Remember me?

OK.... so it has been weeks since my last post and I apologise for that! I have a long list of excuses including the 4 month old puppy and the fact that my laptop never got repaired. It's still on the blink. I'll leave it at that and spare you the rest of my B.S.




We wrapped up our stay in Massachusetts yesterday and we are now in Maine just South of Portland where we will be for 11 days. We had a great time in MA where we visited with family and spent a week out on the Vineyard (never made it out to Nantucket...ran out of time.) Thanks to a new friend and client of Billy's we enjoyed a cottage out on West Chop on the Vineyard and had a really fabulous week there. It was a perfect spot to hang out with Rudy and just relax. Rudy loves the beach. Not for the reasons that you and I probably love the beach.... but for reasons all his own. He for instance...loves to eat sand, seaweed and drink salt water. These things had not occurred to me as genuine options while at the beach but after seeing what a good time he was having scooping up big wet mouths full of sand... man, I was actually tempted for an eighth of a second to join him. Yah. He also enjoys digging at the beach. Full body, from the depths of his soul... digging. He throws his whole person into it which is only appropriate really. Probably the biggest day on the island for Rudy though was his play date with Frankie the black lab. They played until Rudy was asleep on his feet. It was big fun. Frankie was a perfect match for Rudy because she is a lot bigger than he and able to pin him down and give him a good butt kickin if he got too carried away with thinking he is some kind of bad ass. Which he did. She was very polite about it and kept him in line in a very gentle way. Thanks Frankie! I wish she could come over for about two hours every day to play!





We are off for the day to explore Cape Elizabeth and try to find the lighthouse featured in a Hopper painting. The weather has mellowed out (not 95 degrees anymore) so it should be a good day.

Introducing RUDY!

Hi all... I thought I had better check in so people would not think we have fallen off the face of the planet. My laptop is still busted... we have to take it in to Boston for repair. I have 3.4 minutes to get this post up before this thing shuts down from overheating. So I will be brief. The biggest news I have is this... We have a new member in our family! Billy and I are the proud new parents of Rudy!



He is 4 months old and as you can see he is extremely uncomfortable with me. We sprung him from the Fall River pound. He's doing great with training so far and is a true snuggle bug. He's half Jack Russell and we *think* Beagle, but no way to be sure on that.

We are heading out to Martha's Vineyard for the week and hopefully I will be back online by next weekend with a mended laptop.

Busted

Just a quick note to let y'all know... the lack of posting is due to a sizzled laptop. I am taking this heap into the "Geek Squad" tomorrow to see if they can fix it up. The fan is fried so the computer heats up and shuts itself down faster than you can say "That's Hot." That said I hope Paris is faring well this evening in confinement. Lean into the pain Paris... it's the only way to hang tough.

So wish me luck and I will report back as soon as the Geek Doctor fixes me up.

Providence

Billy and I drove in to Providence today to visit the Rhode Island School of Design's Art Museum. We always go into Providence a few times while here and we always do the exact same things every time we go. These things include eating really great falafel wraps on Thayer St, getting a tea at Tealuxe and checking out the books at the Brown University bookstore. I also usually buy socks. There is a sock store which I love. They have a spectacular array of dazzling socks. Today however...I left the city without a new pair of socks. It's OK. I have time to go back before leaving the state of Massachusetts and get some.





The museum was great and a much needed breath of inspiration. Somehow in the photo above I look like someone wrenched me out of a hay ride in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. I am mystified to suddenly be looking on a neoclassical French family portrait instead of the back of a horses ass as it pulls the hay cart along an old dirt road. It's a great example of "what not to wear" unless you ARE indeed going on a hay ride.

Pink Lady Slipper Orchid

Billy and I went for a walk today here in the woods in Swansea. I spotted this lone bizarre plant along the trailside. After searching the web I finally figured out it is actually a pretty rare flower called a Pink Lady Slipper Orchid. Here's a side view...



Pretty wild eh? I have never seen anything quite like it. I guess it is the State flower in New Hampshire but there are barely any of them left to be found. I seem to have a knack for spotting this stuff because I also found this groovy little guy when we were hiking in Virginia...




It's a pitcher plant. Billy is gently lifting it's "lid" up with a twig for the picture to show off the stripes. I just love stuff like this... OK. Hope you all enjoyed this botanical moment. I sure did.