the traffic nightmare

The traffic is really a problem around here, and people on Cape Cod say it's been even worse this year. On the 4th of July holiday it was backed up 13 miles down the highway. Just this year, they started a train running from Boston to the Cape for weekends, and it's very reasonably priced. I hope it catches on because at this point it seems people are spending as much time in their cars getting to their vacation homes as they are actually on vacation. Some of my co-workers who live off-Cape spend nearly 2 hours one way to get to or from work-- a drive that takes 20 minutes in the off-season.

I drove into a suburb of Boston today, hoping to take the commuter rail into downtown before my meeting in the evening. Well, of course due to traffic, that didn't happen. I arrived at the station just in time to see the train going by. Since it only comes through every two hours, I wouldn't be able to go into Boston and so stayed on the outskirts until my meeting. 

After two hours sitting in Barnes & Noble, I finished my current book, The Orphan Master's Son. I'll be happy to move on to a more upbeat book, even though I found a fictional story on North Korea to be fascinating. It seemed like the author really did a lot of research, especially while visiting the country.

The highlight of my day was finding a Brazilian restaurant that served feijoada. I didn't even realize that was what was spooned onto my plate until I tasted it. There was sort of a buffet, with a server, who determined the price based on "proportion" rather than weight. It was delicious, and tasted just like my mom's version, so hers must be pretty authentic. It was like comfort food to me, even though it must be strange that someone with no Portuguese or Brazilian background would feel that way, but it truly does remind me of my childhood. When I told my sister about it later this afternoon, she and I both commented that even though my mother has shared this recipe with us, it never quite turns out the same way when my sister or I make it!

the past week

I'm getting accustomed to a new house, and with that, I'm having to adjust to the internet being less available. That's alright. It's leaving me plenty of time to read real books, study up on my languages, and enjoy the outdoors. I'll have to get back into typing out blog posts offline, then pasting them like I did last summer. For now though, some photos.

The trio of young geese are still hovering around the museum grounds. They follow anyone, which mostly ends up more along the lines of chasing everyone. We have tried herding, but you physically have to shove them along to steer them back to the pond-- most stubborn! These are not my mother's ducks.

 I was playing Mama Goose here, as you can tell.

 walking after work one day, when it was still foggy from rain

 I love coming home to these five sheep. They always greet you with 

a loud bahhh! The lightest brown one is the friendliest and always comes up looking for something to eat, or a rub on its patch of forehead wool.

 And of course, Woods Hole, my favorite!

Wordless Wednesday

 US Coast Guard Station, Woods Hole, Mass.

strawberry picking

I managed to get some extra work at a local organic farm for the next week or so since it's getting to be the busy season, especially for strawberries. I spent half the first day weeding onions along with about 8 other girls around my age and since all we had to do was sit along the rows and loosen the soil around the plants to pull weeds, there was plenty of time to chat. Most of them had worked at the farm last year, several grew up in Puerto Rico, some studied anthropology like me, and all are travelers. One of the more permanent workers is from Nepal and she knows Tibetan as well. We had plenty to talk about and they were very enjoyable to work with!

The farm is quite large for an organic farm, and the farm stand has a steady flow of customers throughout the day. They've got produce as well as pork and chicken eggs. There is a leanto shed for the tractors, which looks like any other farm building, except when you go to the outside, the entire roof is solar panel-- not something I ever saw in Kansas! Still, I feel like I'm at home in Kansas when the dust is flying. I suppose anywhere the natural ground vegetation is removed will be as dusty as a desert.

Today our task was to spread organic compost over three rows in preparation for beet planting. The compost came from another organic farm in New York. I suppose this one does not produce enough compost of this type, which was made from stall shavings, horse and cow manure, among other things. (Actually, I found the tine-end half of a fork that was accidentally in there.)

Then it was more strawberry picking! I feel like I've seen about every shape and size of strawberry possible, and it's like a treasure hunt trying to find the best ones. We pile them into trays with 8 berry baskets each. Others with brown or squishy spots go in the cull box, and those are available for people interested in making preserves. Even though it's tough work, it's been fascinating to me simply observing the process of organic growing.

another trip to the city

The Northeast had its first heat wave come through last week. I thought I was melting. My house does not have air conditioning, and opening windows only helped slightly. I also took a few days to go to New York City, where it was just as hot. My friend's apartment did not have air conditioning either, but since I had a car, we drove the measly mile to Home Depot to purchase a window unit. It seems everyone in New York buys these, sells these, or carries them on to their next apartment. Home Depot had pallets upon pallets of them all stacked up at the front! If you're car-less in NYC though, it can't be too easy to get one home from the store.

It seems there's never enough time to see everything on my NYC list, but I am getting to know the area from simply walking.

 Despite the clouds, it was very hot and humid, and I wanted nothing more than to jump in that water!

The clouds eventually starting clearing, and we made a beeline for Bryant Park for its abundance of shade trees, but not before being asked for help by a woman trying to figure out how to get a bicycle from the new Citi Bike stations. I really like this idea of the bike sharing-rental system; it is clearly already popular and easy to use, especially for visitors. I decided to tough it out and keep walking, though.

The park was close to our next destination: The Great Gatsby movie. I loved it! I've always loved the book, and I had been waiting since last year to finally see the movie. I didn't realize the theater I chose was in Times Square, and so $18.50 a ticket. Oops. The showtime we originally planned for what sold out so while we waited for the next showing, we posed for photos (like everyone else) with the mounted police officer, who was just as indifferent as the horse, although the horse appreciated a face rub!

It was all such fun! I am hoping for many more trips to this city!

the rhododendrons are in bloom!

pretty clusters, and they come in all different colors

I was in the treehouse at work and noticed all of these flowering from above.

I saw these bright ones from across a small field and just had to go over and get a look.

touring New England

I was lucky enough to have three days off from work, and what better way to spend it than exploring the neighboring New England towns with a fun friend! We began in Providence where I picked up said friend, JJ, from the bus stop. Coming from New York City, he was ecstatic to spend some time in greener pastures. We had beautiful weather and finally some warmth and spent as much time outside as possible. I love how I can drive an hour from my home and feel like I'm on vacation.

                                Providence is a beautiful city with lots of character, and good sushi, too.

I was intent on driving to the end of the Cape the next day, or "the end of the world" as JJ put it. We never did figure out how to get to the very tip with its little lighthouse, but we made it as far as Provincetown, with a few fun stops along the way.

The Highland Lighthouse was closed "for the season". Clearly, it's spring now! Hibernation ended a while ago. Still, we enjoyed the foggy view of the ocean.

Then we were off to Provincetown, where we enjoyed a walk down the main street, a wayward straggle to a beach we never found, and then a 250-ft. climb up the highest all-granite structure in the US: the Pilgrim Monument to commemorate the first pilgrims. The Mayflower landed here first and stayed for 5 weeks before heading on to Plymouth. The tower was opened in 1910.

looking out

looking down-- far, far down

 I loved being able to see out so far, where back in Sandwich the horizon is shielded by woodlands.
After enjoying my new lunchtime favorite, the Cape Cob Reuben (with fish rather than corned beef), we headed back to Sandwich to finish off a quarter section of watermelon while sitting on the bank of a pond near my house, watching people fishing in their canoes.

Day number three was a trip off-Cape to Newport, RI. We toured the enormous Breakers house, and found our way to the Cliff Walk. It was foggy but warm, and I expected the fog to clear up. Rather than that, it came rolling right back in so that we couldn't see the ocean far past the cliff after some time, but it was beautiful! It reminded me of images you see from England, rather than New England.