Spending the weekend riding The Vineyard for Bike MS

After a very long winter we had one quick week of spring and are now in full summer mode.  In fact, the leaves and flowers come out only last week and now we are in the upper 80s!  At least I got to spend last weekend on Martha's Vineyard, where it is quite a bit cooler and the trees and pollen are little delayed.  Right from work Friday afternoon we drove down to Woods Hole (yes, where the oceanographic institute is located!) and took the car on the ferry over to the island.  It was my first time on the island an I got to go with a group of friends, including Clarisse, Addy, and Emily.  I borrowed a sporty road bike and joined team Wild Type to bike 32 miles around the Vineyard.

The Wild Types! 

Bike MS registration

Getting past the starting line was the hardest part of the ride.  I hadn't been on a bike since leaving Australia 7 years ago and I had never ridden a road bike.  The handlebars and the position of the brakes were very hard to get used to and I had a couple near-collisions at low-velocity due to not knowing how to brake!  The good news was that since I had a super light and speedy bike, I finished in good time and didn't feel achy at all the next day  :P  

 I was glad to borrow a coat since it was cold and windy!

Our first pit stop was at South Beach

The third stop was at Telegraph Hill for a quick photo op

After the ride, The Wild Types reconvened for a BBQ at the finish line.  This was followed by much-deserved washing up back at our rental apartment and a walk around Oak Bluffs, one of the 6 towns in Martha's Vineyard.

Our group of 10 had two apartment units which were the top two floors of the Historic Arcade, located right on Oak Bluff's main street.  Yes, we were right above Sharky's Cantina, where Clarisse and I had dinner the night before.

The town was still sleepy since tourist season had not quite started yet.  Many stores and restaurants were still closed.

 

Lobster boat

Oak Bluffs Harbor

Oak Bluffs is famous for their campground cottages.  The pitched tents at some point were replaced with hundreds of tiny, colorful, permanent gingerbread cottages.  

 

These are real cottages!

 

The cottages were decorated with bright colors and intricate woodwork

 

Mini, winding streets not meant for vehicles

This tiny cottage-mansion was not only an oxymoron but had the most beautiful woodwork!

 

 

Does this make you think of a certain Disney movie with dwarfs?

Back at our apartment...

 

 

The view from our Historic Arcade

Circuit Ave

I guess the thing to do in Oak Bluffs is to wait in line for an hour, late at night, for a Back Door Donut.  They don't open until 9pm and are hot and fresh, just like Krispy Kreme.  I bet if Krispy Kreme (or even Dunkin) were allowed on the island the locals and tourists wouldn't have to torture themselves for some late-night sweets!

This local guy waiting in line in front of us must have been bored because he started picking on me for wearing a borrowed sweater that sported The Eagles and not "The Pats".  I got chatting with him and asked about the donuts and what he recommended getting.  After a while he asked what I do for a living.  I said I was a dietitian and the guy started busting out laughing over the irony that I'd wait in line for donuts.  Upon hearing me, a lady standing ahead of us turned around and said "Really? I'm a dietitian, too!"  I thought it was a joke, but no, she was serious.  We caught each other in the act of midnight donutting!

Only three people working, including the cashier.  No wonder it was so slow!

   

Hot and fresh

After the donut binge I felt the strong urge to go for a nice run and get a closer look at some of the local sights

 

A return to East Chop Lighthouse

A more modest, cute street

Trinity Park, right behind our apartment, and surrounded by gingerbread cottages

Upon checking out, the majority of our group went for brunch at the Black Dog Tavern.  It is a large complex with its own sailboats, shop, etc.

Despite the high-profile name and location, the food was actually really great!

My dream came true at Island Alpaca, a farm full of cuties!

 

They have dinosaur feet

This gal has my dream job.  One day...

Alpaca petting!!!!

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Some have natural colored spots but they all have crazy mop tops.

The one lone llama

A little boy with great hair

I could admire the view all day!

Erin, Dave, Clarisse, and I continued on to the southwest corner of the island where the red cliffs and Gay Head Lighthouse reside.  We were planning to stay a while but the strong wind convinced us to carry on. 

Killing time in Tisbury as we waited for the ferry

There were two special travelers on board.  The first was Norman, the Himalayan cat-in-a-bag.  Apparently it is "easy" to train cats to travel in canvas bags.  Norman didn't mind passers by, including our second special traveler...

...Maizy, the black lab at our feet.  He was also so cute!  He made for good company as we ended our weekend island adventure!

 

A trip up north to enjoy even more snow!

After a few more *smaller* snow storms, we are well-past the landmark 100 inches of snow for the year.  Only about 2 more inches to go before we break the record for the most snow in one year.  I have to remind myself that the bulk of this snow arrived in less than 2 months!  However, the start of Daylight Saving over the weekend seemed to have ushered in the start of Spring.  Here's to balmy 40s! 

Before the snow starts to melt, what better way to celebrate even more of the at-this-point-not-so-white stuff and more single digit temps by going to New Hampshire with my church?
  

Snow-covered pews at Camp Calumet's Outdoor Chapel.  

