Goin' Up the Country

We made our annual mid-October trek up to Amy and Darrell's place in Meriden, New Hampshire, not far from Lebanon and Hanover. We got to see the peak foliage along Route 89 and celebrated Molly's birthday. Darrell built the house, the woodworking shop, and the chicken coop to match.

Even though Amy and Darrell have professional careers in medicine and education, they keep chickens and ducks and grow their own vegetables.

However, it was probably the beef cattle outside the kitchen window that made Amy realize, "Hey! I think I've been tricked! I think I live on a farm!"

Evan's Big Day

Grandson Evan and his parents Matt and Christine visited us last weekend with hopes of joining us on one of our legendary Pickering Wharf dinner cruises. The forecast called for a blustery day, so we formulated a backup plan, a visit to Russell Orchards in Ipswich, in case Salem Sound was too rough for safe and comfortable boating.

When Matt and I pronounced the seas acceptable, we decided to go ahead with both the farm and the cruise.

Evan's first order of business was to select that special pumpkin. Christine has found a nice one, but Evan has his eye on another.

After hobnobbing with the local goose, pig, and turkey population, Evan turned his attention to one of the farm tractors.

Grampy and Mimi got into the act, much to Evan's amusement.

Later in the afternoon, we all climbed aboard Kilty's Wake for our cruise over to Salem. Evan showed a bit of consternation at first--all that water!

However, he quickly adapted and was soon back in high spirits, especially when bouncing over boat wakes. At dinner on Pickering Wharf, he again demonstrated his ability to charm twenty-something waitresses, a talent he had first revealed during August's visit to Popponesset.

Mimi and Grampy navigated the craft back to Beverly, ending an exciting but exhausting day.

Water, Wind, and Fire

For the second year in a row, we took Kilty's Wake out to watch the West Beach fireworks. As dusk approached and the nearly-full moon rose above Great Misery Island, the revelers anchored in Cocktail Cove awaited the show.

We anchored just south of the fireworks barge as the sun set over West Beach. The stiff breeze would be carrying any burning embers eastward...I hoped. The anchorage was continuously patrolled by the harbormaster, the coast guard auxiliary, and the fire department rescue boat. We enjoyed a sandwich supper as we waited.

The display began before the sky was quite dark.

We were so close that the explosions seemed directly overhead.

I even captured the perfect North Shore fireworks explosion...pink and lime green.

The Three Amigos

Joe McShane, John Kane, and Vin Harrington visit the bicentennial tall ships parade in Newport, Rhode Island on July 1, 1976.

Boothbay Harbor, Maine

Tired of my moping around as my 60th approached, Kathy whisked me off to Boothbay Harbor for a few days, knowing that the combination of maritime scenery and harborside dining would restore my spirits.

View from our balcony

She found a hilltop hotel in West Boothbay overlooking a lake. Unfortunately, the weather discouraged us from using the free rowboats and canoes.

The eastern shore of the harbor offers dockage for recreational boats and is lined by small shops and restaurants. McSeagulls, our first evening choice, is the tan building on the right. We opted for traditional Maine fare for dinner.

McSeagull's has live music every night. We stayed late to hear this band composed of a keyboardist/singer, guitarist/dobro player, and drummer. Their version of "The Weight" was a highlight.

The west side of the harbor offers some larger establishments, and, as you head seaward, some rustic fish market restaurants.

The "famous" footbridge connects the two sides of the harbor. The cottage in the center was once the bridge tender's house, but is now privately owned.

On our second evening we visited the Boat House Bistro for tapas and a bottle of wine. It took us some time to work through the Glidden Point oysters, stuffed bread and warm olives, goat cheese prawns, and sausage sampler while enjoying the music of a local keyboardist/singer. We never even got to the margherita pizza.

My brother claims that all I write about lately is where I go and what I eat. I hate it when he's right.