I have had a lovely summer so far. Judi had asked me the other day how it was going and I just texted her a bunch of photos. So I decided to do something similar with this. Oh, BTW, the little kitty got a name. He’s Pippin, my little pipsqueak. Maybe I’ll post a couple of videos of him later. But now, on to the show!
As promised, photos from today. We started out in the Conservatory at the Windmill Island and there were quite a few exotic (well, to me at least!) flowers present.
Bad Hair Day
Succulent with water pool in the center
Evil Orchid wants to eat your face!
Bird of Paradise
The Windmill on Windmill Island is named De Zwaan (the swan) and is indeed graceful, if not really a bird.
I took a photo from the observation deck. The day was still a bit dreary as the photo shows:
The tulips were reluctant to show themselves, but before we left Windmill Island, we had spotted a handful. Downtown Holland had quite a few more.
Tulips in downtown Holland
Tonight we went to Saugatuck Brewing Company for supper. I ordered a flight of beers, the cashews encrusted brie (appetizer) and fish & chips (with a side salad). Ate far too much, used up many of my weekly WW points, but it was worth it. Liked their cider, but the other five beers in the flight weren’t for me. So, if you total up all of the beers I’ve tried so far in my life (which is a fair number now), I’ve discovered, um, 0 that I like. However, have found several hard ciders that I like.
Last Wednesday, the parental units and I headed north to Oak Harbor and Port Clinton to spend some time with friends and hang out at Lake Erie. Our friends have a nice cottage right on the beach of the lake and we spent a wonderful afternoon there, enjoying the cool weather. Sadly, the zebra mussels (an invasive species) had been out in force and the waves deposited a hell of a lot of their shells on the beach making barefoot walking a bit of a chore. Apparently two days prior to our arrival, the beach was perfect for bare feet.
Apart from that, out time at Erie was practically perfect. After checking into our motel, the whole party of us (there were 9 in total) headed to Mon Ami, a nice restaurant in Port Clinton, for supper. 8 years ago, five of us in this group had all been to Italy together along with other friends (including
The food at Mon Ami was very good. I ordered their baked brie appetizer to share at the table (though I probably had the lion’s portion). It was soooooo good. Baked brie and baked apples and baked peaches covered in a cinnamon and pecan glaze. I think we all agreed it was a winner. I followed it up with lobster bisque and a salad (with dried apricots and dried cranberries). I couldn’t finish the bisque or the salad thanks to the brie but they were both excellent too.
The plan for Thursday was just to hang at the beach all day. Which we did. We had sandwiches for lunch and smoked pork chops for supper. Mom brought the pork chops and rub as well as finger salad (vegetables in an oil and vinegar soak). I brought bread, which I’d baked on Tuesday, and brownie bites, also baked Tuesday. Both were popular. And the pork chops when smoked were very yummy. That night we sat out on the beach by a camp fire.
Friday was another beach day, with the intent to get out on the water. Wednesday was too choppy and we just never got around to it on Thursday. So I and two others took one canoe out to the “secret beach” while the anniversary couple took their canoe out and went to the same location. Mom and two of the guys rode on a paddle boat. (Mom got to sit and rest while the guys peddled their hearts out.) Dad went fly fishing beside a sand bar.
Some time after 1pm, we all loaded up our cars and headed off to Oregon, OH for lunch. The Oregon Inn has the best fried perch in the area, according to one of the guys we hung out with. Since Oregon was sort of on the way home for most of us, it seemed best to stop there on the way home. All but one of our party ordered perch and I’ll admit, it was pretty tasty. Since both parental units imbibed for lunch, I drove us home. Go me!
I got us home safe und sound. And after we rested a little from the car ride, we went to downtown Troy’s Prouty Plaza for a free concert of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. This was possibly the biggest crowd they’d had this summer – maybe on par with the Cincinnati Pops. You can imagine that I spent much of Saturday resting up from our Erie trip followed by an evening concert!
Anyhoo, here are some photos from the Lake Erie trip, one shot from the concert, and a few pictures from my Brukner walk yesterday morning.
