More Cape Cod photos
Below are a few more. I will be sending others to interested parties soon.
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June 28, 2005
June 24, 2005
Cape Cod house
Here are a couple of photos of the house we stayed in in Cape Cod. I took them on our previous trip, but it was pretty much the same, except for smelling a bit damper and having had a bit more use. We think we were the first people to rent it when we came two years ago. It still had tons of stuff in it though, including clothes, books, personal letters, photo albums. Not that we were snooping. OK, maybe we were, just a little. I don't think we'll stay there again, as there are now 15 of us counting the children, and even a place this big isn't big enough!
In case you're just tuning in for the first time in a while, there's another new post below, and one below it with a couple of beach photos.
By the way, it's been pretty warm over here in the UK - 30 degrees yesterday. Amelia was off daycare so we, um, went to the beach. We didn't go to the pub, though!
A few things I forgot to tell you
A couple of things that happened before we went on holiday:
I finished the book proposal I was working on. (Yay! I'd been working on it off and on for nearly a year.) This is a proposal for a non-fiction book about fitness and motivation. My co-author is Marc Lebert, who is part owner of Fuel Fitness Clubs in Mississauga, and has also done personal training and seminars and a bunch of other stuff. Basically it's his ideas and my writing and editing skills. We decided to send the proposal to a publilsher called Human Kinetics in the US, recommended by one of Marc's contacts. We'll give it a couple of months and then start sending to other publishers.
I bought something from e-bay. Yes, it was my first time. Amelia had taken a fancy to a Po doll (from the Teletubbies - yes, I know, I find them freaky too but she likes them) they had at the hairdressers I take her to, but I couldn't find one like it in the shops - the new versions had too many fancy extras. So I bought a used one from a woman in Essex or somewhere for 99p plus £1 postage. I'd never used e-bay in Canada because most of the sellers seemed to be American and I figured there would be problems with customs, but now that we're here I may use it more. Next stop, Barbie clothes. Yes, Amelia was given her first Barbie by one of our friends while we were on holiday. "Beach Fun" Barbie. She's already lost her sandals and sunglasses.
And some things that happened this week:
I got my mark for my first Open University assignment - 67 percent. Huh. I was a little disappointed, although Ian tells me that these days that counts as a B. In my day - at McGill anyway - I'm sure and A was an 85 or at least an 80, a B was 75 or above, and a C was 65 and above. Am I imagining that, or have things changed? Luckily the first assignment is only worth 20 or 30 percent of the mark (can't remember). It's the second (and final) one I'm worried about. If you're lucky I might even post my assignment here.
It was our wedding anniversary on Wednesday. 15 (!!) years. No, we didn't do anything exciting - we were still to tired from the trip.
June 22, 2005
A couple of photos
Thanks Terry, for these. Ours won't be ready for a few days. To be honest, I haven't taken them to be developed yet. Oh the joys of a non-digital camera. Read on for more details on the trip.
We arrived in the US on Friday June 10 and stayed one night just south of Boston. It was very hot and humid for the first few days. We drove down from Boston to Cape Cod, stopping in Plymouth partly to see Plymouth Rock (which is pretty much just a big rock chosen at random with a roof built over it and the year the Pilgrims landed inscribed - I can't even remember what the year is now) and partly so we could say would been to both Plymouths - there's one just down the road from here too, which is presumably where the pilgrims left from.
On Saturday we met our friends from Mississauga at the same house we stayed at 2 years ago. Eight adults, and seven children under the age of 10. People give me funny looks when I tell them that. It was a big house though, with a big garden for the kids to run around in. I don't think I took any photos of it this time, but I'll try to dig out a few from last time.
What did we do there? We went to the beaches - some of which have sand flats for miles when the tide goes out. We ate the seafood - lots of it. We went to some of the towns - Provincetown is a particular favourite. It's right up at the tip of the Cape, and apart from being the "gay mecca" it's quite an artsy, cute place. They were having a film festival when we were there.
Some of us played mini-golf on one of the fantastically over-the-top mini-golf courses. (Think huge fountains, gigantic skulls with water spurting out, whole jungle scenes. There were several of these. The Las Vegas of mini-golf land.)
We exclaimed again at the sheer size of many Americans, even the children, and their fondness for dressing in over-sized athletic wear. If you're ever feeling a bit dumpy and fat, take a trip to the States. You'll feel thin and stylish by comparison.
We marvelled at how bad the driving is - in the sense that they use their huge cars to hog both lanes with no regard for anyone around them, or even the knowledge that anyone else is there. They actually have a few large roundabouts as we call them here in Britain - they call them rotaries, and they have no idea how to use them. They don't know when or how to yield. I'm surprised there aren't more accidents.
Some of us drank a few too many martinis. Some of us got sunburn. And most of all we enjoyed seeing our friends.
Until next time...
June 19, 2005
Quick hello from Boston
A really quick hello from Boston on the last day of our trip to Cape Cod. My time is about to run out on the computer at the hotel. We had a great time on the Cape with our friends - lots of beaches, pretty towns, shopping, sun, and drinking! And Amelia really enjoyed being with the other kids. The week went by like the blink of an eye. Today we are off to the aquariam, and then the flight home. If any of those who were with us are reading this, we miss you already. Hope to see you again soon!