Plymouth Harbor, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

The Plymouth Harbor downtown waterfront.at sunset and high tide. As "America's Hometown," Plymouth attracts a high number of tourists during the summer months. The locals are also out and about enjoying the good weather, beaches, and other water activities.

The slips are full and the harbor is bustling on a typical summer weekend. 

This family team demonstrated well-practiced roles in getting their boat ready to launch.

The dingy dock in the foreground hosts boats for short excursions from anchor in the harbor. The tents in the background are part of a weekend festival.

Another dingy dock in the shadow of the Mayflower II, this is a full-scale reproduction of the original vessel that brought the pilgrims from England to Cape Cod and Plymouth almost 400 years ago. This replica ship was constructed in Devon, England and crossed the Atlantic in 1957 to its new home.

Plymouth has its own paddle-wheeler, the Pilgrim Belle.

A sign of summer - kids and dads at the ice cream window. I once knew a man who operated an ice cream shop four months of the year from June through September. It was right outside the entrance to one of our popular national parks. The other eight months he vacationed on a beach in Mexico. Interesting business model.

Looks like a police magnet to me.

This is how we residents dress in Plymouth when we have to go into town.

This antique was parked along the waterfront. I think it's a 1967 VW bug but I couldn't find the owner to confirm. (My first car was a well used 1966 VW bug).

The Pilgrim Belle at night.

White Horse Beach, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

The warmth of the sun, the feel of the breeze, the smell of the salt air, the sound of the water, the blue of the sky, the shrieks of jubilant children running with abandon - the beach is a special place.

Watching the drama of clouds growing into storms is part of the summer beach experience.

I liked this green umbrella - the color of shallow water.

The clouds darken by the hour, building for this afternoon's thunderstorm - a thunderstorm I got caught in and drenched to the bone. An intensely focused bright red cell moving slowly, it was right where it showed it would be on the weather map before I left home. Normally I would have stayed home but, getting caught in a warm summer rain is not really an unpleasant experience.  I can't remember when the last time in my life I just got wet in the rain because it was raining - no raincoat, no umbrella, just wet.

House in the Woods, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

We like to wander around sometimes and look at houses for sale. We recently saw this beautiful 1.5 acre property tucked away in the woods of Manomet. It is a short walk to the ocean beach below Manomet bluff, it has thousands of trees, it has a small freshwater kettle pond, and a traditional cape style house with a sunroom facing the pond. It's a peaceful, beautiful spot, the silence occasionally punctuated by the prehistoric squawk of both green and blue herons flying overhead. This property is a jewel in a rural natural setting that's still pretty close to modern day civilization.

A three-sided, three-season sunroom on the pond side of the house.

The pond view.

The pond is 50 feet from the house.

Looking back toward the house from the path around the pond.

Hmmm, let's see - it's a cape style house, new-ish (built in 2000), at the end of a dead end street, with forced air heating, a first floor bedroom, on and adjacent to natural land, it has a sunroom, an attached two-car garage, and is walking distance to the beach, library, post office, grocery, auto repair, other shops and restaurants? Looks like an extraordinary place to live! Hmmmm.

Cape Cod Canal, Bourne, Massachusetts, USA

The Sagamore Bridge in the distance.

What makes a place a place? What gives it a pulse, its own purpose, a pace, a set of behaviors or activities? I really enjoy the Cape Cod Canal.  It showcases some of the beautiful accomplishments of both humans and nature. Sun, and sky, and clouds, and water, and trees and roads, and bridges, and people and critters, and an able infrastructure to support it all.

The water moves swiftly as it rushes east and then west to balance the water levels between Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay as the ocean tides rise and fall.. Gulls wheel through the sky and cormorants skim above the surface. The canal combines natural beauty with practical utility for boats and ships of many needs and also includes a large dose of walking, biking, or roller blading into a concentration of purposeful human activity. There are seven miles of paved trails on the north side and 6.5 miles of paved trails on the south side of the canal.

The orange tubes are either fishing rod holders or fireworks launch tubes - maybe both depending upon the season/event!

I don't know if this canal is similar to canals in Europe or other parts of the world in terms of look and feel. I suppose each culture stamps its own style and nuance -  ours is pretty darn wonderful and it's only 15 minutes from home! Kudos to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who operate and maintain it all.

Sunday Drive, Southeast Massachusetts, USA

There is something special, even timeless, about taking a beautiful drive on a two-lane country road in southeast Massachusetts. And it doesn't really  matter whether it is on a Sunday or not. The roads I especially like are particularly beautiful and typical for this area.

Southeast Massachusetts offers four distinct and intense seasons that leave no doubt about each of their main features:
Summer - warm, wet, lush, green.
Fall - crisp, breezy, a riot of color. 
Winter - bright, cold, nor'easters, snow and wind.
Spring - explosion of new life, color, and growth.

What a treat to start the car, roll down the windows, crank up the music, and cruise on lightly traveled roads at 25-30 mph through mixed oak, maple, and pine forests alongside natural wetlands while the music provides a soundtrack to my life. It's like being twenty-something again with my first car when the world was fresh and new and the possibilities in life were endless. (Except nowadays it's more comfortable than a used 1966 Volkswagen beetle with high mileage and a hole in the floorboard behind the front seat.....)

Plymouth County and its half million people are dotted all along the southeast coast of Massachusetts from south of Boston to the north of Cape Cod. Unlike when traveling in many foreign countries, in theory in the United States, each pedestrian has the right-of-way when crossing in a posted crosswalk - but I still look both ways and step out cautiously.

Tall Ships, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

This year's Tall Ships event coincided with the 200-year anniversary of the War of 1812. The tall ships hailed from Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Ecuador, and the U.S. They were on display in Boston and served as the centerpiece for the commemoration festivities. The War of 1812 was our last war fought under sail.

Looking towards downtown Boston from the Seaport District. The tall ships were docked in the Seaport District. The following shots are random views in the revitalized modern district.

Bartlett Pond, White Horse Beach, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

On this unusual morning, Bartlett Pond magically became Tatooine, the planet with two suns.

Meanwhile, one of my neighbors has chickens who roam around during the day eating and pooping. They stay pretty close to their home and are protected in a coop at night.  I like living where chickens and children run free - they behave much the same.

Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Santa Fe is the capital of New Mexico with a population of about 70,000 people.  It is located in the northeastern part of the state at an altitude of  7260 feet MSL. New Mexico became our 47th state in 1912 but Santa Fe had been a settlement  area for more than a thousand years before that. Today it enjoys a vibrant art and tourism attraction in addition to its role as the capital.

In the Santa Fe Plaza National Historical Landmark at the Palace of the Governors, Native Americans display and sell their beautiful hand-crafted jewelry, much of it made of silver and turquoise.

I am accustomed to hearing bagpipe music in Boston, not often in other cities. We chanced upon this parade on the Plaza and it sounded like home.

A harpist also played for visitors in the shade of the Plaza.

I have always loved the pueblo style architecture in the desert southwest areas of the United States.

And the blue skies are bluer and the white clouds are whiter.

It is a beautiful town.