Rockport Adventures

The official last weekend of summer has come and gone, and Kate and I made it a good one.

Kate came over Saturday night and we had some spaghetti and meatballs with some bread and butter. It was a simple yet enjoyable meal. Kate had baked some brownies and brought some over and I had bought some ice cream so it was brownie sundaes for desert. Top that off with some diet orange soda and it was one classy meal.

Sunday was up in the air till noon or so, and Kate suggested going to Rockport, Massachusetts. She had been a few years ago and really enjoyed her time there. I myself had never been so I was eager to explore another picturesque New England seaport.

I sort of caught Kate off guard on this first photo. The town as you'll see from the photos is really quaint and pretty. The flowers are still in bloom and the streets were still crowded with tourists checking out the galleries, shops, and restaurants located in the many weathered shacks and homes that make up the town. This is a nice shot of part of Rockport's small harbor. The weather was a little cool, high 60s (Fahrenheit of course) but otherwise it was a spectacular day. There was a great ocean breeze that gave me some much needed invigoration as we strolled around.
The above shot is a look across the harbor at the granite cliffs where are a prominent feature of many coastal locations in New England.
A lone boat moves along with others only barely visible on the horizon.
We ate at this small cafe/ diner called the Red Skiff. We both really enjoyed our meals. Kate had a turkey club sandwich with some fries and I had some whole belly fried clams with fries and cole slaw, and a cup of clam chowder. The clam dinner was only $13.25, and the portions were quite nice. Regretfully I only thought of getting a photo of the food after I had cleared half of my plate.The faux lighthouse seen here is on a small street island off of one of Rockport's main streets. I was somehow amused by the energy saving light bulb inside of it.After walking around the town for a while we went for a short drive to Halibut Point, a small state park out on the end of a peninsula. Within the boundaries of the park is a quarry. We picked up a brochure at the visitors center. The park had numbered points of interest and Kate and I amused ourselves walking around finding them. It was sort of like a scavenger hunt for adults. One of the numbered attractions below were these pins that the quarry operators would use to split the rocks. We were reminded frequently by signs not to swim in the quarry.The park has some gorgeous coastline and we had fun climbing around on the rocks and pausing to enjoy the sun, the breeze, and the sound of the crashing waves.Peek-a-boo. The rocks were piled up before I arrived, it may seem tough to believe, but I don't have that much free time.I briefly considered asking Kate to take a picture of me drowning after I saw this sign, but I couldn't figure out how I was going to write about it and get it into the blog.The master is seen at work above. Well... hopefully next weekend will be another for the.... blog. Happy Monday.

Sigur Ros: Friday Night

Jess Wheeler (friend from St. Joseph's college) had emailed me a couple weeks ago about this show, and invited me along. I was glad to go see a band that I had not yet seen, and that has received good critical acclaim in the past. Also the concert was at the Bank of America Pavillion which is my favorite non-club venue in the city. It is a great amphitheater on the Boston waterfront with an excellent sound system. The band was great. They were very different than anything I've seen live before. They put on some interesting theatrics in addition to a great musical performance. There were interesting props, a fantastic light show, some movies projected behind the band, in addition to streamers and confetti that was shot out on the crowd during certain songs. The Icelandic lead singer was very eccentric, hair that reminded me of a 17th century wig/ pony tail, glitter on his face, and a black outfit that included tassels and a cape. He played all but a couple songs on the guitar with a bow (think Jimmy Page). While I've always thought of Sigur Ros as being sort of derivative of Radiohead's softer collection, some of their music was quite intense. One song in particular had great percussion session that the band demanded audience participation in with a up tempo clap. Some of the better songs from the show were actually on the latest album which I had purchased before to familiarize myself. Perhaps I'll have to consider looking into some of their older material.

It was good catching up with Jess as I had not seen him since last November.

Thursday in Back Bay...

Somewhere some college kids were thirsty.... and then there was John Madden (college friend... not the football hot head) and I exchanging banter at Bukowski's over supper and beer. Two thirty-somethings clawing onto our youth as time drags us towards... well whatever it is that tomorrow has in store for us. It was nice to see John.... I had some music to give him, but left the cd in my backpack forgetfully as we parted ways. We'll be seeing Dr. Dog playing at the Middle East in a couple of weeks so I suppose I can hand it off then. I was incredibly tired tonight, and alas here I am, still awake, typing away.

I was going to write something witty but instead I decided to post this picture of a failed kite flying experience this summer. I feel it best describes some of my emotions and enthusiasm now before I go to bed.

May all of you have a pleasant Friday.