Appears Hurricane Joaquin is moving out to sea, thank goodness, and the rain here is finally easing after pouring down the last day and a half. The winds are still pretty gusty but we’re tucked up tightly in Hadley Marina so things are looking pretty good. Even better, the Dockmaster, Les Black, has been incredibly kind to us. Last night he took our kids out for ice cream (in a rainstorm), and today he brought them donuts. He also set up the clubhouse before we came over this morning: a fire was going in the fireplace, a heater had been brought in and turned on, and Looney Tunes was showing on the TV. It was like a modern version of A Little Princess. Soren and Elsa aren’t going to want to leave.

But getting to the point of this post: We have a photo gallery now! With captions and everything! Just click the Photos link at the top of the page to view them. Some of the photos have already appeared in our posts but others are brand new. You’ll see pics of Jan’s fabulous kitchen store in Providence, Stock Culinary Goods; birds on heads; sailboats in the fog; lighthouses in the fog; fog; fairy food; images from Plimoth Plantation and Boston; and much, much more.

One other housekeeping note, for those who have asked: Drew did not, in the end, cut his hair or beard. Still looking pretty salty. Internet FTW!

(Image courtesy of Sailfeed)

After a truly fantastic weekend visting our friends Jan and Abe Dane (and their three kids, dog, and parakeet) and being shown a very cool side of Providence, RI — hip German restaurants, delicious farmer’s market, home-smoked brisket, WaterFire, 1920s-era wooden duckpin bowling in an old textile mill, great view of the blood super-moon, and Jan’s own Stock Culinary Goods shop — we set off for Block Island. Our only previous visit there was also with Jan and Abe, back in the ’90s (before kids). It was Valentine’s Day weekend and snow was blowing horizontally down the beaches.

This time, at the tail end of September, there wasn’t any snow, but much of New Shoreham, the main town on the island, had already shuttered for the winter. Wednesday afternoon there was a break in the torrential rains, and we were able to make it ashore for a nice walk into town. We found an ice cream/pastry/coffee shop and a very good bookstore (we’re all reading at a furious pace these days, so new books are very welcome). We had a great time in Rhode Island — and all of southern New England: Seeing my college roommate Jeff in Boston, Plymouth Plantation and The Mayflower, transiting the Cape Cod Canal, Hadley Harbor and Cuttyhunk Pond in the Elizabeth Islands. We would love to come back during the “on” season to return to all of these and to visit Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

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On the other side of the Cape Cod Canal, the water was warmer and we decided to go swimming. It was really fun and we rigged up a swing and we swung off the boat and into the water:

Daddy in the air.

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The Breakers is a mansion in Newport that’s twice as big as the Mountain View city hall. It got its name from being right on the coast, so if you were on the porch, you could hear the waves breaking on the nearby cliffs. It has about 43 bedrooms and 20 bathrooms, with 40 assorted staff. You know, footmen and butlers and cooks and things. The kitchen alone was bigger than our house in California. At one of the parties hosted there, John F. Kennedy and his wife were the guests of honor.

A photo of The Breakers library (from Wikipedia).

Some rooms in this house seemed needlessly pricey. For instance, the library, which was quite nice, was built of Russian mahogany, Spanish leather, and gold. The bathtubs had four taps. Two of course, made hot and cold water come out, but, since the mansion was coastal, the other two made hot and cold saltwater come out, because saltwater was thought to be good for you. Also, the bathtubs were such thick marble, you had to fill them up four times before they were warm enough to use!

Syndicated from Soren’s Realm.

[Just re-discovered this post, which I wrote a few weeks ago on another device and then promptly forgot. So it’s out of order, but we thought it would be fun to share these photos.]

We’ve been staying in Northeast Harbor for a few days to do laundry, re-provision, and a hike a bit in Acadia National Park. While here we reconnected with an artist Drew met last winter, Dan Falk. He’s a woodcarver who makes whimsical (and occasionally freaky) animal sculptures at his studio here in town. A number of them are right in his front yard, surfing and playing badminton:

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