New Bedford

Saturday, the COG and I spent the day with the Son of... to celebrate my birthday. We went to the New Bedford Whaling National Park. New Bedford was the biggest whaling port in the nation during the 19th century and, for a time, it was the richest city in America, because of the whale oil. The old part of town has been wonderfully restored, cobbled streets and beautiful old buildings. We walked around for a while, had some lunch and then went to the Whaling Museum.

It was a nice little museum, bigger than we expected, and very sympathetic to the whale. There was a lot of information about whales, as well as lots of exhibits about the whalers and the history of whaling.




There were displays of beautiful things made of scrimshaw - pie crimpers, niddy noddys like the one shown here, boxes and baskets etc. The one I show here is a knitting basket made of whale bone with whale bone knitting needles. The collection of objects is truly amazing.

From New Bedford we went to a nearby winery - Westport Rivers Winery and did a wine tasting. They specialize in sparkling and white wines, (too much winter for reds) and they are really nice wines. In our effort to be locavores, we purchased several bottles.

Then, back to Falmouth on the Cape for a lovely dinner at The Glass Onion. This was a really special meal. Afterwards, we dropped the Son of back at his place in Wood's Hole and drove home.

A really great day!

Cushions for New Window Seats

I have finally finished the cushions for the new window seats. I always forget how hard it is to make boxed cusions. Not hard exactly, but how much I hate making them. I always remember mid-way through when it's too late to turn back. Then there was my broken finger - so they were started in September, but not finished until yesterday.

Still.... I think they turned out pretty well. What do you think?

A Narrow Escape

I learned today that had I been born Italian, my name would most likely have been Immaculata, because that's the feast day.

I consulted a Feast Day List published by the Catholic Church and learned that, apart from it being the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception, there are only 3 saints on my feast day and they are all pretty obscure.

So..... something to be thankful for. I could have been Immaculata Patapia Macaria.

Though, I must admit the picture is working for me.

First Snow of the Season - 2009

This is what I saw from my bed when I opened my eyes this morning. Only 3 or 4 inches, but it's one of those perfect winter days - blue sky, snow covering everything, not too cold.


















Here's another picture of our backyard taken a little later.

Museum of Fine Arts

The COG and I went to the Museum of Fine Arts, as part of a day in Boston to celebrate our anniversary (37 years, what a miracle!) These photos are of one of my favorite things there. It's... well I don't know what it is exactly.... a big mirrored cube 10 or so feet in each direction. And the artist made all these silver bottles and created this infinity scene with them. Each side has a different set of bottles stretching back to infinity. I love it!

New Haircut

Before:




















After:













After, side view:

Useless (yet fun) iphone apps

Cat Paint is an app that lets you add cats and kittens to any photo on your iphone.

I submitted this example to a Cat Paint Galleryonline. Scroll down or look for the title "I can haz chocolate?"