Category Archives: Summer

Summer in Massachusetts

Last week I went up to visit my family, who live just South of Boston, for a few days. It was a short trip, but good. I got away from the heat for a few days, saw my grandparents, went for a few longer walks (with the summer heat I’ve only been taking a short morning walk with my dogs), went shopping at a few stores we don’t have near where I live, and went sailing. I almost wish I hadn’t gone sailing, because it made me really miss it.

As you can tell, I love yellow flowers against a bright blue sky. These black eyed susans were in my parents garden.

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Walking at Squantum Point Park, in Quincy. This park has fields of wildflowers and right now the tansy is in bloom, as well as some purple loosestrife.

IMG_3522 IMG_3521 IMG_3532Walking around St. Morritz Lake, also in Quincy. I’ve never walked here in the summer before, so I was pretty excited to discover it full of lilypads!
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I wanted to get a closer up photo, but I would have had to walk through some mud, no doubt with creatures living in it, and that just wasn’t happening in flip flops. I’ll bring my hiking boots next time.

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Ocracoke Island

Recently, we spent a few weeks on Ocracoke Island, sharing a house with several friends and family members. Although it was beautiful, truthfully, I was somewhat bored and ready to come home by the end of 2 weeks. I was also disappointed in myself, I had brought some work with me and didn’t do as much as I would have liked, as well as not making time for some day trips that I had planned. It was very relaxing, and it was great to see everyone, some family we haven’t seen in a few years, and some friends I hadn’t seen since we moved from Virginia Beach three years ago. We did get to go to Portsmouth Village for a day and I did finally try stand up paddle boarding, I just wish I hadn’t been so lazy the rest of the time.

First Row: Beautiful view of Pamlico Sound from the house we rented, which is why I didn’t get much done, I was looking at this peaceful view all day, Forth of July fireworks, A thunderstorm moving across Pamlico Sound

Second Row: Pathway through the hammock, a very crowded day at the beach, Panzer and Sasha waiting for Jon at the ferry landing

September 2015 in Instagram

**Flood and Rain update. So far we are doing fine. Our pond is the fullest I’ve ever seen it, and there are large standing puddles around the yard, but so far no actual flooding. I think we should be fine, the nearest river is half a mile away, and is a slow moving river that empties into a large tidal marsh.

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Top Row:
Jon’s new garage/workshop. Its pretty awesome.
Tried a few new restaurants locally, Minoda’s sushi and hibachi, and Circa 81 for brunch. Both were very good.

Middle Row:
Fort Macon State Park. A nice tree/driftwood on the beach.
Wildflowers.
A pretty swamp/wetlands area

Bottom Row:
Shrimp Boats in Beaufort Harbor
My lazy, old man, Chewbacca
Tried a new recipe, Tatziki Sauce on a pita with chicken and veggies.

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Top Row:
Went for a walk in Lawson Creek Park, in New Bern

Middle Row:
Goldenrod
I climbed the Cape Lookout Lighthouse! The view from the top was amazing!

Bottom Row:
Cape Lookout Lighthouse
Sasha and Panzer playing
A paper collage I started about 6 months ago, then put aside, and have been working on again.

Instagram, August 2015

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Top Row:
Pretty grasses and wildflowers in the dunes on Cape Lookout
I love the graphic quality of these fences, also Cape Lookout
Working on one of my scrap yarn blankets

Second Row:
View of the dunes and beach from the cabin on Cape Lookout
Crock pot magic, Strip steak tacos
Enjoying a very relaxing afternoon, Ocracoke Island

Third Row:
Shrimp Boat, Ocracoke Island
Pretty dirt road, Ocracoke Island
Chairs on the porch of our hotel, Ocracoke Island

It was great having a weekend of just Jon and I, no dogs. I actually got to walk around the village of Ocracoke. Usually I can’t because Chewie doesn’t walk far any more, or do well in the heat. And we got to sit in one of the restaurants overlooking the harbor for the afternoon, without worrying about Panzer barking every time someone walks past the truck. We didn’t even make it to the beach this weekend, just enjoyed relaxing and doing very little.

Forth Row:
Sea Oats, Cape Lookout
Panzer and Sasha sharing a bed. They are so cute when the behave.
The beach at Cape Lookout.

Bottom Row:
Onion harvest from my garden. I grew all these in one 16″ pot.
Peppers also in my garden. 4 of these little pepper plants have been putting out pepper pretty steady for most of August
Knitting the Harper Shawl.