Salem . . . again!

Jan is making fun of me because I REALLY like Salem. Not the city part of Salem, but the old part, the part where everything is in walking distance. I love to walk around, look at old houses, and sometimes I just sit and watch the people go by. Essex Street is my favorite, I like the fact that you can't actually drive through with a car. Everything you do, you walk. And since the weather is perfect for me (meaning low humidity) I can walk around, look at everything and just enjoy the sights.

I went to the Witches Museum, mostly because of the statue of Roger Conant in front of the museum. :) And there he is, minding his own business:

But if you look at ol' Roger from just the right angle, he looks like he is doing something he shouldn't be doing in public.

Did I get the angle right? :)

After the museum and some other stops, I went back to Seed Stitch to sit and knit for a while. Jan had told me about Seed Stitch and how it is her second-favorite yarn shop. Well, I don't impress easily and it takes a lot for me to make that same statement. But Jan was right, Seed Stitch is my second-favorite yarn shop as well! There, I said it. Now, if they would only have a place where you could get something to drink and maybe a bite to eat. :) Here are some pictures from inside Seed Stitch:

Cute, right? All the people who work there are friendly, the shoppers are friendly, and there is no problem if you want to come in and knit for a while. I spent a few hours there and I really like it.

Jan and Cilla picked me up from my favorite little downtown and we all went to "The Landing" in Marblehead for dinner.

The Restaurant is right on the water, and even the view from the parking lot is beautiful!

We sat outside at the Restaurant and had a nice dinner with a beautiful view of the boats. There was this cat, sitting on the railing at the house next door, and the cat reminded me of Salem, the black cat from "Sabrina, the teenage witch". Maybe it was Salem?

Just as we were ready to leave, the Yacht Clubs had their sunset ceremony, with cannons going off and the flags coming down. After dinner we drove around Marblehead, looking at the old houses, and stopping at Marblehead Light. It was getting dark, but I could still get a picture of the lighthouse.

The Shop-Hop

Jan's friend Pat Flaherty picked us up this morning and we went on a little shop-hop. The first stop was supposed to be "Yarns in the Farms", but it was Monday and this shop was closed. So we went to the next stop " Loom and Shuttle", where we spend some time, but very little money. From there we took the scenic route to Essex. First stop: "Farnham's" where you can get the best fried clams anywhere. I wouldn't know about that, I don't eat clams. But they did have Lobster Rolls - and I never met a Lobster Roll I didn't like! So we left, took a last look from the parking lot over the water,

and we were off again. "Coveted Yarn" was next, and we really lucked out with that shop.

The location was cute and funky, and it is next to a place where you can buy Lobster. What better combination, Lobster and Yarn! We spend some time there talking and looking and touching and shopping and talking some more. They hava a wall of Blue Heron yarn and Jan and I were in awe of the place!

Jan was impressed! (I was too, but I'm the one taking the picture, so you can't see the expression on my face) and we bought some of the Blue Heron.

On the way back, Pat took the scenic route again and she stopped in Bass Rocks in Glouster so I could take these pictures:

After our shop-hop we went back to Cilla's. Jan and Cilla left later to spend time with Alex and Lizzy, while I stayed at the house to do some knitting. When they came back we had ice cream for dinner. Ahhh, we're living not necessarily healthy, but happy!

A Day at the Museum

Jan spend the day with her family, so I spend the day in Salem. Jan dropped me off in the morning, I had breakfast at Red's again, and then spend several hours at the Peabody Essex Museum. There is a chinese house in the museum that I really wanted to see. I am reading "Mao's last Dancer" at the moment, and Jan told me that the house in the book is like the house in the museum. They also have a special exhibit at the moment, "Treasures of the forbidden city".

The chinese house was very interesting and I can now visualize exactly what the auther of the book was seeing. All the exhibits were interesting and fun (especially the exhibit "I Spy" about the tricks your eyes can play on you). After walking through the museum I had to go back to the gift shop, just in case I had overlooked something yesterday.

It was another beautiful day here in Salem and from the museum I walked to the knitshop and sat there for about an hour, talking to the owner and people in the shop. I started knitting a pair of socks this morning, but didn't get very far. Too much stuff to see. Oh well, no rush on the socks, I have until Gettysburg to finish them.

I went to "Bella Verona" for dinner, before calling Jan for pick-up. We stopped at Rick's apartment for a little chat and then went back to Cilla's. I was really tired after walking around all day and was glad to just sit and relax for the evening.

Exploring Salem

This morning the five of us (Cilla, Lizzy, Alex, Jan, and I) went to breakfast at Red's.

They all left after breakfast and I stayed to explore Salem. First I walked to Essex street, where the fake witches are and all the stores are geared towards the supernatural, the gothic, the pagan, and sometimes the just plain weird. Nonetheless, I had my fortune read by a Tarot psychic. It was fun and interesting, but I'm not going to change my life over it.

Salem is really pretty, with all the old buildings and no cars in that part of town. So I had time to stroll, look around and enjoy. It was a beautiful day, but still too warm for me. No chance to wear my Pastaza vest anytime soon!

