Today it was oil change day for the car.  Randal didn’t change the oil, but he did replace the windshield wipers which is a good thing because they were really squeaky unless it was pouring.  And though Randal could tune it out; it drove me crazy.  Luckily it only rained the last few days of our trip.  The "trip laundry" is half done so tonight we’re having dinner and laundry at my sister’s house.  This morning as I was sorting through the books we’d bought during our road trip, and looking at the dinghy gas tank, etc, I mentioned to Randal that our one big suitcase wasn’t going to do the job of getting us back to the boat.  We always seem to be one suitcase short either coming or going.  On the motorbike two small panniers and a back box are enough, but then we don’t go along collecting books and boat parts.  But I really do want to read the books I bought and most probably wouldn’t be available on Kindle or electronic books from the library.  I’ll include the list in a separate email. This email takes us back to Dartmouth, New Bedford and Westport.   But as you can see from the subject line, this email isn’t so much about the place but about the people we went to see.  You’ll meet Eileen, Jean, and Pam in the next email about our lobster dinner.

New Bedford/Dartmouth/Westport. 

  A quick recap.  My family lived in New Bedford at 177 Plymouth Street from the time I was born until my parents retired to Florida in the 70s. Our friend Har’s family moved to the intersection of Plymouth and Burns. Bruce grew up across the street.   We all met before kindergarten.  Neighborhood kids played together, walked en masse to the library and performed home made plays in our basements.    It was a great neighborhood for growing up.  We had the huge Buttonwood Park one street over with its woods, zoo, ice skating pond, tennis courts and green spaces.  We could walk to elementary school, junior high and high school and the local library.   As a matter of fact, we lived so close that school buses weren’t an option; we lived too close to qualify for buses.  We had the local Acushnet Beach when we were small and Horseneck Beach when we could drive ourselves there.  We even had Lincoln Park, a giant amusement park with a scary roller coaster and Ferris wheel.  I rode both of those rides exactly once fearing death.  My father won a life size stuffed collie from one of the toss games. Under protest I grew up, went off to UMass in Amherst and never went back other than to visit my parents until they too moved away. Today Buttonwood Park has expanded but Lincoln Park has been long closed down. The old Plymouth Street neighborhood looks mostly the same, but we’ve all moved as well as all of our siblings.  My sister and I moved to Roanoke, VA at different times for different reasons.  Har and Bruce moved to Dartmouth, just down the road from New Bedford.   In 1990 I turned 40 and so did Har.  When Har’s husband asked what she wanted for her 40th birthday present she said “Ru!”  So Dick called me and we arranged it and though snow storms everywhere made it almost impossible, I arrived in time for Har’s 40th December 23rd  birthday and we’ve visited almost every year since. (Har married Dick from around the corner.  Bruce married Jean from Dartmouth and Eileen and Pam are her sisters.  Eileen married Bill who went to school with my sister Harriet.  During our visit we stayed in Janet’s and Andy’s loft apartment. Janet and Andy are friends of Har’s.)  Our family of friends has grown just as it did on Cape Cod with Julia and Kathy.  Visiting and spending time is the original Facebook!  We’ve seen most of the historic sites, museums, etc…now we make the trip “up north” just to see friends. 
 
Har after her swim at Anthony Beach
It was late afternoon, the water was cold and I took a pass.  But the next day I did swim at Horseneck Beach. 

 
While Har swam, Randal read.
I’d noticed a copy of Mary Lovell’s biography of Beryl Markham Straight On Till Morning in a used book shop on Hilton Head.  (Should have waited to Hyannis where it was $10 cheaper!)  One of Randal’s all time favorite books is Markham’s own book West With the Night.  Once Randal starts reading a book he loves, there’s no getting him to put it down for anything. 

 
The Beach Plum is just a short walk across the driveway from Har’s and the first stop of our walk around the neighborhood.  Padanaram Harbor is just across the road and after the “strenuous walk” across the street Har and Randal posed in these Adirondack chairs. 

 
Apponagansett Bay
Har and Eileen share a small sailboat that is kept moored in the bay.  They pulled it out early this year to avoid possible damage from Irene. 

 
The Padanaram Bridge links North and South Dartmouth and crosses over Apponagansett Bay. These cars and fire truck are waiting for the bridge to close after one of its scheduled openings. We’ve had to deal with bridges on our travels but never had to wait for one to open.  Leaving the boatyard in Biajiao we had to lower our mast (a real breath holder) to get under the bridge just down river from the yard.  Since then we’ve fit under every bridge along the way.  In Kuching we would have preferred anchoring along the river in town but couldn’t get under the bridge and that bridge didn’t open.  It’s a bit scary going under and looking up as the mast fits through.  It looks like it won’t but Randal has checked ahead so knows that it will.

