Four feet of snow and counting…

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Lori

The last time I posted we were coming off of a warm sunny summer and a beautiful fall. It started snowing in December and hasn’t stopped, we’ve had over 4 feet of snow and we still have 6 weeks left of winter weather. We had a white Christmas and have had lots of beautiful snowy days since then. Our yard and the surrounding areas are so peaceful and pretty during and after a snowstorm. I hope you enjoy these wintery photos.

The trees out our back door after the most recent storm.
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The Old North Bridge, Concord MA
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Entrance to Mattison Field, 40 acres of conservation land next to our neighborhood.
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Oceans, lakes, family, friends, beauty and loss…

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Lori

Over the past three months I traveled to some beautiful places; Ogunquit, Cape Cod, Nashville Tennessee and Lake Placid New York. I traveled with my husband, with girlfriends, we flew to visit great friends and drove to vacation for the 20th year with wonderful friends. I really did have some very nice times this summer but the truth is the overriding memory of these past three months is the day my Uncle Doug died, three months ago on July 11th.

Doug left behind his wife, his four children, seven grandchildren, one great grandchild and many others who loved him. Doug always had us laughing, he was a proud proud father, a handsome Jack Nicholson double, he adored his kids, grands and great grand and he was fun, funny and lighthearted. He loved being near the ocean. I thought of Uncle Doug often this summer as I stood oceanside snapping photos, all scenes I knew he would love.

This post is dedicated to him, You are missed Uncle Doug.

Lake Placid, New York – For the past 10 years I have spent a long weekend with great girlfriends here, the Ultimate Getaway. We had just come out of the woods from an 8 mile (round trip) hike, the colors were spectacular!
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Lake Placid – 8am
From sunrise to sunset, Lake Placid is beautiful and great for kayaking!
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A perfect place to sit, Lake Placid New York
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Another great vacation in Brewster Cape Cod. A storm was coming in, very cool to watch.
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And I often end with a photo of Cooper…All the trips (some with him, some without) stress him a bit but he liked this outing to Filho’s Cucina in Groton.
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Posted in Summer | 1 Comment

No need to travel far to see beautiful views…

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Lori

I love to be outside and I especially love to be near the water. After returning from ten days on Anna Maria Island where I saw the beautiful Gulf of Mexico every day, I came home to Massachusetts where we are lucky enough to have our own beautiful water views.

One of my all time favorite spots is World’s End in Hingham, MA. A Trustees of Reservations property, it is a 251 acre park on a peninsular bordered by the Weir River and Hingham Harbor. I grew up in Hingham so I’ve been going there for years and I never tire of it. I celebrated my 50th Birthday recently and my husband surprised me with a day trip down to Hingham, a trip down memory lane…

World’s End Hingham, MA
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We enjoy going into Boston for the day or even a couple hours. We might go in for a Food Truck competition, music at the Esplanade, walking along the Charles River, trying a new restaurant or we’ll just head downtown and wander around. The Boston Public Garden is beautiful in the springtime, the tulips are all blooming and this year the tree blossoms seemed unusually plentiful.

Beautiful pink tree blossoms at the Boston Public Garden
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Tulips and the Swan Boats
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My husband and I love to try different Bed & Breakfasts and Inns, there are so many within a 2 hour drive of our home. We have found great places in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Western Massachusetts. We recently stayed in York Maine for a couple of nights. York is only an 80 minute drive from home, Portsmouth and Newburyport are great stops on the way and once there; Ogunquit, Kittery, York Beach and even Kennebunkport are easy drives.

View from our balcony at the StageNeck Inn, York, Maine
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Cape Neddick Light, York Maine
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The Marginal Way in Ogunquit Maine – a gorgeous 1 mile walk.
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Water, water, water, I love it!

Posted in Spring, Vacation | Leave a comment

There is so much to love about Anna Maria Island, Florida

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Lori

This is my 4th post about Anna Maria Island in Florida, my 2nd from this trip. I’ve written about the beautiful beaches, spectacular sunsets, the ease of getting around the island and the great restaurants. But I haven’t mentioned the friendly people.

