Railroad Bridge from the Cape Side

March started off pretty raw and wet, but 5 days in, the sun finally came back out, although it was still pretty cold and windy.  I drove over to the Cape to take pics of the railroad bridge from that side.  

I've been told these are common eider ducks.  I have never seen them before.

U.S. Army Corp of Engineers tugboat, Manamet.

I was really hoping a train would come by but alas, one did not.

Looking across at Mass Maritime and a whole lotta eider ducks.

Painted Bridge in Bourne

Not too sure of the history of this painted train track crossing, near Aptucxet Trading Post.  I can't remember if it was like this when I moved in 1989 or is new since then.

It's a nice quote.  Pity it was by "Wordsworth" not "Wadsworth".

It's 65 miles from Bourne to Provincetown, so about an hour's drive.

Upper Cape (well not Barnstable, that's mid-Cape).

Mid-Cape

Lower Cape.

This side depicts Aptucxet Trading Post and a ship in the Manamet River, before it was dug out and became the Canal.

Looking up at the railroad tracks.

Bay State Oddities and Hauntings

I never truly appreciated all that my home state had to offer when I grew up here.   We have a lot of rich history, as it pertains to the birth of our nation.  Plymouth, Boston, Lexington-Concord, Bunker Hill, etc. I blew it off when I was young, and rolled my eyes whenever out-of-towners would arrive and want to see the tourist attractions in and around the Cape and Boston (don't get me started on the "I wanna see the Kennedy Compound" requests...).

In addition to the historical stuff, Massachusetts is home to a lot of weird phenomena as well.  And like the Pilgrims and Revolutionary War stuff, I knew of the ghost stories and the whole Lizzie Borden thing, but I never paid much attention to it.  The Dillingham House in Sandwich is allegedly haunted by the 9 orphaned Dillingham children, whose parents died in 1813 (the house itself, however, dates to the late 1600s).  My dad did the plumbing there for years and years, and as a non-ghost-believer, he never encountered any hauntings that I know of (or that he would admit to anyway).   

A few years ago, I'd scored a book called Weird Washington, with the intent of visiting as many of the attractions as possible.  But I put it off, figuring that I'd get there eventually and could "always go". Well, that didn't quite work out the way I'd planned!  Weird WA was an offshoot of the original Weird U.S. book that came out a few years ago, and I believe it was also a documentary, because I recall watching it several years back.

But lo and behold!!!!  I was strolling through the giant Stop & Shop in Wareham, and saw this in their modest book section:

I made a mental note to purchase it from Amazon.com because let's face it, they have the best prices around and I do try to avoid the cover price for books when I see them in stores or catalogs!! My new book arrived on New Years Eve (along with a bunch of movies, Inheritance by Christopher Paolini and a Carolina Liar CD), and I eagerly started poring over it.  I had no idea that Mass had so much to offer in the way of unusual sites!!  My squeeze is much less enthused about visiting these places than I am, as he does not, and I repeat, does not, like ghosts, ghost stories and haunted places at all.  That's OK, I don't mind going on my own and maybe I'll see if any of my friends are game for a day trip out to one of the many places mentioned in this book.  

Stayed tuned for photos of Weird Massachusetts adventures!  My most probable first stop will be the Borden house & cemetery plots in Fall River!

Confused

It's hard to see, but there's a large V of geese headed back north in the below photo.  Spring is on the way, right?

Beautiful full moon again....

...looking eerie with the spiky tree branches.

Woke up on Saturday......Erm.....WTF?!?!?!?!

And then 2 days later, my kitchen window is open!!

Ma Nature is clearly having issues!!!

Happy 7th Birthday Sagan!

My little fella turns 7 today!!!  Happy Birfday baby guy!!!  Mama so happy to have you home wiff us!!!  So hard to believe I've had him since January, 2006 when he was only 9 months old.  

"I haz a duckeh!"

SQUEEEEE!

April, 2012 - Blogging From A to Z Challenge

Bev, over at Blue Velvet Vincent, asked me if I wanted to join her for the Blogging A - Z Challenge and I figured sure, why not?  It starts on Sunday, April 1, with a letter A topic, and each day gets a new letter.  Thereafter, you don't post on Sundays, so the 26th and last day of the challenge falls on April 30th. I think this will probably go a lot easier than Project 365 because you only have to commit to 26 days, and posts can always be prepared and saved  as you think of topics.  I already have "A" in draft, and C, D, E, U and Z are scheduled to publish on their respective days. Because I'm anal that way.

Anyone else want to join us?

Wordless Wednesday

March: In Like a Lion. Ugh.

In the parking lot of the Forestdale post office in Sandwich.

Lovely End to February

Popped  over the Sagamore Bridge to Sandwich for lunch at Cafe' Chew with one of my friends on 2/28.  It was another nice winter day.

After lunch, Laurie wanted to show me the herons in the marshes and I noted it was low tide, my fave time to beachcomb.  I didn't bring my zoom lens so I had to massively crop this picture to show the heron.

After Laurie and I parted company, I swung up to Town Neck Beach to see if I could find any treasure.

It's super rocky at this beach, because it's where Sandwich meets the Cape Cod Canal.  This would be a sand bar on any other beach, but here it's a rock bar.

Rock bar and seaweed

Rock bar in the foreground, and that's the fog horn & light on the jetty at Scusset Beach.

There was a whole line of shells on the beach at the same place, where the water deposited them.  I found a handful of white periwinkle shells, like that one on the right.  I'd never seen them on Cape beaches before (or any beaches for that matter).  The rest were snail and slipper shells.

Barge leaving the Canal into Cape Cod Bay

Maco's Bait & Tackle Shop

I have been meaning to check out Maco's Bait & Tackle for quite sometime.  Last fall, I posted a couple of pictures taken outside it, one afternoon when it was closed.  I confess it bugs me that 'buoys' is spelled wrong on that sign.

I shot a similar picture at a souvenir shop last fall, but I do love how these colourful Adirondack chairs look all lined up.

Love this weathervane!!

I want this for my yard.  It's so unique and so me.

Ever since one of my friends pointed out that the pig tail looks like a duck's head, I can't unsee it.  lol

I snuck this picture inside the store.  That mason jar had beach glass for sale, and there was another jar full of beach glass also for sale.  I was VERY tempted, but I don't think I want to purchase treasure someone else found, unless I'm going to use it for a craft project.  I want to find it myself.

Back outside the shop

Cranberry boxes

I will stop by again closer to summer!  I hope my little girl statue is still there. 

Rest in Peace Davy Jones

I am completely gutted over the news that Davy Jones passed away.  I have loved the Monkees, both the TV show and their music, since I was about 4 or 5, in the late 60's.  Their music has been part of the fabric and soundtrack of my life, always. My fave tape that I listen to in my car all the time is one with alternating Monkees and Partridge Family songs. I got to see Davy, Peter and Mickey perform in 1986, both in Cohasset and at the Melody Tent in Hyannis.   I went to the latter show with my friend Jack, and we didn't have tickets.  We snuck into the show after hanging around at the back of the Tent near the tour buses before the show started.  Davy emerged from the bus and passed close enough for us to touch him.  It was a night neither Jack nor I will ever forget.

My sincerest condolences to his wife, children, family and friends.  He will be missed.