232. Happy New Year!

Week 232  12/31/19

We often get together with this group for New Year's Eve (and many other times too). Everyone looks dour in all of my pictures but it really was a fun night with great food.

231. Finally Christmas! Baltimore

Week 231  12/25/19

What says Christmas more than an 8-month old child surrounded by two loving parents and four grandparents. And LOTS of gifts, some sent by aunts and uncles. We also celebrated Hanukkah on the 24th.

Oscar accompanies his mommy and Nana (Sherry) and Pops (Murray) to a Christmas Eve service at a Baltimore church. Of course he wore suspenders and a bow tie.

Paul and I stayed at the downtown Hyatt. Here is our view. The room rates were very inexpensive, because of the holiday, I guess. The breakfast buffet was the best I've had at a hotel.

Gillian had to work so Ben and Oscar went with us to the Maryland zoo.

One day Paul and I were on our own so we went to the National Aquarium. We saw some areas that we had not visited before.

Then we walked around the city. We saw the homonym park.

We read about the history behind this National Katyn Memorial to Polish nationals by Soviet forces.

We had lunch at Faidley's in  Lexington Market. World's best crab cakes?




There were many beautiful buildings to see, but some were in disrepair like this old theatre.

This image on a sign shows a bit of what the theatre used to look like. 

The huge clown heads in this store front were frightening.

We planned to continue our walk to the Walters Art Museum but we had some trouble finding it and when we came across the Maryland Historical Society Museum we decided to go there instead. We are glad we got to see it. There were some wonderful exhibits of history, quilting and local art. Also there was a special exhibit called "Spectrum of Fashion. Here is a dress worn by Wallis Simpson. I love the monkeys.

231. Need to relax

Week 231  12/10/19

Life is getting hectic with holiday plans and shopping. With the week drawing to a close, an afternoon spent listening to an audio book and soaking in the hot tub can be the kind of quiet "adventure" we need now.

230. Horticulture with lights

Week 230  12/13/19

We went to Elm Bank, the New England Wildflower Society property in South Natick, for their holiday displays.

We skipped the ride on a horse-drawn carriage and walked through the gardens.

This tree is surrounded by pipes that play sounds when struck. We have similar pipes in our attic that are gathering dust except oh the occasional Christmas party when we play tunes with them. This tree gave us the idea to set up the pipes outside somewhere. 

Inside was a silent auction for decorated Christmas trees. Many of them included gift certificates and expensive gifts.

Here is one with a knitting theme.

 A very extensive model railroad was set up.

229. just a movie

Week 229   12/2/19

We saw Downton Abbey. Neither of us thought it was very good but it was fun and a good way to distract from pre-holiday craziness.

228. Baby's first Thanksgiving and meeting new folks

Week 228  11/28/19

Ben's family made the trip for Thanksgiving. We also invited Sandy and Dick, Charlie and Judy as well as Mom and Nick.

This basket served multi-functions from toy storage to bathtub insert and Oscar liked to sit in it.

We visited friends and Oscar got to play with a nice dog.

He went all the way through this tunnel himself.

After Thanksgiving we celebrated "Polish Christmas" because we won't be seeing Dick and Sandy on the traditional Christmas date.

Ben and Gillian went to his high school reunion and we babysat. Certain kitchen implements can make good toys. And climbing on and off this shelf was fun. Oscar needs to learn how to back off of a step rather than going head-first.

227. Local live music

Week 27.  11/21/19

On this busy week we took a break to share a craft brew and listen to local performer Matt Zajac.

226. They Did It For You

Week 226   11/16/19


... but really "We Did It For You," the musical written and performed by local theater folks to commemorate the upcoming anniversary of women's suffrage. The lead role of Lilly Ledbetter was played by Hazel Warnick, a colleague from the Medway Cultural Council.  The cast is very talented. Paul and I both learned a lot.  There was also a display of memorabilia about Frances Perkins who was the longest-serving and person in that role and first woman in a cabinet position.

225. Sarasota - it's been a long time!

Week 225  11/3/19


We haven't been to visit Susy in over a year, so we were glad to make another visit to her new home at the Glenridge.

We always go to the Ringling Museum of Art. They now have a new glass museum.

And many old favorites in the collection have been given updated displays.

The plaza around Ringling's Mansion, Ca d'Zan is always pleasant to hang out at. My back is to the water as I take the picture.

224. Rosanne and Ry tribute to Johnny

Week 224.  10/30/20

Not a great photo and no audio to share, but we thoroughly enjoyed the show by one of my favorite female artists, Rosanne Cash, joined by Ry Cooder at the Boch Center. They played Johnny Cash tunes. They even had the original guitar that was used by Luther Perkins' when he played with Johnny.

223. Pre-Halloween in Baltimore

Week 223  10/25 Fall in Baltimore.

We took a day to visit farms.  First, picking a pumpkin for Oscar's first Halloween.

Here's a boy who loves his grandpa.

We picked up some snacks. Gillian recommended the apple fritters which were amazing.

Then we went to the apple farm. We did a lot of tasting and bought a lot for pies and snacking.

Apple pie.





Time to get ready for the Baltimore Halloween parade! Lynda joined us.

The parade displays were all hand-made and very creative. The dancing and drumming groups were spectacular!

We had dinner at one of many food trucks. Crab cakes for us.

FS Garonne - one of the latest ships in the French Navy was docked in Baltimore and available for viewing. We did not board.