Recently in Travel Category

Jen is passing down her enthusiasm for animals to Josie and Cecilia. They have family memberships to both the zoo and the aquarium. It shows in smaller ways, too.

This past weekend, we all drove down to Newport for Susan and Colin's wedding. Well not exactly "for" the wedding, Karen and I were coming along to serve as baby sitters. On Sunday, as we approached Newport, the AMs were a few minutes ahead of us. They called back with the report of an organic farm by the roadside offering a petting zoo. We made the snap call and stopped, finding that the "zoo" was basically all goats.

It was a real nice day. This picture is faithful to the blue, blue sky. Cecilia was a little skeptical about sticking her hand near the goat's kibble-hole, but it was a nice way to spend a little time. We stopped again on the way back home. This time Cecilia was fast asleep and missing this second visit. The Facebook cellphone pic was made then.

In between, we hear the wedding and reception went well. The girls appear un-traumatized by the brief separation. I think Jen was more nervous about it than they were. Of course, Jen knows what screw-ups her folks can be. ;-)

Last week was spent on Cape Cod. We returned to the rental in Mashpee where we were in 2010. Jen and Jordi's neighbors, Christina and Chanh, with their two boys Ethan and Zach joined us for half the week. Unfortunately Chanh had to leave early Monday morning for a trip to Chicago.

We packed a lot into the time: Two visits to the beach, first South Cape Beach, and a couple days later, to Old Silver Beach. The latter was more kid friendly as the sand slopes gently out, giving the short ones latitude to find a comfort zone.

We returned to South Cape Beach several evening for some kite flying and picture taking. Jen was getting immediate use out of her new wide angle lens, learning the ins and outs of DOF. My camera's pics recently hit 5,000, while Jen and Jordi's camera has passed 10,000 in much less time.

We also took in another Cotuit Kettleers Cape League ball game. They got crushed by Harwich 10-0, but it is a good time never the less.

And we took advantage of the pool back of the house. Josie got a bit more comfortable in the water with her new water wings. Cecilia had little say in the matter, but seemed to enjoy the adventure of getting wet while being carried about .

The bigger kids played pretty well together. Karen led them in some art projects. There is lots of play with two kinds of magnetic blocks. I get to be the "veterinarian" - Ethan and Josie would bring me their pet rattlesnakes and cobras for a "checkup". Yikes! Here, Ethan, Josie, and Zach enjoy some ice cream before the boys have to return home.

Whew, I am exhausted still, after four days back.

Karen and I returned a week ago today from a quick trip to Miami. Accompanying us is Ruth, Karen's mother. Ruth had been living in Florida for many years, but the time has come for her to move into assisted living. After our dealing with trying to manage her affairs while she was in a rehab facility since mid-May, it just more sense to have her someplace local.

So we flew down on the 15th for a whirlwind visit to wrap up her affairs and pack up some boxes for shipment back north. Tidbits from the trip:

We flew into Fort Lauderdale where I had requested a Camry, but apparently no Camry was available when we arrived at the counter. We were offered a brand new Dodge Charger with 5 miles on the odometer. Sure, why not?

We spent three nights at the same motel where we stayed in March. There is a restaurant/bar behind the motel, Shuckers, which is on the bay between Miami and Miami Beach. Jordi's parents, Tere and Gilbert, joined us for dinner there Friday evening.

The flight back on Saturday met a three hour delay in the FLL airport. Ruth is quite sociable and uninhibited. We filled the time chatting with other travelers.

Back in Boston, we all spent one night at home. Karen's sister Sheila, her husband Bob, and younger son Dan came from Albany to visit and help. On Sunday Ruth got to see her new apartment. Everything there looks very nice and the weather was gorgeous. Bob took this picture out at the gazebo.

Jen, Jordi, Josie, and Cecilia were there too. A couple of belly dancers paid a visit to entertain the residents. When they asked for volunteers to learn a few steps, Josie got out on the floor. Celia joined in too.

It has been more than two weeks since we returned from our Miami trip. There are a few more photos to post from that visit. Here is a shot taken when Tere and Gilbert came by to take us out for an evening out in South Beach. Nice ride!

We had a nice dinner at a restaurant on Lincoln Road, followed by visits to a couple of art galleries in the vicinity. It was a Saturday night, and it seemed like the "club" people were starting to arrive when we were ready to call it a night. "We" being Karen & me, Gilbert and Tere were certainly ready for more.

Karen and I returned this past Monday from visiting Karen's mother Ruth. Ruth lives in Miami and is doing pretty well there. We visited and helped her with some shopping and banking. I'll post a few more items about the trip soon.

