Wednesday, June 30, 2010

THE HOUSES OF MARTHA'S VINEYARD..........

We love looking at houses and while on the Vineyard we had the chance to
see some wonderful homes....
Let's go on a walking tour of
Edgartown
Shall We....This is the traditional
New England style part of the island...
weathered siding....lots of picket fences......lots of houses with names....
American Eagles over many a door....

Frilly Fences down alley ways......


Let's not forget flags.....

And lot's of wicker....

lovely arched garage doors....
brick driveways...

And even an old V.W. Bug......


little courtyards.....

With brick walkways.....


And a Whale or Two........
How great are those shutters on the arched windows above....

Gas lights to welcome you.....

Okay......Time to hop into the back seat of the mini....
Go ahead theres' plenty of room....
and drive up to
Oak Bluffs where they have Gingerbread style homes everywhere you look....
Me and daughter snuck away one morning and drove along the coastline
until we reached Oak Bluffs....
About 9 miles from Edgartown....
After stopping in at
"Back Door Donuts"
and getting some ham and cheese croissants we drove around looking for the
cottages that are so famous.....
No......this wasn't quite what we were looking for.......
So we pulled over to the side of the road
when a policeman pulled up along side of us.....
He appeared to think we were up to no good....
That's right......two women from Jersey driving a Mini Cooper and eating croissants......
Yes.....we're dangerous....
He directed us down a dirt road......threwn with broken beer bottles.....
We drove off and found our own way to the cottages.....
we were getting close...

Here we are.....

streets made for driving a mini......
Tiny Tiny......

lots of hanging baskets

pretty colors on porch railings.....

and on old rocking chairs.....

someone likes purple.....

bright yellow with touches of blue....

so close to the street you could reach out and touch them....

Fancy porches above.....

and some Adirondack chairs....

Not too much red trim....
pastels seemed to be the color of choice....

but they all had flowers everywhere.....

You had better like your neighbor.....
they were very very close to one another....

there were even smurf size houses...

and little houses that went along with big size houses....

we saw star fish on window ledges....

one of only two American flag sightings.....
Seems the folks in Oak Bluffs aren't as patriotic as those in Edgartown.....

and the landscaping lacked some tender loving care......

but the trim work made up for it....

They reminded me of the doll house we made for daughter when she was little...

And then there were clever ways to display flowers...

It was getting time to drive back before the boys started looking for us....

And here is the perfect house to end with and wish you all a
Happy 4th. of July.....
Happy Anniversary to Millie and Siggy....the "folks"
where ever they may be....
If you missed last years tribute to them you can read about them
Here.....
It was my most popular post of the whole year.....
Have a Great Weekend!!!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

WAKE UP!!!!!.......Your On Martha's Vineyard.

We just returned from 3 weeks with the Junior Family of which one week was spent on
Martha's Vineyard.....
We have been planning this trip since
January
And No where Not in any guide book did I read that the sun comes up at
5:15 a.m.
It actually starts getting light around 4:45 but I'm not one to nitpick.....I think in the fairness of vacation planning someone could have mentioned this.......

Here we are in line to get on to the Ferry for the 45 minute ride over to the island.....

Please indulge me while I complain a little because that is just what I do.....
There will be alot of lovely pictures following the vent.....

We arrived at our destination and proceeded to check in to our
"Gold Level" townhouse for the week.....
described as being newly remodeled and the "best of the best"
They Lied.....
As we entered the unit the smell almost knocked us over....
Think Skunk mixed with old fish....
When they remodeled the place they forgot to replace the furniture from 1970...
Now....me and the Boss are pretty low maintenance but it was bad even for us.......
So daughter and father went looking for the
General Manager....
After about an hour we were redirected to.....
Here........
a beautiful newly done cottage on the grounds of the resort.....
Only problem it was only available for one night...
We should have just become squatters and refuse to leave....

There was a beautiful new shiny kitchen because Sue loves to cook
on vacation....

We were very Happy campers.....

Oh did I mention there was even a fireplace......

And then the next day they moved us here.....

Classy yes??
when was the last time you saw a Boom Box....
and we really loved the wires hanging from the t.v.
It was somewhere around Wednesday that we realized the couch was
infested with ticks....
Not a good thing...
So remember the name of the resort and if you ever go to
Martha's Vineyard Don't Stay There......
Now for some nice scenic pictures....

we had brunch here our first day......
Good Waffles....
pretty flowers....

And we got to rub elbows with an Academy Award winning actress......
Think Paul Newman's co-star in Hud.....

lot's of shops to wander thru......

Who knew?

great stairs in this little bookshop....

Somebody got a butterfly net and look what she caught!!

we drove down to the south end of the island.......

Where I spied this old worn lobster sign......

And this lighthouse......

There were scenic bluffs......

And a Dad with his daughter.......

I had read that parts of the island resemble Ireland.....

A proud and happy Grandfather......

The Edgartown Lighthouse
we had a professional photo shoot here one day.....


The Harbor at Edgartown.....

a lighthouse closeup....

blue rockers on a pretty porch...

There were pink roses everywhere....

We saw many a horse farm......
Infact we read that James Cagney's farm is on the market for a mere
$11,500,000.00
Me and daughter drove out to Vineyard Haven one morning and saw
The Lightship Nantucket.....
We also drove through the gingerbread cottages of Oak Bluffs
but I'll leave that for another post...
a nautical fencepost.....

Lot's of old movie theaters.....

This was in Oak Bluffs....

Outside the Seafood Shanty were we had wonderful shrimp.....

Flags flying everywhere....

Just had to throw in this picture....
the kids were leaving for a fancy dinner....
We got to babysit Miss B....
Can you say Two Lucky Grandparents!!
Local Color....

we drove down to Menemsha one day for lunch at "The Bite"
I have never had such fresh seafood in my life...

Our last night on the island daughter suggested we take a sunset sail on
The 60 Foot Mad Max...
Catamaran...
The night was perfect for a sail.....

Miss "B" insisted on a life vest....
Safety First!

The Jr. Fam......

We saw lots of other sail boats.....

And Mom got to take pictures of my favorite two subjects......



The sunset was stunning.....

The next morning we took the ferry out of Oak Bluffs to Woods Hole
for our drive back to Jersey....


Oh come on.....You didn't think I would do a whole post and leave out a picture of
me in some funny hat.....

when we got off the ferry in Woods Hole we saw a lighthouse in the distance....

So we drove up the highway a bit and found this touching memorial to
Neilie Anne Heffernan Casey
who died on 9/11
on the United Airlines flight...
And ofcourse I had a beautiful picture of the lighthouse but forgot to add it and
I don't know how to add it to the end so trust me that it was
a very nice lighthouse....
I hope you enjoyed our little family vacation even with it's bumps and bruises.....
Next time I will show you all the pretty houses on the island....
No complaining.....just houses....