a year, and here was a very cheap way to go! The stars aligned to make this trip possible - they were going, I didn't have anything scheduled, my friend was home and found me a very elegant (and cheap) B&B 3 blocks from her house, and I had already arranged to have Friday off from work.. so away I went!

ROAD TRIP!
We took off about 12:30 pm, rolled along to the big rest stop on the Garden State in Montvale, NJ by 4 pm, then cruised through downtown Philly about 7:30 pm. The Occupy Philly folks were camped out near City Hall! Beautiful fall day for a road trip! I sat in the back. Such a luxury not to have to drive or fly!

B&B
I checked in at La Reserve, a lovely old row house.
www.lareservebandb.com/
This area feels like Beacon Hill. The front door has this freaky lock the likes of which I've never seen. You press your palm to a pad, and numbers show up. You punch in a 4 digit code they sent with the reservation, and that opens the door. Freaky. I'm in the Liberty Room on the third floor, a HUGE room with a fireplace, Queen bed, three windows, a queen-sized bed and free wi-fi!

SUPPER
I met up with my friend for a late supper at Marathon on the Square, a little bistro near Rittenhouse Square.
eatmarathon.com/19th-and-spruce-menu/
The hostess didn't want to seat us at a table for four, even though it was 9:35 pm and they close at 10 pm. We stood in the doorway and finally a waiter told us to sit in a booth! He was incredibly nice and kept a close eye on us. I enjoyed the half caesar salad, the meatloaf dinner (with spinach and mashed potatoes) and then a decadent warm banana bread pudding. Delicious! We had a great conversation! Nothing like catching up with a pal...

Today is one year since I was diagnosed with cancer. I am alive and thriving!

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Farmers Market Bounty

2011-09-27T20:33:23Z

It's a glorious Autumn day - sunny, breezy 70s and the light has that golden glow that makes everything look brighter! I managed to get away from my desk about 1:30 pm and wander around the stalls of the farmers market on the front lawn of my office building. It felt like a mini-vacation!

I am not the usual market customer. I took advantage of the non-farmers offerings:

1) Shiatsu massage - 10 minutes of bliss at the hands of Roger
2) Ham & Cheese croissant from the Danish Pastry House
3) Turtle brownie
4) Raspberry shortbread from Buttergirl
5) Raspberry lime sorbet from Christina's

I did get two ears of corn from a farmer, and dashed back to my office to microwave them. A little butter and yum!

I also took three photos to remind me of this adventure:
https://picasaweb.google.com/114850095146823474041/FallScene2011#

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Carpe diemed

2011-06-28T19:34:34Z

I had the most amazing day yesterday! The weather was perfect - sunny, 70's, breezy... The WBZ radio weatherman said, "This is one of those days you will remember in December and wish you'd made the best of it."

I went to MGH, had treatment #6 in the underground bunker and came up into the sunshine at 8:45 am. I knew I had to do something special. I could not go to work. So I called in to tell them I was playing hooky!
( Read more... )
Hope your week is off to a great start!

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