Linda’s and Charmaine’s island home

Hi Everyone,

  We crossed the border to Canada Saturday morning.  It was quick and simple.  But our tracfone which had worked in Boston to call Canada wouldn’t work in Canada to call Canada.  Not surprisingly, a kind man in a small convenience store in Varona let Randal use his phone to call Linda and Charmaine to come to shore from their Charlott Island home to get Randal and me. We drove from Varona to Lake Sharbot and there were Linda and Charmaine waiting with big smiles and warm hugs.  Linda and Charmaine took part in the Odyssey 2000 around the world bike ride which Randal had done and we are here visiting with them.  Just now Randal and Linda have taken out their guitars and are singing duets.  After their versions of Leonard Cohen’s Halleujah we’re listening to several other versions. It’s just such an amazing song.

    But jumping back in time, this is an email about our visit to friends on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. 

Cotuit and Hyannis

From New Jersey we headed “up north” to Massachusetts.

The George Washington Bridge over the Hudson from New Jersey to New York along I-95.

I was patting myself on the back over this picture until I realized that our car windshield is tinted causing the drama rather than my photography skills.

Our first two stops were on Cape Cod to visit former Roanoke bicycle friends.  Julia has lived on the Cape for years and Kathy had just moved there this year.  I’d introduced them by email and we all had dinner together one night.

Kathy’s house in Cotuit was our first stop.  Kathy had been among my first bike friends in Roanoke. We did AGVITTH riding our bikes from Harrisonburg, VA to Harrisonburg, PA.  We rode the 6 day Florida Safari.  Kathy has lived in Alaska, in New York and was now in Massachusetts where her daughter attends Tabor Academy in Marion, MA.  (Sadly, Kathy’s husband who had worked for over 30 years for the National Park Service died in April 2004.  Kathy and her daughter Lexi have experienced life in Kotzebu, Alaska and Fire Island, New York where David was Superintendent of the Western Arctic National Parklands in Kotzebue, Alaska and Fire Island National Seashore in New York.)  Kathy has jumped right in to life in Cotuit and is on the board of Friends of the Library and she and I counted the take from a recent fashion show held to raise money for the Friends.

Randal in his relaxing clothes in Kathy’s house. 

My stuff is all over the table in the foreground so you can see we’ve moved right in and made ourselves at home.  Kathy has lived in Cotuit for only about 6 months so her possessions are slowly find their permanent spaces in her home.

Kathy and her pooch and I made a trip to the “pet friendly” library to turn in the money raised by the Friends. 

Randal helped install locks on the windows in Kathy’s basement as well as help Kathy take out all of the window air conditioners.

Cotuit is one of those lovely Cape Cod towns I could easily live in forever.

Julia and Kathy.

The Cape is a small place and Julia doesn’t live far from Kathy so one night we all had dinner at the Kettle-Ho where the fried calamari is wonderful and every other person has some piece of clothing that says Red Sox.

With Kathy, dinner was always at Kettle-Ho which we all really liked. At Julia’s we decided to "do the cooking" and one night grilled the most expensive salmon in the world. and some New York Strip steak the next.  Julia’s friend Linda came for the salmon dinner.  We’d met Linda last year so it was fun to see her again.  Each year we visit New England we become part of the "family of friends" of the friend we come to visit.  We have gotten to know Kathy’s daughter Lexi and Julia’s friend Linda, Julia’s dad and her aunt during previous visits.  That’s the best part. 

Julia lives in Hyannis which we know pretty well from past visits.   While Julia was at work Randal and I walked to the center of town to visit the great used book shop, the library book sale, and have lunch at another favorite place, Sunnyside.  It is an old fashioned family diner with stools at the counter and a mile long menu where you can eat breakfast all day.  We’ve always liked it and the staff is always friendly.  It’s neither upscale nor yuppie, but then neither are we.

Sunnyside Restaurant.

I had a grilled cheese and tuna sandwich; Randal had a burger.   Old fashioned food and prices but they did have WIFI!

Tim’s Used Books

I found several titles that I wanted.  This is a great book shop. Amazingly, when looking at the photos I took of the bookshop, I noticed its name was Tim’s Used Books.  We’d been in Provincetown the day before and had visited a used book store called Tim’s Used Books.   It was only when I was looking at my photos did I notice the book shops had the same name.  I searched the web to see what I could find and found this blurb about Tim’s……..

