Family and Friends

Since we've set up "housekeeping" here in MA it seems that all we've been doing is driving. As you know we're camped in our friends Lee and Pam's back yard. They live just north of Lowell, MA and Pat and I are from the area north of Boston, MA which is known as the North Shore. You may have heard of a few of the towns that tourists visit such as; Salem, (the Witch City http://salem.org/ ), Gloucester, (http://gloucester-ma.gov/ ) and our home town of Peabody, (the Leather City http://www.peabody-ma.gov/ ). If you care to visit MA in your future travels an Internet search of the area will provide you with a colorful history of these New England towns. Yes, many of the best seafood restaurants can be found along the cities and towns of the North Shore of Massachusetts.

We spent a great weekend with our best friends George and Judy at their cottage in Sunapee, NH. Their son and daughter-in-law, Mike and Candice provided us with a super tour of one of New Hampshire's popular lakes, Lake Sunapee. http://lakesunapeenh.org/

George and I got to spend a couple of hours under the clear New Hampshire sky for some "star gazing." Clouds slowly shortened our session however, the highlight of the evening was sighting the International Space Station. Its south to north pass-over allowed us the opportunity to manually "track" the bright object along its path with our telescopes. I was lucky to make out shape and definition of the ISS in my 110mm refractor.
New England may well have "legendary" winters but the other three seasons make New England one of the most beautiful regions to visit.

Our Aunt Ruth invited her daughter Angela, Pat and I, our Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Joe for a lunch at one of the fine eating establishments in Gloucester, the "Azorean." http://www.azoreanrestaurant.com/ The city of Gloucester is known for its fishing fleet and is rich in European/Mediterranean ethnicity. Before heading out for lunch we sat for a time to catch up with family news. (Photo thanks to Angela.)

Our family gathering took up the afternoon as we talked and dined on a delicious lunch. Our lunch took up much of the afternoon. No one seemed to be willing to make the first step to leave.

Seated left to right is; Angela, Pat, Ruth, Evelyn, Joe and yours truly.

Between trips to our doctors for annual check ups we've played "catch-up" to note any changes to the area that we've missed over our first year as Floridians.

Many of you know Bill and Angela, well we headed for their house for a family BBQ.

Let's see, we got there around noon and Angela and others set the table for some "munchies" prior to "firing up the barbie!" For the next two hours fourteen of us couldn't stop picking at all the goodies. When it came time to grill we were trying to figure out if we actually wanted to eat. ....well, we did!

Then, we couldn't resist the desserts. Ashley baked a yummie blueberry pie, Angela baked a pineapple pie and Bill and Angela presented a cake to Debbie, Pat and Ashley for returning to school and for birthdays.

Unaccustomed to eating so much (uha), the kids hit a local park and the adults (most of them) took a much needed walk. I stayed back to watch the food, er house!

A good friend of Bill and Angela's family, Roy, dropped in and touched all of our hearts with his four Pekingese "mops!"

Have you noticed the sun is setting earlier? Yes, days are getting shorter and school begins next week and I've gotta rub in it! Now that I'm retired from teaching oh how I love this time of year!!!

Unfortunately, its also the hurricane season and it just so happens "Irene" is setting sights for Florida.

I think I'd rather be waiting for a good ole Nor 'Easter!