Portland Head Light

Earlier in the week, the forecast had been for Hurricane Joaquin to have made landfall and be dumping huge amounts of rain all up the eastern seaboard. As it turned out, the European Center for Medium range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) forecast model had the best track and the storm moved north well out to sea. We had a beautiful, if somewhat breeze and mostly cloudy day. We drove up to Portland, Maine with Dorothy and two of her friends. After wandering around in downtown Portland and stopping for donuts (at The Holy Donut) and lunch (Andy’s Old Port Pub), we went to Fort Williams Park and Portland Head Light.

Wingaersheek Beach

Dorothy only has one class on Thursdays and it isn’t until the middle of the afternoon. So, we had an outing together this morning. We picked her up from school and drove up to Wingaersheek Beach on the west side of the Annisquam River inlet. It was very windy today, more so even than yesterday, and cool, probably somewhere in the mid 50s. But beautiful for all of that.

We walked out on the sand and around the rocks on the north end of the beach. The tide was pretty far out but had turned and was coming in. From there we drove to Essex and had lunch at Woodman’s, a “quintessential New England clam shack is where, in 1916, ‘Chubby’ Woodman invented the fried clam.”

Cathy, Fort Sewall, Marblehead, Massachusetts

Dorothy had classes today until after 3:00 p.m. so we were on our own most of the day. We drove south through Salem to Fort Sewall on Marblehead peninsula. It was sprinkling a little when we got there but it stopped and the sky had blue patches and it was quite lovely most of the time. The wind was up and it was great to hear the waves crashing on the rocks below. We also drove around to Chandler Hovey Park and Lighthouse Point on the other side of the harbor and were there when the rain really came in strongly and we had to rush back to our car.

Gloucester, Massachusetts from Stage Fort Park

Today was our first full day in Massachusetts. We drove up yesterday, arriving in the early afternoon, and spent the rest of the afternoon getting settled. In the evening we went to the Catacombs service that Dorothy participates in and enjoyed it very much. Because it is a week day, Dorothy had classes today. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are her busy days with three classes ending at about 3:00 p.m. Cathy and I drove to Gloucester this morning and wandered around the downtown area. We might have visited the Cape Ann Museum but it’s closed on Mondays.

Motif No. 1, Rockport, Massachusetts

We went south west of town to Stage Fort Park. The park is the historic site of Gloucester’s first settlers in 1623. We we climbed onto the huge rock that is the most obvious feature of the park, after reading the plaque embedded in it’s front. The first picture posted here is from the top of that, looking down over Half Moon Beach and the old fortifications.

We picked up Dorothy after her afternoon class and then drove back out through Gloucester to Rockport, northeast of Gloucester. We first went to the harbor and took in ‘Motif No. 1’ on Bradley Wharf. It is a “replica of a former fishing shack well known to students of art and art history as ‘the most often-painted building in America.’” I guess I see why it’s so often painted, but these things tend not to live up to their names. It was first called Motif No. 1 by the American painter Lester Hornby (1882–1956).

Hermit Crab

From the harbor we drove to the old burying ground on Beach Street. According to the nearby historical marker, the plot was given by the first settler, Richard Tarr, who was buried here in 1732. Cathy is a big fan of old cemeteries. We also walked out onto Front Beach. As the tide was out, we could walk a good way out, looking for shells and things among the rocks on the west end of the beach. Dorothy found this hermit crab, which I was able to photograph on a seaweed covered rock.

Terminal B, Reagan National Airport

Dorothy flew home this evening for the service tomorrow and we picked her up at Reagan National Airport. It’s been redone since the old days when it was a dark and cramped space. Terminal B is large, airy, and quite pretty. During the day, it’s quite bright, but of course, less so at night. Dorothy’s flight was delayed so we had a bit of time to kill I took some pictures showing the high, vaulted ceiling and the tall, glass wall facing the runway.