“I see my pretty Alice . . .”

Addy_AliceGranddaughter Alice was born July 13. She and mom Meredith are fine, father Winter and sister Adeline are happy.

I visited the Andersons in Rye, N.H., two weeks after the birth, combining that with an extended weekend in Rehoboth Beach, Del., with BC classmates (previous post).

The title of this post is part of the lyrics from a Little Feat song, Willin’. I did see my pretty Alice, though she was zonked pretty much in the initial visit.

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At the dentist.
At the dentist.

Meredith, Adeline, and I enjoyed lobster rolls at Petey’s in Rye and burgers at Rusty Hammer in Portsmouth at lunches during my visit. Alice came along, too, of course, but Winter was working. I also joined them on a visit to the dentist for Adeline’s appointment.

Adeline spent a lot of her time playing with my iPad. I told her my PIN the first day, and she remembered it thereafter(!). Among the things she did was take Photo Booth selfies.

As usual, I put a few hundred miles on rental cars, traveling through a lot of Greater Boston and southern New Hampshire. I stayed at Chez Kenah, and there are no hosts more welcoming than Marcy and Larry. Visited Karen and Richard Sullivan in Mashpee, also wonderful hosts, and saw sister Ann in Woods Hole. She came over from Martha’s Vineyard to join me for lunch. My last night was at Ed Hattauer’s place in Arlington, and Ed was kind enough to drive me to  Logan for a 7 a.m. flight, August 6.

On my trip from Rye to Mashpee on August 4, I had a toxic dose of Greater Boston driving. My GPS put me on Rte. 1 in Danvers, heading south, which I hope was for traffic reasons. It may, however, have been an early sign of Garmin dementia. A strong set of thunderstorm cells hit the area, causing a lot of damage and consternation. Take Boston roadways and traffic, add lightning and rain. My GPS lost satellite connection many times and, it seemed, reason because of lightning. It would give me an instruction, lose connection, and then reconnect two instructions back.

I drove through Chelsea, the Ted Williams Tunnel, Southie, residential streets in Quincy, and downtown Quincy on my way to Rte. 3 and the Cape. I knew the way, but had hoped the GPS would save me time in terms of traffic. Some of the time it did, but . . . . Took me four hours.

I had a wonderful 10 days back East. Saw family and friends, though missed many friends I would have liked to have seen. As always, hope to have them join me on this coast sometime soon.

Welcome, Alice!

At the beach

I had planned to visit New England to see new granddaughter Alice (separate post to come), so the invitation from Pat and Tom Sugrue to join the Sutherland Road gang of BC classmates (of which I am an auxiliary member) for an extended weekend at their house in Rehoboth Beach was fortuitous indeed. It made for a delightful combination of experiences.

Dinner on the beach. To the left of me: Larry Kenah, Shelia Downey, Dan Downey, Pat Sugrue. To the right of me: Marcy Kenah, Ken Hamberg, Debbie Hamberg, Tom Sugrue.
Dinner on the bay. To the left of me: Larry Kenah, Shelia Downey, Dan Downey, Pat Sugrue. To the right of me: Marcy Kenah, Ken Hamberg, Debbie Hamberg, Tom Sugrue. Unable to attend was Ed Hattauer.

VjMLUbgq4jhGHHZ1v2QXfBLqV4Uhwh4a04ODxQtDTJEThe weekend featured wonderful company and food, beer and beach. Larry, Marcy, and I stayed in the “annex,” the nearby condo previously owned by Pat and Tom and now owned by his sister and her husband. We didn’t spend a lot of awake time there, but the setting (above right) was most pleasant.

First on the agenda was beer. We toured and tasted at the Dogfish Head brewery in nearby Milton, Del. Among other things, we learned the origin of the name of the brewery. When the founder received the blessing from his father to put aside the English degree and pursue brewing, they were walking on Dogfish Head in Maine.

Before going on a nature tour on the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal, we spent a little time touring Lewes, Del., site of the first European settlement in Delaware and originally Dutch.  A small town, with about 3,000 residents, it’s big in history. Here are a few photos from Lewes.

The canal tour took us past Cape Henlopen State Park and into Rehoboth Bay. Many views of birds and nice houses.

Some time was actually spent at the beach, and on the famous Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk. One visit was to see the sand castle competition.

Thanks to Pat and Tom for being such wonderful hosts, and to the Sutherland Road gang (and spouses) for continuing to welcome this interloper.

At the zoo

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As mentioned in the previous post, cousin Kathy and I went to the San Diego Zoo during her visit. Below is a gallery of pics from that tour. It’s hard not to get some great shots, considering the variety of animals and one’s access to them at the zoo.