Back from Boaty

I'm pooped! We had a fabulous, wonderful, gorgeous trip down the coast to Buzzard's Bay and then over to Martha's Vineyard and back. We took many photos and will be featuring them here in daily installments.

The first day, we left Salem on a beautiful, hot, sunny, humid day. Here, we leave our marina behind:

And here is the view heading out of the harbor:


Offshore about two miles out:
Farewell, Salem!

The view off the stern from the cabin of our boat:
Oh, so pretty!

We ran into some large patches of fog on the way south, but it cleared out by the time we got far south into Cape Cod Bay. Here we have entered the Cape Cod Canal and are making our way through it. First, you go under the Sagamore Bridge:


The view inside the Canal:


Then, you go under the Bourne Bridge, which looks just like the above bridge. Then, the last feature, the railroad bridge:


Just past the railroad bridge was a HUGE feeding frenzy - striped bass feeding on small fish from below, and hundreds of gulls and terns feeding on the little fish from above:

Then, just as you are about the leave the Canal, you go past Massachusetts Maritime Academy and their huge ship for training the students, The Kennedy:


The weather turned pretty rough when we entered Buzzard's Bay, so no photos of where we ended up that first night - suffice it to say it was a GORGEOUS little harbor on the southern end of Buzzard's Bay called Quisset. Here is an aerial view:It's a beautiful, peaceful harbor; reminiscent of those found in Maine. Tomorrow I'll post some of the photos from the morning in Quisset and then our trip through Woods Hole to Martha's Vineyard!

Hope you're having a wonderful, restful weekend!

Ciao!

Buzzard's Bay bound

I'm just beside myself! I'm so excited I could spit! (Why spitting is a good thing I do not know.) We are leaving tomorrow morning for our first, big, official trip on boaty! We have literally had nothing but problems on that poor boat since we got it - leaking fuel tanks, leaking sewage system (ick), stinky water, unending diesel smell, peeling paint, leaky faucets, stopped up shower pump, and the list goes on and on and on. My poor husband spent the first 3 summers we had the boat in the bilge. I'm not even kidding. He would fix things, clean it all up and then, BOOM, something else would happen and he'd have to start all over again.

So, many thousands of dollars and endless hours later (knock wood), we have everything in working order. PLUS, boaty looks pretty, as I've sanded and primed and painted pretty much anything that I could reach! She's looking lovely. I'll take pictures while we're on our trip to share.

We are headed down to Cape Cod, we're going through the Cape Cod Canal and then will spend sometime cruising around different locations in Buzzard's Bay. The weather forecast looks great - very little wind and just a chance of showers one evening and one day. We come home on Friday.

I'm just now eating some banana bread that I made to take along on the trip. MAN! It's good!

In yesterday's post I mentioned that I've been hired by a very nice woman to decorate her home with houseplants. So far, I've got 10 smaller plants for tables and plant stands and then I've got 11 bigger plants that will sit on the floor in various rooms. I still have to buy three really big plants and a few topiaries, but I'm nearly done plant shopping, so that's good!

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Smaller plants include aloes, bonsai sheffeleras, devil's ivy and some other sort of neato tropical guy that is a little taller and has cool variegated leaves:

For the larger plants, I got dwarf scheffleras, dracaena marginata, a Ti plant, a big ficus fig tree, variegated ginger, and beautiful dwarf date palm trees:


Aren't they all so pretty? I love me plants - indoors or out. Just love 'em!

And last for today and for a few days as I'll be sailing the high seas, the planter that I did up for a charity event that took place last night:

I had to drop it off at the venue, and it always makes me a little sad to say goodbye to arrangements that I do! Hopefully it made some good money for the charity!

Sunday sundries

Oh, BOY! The weather here has just been scrumptious! LOVE LOVE LOVE this kind of weather when the air is crisp, but it's still very warm outside. The hintiest hint of fall is in the air, but it's still summertime warm. LOVE! I'm not sure I've mentioned this before, but I do not like humidity. HATE. HATE HATE HATE. I probably mentioned this a couple times.

Ahem.

Probably mentioned it seventy-leven billion times. Not fond of the humid. At all. Ick.

So, let's get on with some photos, shall we?

This was the scene this morning in the back yard after I fed the dogs their breakfast:That is Koty nestled into the plants over by one of the benches. He just does the most adorable things!


And this is Sadie nestled next to the door in the shade:

Sorry for the poor photo quality - I took these through the glass in the back door and there is some condensation between the glass panes because the A/C is on - cool in the house, hot outside.

Here's another fuzzy picture for your enjoyment:
Can you see that tomato just growing and growing there in the middle of the picture? It's way higher than the post with the red top now. It is now officially taller than I am! Woo HOO!

Here is an obedient plant flower stalk that had broken off yesterday. I was more than happy to bring it inside to enjoy!
They are so cheerful!

Behind that, you may notice a jade. That's from a cutting of a jade from Dan's mother's jade plant. She started the jade when Dan was first born, so this is a plant that is basically 36 years old! Isn't that cool?

And this is my newest addition. I know. I KNOW! I have plant issues. I KNOW! Stop telling me! I need help! But how could I resist this?A BONSAI schefflera. Are you even kidding me? It's only about a foot tall and it's a fully mature plant. Honestly? I don't know anyone who could resist. AND I got it on sale. And I wasn't technically looking for myself, I was shopping for my new client! She has hired me to "warm up" her new home with plants in EVERY room in her house! My friends, she has a giant house - probably 5000 square feet! I am having a BLAST plant shopping!

But, seriously? Isn't that tiny schefflera too cute?

Ok. I've got to go...Off to do some work on the boat! Happy Sunday!