More gratuitous vacation pictures

Just because it's way more interesting than my tiling job in the bathroom right now, (I know you all want pictures of that project, but trust me on this -- mosaic tiles make you a little dizzy after a while), here's the White Cottage in Woodstock, Vermont. Hot fudge sundae. Awesome. Just awesome:

And here's me at the top of Killington Mountain:

For the record, that is technically not fleece, but a sweatshirt kind of thing. Sigh ....
Double sigh:

Perhaps I should go away more often

Although I am a little disappointed to come home and see that you all did not in fact finish the bathroom for us, I am also quite relieved to see that there is no evidence of a jello-shot party here, either!

What can I say? We had a wonderful time, and with only occasional opportunities to go online -- plus the fact that we forgot the cord to download from the camera to the laptop, so I couldn't post any photos -- there just wasn't much time to blog. I thought about blogging quite a bit, and went into my own withdrawal, there is no doubt. But it was also nice to fully experience the moment, without the constant thought in the back of my head ("Oh -- I've got to post about that!") Bloggers, you know what I'm sayin' ....

Well, now all photos have been downloaded and you, my friends, are in grave danger of me deciding that "you must look at slides from my vacation," as we used to say back in the old days. I won't subject you to that. But I'll show you a couple of examples why I was too busy to write:


This is me at "The Falls of Lana" near Lake Dunmore in Vermont. (I love that name -- I kept looking for The Lady of the Lake!) The hiking trails were easy and well maintained, but of course we crawled over rocks to get down to the water. The water was so cool and clear, Unnamed Partner took off her shorts and went for a dip, but I'm not allowed to post those photos ...

We took the gondola to the top of Killington and walked around up there (which sure is a lot easier to get around when there's no snow, but I guess if I were a better skier I'd appreciate the unbelievably long trails a little more...) There was no wi fi at the top of Killington ....

And you know we ate well on our journey, because we always do! Most of the time we stayed with my relatives in Rutland, Vermont, and in Odessa, New York, and they all took such good care of us! We had many great meals and conversations. On our jaunt out to Odessa, we also stopped in at the Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca:

I have much more to tell you about, and some more images to post (including me marching with the Rutland County Democrats in the Brandon Vermont 4th of July Parade, which is led by Warren Kimble. And yes, I was wearing an Obama sticker. I'm all about taking back the White House -- but I'm still going to take him to task on FISA, gun control and the death penalty.)

Thank you for indulging me in this absence, and for keeping each other entertained while I was gone. I always tell people that I enjoy blogging because I've met the most interesting people here! Honestly, I was worried that if I didn't post for 10 days you all might wander away and never come back. But to be in such a serene place -- both physically and spiritually -- I knew I'd just let it be, and see what happened.

O.k. But for now, I've got a bunch of laundry to do.

Prepare for some sporadic blogging, at best

Unnamed Partner and I will be flying off for a few days to drive around Vermont and upstate New York. (Yes, anything to avoid that bathroom renovation project at the moment.) Of course we'll have the camera, and I will have my laptop, but we'll be sponging off of staying with relatives for the majority of the time and I have no idea what kind of Internet access I'll have.

So I'll check in when I can, but don't be alarmed if we're missing for a few days. I'm sure you'll find blogs to visit, just be sure to come back in about a week. After all, it's aways fun when I go to Vermont -- last year Larry "Wide Stance" Craig was busted for toe tapping while I was in Killington. Fun!

Where did the week go?

Well, that's just about it. Tomorrow we check out of Provincetown to spend one evening with friends in Jamaica Plain, and then it's back home again. Monday I'll be back at work and our vacation will be but a fond memory. Fortunately, we've found a "Summer Place" to rent next time.

For the first time all week, it's drizzling now, and we're trying to decide whether we should venture back down to the town center for one last evening "on the town." It's been pretty slow all week, which we have actually found to be quite enjoyable. So once again it's been confirmed: we're old farts. Tonight begins "the season," though, as it's "Single women's weekend" here. So it could be pretty fun to go get a drink somewhere ....
Not that we haven't been busy today. Unnamed Partner finally got her lobster, and I had some great scallops and mussels. Which must be accompanied by a glass of good beer. It's a good thing we've done so much walking this week, because I don't even want to think about how many calories we have consumed ....