“I’ve owned six used-bookstores since 1989. Two have been successful. The others failed. Before that I managed a few minor-league rock bands around Boston, later worked for a concert-promoter who brought Gregory Isaacs, The Slits, The Mighty Diamonds to Boston. Still later I organized an art gallery. Sold some people’s paintings and photos–enjoyed that, didn’t enjoy the egos. In 2008 I revived Against The Grain Gallery, selling paintings by a young Provincetown artist named Cameron Castro. I have bookshops currently open in Hyannis and Provincetown, USA. It’s fun there in the summer, when you never know who’ll walk through the door. Poets, writers, movie-types, many vagrants and tanned people. It’s fun. Come visit!

http://www.myspace.com/timsusedbooks

Tim was in the Provincetown shop and I spent a good deal of time speaking with him.  He asked about our stay in Cyprus and my feelings about Israel and why people in the world can’t get along.  Randal was walking the several blocks back to the car to feed the meter so he had no comment. 

Our second favorite tourist destination…a thrift shop.

Randal bought his $5 J Crew flannel lined canvas jacket which he wore today during our walk in chilly Lake Sharbot, Ontario, Canada.   The discussion in the shop was not something Democrats like Randal and I wanted to hear.  Everyone was commenting how much they appreciated Republican Senator Scott Brown because he made trips to the Cape and Democrat Kerry and even the late Ted Kennedy rarely made the effort.  Hmmm.

Between our visit with Kathy and Julia, Randal and I made a day trip to Provincetown.  I’m giving it an email of its own because I had such a great time touring the Provincetown Public Library and took bunches of photos of the library and Provincetown street scenes.

Ru

October 14, 2011

Watertown, NY

Hi Y’all,

  Between my years on the boat and my weeks in Massachusetts, I seem to have forgotten my 27 years of "southern."  First Randal and then my sister pointed out to me that I’d written you’ll when I had meant y’all in the previous email.  It’s funny what I remember and what I forget.  I can count to ten in Chinese but can’t remember Turkish numbers.  I want to say the Turkish "gunaydin" to people rather than "good morning."  It gets confusing. 

  We’ve just come from Boston where we had been visiting with our friend Martha and her daughter Jessica.  Martha has a drawer full of spices and made a wonderful soup of potatoes, garbanzo beans and artichoke hearts with lovely spices and a squeeze of lemon.  We visited lots of wonderful used book shops and the Pompeii exhibit at the Science Museum…but that’s all for another email.  This email is about our visit with friend Carol in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ.  Tomorrow we will cross into Ontario, Canada to visit with friends of Randal’s from his "around the world" bike trip.  They live on an island in a lake and we’ll get there by dinghy! 

  The Red Sox have turned into a soap opera which will make for interesting reading and a whole slew of new Red Sox books I’ll one day read.  In the meantime I’m reading Dogtown by Elyssa East.  Dogtown is an area of woodlands near Gloucester, MA named for the dogs that once belonged to Revolutionary War widows.  East was lead there because of her fascination with paintings by Marsden Hartley.  It is the winner of the 2010 LL Winship/PEN New England Award in Nonfiction.  I had stumbled across it on the shelves of the Hilton Head Public Library so set out to find it in a book store as we traveled.  I found it in The Strand!

Ru

DoraMac

Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey with Carol

Our friend Carol lives in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ.  It is a lovely small town surrounded by beaches and marinas and just a 45 minute, or so, drive to Manhattan.  We visited Manhattan, walked the beaches,  and boiled some lobsters for dinner.  We had been promised a lobster dinner in New Bedford, but Randal really likes lobster so when Carol suggested it, he jumped at the chance.  In Manhattan we visited the Strand book store with 18 miles of shelves and also The New York Costume Shop which is irresistible even for sightseers like us who hand out candy rather than dress up to collect it. 

Relaxing at Carol’s house.

The Roanoke Valley Library Association made up t-shirts for several years.  This “vintage” one is from 1995.  In SAMS one day a woman ran up to Randal to say how important librarians had been to her and a woman in Hilton Head also made a comment.  Hurrah for Librarians! 

Manhattan street scenes.

Go to the theater or go to the New York Public Library guarded by the “Literary Lions.”

Look above the word “first” and you will see a blue shirt and white hat.  It’s Randal.  Carol can be seen over the word “her.”  Cameras had been set up to broadcast passers-by.   