If you’re a boat, here’s what you have to know……
Opening Schedule
From May through October, the bridge opening schedule is as follows:
6AM – 8 AM : On the hour and half-hour
8 AM – 8 PM : On the hour
8 PM – 9 PM : On the hour and half-hour
Requesting Openings
To request a bridge opening, hail the bridge tender on VHF Channel 13.
You can also request an opening by calling (508) 910-7107.
If you have no communication equipment at your disposal, you should approach the bridge a few minutes prior to a scheduled opening and sound 3 Short Blasts with your horn in the vicinity of the bridge.
http://www.dartmouthharbormaster.com/

  
Randal and Har are discussing educational philosophy; Har teaches Kindergarten. Randal is telling her about the Khan Academy website where you can learn about a great many things but Art doesn’t seem to be listed….yet. www.khanacademy.org

 This is Janet’s favorite tree so I’ve included it as a “hello” to Janet and Andy whose loft we lived in during our visit.

Dick and Randal relaxing at Horseneck Beach. 

Randal is shading himself while he continues to read the Beryl Markham biography.  At some point I put down my camera and Har and I went swimming! Har stayed in longer.   Last year Har and I came and wore wool sweaters and hats and had the place pretty much to ourselves.  This year we had to hunt for a parking space.  It was a few weeks earlier this year, but still what a difference. 
Horseneck is a great beach!
“Spread across nearly 600 acres of barrier beach and salt marsh, Horseneck Beach is one of the most popular facilities in the Massachusetts State Forests and Parks system. Located at the western end of Buzzards Bay, the sandy, southwest-facing, 2-mile long beach is breezy all year round, providing excellent wind surfing and a dependable respite from sweltering inland temperatures every summer. The combination of ocean beach and estuary habitat makes Horseneck one of the premier birding locations in New England. Behind the dunes near Gooseberry Neck (a rocky headland at the eastern end of the Reservation), is a 100-site campground.” http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/southeast/hbch.htm

 
Har, Janet and Andy

  Sadly for us we met Janet and Andy on our last morning in Dartmouth.  They had actually both been away when we arrived but Har had the key to the loft and got us settled in.  We did get to spend a quick bit of time at their kitchen table having tea, cookies, fruit and conversation before Randal and I had to leave.  We’d told our friend Martha to expect us in Boston by early afternoon.  Janet, though enjoying her retirement years, is a LIBRARIAN, educator and activist through and through. (Andy is no slouch either and makes the most beautiful furniture in his retirement years.)  We spent most of our tea time trading book titles around the table so I had to really learn about Janet online.  Here is a bit about her. (You can read the whole article following the link.)

  “Janet Freedman served as Dean of Library Services and Professor of Education at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She chaired the Department of Education, directed the Women’s Studies Program and co-directed the university’s Center for Jewish Culture.
   Janet initiated and participated in many projects to advance the role of libraries as vehicles for social engagement and change, and to create services for women on campus and in the community. She sought to apply a feminist model of leadership to her work as a Dean and faculty member at UMass Dartmouth, promoting a respectful, diverse campus community, advocating for the personal and professional growth of staff and encouraging the active participation of students in shaping their own learning.
Representative Publications”
Freedman, Janet. “Always a Librarian,” in The Changing Culture of Libraries, edited by Renee Feinberg, 94-102. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Press, 2001.
http://www.brandeis.edu/wsrc/scholars/profiles/freedman.html

Around New Bedford..
Har and I went downtown to the New Bedford Art Museum which had not existed when I was growing up.  I probably wouldn’t have been interested at that time though I took art as a high school elective.  So maybe I would have been?  Har’s favorite piece is this “found furniture” piece made by Adrian Johnson from a car seat and an old refrigerator.  http://www.newbedfordguide.com/fridgecouch/2011/03/29

  
Refrigerator couch at the art museum, costumed ladies outside the Visitor Center, cobblestone streets (maybe ballast from ships like in Savannah?) and a “harpoon” fence outside of the Whaling Museum.

Time for Food…..  www.thebaysiderestaurant.com
“More than your typical clam shack.”  I loved that line from an Urbanspoon review of The Bayside on Horseneck Road not far from the beach.  We went for dinner on a Saturday night and the place was packed.  Guess folks were breaking their Yom Kippur fasts.  The review raved about the eggplant string fries and they were great!  So was my fried calamari.  Har had the crab (or fish) cakes with beans and corn bread. I can’t remember what Randal ate, unusual for me but I was just too focused on my own food.  It was all wonderful.  Incredibly full from the fries, calamari and giant bowl of salad I did manage to put down my fork to take a photo of the chocolate cake

 
Over the top good, but Randal just can’t pass up dessert.  It put a smile on Har’s face too as we all shared.

 

 
The other best part beside the food is that it’s a really informal place where folks bike to on the weekends. Though there were empty tables when we left about 9pm, we had gotten just about the last table inside when we arrived.  We passed The Bayside on our way to the beach the next day and the lot was as packed as the night before.  I was quite jealous of the folks who had biked there.    www.thebaysiderestaurant.com

 
Outdoor seating at and the view across the road. 

Next email will be our “Lobstah Dinnah.”