It's been a difficult spring for us this year, with U.P.'s younger brother passing away just a few weeks ago from pancreatic cancer. We had planned this trip months ago, and the timing of it has turned out to be incredibly fortuitous. Getting away from the stresses of everyday life, seeing amazing sights such as the sunset at Herring Cove, Humpback whales, the waves crashing at the Cape Cod lighthouse in Truro, and hearing the coyotes howl -- all of these things somehow keep things in perspective. Life and death and all that comes between -- such fantastic miracles that we too often miss in our daily rush to get to the office.

So next week, the politics of the presidential election will once again be on my mind, but for a few more hours, I'm going to breath deeply.

Now, about that drink ....

Back to our regularly scheduled program ... Ahhh, vacation

I'm sorry you can't all be here with us. (Well, not really. I mean, it would be too crowded in our room, and you probably smoke, and also I get up early and you would have to sleep on the sleeper sofa in the living room. It's really better with just the two of us. But you should come here on your own sometime, really.)

The past 48 hours have been extremely full, and the wifi has been crappy. The weather has been great, although Tuesday was terribly windy, so after stopping for some ice cream (mine was pistachio -- that's U.P.'s soft twirl in my other hand), we went on a drive and did the lighthouse tour down the cape. Well, not a full tour, but we saw several lighthouses. We saw the Cape Cod light at Truro, the Nauset light in Eastham, and the Three Sisters, who were moved inland at Nauset. Poor girls are sitting in the woods now.

We made it back to Ptown in time to catch the sunset at Herring Cove, which is the ultimate tourist thing to do, I know, but it really was fantastic. Don't believe me? Look again. As we sat in the car looking over the water as the last light of the sun went down, coyotes began howling from deep in the dunes. It was really stunning.


How could we top this, you say? How about with whale watching! (Tourist with a capital T, I know). But if you live in this area you know this has been a phenomenal year for seeing whales, so we weren't going to miss out on this chance. And it was worth it! We saw a lot of whales, including this humpback and her calf. When she came up and her tail dove down, everyone on the boat was silent -- the true meaning of awesome! Here are a few photos that we took (and full credit for these photos goes to U.P., these are all hers.)

Here are a few images from the boat trip of the Humpback and her calf:

My virtual postcard to you

There are certain constants that run through every beach town. There's salt water taffy, there's a shell shop, there's simply a plethora of stores selling things that you would never under any circumstances be tempted to purchase in any other setting. What is it about salty sea air that seems to make people want to part with their money? Unnamed Partner and I are always on a budget, so we tend to make our "big purchases" on good food and drink. Unless we need something. And it turns out the place we're staying has a hot tub, so we need beach towels. After sifting through seemingly thousands of towels at outrageous prices, we found the local True Value hardware store, where we picked up the towel below for a wonderfully low price:

Is it wrong to display crustaceans holding martinis? Not as long as they are of legal drinking age and they are doing so responsibly. I think they are, don't you agree?

Several folks have commented that I shouldn't be posting on my vacation. What?! No one has to worry that I'm missing out on any part of my vacation because I'm too busy writing. Every day has been full from the time we leave our room with map of Cape Cod lighthouses in hand, to the end of our Scrabble extravaganza at night. In between, if you know Unnamed Partner, you know that almost every single person we encounter is an excuse for conversation. We have met some wonderful people here, and it's just lovely to be here before the big rush starts next week. Almost everything is open, and the shopkeepers are relaxed and friendly.

No, to me, blogging is just like sitting and writing postcards, which we did yesterday at Cicchetti's:

We met the nicest folks there, and along with our coffee we got a little bit of doggie fix from the owner's border collie. (We are in serious Fritz-withdrawal....)

Now, years of waking up early don't go away overnight, so here I am wide awake, sitting in my pj's, drinking coffee and writing my virtual postcards to you at 7:30 am. But it's o.k. -- maybe I'll take a nap later.

I do love vacation.

Pookey lives!

They just don't know how to spell it here ....

Vacation ... ya gotta wanna!