The Strand Book Store

“In 1927, Ben Bass opened Strand Book Store on Fourth Avenue, home of New York’s legendary Book Row. Named after the famous publishing street in London, the Strand was one of 48 bookstores on Book Row, which started in the 1890’s and ran from Union Square to Astor Place. Today, the Strand is the sole survivor.”

http://www.strandbooks.com/

One could spend hours and hours browsing the shelves. I found my copy of Dogtown.  I was hoping that The Strand would have some unique books about Cyprus but they didn’t partly because there don’t seem to be any of those “Tuscan Sun” or Year in Provence” kind of books written.  Randal and I might have to write one!

We visited the NY Costume Shop last year because Carol needed a costume.  This year we just went for the fun of it.  Carol grew up on Staten Island and went to NYU so knows Manhattan. The company where Carol works had offered her a position in the Philippines for two years and that’s when we had all met. 

New York cabs have TV screen so you can follow along on a map or watch a program about places to visit in the city.

Point Pleasant Beach, NJ

Lots of places for boaters and fishermen here.

Point Pleasant Beach really is a lovely town and from her house Carol can walk to the beach or walk to the small center for shops and restaurants.

The statue behind us and the plaques on the railing are dedicated to mariners lost at sea.  We paid our respects.

The ocean was somewhat riled up that day and though no one was swimming there were surfers in wet suits taking advantage of the surf.

http://www.point-lobster.com/

You can see fishing boats reflected in the window so you know fish here is fresh!

Carol and friends from the waters of Maine or maybe Nova Scotia.

Randal having lobster feast # 1. 

We said good-bye to Carol and journeyed on to Cotuit, MA to visit with a Roanoke bicycle buddy who now lives there with her daughter.  That story will have to wait for another day.

  Thanks for the birthday wishes.  The senior discounts are still iffy, but I’m getting more and more of them.  We’ve been visiting friends, eating wonderful food, scouring used book stores ( though I do now have a Kindle, but still can’t resist,) and making library visits.  I’ve gone from being the only B hat around to being lost in the crowd of Red Sox hat, shirts, sweatshirts, etc here in Massachusetts.  And here everyone sounds like me!  Or like I used to sound before I added You’ll to my vocabulary. And  I went swimming in the Atlantic Ocean in October!  We’ve been as far east as you can go in Massachusetts and will go as far west as you can go on our way to Lake Shabot, Ontario to visit friends.  We’ve had New Jersey lobster and Massachusetts lobster.  Maybe they all came from Maine…who knows; they were all great and really fun to eat.  I’ve been slow to post emails because we’ve been too busy doing stuff.  Eventually I’ll catch up.  This email finds us in Annapolis though in reality, at this time,  we are in "Boston" visiting our friend Martha and her daughter Jessica.  Martha and I worked together at the Roanoke County Public Library and channeled Lucy and Ethel as we went off on our bicycles on trips to Ireland, England, and Japan and hiked the coastal path of Wales.  We had some USA adventures too.  Lots of good memories.  Now we’re making more.

Ru

DoraMac

Annapolis visit to a Diesel Duck 2011

Annapolis is another of our favorite places. We stopped this time to visit folks who own a diesel trawler named Diesel Duck.  We also spent some time walking around Annapolis harbor and visiting a favorite used book shop.  The Naval Academy is located in Annapolis and every shop in town sells something to remind visitors Annapolis is the home of the Academy.

Caps, hats, shirts, cups, you name it…..

A statue of Alex Haley reading from his book Roots to children of Annapolis.

“According to research done by Alex Haley, Kunta Kinte was an African from The Gambian town of Jufferee. According to Haley family history he was sold into slavery in a town called "Naplis."   Haley’s research identified a slave ship, the Lord Ligonier, which sailed from Gambia River, July 5, 1767, with 140 captured Gambians. It arrived in Annapolis, Maryland on September 29, 1767, with only 98 survivors. Haley believed one of those survivors was a seventeen-year-old Kunta Kinte.   The Africans were sold into slavery on October 7, according to an advertisement in the Maryland Gazette newspaper.”  http://www.kintehaley.org/memorialelements.html

I visited this book shop last year and the lovely owner was nice enough to remember me.  It was Randal’s first visit and we had a nice chat with a local sail boater who wasn’t supposed to know about his surprise birthday party that night. I told him to blame it on me.  Randal didn’t find the book he was looking for, but I didn’t walk away empty handed.  The following is from their website.  Wish I could click my heels and visit more that once a year!

