Showing posts with label Massachusetts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Massachusetts. Show all posts

Monday, November 25, 2013

American's Hometown Thanksgiving Parade






Our annual Thanksgiving Parade in Plymouth is a very well attended event, the streets are lined on both sides for miles with people of all ages out enjoying a day in the sun. Joe, Christy and I had a great time photographing it and watching all the activity, and there was a lot of activity! I loved all the interesting people and did my best to capture the feel of the day, Saturday, November 23rd. 
Passing the time blowing bubbles, nice to not see a smart phone...


Straight out of a Dickens novel.

This little girl asked a stranger if she could pet his dog, and just loved this dog at first sight.

Like father like son. 

 Very comfortable in these old fashioned clothes.
  
Lots of marching bands.

 An agreeable model.

Lost in thought.

Not sure I'm liking it here...





Marching in yellow satin. 

Friday, December 14, 2012

Amy and Ian go to Boston

I started this blog at a time when Ian and I were doing a lot of traveling together, back in our homeschooling days. Hence the words 'Where are Amy and Ian Now?' in my url.  These days Ian's in college and I'm in Plymouth, but today we went to Boston to drop Milo off at his new home for the next 3 months and to chase a rare bird. 

Milo's always been a good traveler in our car, he wanders around, mostly sitting on a lap if one is handy.

Milo on my lap while Ian's driving.

 Milo getting very excited about going to Priscilla and Bill's house for the next 3 months while we're in Mexico.  They've already sent me the cutest photo of Milo hanging out comfortably in his 'new' home.

Our next stop is the Fenway Victory Gardens, an extensive maze of community gardens that people cultivate for food and outdoor space. Our mission: to find a rare bird.

View of the Prudential Towers in the background. Many other birders were here looking, too, word gets out fast in the birding community.

Looking all over for this rare warbler. Great day to be outside!

Strange little jar I found on someone's fence. 

 Looking some more, then....

Someone yelled "I got it!!!" Excitedly, we all ran to where this rare bird was seen, what a thrill!! Birding at it's best, it's contagious.

Cameras and binos all pointing at the bird, who did not stay still for an instant.

Got it! MacGillivray's Warbler photo taken by Ian. An amazing shot if you saw how quickly this little bird moved.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Angel Dancing

This is one of my favorite images. Angel, with her dance partner and friend, Adam (not pictured), danced and modeled for us on a Saturday morning in early October. What a treat this was for Betty, Ralph, Dustin and I, we loved it and so did they!!!


Friday, December 7, 2012

Indian Summer in Plymouth

Tuesday was an Indian Summer day here in Plymouth, with unusually warm weather, sunshine and a lovely day for a walk on the beach with friends. Edmund and Kay joined us on this gift of a day, and even though I had my 'big' Canon camera with me, I took these with my iPhone. The post processing was done on my iPad with Snapseed, my go-to editing software, always fun playing with it.


 Plymouth Beach, the bay side. Edmund using his new iPhone...

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

July 3rd Celebration at White Horse Beach, Manomet.

A long standing celebration the day before July 4th, roads are closed off at 6pm, no parking signs all over Manomet, police and ambulances at the ready and a ton of Fireworks!! Add a few thousand happy people and you have the annual 3rd of July fire and beer extravaganza.

 Joe and I walked to White Horse Beach via this little path from our home nearby.

 A full moon last night, perfect weather and low tide, fantastic!

 One of many happy Americans celebrating our Independence.

 Bonfires, ocean, full moon and fireworks!

Check out Joe's blog HERE.

Friendly policeman helping out before the bonfire is lit.

Joan lighting these really cool paper bags. Only to be used at the water on an offshore breeze.

 Away it flies.




 Party!!


 Flying bag, Fireworks and Full Moon...

 Singing God Bless America.


The sunrise this morning over the pond.
Happy 4th of July!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Cookies and the Cottage




Recipe for Walnut Banana Cookies

These are vegan and I found the original recipe on Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.  They were good, but I ran out of peanut butter and liked these higher fat cookies better. They are eaten up as fast I can bake them, if you have more that 2 people eating them I would suggest doubling the recipe. It's a good way to use up those ripe bananas.

Feel free to make substitutions, if you don't have walnuts, use a nut you do have. I ground mine up coarsely in my coffee grinder I use for flax seed grinding. If you don't have any nuts, use peanut butter and cut the olive oil, or other vegetable oil, in half.  Same thing for the flour, use what you have on hand, they'll still be good.
1/2 cup of ground walnuts 
1/3 cup of olive oil or other vegetable oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup mashed banana or one and half ripe bananas
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 pinch salt
Optional: 1/2 cup non-dairy chocolate chips or half cup of walnut pieces. Or a combination of both.
Preheat oven to 375.  Lightly rub a stick of earth balance on baking sheet.
Cream together the ground walnuts, oil, sugars, vanilla and the mashed banana. Then add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add the chocolate chips, or walnuts if desired, and mix until well-blended, but do not over-mix.

Drop by large walnut sized tablespoons onto prepared pans.  (These cookies will not spread as they cook, so the shape they're in when they come out of the oven will be about the same as when they went in.)  Bake for about 10 to 13 minutes, until bottoms are golden brown.  Makes 25 cookies.
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I have been very happy living at the cottage in Manomet, Plymouth since Ian started banding birds in mid April. It's a magical place, a place of renewal for me. Spring is particularly exciting with new growth and baby animals. Here are some photos of the place I am very lucky to call home.

4:50am. There are so many rewards to being up early in the day.

Same morning.

Evening time.

Milo, our cat, waiting for a mouse to dart by. He caught one in that exact spot 3 years ago, and keeps hoping it will come back. The pond side growth is still dormant.

A family of geese.

A swan family with their 6 cygnets, hatched yesterday. The snapping turtles and other predators will whittle the count down to one or two cygnets in a few months.

One of my gardening spots. This will be my before photo and hopefully it will look beautiful in a few months. Gardeners are inherently hopeful people :-)

Oregano from Mary. I agree with Mary when she says sometimes when she's in the garden she's almost giddy with delight!

Being green. Hanging out my laundry makes me happy.

Asparagus and Oregano from my garden. Tomatoes from the market, too early yet for these locally.

A delicious dish I made with the above ingredients, along with some lovely beets and avocado. Add olive oil, wine vinegar, spices, salt and pepper and it's a perfect meal.