Friend’s Cottage at Erie
My friend’s cottage at Lake Erie, right on the beach!
At the Bar!
Standing out on a sand bar on Lake Erie. Or rip wrap bar. Or whatever one wants to call it. (This was near our motel, not near my friends’ place.)
Sunset over Erie
The sunset on Lake Erie.
Fire on the Beach
Thursday night at Lake Erie, enjoying a campfire on the beach.
Glenn Miller Orchestra
The Glenn Miller Orchestra played at Prouty Plaza in downtown Troy. There was quite a crowd.
Skellington
A deer who died at Brukner – photo taken in March.
Skellington 2
The same deer in late summer – photo taken yesterday.
We had a reprieve during the monsoon season today and I was able to get out and take a walk this afternoon. I decided to go see my “secret garden” which I discovered last year on my walks. It’s just someone’s very nicely planned backyard with lotsa flowers, but to me it was a pleasant surprise on a walk one day last year. I decided it was my secret garden and it’s something I like to treat myself with from time to time when walking.
I know, I should work on making my own backyard into a secret garden. But that sounds like work. Still, I am going to have someone come in and at least make my front yard purtier. (Heh heh, she said “purtier”!) I called Chaney’s nursery today and told them to “put me on the list” to do the landscaping job that Curt designed.
The only real thing I asked him to change was remove a buckthorn from the plan since it’s an invasive plant in Ohio. He swapped it out with a weigela that is grafted onto a tree. A mutant plant in my front yard! Booga booga boo! Here’s his vision of what my front will be:
Yesterday could well have been subtitled, Girls’ Day In, since we stayed in all day (well, in town). But today, we did go out and we left the kids at home.
We started off again with another leisurely morning. hergrace had purchased some sticky buns from Baba A Louis yesterday, so we had those at breakfast. And without ever getting off my duff at the kitchen table, we moved right onto a lunch of leftovers. I had leftover steak and salad, which was very tasty. Plus some of the sour dough bread I’d bought the day before.
Steph, elsaf and I then walked to Mitch’s Maples which was a mile away from the farmhouse. The place is a self-serve maple syrup store. I wanted some of the maple cream that I’d tried at the farmhouse and this was the place to get it. $7 and signing the guest book and I had my cream. It was quite neat to be in a self serve store that’s done by the honor system (and employs closed circuit TV…)
After the walk, it was time for us to head off to Simon Pearce – a glass shop at the Old Mill in Quechee, VT. At Simon Pearce we got to check out the waterfalls and covered bridge and to watch the glassblowing. Wow! Was that guy buff or what? Oh wait… The process of glassblowing is really neat. And the Master glassblower? He was fine. 🙂
We looked around the shop at Simon Pearce and marveled at the beauty and the prices. Even the seconds were pricey, but they were very beautiful as well (and often we weren’t sure what made them seconds).
As it was 5:30, we decided to have Garmin choose supper for us. (We were in the rental car on this trip.) Despite the fact that it had earlier tried to send us down a one lane dirt road, we were trusting it with supper. It had lots of restaurants in West Lebanon, New Hampshire, so we picked one there and let it direct us (rather ineptly at first) to West Lebanon.
Our first choice of supper turned out to not be a German restaurant but instead a chocolate store. Which was closed. But across the shopping complex was the Weathervane, a New England seafood chain. While there, judiang and I gorged ourselves on lobster while Elsa and Steph stuck to lighter fare. And we all had dessert – I went with a classic hot fudge sundae, which simply hit the spot. It was a very good (very expensive) meal! Best of all? The last bite of lobster was the best of them all. Yum!
Garmin the GPS got us back OK and halfway through the trip, Steph gave it a sex-change and made it a British male (Daniel) rather than the American woman (Jill) we’d been listening to. Garmin is now very demanding, rather than simply exasperated.
We’re now back at the farmhouse and checked into our flights. Judi’s working on a movie of the glassblowing while Steph & Elsa are watching Harry Hill. We’ve had a fabulous time at Steph’s in-laws and have thanked them over & over for the chance to be here. It’s always great to be with my friends. Gonna miss y’all, girls!