On each trip we meet and talk with so many different people, many locals and lots of tourists like us. On this trip my Mom and I met Mary and Barbara (both own homes here) on the beach while watching our first sunset of this trip. Over the past 10 days we’ve watched a lot of sunsets with them and enjoyed getting to know them both. This morning while enjoying breakfast outside of Ginny and Jane E’s, we met 2 women from Hingham (where we are from), and had fun conversations with two residents. We then biked down to a garden to take some photos and talked with the owner’s (Maureen) friend. And the people in the local businesses are very friendly and nice too. Tonight after dinner at the Havana Cabana, we told the waitress we were heading to the beach and would take dessert to go. She insisted we take real spoons and when I returned them an hour later she gave me a hug. And that’s just the people we met today!

On a day when many people were seriously injured and three have died due to a bombing in Boston at the Marathon, I find I struggle to remember most people in this world are good and kind. But they are, both here on Anna Maria Island and back home in Boston, and for that I am grateful.

My mom and I love to bike to the beach, sit on a bench and read, perfect!
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We then take this bike path home, every time we bike on it we say how much we love it.
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One of the many walkways to the beach from the bike path.
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And another path to the beach, all different and all breathtaking.
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Having lunch with your feet in the sand is glorious!
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Maureen’s garden
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Maureen’s garden
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And the sunset on my last night.
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I have three previous posts on Anna Maria Island, click to see 2011 post and 2012 post. and the first post from 2013 right below this one.

All of my photos from Anna Maria can be found by clicking on ‘Anna Maria Island’ under the header photo at the top of the page. Enjoy!

Posted in Anna Maria Island, Spring, Vacation | 1 Comment

Another wonderful trip to Anna Maria Island, Florida

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Lori

Our 5th year vacationing on Anna Maria Island, we love it! The beautiful white sand beach, the fantastic restaurants and shops, biking all over, relaxing by our pool, lots of reading and lots of resting, perfect!

Our first sunset of the trip, the crane seems to be enjoying the sunset too!
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Beautiful flowers all around….
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And more flowers….
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The beach runs the length of the island (7 miles) and much of it is quiet and uncrowded.
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My mom biking on one of the many roads that lead to the beach.
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Have you ever had a donut dipped and coated with exactly what you wanted? Warm donuts out of the oven; dipped in chocolate, carmel, vanilla frosting and then dipped in your choice of toppings, yum!
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We bike from dinner to the beach each night to see the sunset. Each sunset is so unique and beautiful, we never tire of it.
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I have two previous posts on Anna Maria Island, click to see 2011 post and 2012 post.

All my photos from Anna Maria can be found by clicking on ‘Anna Maria Island’ under the header photo at the top of the page. Enjoy!

Posted in Anna Maria Island, Vacation | 3 Comments

California, Flowers and Cooper….

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Lori

It’s been a few months since my last post. I have been taking photos, I just haven’t updated my photoblog. I guess I enjoy walking in the woods or on the beach more than sitting at my computer. But I do love to share my photos so finally I sat down and focused! I hope you enjoy.

I’m lucky to have great friends who have great gardens! Joe and Steve have a beautiful garden, I love to wander around and see what all their hard work has created.

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My husband and I traveled to California to drop our son off at Stanford University. We extended our visit by visiting Santa Cruz and San Francisco, two of our favorite places!

Santa Cruz – a fun town, beautiful beaches, great downtown.
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University of California Santa Cruz has a spectacular campus!
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San Francisco – Great restaurants, great scenery
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And of course I can’t forget Cooper, he’s the best!
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Posted in Anna Maria Island, Cooper, Summer | 3 Comments

Ogunquit Maine, spectacular scenery!

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Lori

Another great trip to Ogunquit Maine with a very good friend. We had beautiful weather; wonderful walks along the Marginal Way, drinks on the porch overlooking the ocean, lunch at Barnacle Billy’s, hours of talking and we both tried surfing for the first time! Sleeping with windows open so you can hear the ocean and feel the ocean breezes is one of my all-time favorite things.

