Mt. Rainier and Lenticular Clouds - Dec. 2008 copyright: JMM

August 31, 2017

Most Miserable Summer Ever

In the 7 summers I've lived here, only 2014 was excellent in terms of beautiful, dry days.  This one was the absolute worst.  The humidity has been off the charts almost every single day.  Add in being sick for over a month and having a great deal of real life stress, this year has sucked out loud.

We did something kinda cool earlier this month.  We went to a storage auction in Wareham cause Russell's addicted to that show 'Storage Wars'.  Fortunately these lockers go for far less than anything on the show.  We bid on, and won, a rather large unit and paid $58 with tax.  So that's not bad at all. Unloading it, however, was another story.  Multiple back breaking trips cause we had to have it empty within 36 hours.  We literally dumped everything in the back yard and covered it with a tarp. Most of the stuff has gone to the thrift shop but we've found a lot of cool things and more than made our money back on it.  The nice patio set alone is worth way more than what we paid. 

Anywho.  I took this pic of an unusual fly which was on the outside of the door, but it looks like it's clinging to the peace sign which is on the inside of the door.


The eclipse was just 'meh' around here.  We had 60% so it got dim, but it wasn't near as impressive here as it was in the states that got totality.  Some of my friends shot amazing photos.  

This hawk flew over as I was waiting for it to get darker.

This chair pattern shows the beginning.

And I had one suncatcher that was positioned perfectly to get a bite taken out.

 This was when it was at it's most coverage in my area, taken through my colander.

This pic got a lot of chuckles on FB.

So sort of dim but just looks like clouds covering the sun.

Dim'ish I guess.  That's the patio set we scored in the locker.  Not too shabby.

A couple pics of Sagan and his puppeh.


My friend Barit, who I have known since kindergarten, was moving and asked me if I wanted a jar of beach glass cause she just had too much.  Is that even a thing?  Too much beach glass? hahaha  We met up for dinner and she gifted me with this huge vase full!!!  Great to catch up and I so appreciate her thinking of me!!

I'd also been wanting to do a Harry Potter sign post so I got out the small soldering iron, sketched out the lettering on some pieces of wood that I'd cut into arrows, and started to burn.  I really love how they came out.....better than I expected.

I've been chipping away at my Grateful Dead bear but they didn't include enough floss in several colours.  I went to Michael's to get what I needed but when I got home, I was just so fed up with the skeins and skeins of floss that were in such a mess that it was easier to buy stuff for projects than try and find it in my stash.  I picked up some bobbins and storage cases and spent a week off and on 'bobbinating' the DMC floss and putting them in numerical order.  Now I can see what I have before I go off and buy one.  For example I have 5 bobbins of black, 4 of Christmas red, etc etc etc

I had to take a break on my Dead bears cross stitch while I bobbinated the floss.  This is the progress as of 8/25.  It's taken me 2 months to get to this point and this shows pages 4 completed (on the left) and the black outlining for page 5.  


Our 3rd wedding anniversary was the 17th but that was the weekend we did the storage locker and we didn't have a chance to celebrate properly, so last weekend we went up to Plymouth to have lunch at the Rio Brazilian Steakhouse.  It was quite good.  Brazilian Churrascaria dining is very popular here. There's a big salad bar and some hot food, buffet style, and then chefs come to your table with freshly barbecued meats of all kinds on skewers, and slice them at your plate.  You have a round thing on the table and green side means you want them to come and red means you are done.  We were stuffed!


Can't believe it's the end of summer already and we are coming into Labor Day Weekend, which is the last gasp for summer tourism here.  We will still get weekenders in September, usually retired folks who skip the summer crowds (but still make weekend travel a challenge for residents).  At least the weather has finally cooled off!

August 26, 2017

Provincetown, Part 3

Continuing our walk down Commercial Street, at this point it was really starting to get packed with visitors.







Hard to tell without something to show scale but these were tiny.


Another pic of Shop Therapy.

This adorable doggy was standing on the counter of an antique shop.  I didn't even know he was real till his owner started giving him bits of potato salad!

Really can't get enough of this place.....at least this time I didn't reshoot all the stuff on the side of the building.

Puzzle Me This.

The Governor Bradford Hotel


If stuff like this offends you, then PTown is not the place to go.



By this point we were exhausted, sweaty and tired.  We got ice cream before heading out.  I would've stopped in this store to get snacks for Sagan but it was way too crowded.

Passed this adorable beach-themed fairy garden on the way back to the car.



Love this old hearse advertising the ghost tours!

August 24, 2017

Provincetown, Part 2

We stopped to get a slice at Spiritus Pizza. I haven't been here since the early 80s.

Pizza is still quite good but the slices used to be twice this size.

We sat in the shady courtyard behind the restaurant






Val's pizza grease formed into a rather apropos design, considering what town we were in!  hahaha

Like I said, tons of cool stuff to buy, but a tad out of my price range.

I wouldn't even allow myself to go in here.



Dead low tide


Wonder where she finds bras?


Cute idea!

Very old building from the 1800s

Great people watching too.