Here at Hangman Hill

We recently spent a few days on Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the coast of Massachusetts, with friends Mark and Jen  We stayed at a lovely house, off the beaten track just outside of Edgartown.  The house was situated in a field of wild flowers with plenty of outdoor seating which allowed us to enjoy the sunny, warm, and dry weather that makes September in New England such a great time of year.  The weather was also perfectly suited for trips to the beach, swimming, kayaking, walks with Kokee, and trips by bike to various towns and the local farm stand for produce and pastries.  It was great to spend an extended time with Mark and Jen discovering some new places together and of course sharing some very nice meals.  We enjoyed cooking dinners with locally grown produce from the farm stand and also spent a few evenings out for dinner exploring some of the local restaurants.  We found it very easy to travel around ‘the vineyard’ with Kokee – she made lots of new friends and was welcome in many shops and galleries around the island.  With many different places to walk, swim, and explore we look forward to a future visit.

See some highlights of our trip are in the photos below, or click here for a more complete album.

This year we are celebrating our 10th Anniversary.  To celebrate the anniversary of the Grand Garden Party held on August 3rd, 2002 we invited some friends to join us for a casual dinner at the Mermaid Cafe in Westerly.  We have become regular customers for breakfast at the Mermaid.  We were delighted when Carolyn the owner and Chef agreed to help us host a private dinner on a Sunday evening in August.  The evening was perfect, and thankfully not as hot as it was in August of 2002.  The food was wonderful, and the company a delight. We are so grateful to have each other, such lovely people as friends, and that we live in a beautiful spot on the Connecticut-Rhode Island Border.

More photos can be found here

Back in 2002…

In 2012…

Earlier in August we made a short trip to Milwaukee (WI) to visit our friends Eric and Jo.  They live near to the lake (Michigan) and the University district, so we enjoyed a few days exploring this neighborhood.  Things started perfectly on Friday evening with a visit to the local outdoor biergarten to sample German brews and giant pretzels.  On Saturday the first part of the day was spent at the Wisconsin State Fair, with the usual flora and fauna as well as all manner of unhealthy foods.  This included the “world famous” cream puffs that are all made by hand!  After a home cooked meal on Saturday evening featuring produce from Eric and Jo’s garden, we took in some of the local highlights with a short walk.  On Sunday we sat on the beach and were entertained by low flying aircraft taking part in a local air show.  Overall it was a very relaxing trip and it was great to see our good friends settled into their new home. Perhaps we will be invited back when there is snow on the ground, and then we can bring our skis with us!

The hurricane season is approaching, so we decided to make some preparations in case we lose electricity (like last year!).  We purchased a generator and had an electrician come to set things up for a direct connection to the house.  We still need to make a few finishing touches, but we are now prepared for “off the grid” living if needed.

On Thursday we packed up a picnic and walked up the hill with Kokee to the Jonathan Edwards vineyard.  We enjoyed a concert by local musicians as the sun set.  Not many bugs and a warm evening made for a very nice evening.

We’ve reached peak productivity in the garden and have lots of produce and flowers to harvest/pick each day. This season always sneaks up on us, and we now have a back-log of potatoes, onions, etc to deal with.  Here are a few pictures that include bumper crop of damsons and our first crop of fennel.

We took a break from the usual evening routine of harvesting and weeding after work to go to see Shakespeare in the Park, in Westerly.  We picked up a Mediterranean feat from Markos in Westerly and met Gene and Kathy who secured “front row” seats.  We enjoyed some music and munched on kebabs, gyros, hummus and salads while catching up on the summer before the show began.  We also compared garden activity and Gene and Kathy took first prize presenting us with homemade gazpacho, fresh tomatoes and a jar of black currant preserves!  It was a fine evening, and we almost made it to intermission before the thunder and lightning proved a bit too much for everyone to withstand.  The show was terrific to that point though, and we hope the cast gets another dry night before the show ends for the season.

Eating kale burgers on the deck as the sun goes down.

We had a perfect weekend playing in the garden and enjoying the sun!

We are a bit behind on sharing some of our late June activities, including a visit to Keyser, West Virginia to celebrate the long and beautiful life of Mimi (aka Dorothy/Dot – Sheri’s maternal grandmother).  We arrived in Keyser on a Friday afternoon along with Sheri’s family, including siblings and spouses, cousins and Aunt from Texas and many friends. We were all able to stay at the Candlewyck Inn in the heart of Keyser.  The Candlewyck was a favorite place of Mimi’s for lunch and dinner and we have enjoyed several dinners there with her over the years.  Fred Engel who is the owner and chef was a great host and we were not disappointed with dinners on both Friday and Saturday night.

The celebration began on Saturday with a gathering at the Keyser Presbyterian Church starting with the performance of Dorothy’s Medley, a collection of her favorite songs, followed by a tribute from a few friends and relatives.  In particular a highlight was a recollection from Mimi’s friend Kenny, who she met in the first grade, which told a tale of friendship and love that lasted nearly a century.  After singing together a favorite song of Mimi’s by John Denver,  “Country Roads Take Me Home (to the place I belong, West Virginia)”,  the celebration continued in the church annex.  There we enjoyed cupcakes (made by Fred of course) and a slide show of Mimi’s life that captured her true spirit and that twinkle in her eye that everyone that knew her, loved so well.

The weather was spectacular and we enjoyed being in the mountains for the weekend.  It was fun to visit the local sites in Keyser, and just beyond It is a place that hasn’t changed much in many years.

Our journey back to the airport took us from glorious blue ridge mountains, to rolling hills in Northern Maryland, and eventually to the coast.  We stopped at the Virginia State Arboretum to stretch our legs and were pleased to find a peaceful place to stroll and appreciate the local flora.

We have been busy keeping up with a vert prolific garden and very busy work schedules.  Overall things are doing well and we entered blueberries, potatoes (white and blue), fennel, mixed herbs, onions, lavender, cucumbers, lettuce and collards into the North Stonington Agricultural Fair produce competition.  The blueberries are enormous and we have potato crop like never before with white, red, purple, yukon gold and fingerlings.  Stay tuned on how we “faired” against the local gardeners.