A Different Kind of Bookstore

“As a small-town independent bookstore, we know and value our community.   At The Annapolis Bookstore we’ll know your name and where your children go to school.  Yes,  we’ll buy your girl scout cookies or help you find that book of poetry to woo a special someone.  We’ll probably know that special someone.  We’ve seen marriage proposals, birthday surprises, and first steps.  Our passion for stories extends beyond the brilliant work of the authors that grace our shelves to the many tales that walk in our door, tales of where you’ve been and who you are.  The heart of  The Annapolis Bookstore is people and the books that open the world to all of us.  We are your community bookstore but we can’t do it without you.  Keep the heart beating.  Become a member.”

http://annapolisbookstore.com/

The next day we visited a diesel duck trawler actually called Diesel Duck.    Marlene and Benno Klopfer invited us to spend the day with them on their trawler which was moored in Weems Creek.  http://www.sailblogs.com/member/dieselduck/?xjMsgID=192210

Weems Creek, Annapolis

It was a beautiful, warm calm day.  We called ahead and Benno came to shore with the dinghy to collect us.

Marlene made a wonderful lunch of chicken, baked apples, rice pilaf and zucchini; and an amazing dessert.  Marlene and Benno had been sailors for years and their boat interior was similar to our friends Jamie and Dave Fritsch who had also been sailors before deciding to own a Diesel Duck trawler.  Our interior is a different design as is the outside.  But ours was built many years after and the design had been modified.  And never having been sailors we opted more for a trawler design rather than a sailboat layout. 

We have some mutual cruising friends and we spent the day swapping stories.  And all Diesel Duck trawlers trace their origins back to George Buehler, the designer of the design.

A crow’s nest offers them a great view when necessary.  Our boat has a pilot house so we can see from up high but a crow’s nest is a great idea…just like the days of yore.  I don’t mind climbing ladders, I just mind climbing down. 

Marlene

Benno transported us from shore to ship to shore on their dinghy.

We had a lovely day and a heartbreaking evening as I followed the Red Sox lose and the Rays win and the season end for the Sox.  It certainly is making for an interesting off-season. 

From Annapolis it we were off to Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey to visit our friend Carol, a Yankees fan.

  We’ve just spent two lovely days with our friend Carol taking a trip yesterday to Manhattan and today walking along the beach here in Point Pleasant. 

Tomorrow we’ll head off to visit our friend Kathy in Cotuit, MA. 

Ru

Chincoteague   

“Located on the southern end of Assateague Island in Virginia, the refuge was established in 1943 for the protection of migratory waterfowl habitat with emphasis on conserving the greater snow goose.

The refuges’ more than 14,000 acres of beach, maritime forest, saltmarsh, and freshwater marsh habitats are home to a spectacular variety of migratory birds, plants, and other animals.

The refuge is also one of the most visited refuges in the country and provides outstanding opportunities to connect you with nature.”   http://www.fws.gov/northeast/chinco/

Randal and I have made several visits to Chincoteague.  Most of the time we took bikes and it’s a great place for that.  We still enjoy it but missed having our bicycles.  And the weather mostly cooperated.

We stayed at the Best Western Plus just at the end/beginning of the causeway to Chincoteague wildlife area and these photos show the entrance and Randal walking back towards the hotel. 

Because of the hurricane this year there were very few birds and about a trillion mosquitoes.  November is supposed to be a great time to see lots of birds wintering here.

Island ponies being walked on the beach and a woman wrapped up against the late afternoon breezes.

Randal had found a short post and a flat board and made a chair.  My foot print and probably a great heron’s which had come earlier.

The small town of Chincoteague had a wonderful seafood restaurant and three used book shops.  One was closed Tuesdays when we were there but Books was open and we had a lovely chat with the owners.

Bill’s Seafood Restaurant and BOOKS the used book store where Randal bought a biography of Beryl Markham who had written West With the Night his favorite book. 

We also love the Chincoteague Island Public Library which had been quite small the last time we visited.  Now it has a whole new section and it’s just lovely.

The former library building and now the current building with the octagonal addition.

The inside was very lovely and homey except I was put off by the confederate flag that was part of a display about the civil war.

Library kitsch. 

Marguerite Henry with the real Misty…… a statue of Misty just next to the Library.

“Chincoteague Island gained national fame in 1961 when Twentieth Century Fox premiered the movie “Misty of Chincoteague”. The movie was based on author Marguerite Henry’s award-winning children’s book Misty of Chincoteague, published in 1947. The book and movie helped to forever transition Chincoteague Island from a small fishing village into a world-class tourist destination.”   http://www.chincoteague.com/

From Chincoteague we moved along to another favorite place, Annapolis in part to visit cruisers who live on a Diesel Duck named Diesel Duck!  But that’s for the next email.

Ru

DoraMac