Cape Neddick Maine, between York and Ogunquit
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The porch where we spent hours, beautiful views and an unbelievable sea breeze.
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Ogunquit Beach, a beautiful long stretch of beach.
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I love meeting locals where I visit. I met Kirstin, a resident of Ogunquit, at the beach. We had a great talk ranging from great places to visit in Northern California to the new baby piping plovers on the beach. Thank you Kirstin for showing me where to go to see these beautiful endangered birds.
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One of the many beautiful vistas from the Marginal Way walk.
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This post is dedicated to Terry Abbott, a dear friend of my Mom and my sister and a frequent viewer of my blog. She will be missed by many. She was a big fan of musician Bruce Cockburn. He was kind enough to reach out to her in her last days and say ‘Once you have gotten through the breakers, I hope for smooth sailing.’ ‘Smooth sailing’ is what I am picturing for Terry, thank you Terry for all of your kind comments, I will miss you.

Posted in Summer, Vacation | 7 Comments

April 2012 Anna Maria Island Florida

Posted on April 14, 2012 by Lori

It’s been an odd winter for photography, or at least for me. I love going out in the woods after a big snowfall but we didn’t get any snow this year! I did take some photos and I do plan on doing a post. I’ve also been asked to do a post of our Italy trip from 2011, I’ll try to do that soon.

But for now, let’s get to some photos from sunny Anna Maria Island! Last April I posted some photos after our 3rd visit to Anna Maria, we were thrilled to be back for a 4th year!

My mom (Janine) on the beach at sunset.
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The beaches are beautiful. We bike every day to a different beach, for a walk, a sunset or a swim. On Easter Sunday there was a wedding on the beach, beautiful!
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The Bride and her daughter…
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This year we went to the Easter Egg Hunt, the Easter parade and the Easter Bonnet Contest. It’s like you have stepped back in time, very low key, lots of fun!
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We also attended the Easter Sunrise service. The local paper estimated a crowd of 1500 people, all there at 6:30am for the service. There were officiants from 6 different churches. It was wonderful to attend church with my toes in the sand!
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To see all photos of Anna Maria Island, go to top of the page and under the header photo, click on Anna Maria Island

Posted in Anna Maria Island, People, Vacation | 6 Comments

Fall and early winter in Concord…

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Lori

A wonderful walk on New Years Day 2012, misty, cool, no snow.

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I took a photo as we entered the field because I was struck by how much difference a year makes…Coop and JB – January 2012
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Coop and JB – January 2011
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A beautiful fall day in Concord at Newbury Field. I love this walk because it’s a mix of meadows, woods, streams and a big rock for climbing.
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And of course I need to close with a photo of Cooper, also at Newbury Field in Concord.
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Posted in Cooper, Fall, Winter | 6 Comments

Summer days…

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Lori

We had a great 2nd week in Brewster on Cape Cod, the weather was perfect and the sunsets continued to impress!

Sunset in Brewster, Cape Cod
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On Thursday July 14th I attended the 13th Annual Lantern Festival. It is held at the beautiful Forest Hills cemetery (same architect as Mount Auburn Cemetery). Here is a description of the festival:

“The Lantern Festival draws its inspiration from the Japanese Bon Festival — a celebration each year when a door opens to the world of their ancestors allowing loved ones to send messages to the other side. It is a time when neighbors come together to share stories, celebrate, and honor the memories of loved ones. ”

It was a wonderful evening. They have entertainment, everyone brings picnic dinners and you each create a lantern to float on the pond at dusk. I’ve included a few photos that I took but next year I definitely need to bring a tripod, it’s the only way to get cool night time photos.

Everyone picnics around the pond.
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Calligraphers on are on-site to write on your lantern, plus there are markers for you to write your own personal messages. Here is my Mom holding our lanterns.
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At 8:30 bagpipes are played and everyone lights their lanterns and puts them on the pond, it is beautiful and moving.
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On Saturday July 16th the Boston Globe said ‘today will be one of the top 10 weather days on the year,’ so my husband and I headed to the deCordova Sculpture Park in Lincoln, MA. There is an indoor museum, an outdoor sculpture park, cafes, activities for children, a beautiful way to spend an afternoon.

One of the many sculptures.
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Another outdoor sculpture.
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For the Cooper fans, Cooper on the beach in Brewster Cape Cod
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Posted in Cooper, Summer | 1 Comment