Memorial Day on rocks

We drove up to Rockport to have some fun looking at shops and of course, climbing over these rocks.

Tom never has any trouble on the rocks.


And then there's me ...

Hmm ...

Oookay ... um, now what?

Hmm ...

Ah, here we go!

Phew!

The rock scrambling went without incident, and there was much fun to be had looking in the shops and strolling the Neck.

The skies were hazy today because some intense forest fires in Quebec threw a lot of smoke into the air. The air was better near the ocean, though, which was a nice bonus.

We came back with two different kinds of candy and a box of cookies. Definitely a successful day!

Snake spotting

Tom and I went to Great Meadows yesterday, it was the perfect day for it.

The first thing I do when I get there is climb the observation tower.


It was green everywhere yesterday!


We walked along the main path between the two ponds. That's the best way to catch glimpses of reptiles and swamp birds.

We tracked this guy for awhile.



We did see a number of turtles, but they were unusually timid and shot off into the water whenever we got close.

This frog, on the other hand, was harder to scare.

And this snake let me get up pretty close, couldn't've cared less.


It was a very sunny day, even though there was a breeze cooling things down a little. The middle path is pretty exposed though.

See what I mean?

Tom has his own way of dealing with the sun.

He usually wears a cap but he forgot it.

There were these sweet-smelling flowers along the path that I love.

But Tom says he can't even smell them! What's up with that?

After we left Great Meadows, we had soft serve at Dairy Joy. Creamsicle is my favorite. Tom got both a vanilla and a coffee cone! But it's okay, it was kind of an outdoor-ice-cream kind of day.

(yawn) Good afternoon!

I've been a little sluggish the last couple days, but last night I for some reason was up until just before 1am. Then I sacked out for twelve hours and woke up just after 1pm!

I know, that's a lot of Saturday to sleep through. But seriously, every once in awhile it's just so awesome to have a gigantically long sleep like that.

It kinda helps that Monday is a holiday, too.

So I'm all rested and ready for the rest of the weekend -- including getting rained on while walking to Harvard Square, which happened this afternoon, as did finding a Ben & Jerry's truck that was giving away free ice cream (I got the Milk and Cookies flavor).

I'm getting serious about the teleportation thing

So, normally I walk home from work, but because I had a headache last night I waited for a bus. Of course, it took nearly as long for a bus to show up that I may as well have walked home.

And this morning? It was like the entire line wasn't even running. I waited for 15 minutes, then started walking, and walking, and WALKING, and hellooooooo? Finally a bus showed up from a completely different line -- but one that was going in the same general direction I was -- and the driver was all flustered because he was ten minutes late! Ha!

Two attempts to take the bus, two colossal fails. And there's a bike shop right at my home bus stop. Really makes you think ...

And our warmest day was even on a weekend!

The double bonus was that it was May Fair Sunday!


Doesn't every street fair need a train?

Of course it does!

I strolled around and listened to music, and bought a few things.

This stall is one of my favorites -- he sells pumpkin butter (obviously) but also all kinds of amazing hot pepper jellies.

The Raspberry Jalapeño jelly is awesome!

And of course, I wouldn't leave without visiting this stall.

I got a large bag, of course!

It was fantastic, and probably the warmest May Fair anyone could recall.

Just to remind myself that it is spring ...

We've had frost warnings for two of the last three nights, but we did manage to have a string of nice semi-warm spring days.

And after all the rain we'd gotten, everything that blooms kinda went crazy.



I always look for this garden every spring -- we all call it the "flower river".

See what I mean?

You'd think that something that all pink and puffy like that would have a strong perfumy smell. But no.

These more than make up for it.

Lilac scent is a knockout.

Apple blossom are my very favorite.

The best springtime smell ever.

Maybe it'll warm up later this week! It could happen ...