I also went to the memorial for the real "witches" - or better, the people accused of being witches. I was surprised to see that there are a lot of men who were accused of witchcraft, not just women. The memorial is a courtyard, surrounded by a wall. There are 19 stones sticking out with the names and manner of death engraved on it, one stone for each of the 19 people murdered during the Salem witch trials.

At the entrance to the courtyard are the last words the people spoke in their defense, not that anyone cared at the time.

Jan picked me up and we went back to Cilla's where Rick picked us up to go to a chinese restaurant for dinner.

Moving on

I woke up several times last night because of the thunderstorms moving through the area. We left Janis' house late morning and drove to Marblehead/Salem.

The first stop was Plymouth, where we had breakfast at a really cute restaurant. It had gotten really dark and it looked like we would get horrible thunderstorms. I was glad we were off the road. But as dark and stormy looking as it was, we only got a little drizzle. So we went back on the road.

The easiest way to get through Bosten is to drive UNDER Boston, which means one thing: TUNNEL ! ! ! One of only a few words that can send shivers down my spine (and not in a good way!). I was the one driving from Chatham to Marblehead and I was going through the tunnel. About a mile before we got there, I saw the sign: "Tunnel in 1 mile". Soooooo, all of a sudden I couldn't breathe properly, my mouth went dry and I started to panic. But I drove through the tunnel (no choice really!). There was hardly any traffic and I made it through without a major meltdown! After a few miles in the open I even got my spit back. I never had that problem when I was younger and now I will NOT let the fact that I am claustrophobic dictate where I can drive! The world is full of tunnels and I can handle it. Sometimes I might be scared spit-less, but I can still handle it. So there!

We arrived in Salem in the afternoon and we're now staying in Jan's cousin's house. Jan's son Rick and the grandkids came late in the evening and we all went out to the Yacht Club for dinner.

And finally: A Day of Rest

We decided to leave Cape Cod tomorrow (Friday) morning and continue our travels. We have seen everything interesting there is to see on Cape Cod, we drove from one end of the Cape to the other, and now it's time to relax and chill. So that's what we did today.

We started out this morning by going to breakfast with Janis' son Chris and his wife Tara. We took two cars to drive to the "Cape Cup" where we had a nice breakfast and good conversation. Chris and Tara left, and Janis, Jan and I took the scenic route home. For lunch we went out again, living healthy by having soft serve ice cream for lunch. What???? At least we didn't eat anything deep fried, that should count for something, right?

Dinner was at the "Corner Store" where they made our burritos the way we wanted them. We took them home and ate there.

I did a lot of knitting today and that made me happy. No pictures today, sorry!

A Sandwich in Sandwich

Janis had things to do today, so Jan and I went exploring on our own. We drove to Sandwich, MA to check out a yarn store that Jan found online. The drive to Sandwich was really nice, the weather was perfect, and I saw a lot of pretty houses on the way.

Our first stop was the Black Purls Yarn Shop (of course) and we were pleasantly surprised. It was the best yarn shop we had seen on our travels so far. http://www.blackpurlsyarn.com/


I did fall in love with the sheep that greeted us on our way in. She was originally a "Serta" display sheep, then received the black color at the paint shop of a BMW car dealership, before ending up in the yarn shop. She just makes me smile every time I look at her!

Inside the yarn shop was a really nice selection of good yarn, beautiful buttons (I found the perfect buttons for my Pastaza vest) and above all: really friendly people!

On our way out, the black sheep looks sad, doesn't she?

We had asked the owner of the shop, Kandi, for a good place to eat in Sandwich and she recommended "Dan'l Webster" http://www.danlwebsterinn.com/ . So we went and ordered . . . what else, but a Lobster Roll! This restaurant takes the typical "soup and sandwich" to a whole new level! We had a Lobster Chowder with our Lobster Roll and it was excellent! The waiter on the other hand was less than attentive. Oh well, the food made up for it.

Kandi also recommended we check out the shop of a local glass blower, the "Glass Studio on Cape Cod" http://www.capecodglass.net/ .

Even the outside was decorated with glass, from the little table with glass items to the mail box and this pump with glass "water":

I also liked the entrance to the shop, with a glass light, an old wooden door, and rod-iron railings.

The door to the house was cool, but a bit scary - I'm not sure if this guy is supposed to keep away bad spirits or door-to-door salespeople.

After the visit to the glass studio (where Jan and I bought beautiful glass items) we needed something to drink and we took a break at the Nirvana Coffee shop for coffee and Coke. Right next to the coffee shop was this beautiful house with an amazing garden in front. The porch had several rocking chairs and there were quilts on every chair. It looked so peaceful!

For dinner Jan, Janis and I went to "Campari", an italian restaurant in Chatham. Unfortunately the food wasn't all that great. But with all the perfect things we saw and did today, this not-so-perfect dinner wasn't really a problem and couldn't put a damper on our good mood. We went back to the house and did some knitting. I have started Arielle, a little sweater made from Milk Cotton. So far it looks really good, but as always I have to adjust the length of the sweater. At first it didn't work the way I wanted it and I had to take out a couple of inches. I think it'll be okay now and Arielle should come out right.