Becky's photoblog

We took a family day trip to Martha’s Vineyard (yes, yes we were just there 2 weeks ago) to celebrate our parents’ anniversary, and the weather simply could not have been better!

Another lovely Memorial Day Weekend filled with family, great views and delicious food!

Waking up on the beach is really not so bad …

We got up on our last morning, grabbed some breakfast to bring out on to the patio overlooking the ocean and read our books over pastries, oatmeal and coffee.

All too soon, it was time to pack up and go, but not before one last incredible meal of fried seafood at the Sandwich Marina.

Photos from our visit to the Sea Crest in May 2013 and September 2013

After a long day of wandering around Martha’s Vineyard, we came back to the hotel and headed straight to the pool! The timing was perfect because by the time we showered off and changed, it was just the right time to pull up a chair on the sand and settle in for the best show on earth: the sun setting on the ocean. Falmouth, MA is one of the rare places on the east coast where the beach faces west, and as we learned in September 2013, the sunsets over Old Silver Beach really are miraculous.

When we stayed at the Sea Crest Beach Hotel in May 2013, we ‘discovered’ a lovely church right near lots of cute shops and restaurants in Falmouth. Before dinner, we stopped by to visit this little gem again. We discovered that they recently added a labyrinth … yet another copy of the famous labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral, so of course I had to walk the labyrinth. It’s a bit smaller in scale than the one I walked just one week ago on the Greenway, but it was lovely and pleasant. We visited the church’s gorgeous little garden as the sun continued to set, then we settled in for a delicious dinner!

We arrived at the Sea Crest Beach Hotel on a pleasant cloudy day. We missed out on a perfect sunset because of the clouds, but that’s exactly why we planned to stay more than one day!

My birthday fell on a weekend for the first time in a while, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous, so we spent the day wandering around Boston. We walked the entire length of the Rose Kennedy Greenway, starting in Chinatown and following it along past the new sculpture-thingy, and occasionally crossing the street over to the harbor near the Boston Harbor Hotel, Columbus Park, and Long Wharf, and ending at the North End. Then we walked up Hanover Street past Paul Revere Park, then over to Battery Wharf (one of my favorite views in the city), back around to Columbus Park, through Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market for some MUCH needed fried oysters. Then, we took the T back to our neighborhood to see the new Avengers movie, then walked home. A fantastic birthday!

My sweetie got me lovely flowers for my birthday tomorrow!

A gorgeous view of Copley Square towards Old South Church from our sidewalk table at Bangkok Blue. If one must go to work on a gorgeous Friday, then why not take a long lunch with some girlfriends who also work nearby?!

Now that our school has a new name, we got new lettering above the main doors today!

Art in the Bloom at the MFA is a feast for all of the senses (except touch of course!)

Where else would we go on a chilly Easter afternoon when we had a few hours to kill after church and before dinner? Apparently, a few other people, including our cousins (!), had the same idea. Yes, I know, I was just at the Gardner last weekend to see the nasturtiums, but the flowers in the courtyard have changed since then and it was a treat to see the lovely oranges and blues.

It’s always so nice to go from a long day at work straight to the MFA. We were there for a lecture, but before that, we visited the brand new Hokusai exhibit. We barely scratched the surface of an absolutely spectacular exhibit.

Every year in early Spring, the Gardner Museum’s courtyard features gorgeous hanging nasturtiums, and I finally got to take photos of them! The Gardner’s nasturtiums are my favorite sign that spring is here! Actually, this year, they’re a sign that spring really is coming soon …

I love it when last-minute plans work out perfectly! I had plans to spend Saturday afternoon visiting Liz and Lee, and their girls who just turned 1! When I found out that an old friend was in town, we made plans for her to come too, without telling Liz! It’s always amazing when someone you’ve been friends with for nearly 20 years shows up at your doorstep 🙂 We spent a perfectly pleasant afternoon hanging out with squirmy squealy happy little girls, and catching up.

It’s still pretty chilly out there, but we’re trying to welcome in Spring with some brightly colored house plants.

After wandering through the galleries at the Mount Holyoke College Museum of Art, we popped in to the greenhouse next door for a truly wonderful treat! We were in desperate need of beautiful colors and incredible smells, and the greenhouse did not disappoint. It’s always amazing to see such an enormous variety of plants all in one place. We both took lots of pictures!

What to do after visiting a museum? How about another museum! We took a short drive from Nothampton to South Hadely and visited the art museum at Mount Holyoke College. I had been there before many years ago, and Brian had never been. It’s a lovely little museum with a handful of beautiful exhibits.

We needed to get out of town, so we took a little day trip out to the Berkshires to hang out in a town we both enjoy. Northampton has lots of cool shops, galleries and restaurants. We also revisited the Smith College Museum of Art which had recently redone some of it’s galleries.

I spent most of a personal day (which I scheduled before I had 5 days off for snow) at the Gardner Museum, chatting with families on school vacation week, giving an intro talk about the collection and the collector, and soaking in the beautiful sun-lit colors of the courtyard.

A few glimpses of the snow-covered greenhouse, and the courtyard at the Gardner’s Third Thursday

It’s been a little tricky to get to work these days so I’ve been trying different routes. This morning’s route took me through Copley Square, so in between getting squished on a bus and getting squished on a train, I got to breath some fresh air and snap a few photos of some of my favorite snow-covered Boston landmarks before work. It’s refreshing to look up from massive filthy snow banks to see gorgeous buildings like Old South Church, trimmed in lacy snow.