Traditional cabins by the lake (I didn't stay in one of these)

My friend, Sammy, who has worked at the camp during the summer, gave me a grand tour, including a trip onto the frozen Ossipee Lake. 

This was my first time to walk on a lake and it was a little scary! (yes, the Rwandan is more familiar with frozen lakes than I am...). 

We spotted a strange whole in the ice.  It was probably used for ice fishing but soon after Sammy swore he could hear water beneath his feet.  We got freaked out and ran back to shore!

I don't think I have ever seen actual lake ice skating before.

After seeing a bunch of annoying snow mobiles driving onto the lake I felt reassured to venture onto it again.  My destination was a fish house!  There was an NRA bumper sticker on the side.  Silly hillbillies. 

Welcome to Calumet!

Back on land there was some tobogganing and snowball fighting going on

Sammy tried on my snowshoes and he loved them! 

The view from Jackman Ridge

I stayed in one of the brand new Village Cabins.  We call this "glamping" ;o)

Not exactly a dusty old cabin!

At night we shared a campfire with another group staying at Calumet

Before heading home I headed back to that crazy, frozen lake for one last walk, this time with snowshoes.  My peace and quiet was disrupted by stinky snowmobile people.  It was fun, though, to watch them dismantle their little fish house and drag it across the lake!

 

A dreamy, mid-winter reminder of summer

The slick, icy walkway up to my cabin.  The chickens were nice and warm in their coop :o)

Round Four

The blizzard warning is still in effect until tomorrow morning (probably because of persistent, high winds) but the snow has stopped and the sun is up.  Time for shoveling!

Charlamagne the tree is buried up to his necktie.  I bet he is insulated and warm in there.

It's getting longer :o(

 

Seth the shoveler! (I really just watched the shoveling action from the kitchen window)

Lots of snow that won't be going anywhere for a long time.  For the next few weeks it will appear to shrink as it compresses into dense, hard ice.  Come Spring, when (or if!) it finally melts, it will turn into rivers of mud.  Lovely. 

Valentine's Day or Groundhog Day?

Right on cue, just like in the movie "Groundhog Day," it is another weekend and another blizzard is upon us.  Four blizzards in less than four weeks... At this point 6 more weeks of Winter doesn't seem all bad, especially if you consider that the snow probably won't be completely melted before May! 

In the meantime, happy Valentine's Day!

I make a mean pipe cleaner bear (*thank god for youtube tutorials!)

Yesterday some friends came over to express their Cupid creativity in the form of cookie decorating.  It was quite a show and I believe we had some secret artists amongst us.

Oh my goodness, so serious!

Donna's strawberry

Not pictured: a mini blue lobster and the continent of Africa

Sammy's patriotism, in cookie form

The best bakers on the block

   

Taller than me!

Our winter started off slow but then caught up quickly!  After hardly having any snow until late January (usually the snow starts to accumulate by mid-December) we were hit with three blizzards in exactly two weeks.  The total snow-fall during this time was around 65-70 inches (that is taller than me!), which is more than what we would normally get in one year.  Since it all came so suddenly the big question has been "where do we put it?".  Even the MBTA had to take a breather and the entire system shut down for a full day, the first time in history. (In all truth, this doesn't really mean anything; the poor subway is terribly dilapidated and these storms are just accelerating its miserable, inevitable death).

In the meantime, all I can think of is how grateful I am to not have to commute, by car or rail!  I don't mind one bit hiking up to work if that means I don't have to deal with shoveling off the car, navigating narrow, snowy roads, dealing with aggressive drivers, trying to find places to park between snow banks, etc.  Heck, I even got to snowshoe in to Brandeis one day :o)

I am almost certain we won't see the ground until May...

Our corner

Watch your head for 12 foot icicles! 

Charlemagne, the little red maple, looks well insulated

The hill heading up to Brandeis

At least the church clears the sidewalk; usually pedestrians have to walk in the roads with the traffic :o(

Thanksgiving guests

Last week Mom and Dad drove up to MA to spend Thanksgiving with me, Seth, and a bunch of the Bud Coluzzi clan.  It is always fun to play hostess--it gives me an excuse to do fun things that I won't normally do!  We just had to be mindful of chilly temps, traffic, and periodic snow showers. 

Thanksgiving down by the Cape with Mom, Dad, Jean, and a bunch of Coluzzis!

After some Black Friday shopping I had to go in to the lab... and I put Mom to work!  Dr. Hayes said she looks like a natural :o)

On Saturday we went up to a traditional Swedish Yule Market in Hamilton.  We then spent the rest of the afternoon in nearby Arlington meeting with Dad's third cousin, Mark, and his wife, Germaine.  Dad hadn't seen Mark in 30 years but somehow remembered he lives in my area.  I am so happy to have some (distant) relatives who live nearby!  It will be exciting to meet their kids, my fourth cousins. 

For not being very closely related, they sure do share a remarkable likeness.

Our local Vietnamese restaurant (actually owned by a Thai family) was admittedly not too bad, though more expensive than what VN food should be.

On Mom and Dad's final day we paid a return visit to the Harvard Museum of Natural History.  We were blown away by the stunning glass flowers. 

Another lost relative?