Sometimes it really takes a lot of work to get your vacation going. This was one of those times. We out started on a great note, making it to the airport in plenty of time, having a good cup of joe and then ... as we were waiting to board, out of the blue Unnamed Partner whispers to me: "Honey I gotta bad feeling about this flight. " Well, I said "Please, don't tell me this NOW...!" Because honestly, she doesn't say stuff like this to me very often, but she's usually right. Well, this time it turned out to be a harmless but correct premonition. You see, about 20 minutes into the flight the captain announced that "Uh, folks, everything's fine," (uh oh, this can't be good!), "but we have a sensor telling us to return to Baltimore, so we have to go back to the airport and get it checked out." Does an airplane have a "check engine" light? 'Cause that's what it sounded like.

Well, we went back to Baltimore, de-planed, waited at the gate while mechanics checked everything out. Much like a car, the sensor was replaced, and everything was fine. At least we hoped so as we climbed back into the sky on our way to Boston. And actually, everything was fine. Little did we know how much fun lay ahead of us in driving a rental car out of Boston. And we lived to tell that tale, as well.

Fortunately we are in Provincetown and well into relaxation mode now. And as I type, I am sipping on a nice cold Bass ale, with a belly full of good food and a face flushed from sun and wind. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon. As you can see from the photo, we did have a sunny day today, so we spent most of the day outside. We heard a rumor that the Pilgrim Monument was free on Sunday mornings, so headed up there this morning around 10. The rumor was false, but after some cajoling with the man selling tickets that we should get the Mother's Day freebie because we have been called mother*#$^&*@, he gave us the student discount. The view from the top of 116 steps (and 60 ramps) is indeed stunning. And if you hold onto the railing at the top you can actually stand in the wind and see it.

After hiking to the top, we were ravenous. We drove around semi-aimlessly looking for a place to park, and stumbled on a restaurant recommended by blogger Suburban Lesbian Housewife Sara, called Bubala's by the Bay. (Thanks Sara!) We loved the calamari and the lobster & asparagus omelet. And the most incredible salad dressing ... EVER! OMG!

Then we had to work off our lunch with a walk along the main strip of Commercial Street. If you haven't been here before, there are many "colorful" people (although very few people of color). But one character we've run into several times (even in the grocery store) is Ellie, the 76-year old trans "Living the dream" (we know that 'cause her sign says so), which seems to be to sing torch songs in the public square. Whatever the dream, she has an excellent voice and a great smile. If possible, we'll try to post a photo of Ellie before the week is up.

The wind died down mid afternoon, so we went for a stroll on the beach. Unnamed Partner took this picture of me, which I think would be suitable for a book jacket. So now I have to write a book. Darn it.

However, Unnamed Partner liked this photo to the right better, because I look more like a Lands End catalog model. (She has high standards.)

We found some beautiful shells along the beach, and here is a special treat: Unnamed Partner has actually allowed me to post her picture! (The fresh sea air must have gone to her head! She's so relaxed, who knows what's in store for me this week!)

For George, on Vacation

One thing Bush sure can do: Vacation!

He's a real go-getter! President Bush is well on his way to breaking yet another record (he's already got a lock on the “lowest popularity rating in history” record!) Yes, George Bush is on track to ensuring his real legacy: The Vacation President!

According to the Houston Chronicle:

On Thursday, Bush left for a weekend in Kennebunkport, Maine, and his family's summer compound, Walker's Point. On Monday, he heads to his Crawford retreat, where he has spent all or part of 418 days of his presidency, according to Mark Knoller, a CBS News White House correspondent and meticulous record-keeper.

...

The presidential vacation-time record holder is the late Ronald Reagan, who tallied 436 days in his two terms. At 418 days, and with 17 months to go in his presidency, Bush is going to beat that easily.

...

Vice President Dick Cheney generally takes August off, often heading to Wyoming or coastal Maryland. Congress left last weekend and is gone until Sept. 4. The Iraqi parliament is taking August off, too.

Still, all this governmental time off is more than most Americans are taking. A recent survey by Yahoo Hot Jobs found nearly half of American workers did not take all of their vacation days last year.

Pooky's gonna take a little break

I know, I know — now? With things just getting interesting between Congress and the White House?!

I'll be back on Monday, and lord knows what will transpire in the news between now and then. So keep reading on the internets. And please visit any of the blogs on the right hand side of this page for in-depth analysis and news stories you won't find in the MSM.

hasta luego!