Some purple flowers.
The Sugar Syrup Shack.
The waterfalls by the Old Mill.
The covered bridge by the Old Mill.
The big ass kiln at Simon Pearce.
The very buff Master Glassblower.
Oh go blow!
The mold where they would blow the glass to shape in. The glass is so hot, the wood mold burns.
Transferring the glass vase to the pontil.
Yesterday was hergrace‘s birthday, so we celebrated in grand style. But before we got into all of that, we had a whole day to experience.
Once again, we had a nice leisurely start to the day. And eventually we headed off on our 4 mile walk to Baba A Louis bakery, Chester town proper, and back to the farmhouse. At Baba A Lou’s we got some baked goods (surprise surprise!) I picked up a loaf of sour dough bread and a cheese & herb croissant. And as we rested outside of the Cathedral of Bread (well, that’s what the place looked like) we all ate our croissants.
We headed into Chester’s downtown in order to have the walk back be at a less steep incline than our walk to the bakery. The town is very quaint and quiet. We popped into a couple of stores, but didn’t buy anything. We also checked out a small suspension bridge near the downtown and walked across. Then on to the town’s cemetery for some perusal of very old headstones (some 18th century ones).
We then returned to the farmhouse, stopping only at Lisai’s market to get some bottled water. When we returned, we all crashed and felt good about getting out on such a lovely walk. The weather was simply perfect for the walk – not hot or cold, not too sunny or too dreary. A very lovely day.
The afternoon was spent geeking and reading and relaxing. And eventually the plans were afoot for supper. Steph’s father-in-law was going to grill steaks, elsaf would bake potatoes and make the salad, and all of us would eat well. Steph’s mother-in-law decorated the dining room in 4th of July party favors and decorations. And with pinwheels at every seat, we had plenty to keep ourselves entertained while we ate our wonderful supper.
Once the supper dishes were cleared up, the birthday cake was brought it. The birthday cake, made on Dairy Day Monday, was an Elsa-made cheesecake. Yummy! She also made a strawberry sauce for those who aren’t cheesecake purists like I am.
After desert was present time. Steph got lots of lovely gifts from her family and friends. Including several Doctor Who toys. Woohoo! The party eventually ended and folks started heading off to bed.
The girls and I stayed up to watch The Last September, a David Tennant movie that judiang gave Steph for her b-day. The movie was a bit hard to comprehend with all the people being introduced without proper introductions. And DT had a big furry caterpillar on his upper lip. So to keep the squee going, Steph put part 2 of Blackpool on for watching.
Rather than staying up til 2am, we actually filed out at fairly decent times. Elsa left at midnight, followed by me at midnight thirty and finally Judi ordered Steph to bed at one.
Today is Independence Day and our only real plans are to visit a local glass blower and watch them make beautiful glassware. Hopefully we’ll get to see some fireworks tonight too!
The folks in Vermont call this a creek, but I know it’s a “crick.”
More mountains (Vermont has a bunch!)
I can tell a train has been here. I can see its tracks!
Lots of scenery on the walk.
A scarecrow! I wonder if he’ll come to life & attack us!
Baba A Louis – the Cathedral of Bread!
Foxglove flowers outside of the Cathedral of Bread.
Pink flowers outside of the Cathedral of Bread.
Steph’s birthday!
Present Squee!
The first Saturday in May is, apparently, Free Comic Book Day. And today is also Cinco de Mayo. So let the celebrations ensue!
I had quite a few things on my running list o’ stuff, so planned my route in advance. (I hate to drive somewhere for one thing, so I keep a list going of what I need/want and when it gets full or I know I really need to get out of the house, I grab the running list and hit everything that needs hitting.)
My timing worked out just fine today. My main concern was getting to the movie in time, which I did. There were 15 minutes worth of previews, of which I was interested in one movie. (Another Simon Pegg movie, actually.)
So, today has been a good day. 🙂
