Exploring with wide eyes over the weekend.

Have you ever noticed how reminiscing, or a little reflection can actually improve one's viewpoint?

Yesterday had little promise, weather wise, although the temperature was perfectly cool without being chilly.  The sky almost always looked like it was going to burst with rain.

But we went to the Westford, MA Strawberry Festival, just the same.  The DD had secured a booth, tend and table to hawk Microbrews Polish to the teens and trendsetters in town.  We were proud to support her entrepreneurial efforts.  (And I will be sporting very ORANGE nails in the near future!

 DH and I avoided the Fresh Fudge tent, and even the enormous plates of strawberry shortcake.  But the number of vendors was quite manageable, for even my weak ankles.  I was quite taken with Ms. Strawberry from Springdell Farm in Littleton.  They had yarn, too.  Hand dyed and reasonably priced.  I'm just still on a "yarn diet."  They may deserve their own day trip!

Even though I was (unreasonably) disappointed that I didn't have more chat time with DD, and that she wasn't selling polish hand over fist, looking back, I totally enjoyed the well-behaved puppies, and children on the green.  CUTENESS prevailed.

And then, there is nothing like a white steeple to represent New England. I will have to investigate and see how similar or different the bell towers are from town to town.  I'm thinking this one would be a challenge to paint AND make interesting.

Do you like the full length angle or the close up?

DH had another nearly sleepless night, and so I wasn't optimistic about having any adventures today.  The only thing I thought needed to be done was taking out the trash. After the overdue trip to the "transfer center" (i.e. town dump), we picked up a late lunch and took the long way home.  Next weekend is Hampton Beach's "world famous" sand sculpture contest, and I wanted to check out traffic, parking, etc.  At the South end of Hampton Beach, we ran into a traffic back-up because the drawbridge was UP.

 There are a LOT of drawbridges in this neck of the woods, but they are rarely up.  It was startling and kind of fun to see the road go perpendicular right in front of us.  Especially since we didn't see any tall (or even big) boats near by.  I did have time to be amused by the audience of seagulls, one per street light.  I don't know if they fish from the west side of the bridge or not.  Since they are not known for reading, I imagine they do when they can.

  
Finally the boat came into view.  It must have radioed ahead to the bridge. My Google research indicates that it is 90' long and can be hired for deep sea fishing or cruises. I have NO interest in deep sea fishing, but today would have been a great day for it.  Perhaps WHALE WATCHING!

 In addition to seagulls, there were sails over the beach. The strange thing is that even though I believe there must have been people attached to these kite-sales, I never saw any people attached to them.

We liked the look of the house... last one on the point of land.  If you had a house with a turret, what would you put in it?

The bridge itself was dedicated to Neil Underwood, a native of Hampton, NH who was killed by friendly fire, over France in 1944. I enjoyed the candor of the write up from the Hampton Library. 

Very late in the day, I got a few close-ups of an enthusiastic Columbine which is blooming in the front yard.  It must be in a good place! 

Whimsical, aren't they?

 The groundcover, Snow in Summer is not thriving quite so much.  But the fact that it came back at ALL after being under 2 feet of snow for 6 months is a near miracle.

Maybe the fact that I'm still here after all that winter is pretty amazing, too.  I think I need to be more dedicated to storing up internal sunshine, though.  I'll need it come January.