Last weekend, Karen and I attended a talk given by the Cape Ann Museum on Cape Ann Artists in the 1930's. This got us out and going early in the morning, so after we grabbed lunch and hit the beach. It was a great day, so we were not alone on the sand or in the water.

Last month's visit to Pennsylvania was the first in quite some time that we were not going for Christmas or Thanksgiving. We had never seen Todd and Diane's pool uncovered, let alone had a chance for a swim. So we took full advantage this time. The Saturday of the wedding, in particular, saw record setting temperatures.

Josie took a few tries to get herself comfortable with the pool. She enjoys the water enough and is not overly sensitive to getting her face wet. But sometimes she wants to run (Hey! Walk!) around the pool's edge and just toss the toys in. But we did get her in and she enjoys being motored around the pool. Here I am bending the "no photos of Jen in her bathing suit" rule. Most of her image goes unseen underwater, so that's my loophole.

Barely home from our Mashpee vacation, we spun around and headed to Pennsylvania for a wedding this past Saturday. The ceremony was held in the Mathew Ryan Legislative Office Building, a wing of the state capital in Harrisburg. This was a lovely setting for Angie and Chad's wedding. Not one of the high heeled bridal party stumbled on the lobby's huge stair case.

Here is an after-wedding photo I got, taking advantage of the pro wedding photographers doing their thing. Left to right is Jeff, Chad's dad, Angie, Chad, and Sue, Jeff's wife/my cousin.

Congratulations to Chad and Angie!

We were on vacation last week in Mashpee on Cape Cod. We were near South Cape Beach where this photo was taken. The day we visited, there was some sea weed washing up which deterred a lot of people. But the weather was spectacular and the ocean temperature was quite nice.

We packed quite a lot into the Saturday to Saturday week. We saw the Cotuit Kettleers win a game against one of their Cape League rivals. One name there got our attention: Mike Yastrzemski, Yaz' grandson, is playing for Cotuit. We didn't get a real good look at the actual play of the game as we were chasing Josie around. After the game, a bunch of kids swarmed the field, Josie ran the bases, touching them all, three times.

The prior entry from Woods Hole was a mid-week excursion to the aquarium there.

Karen and I went away for an overnight in the Berkshires this weekend. Our destination was Picasso Looks at Degas at the Clark Art Institute. Bob and Sheila joined us on the visit. The banner behind mentions the Juan Muñoz exhibit. That exhibit was in another building and the weather and age conspired to limit us to the main attraction.

The exhibit is pretty darn good, although I wondered how far they stretched the theme. If you have hundreds of paintings and sculptures from two artists, can't you always find some that look suspiciously alike? Of course, Picasso's quote about copying and stealing makes such doubts hard to maintain. If you like Picasso or Degas or both, be sure to pay a visit.

On Sunday we headed back after a visit first to Mass MOCA. Lots of good stuff to see there too. We especially like the Material World: Sculpture to Environment and Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective.

Jen arranged reservations to the maple sugaring and pancake breakfast at Drumlin Farm this Saturday. Conditions were not at all ideal. Jen came down with a stomach bug that kept her at home. And the rain-filled weather forecast proved accurate. Still, Jordi, Josie, Karen, and I walked the grounds to see the animals: a couple of foxes (see the red fox below), a rabbit, a few mice, a horse, sheep, goats, a chicken, and a trio of cows.

The chill air makes the eventual late pancake breakfast all that more appreciated. And we weren't alone. Lots of folks of all ages came out for this event and all seemed in good, if damp, spirits.

Vacation

The weather today arrived as promised: sunny and breezy. I got out for a walk and headed into town. There was a crowd around the green watching the Minute Men get ready for Patriots' Day. This is much more civilized than getting up at 6AM. But the outcome was the same: the Redcoats were spooked by some musket fire and fired in turn on the Minute Men.

Company business took me to Spain in December. We flew first in to Bilbao for a tour of the Guggenheim, Bilbao. It is a spectacular Frank Gehrey building, and so far as I know, does not leak. Which is fortuitous as it was raining off and on during our time there.

It was a busy week of work, but we had site seeing time built in. I came back with 100+ pictures, which makes me a piker among some of my colleagues. Piebee will have to settle for just one snapshot (of me, no less). Slide shows with the requisite droning narration can be had upon request.

Here are links to the sites seen in Barcelona:

• We stayed at the Hotel Arts Barcelona.


• Lunch was at The Oven


• A tapas reception at Casa Batlló was superb, and the surroundings candy for the eyes.


• We toured Gaudí's masterwork, Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia.


• Dinner on Thursday was at Cororníu vineyards.


• And while Gaudí's work is amazing, more to my taste was the Museu Picasso.