A Birthday Post

Well, since my birthday was exactly one month ago, and I've been way too crazy busy to show and tell, I'm here to tell you all about it.

David and I went to Newport for the day. I had wanted to go do something that we don't do all the time, so that was the choice. I had never done the cliff walk or seen the mansions that everyone raves about, so we went. It was a nice day, a bit chilly but not rainy. It took us about 1.5 hours to drive down there and we spent the day doing some driving to scope out the sights. Then we figured out where to park and walked along the cliffs and saw the mansions from afar. We probably should have tried to tour a couple... but that just means we need to go again!! After our lovely walk, we toured the harbor area to see what there was to see. We ended the evening at a fantastic Italian restaurant "Puerini's". Really spectacular food. We had such a great time! I wish more of the touristy things had been open like Eisenhower's house and Fort Adams... but again... another time.

Dave made an awesome breakfast for us to start the day off right!

Eisenhower's house

crazy cruise ship that dwarfed everything!

This was about all we saw of Fort Adams :( I was sad because I like touring old forts.

The official beginning of the Cliff Walk.

Another gorgeous house on the water in Newport.

Not one of the mansions, but it reminds me of houses you see in fairy tales like Sleeping Beauty and Snow White.

Artsy picture of one of the mansions through its fence

Mansion

Did you know Dave could be a model? He's got the look...

I'm not quite model material, but I smile nicely for the camera. This was along the cliff walk too.

Another mansion. I'd really like to tour the inside sometime.

Another artsy photo I took of Dave. Seriously, maybe I can sell these to Ralph Lauren...

Us on the cliff walk. I'm not joking, he deleted the one good photo of us because he thought it looked bad. But you can't tell on those little camera screens! I was not happy, but this one is ok.

Farm Stand Lettuce

Yesterday I went to my local farm stand and came home with two HUGE bags of produce for $16. I love New England for this! The produce is usually very good and always fresh. Although it isn't "organic" it was usually grown locally and I like that. What I like to do is to wash and prep all the fruit and veggies when I get home from the store because if I don't, it sits and rots in my fridge never to be eaten. If it's already prepared, all I've got to do is open up the fridge and wha-la, it's ready to eat. So last on the list of things to wash and cut is lettuce because it means that I've got to soak the lettuce first then spin it in the salad spinner. I reached into the bag to pull out my head of lettuce and it is by far the most beautiful specimen I've ever seen. It makes the finest grocery store lettuce look wilty and gross. The leaves are so thick and green... with amazing texture. I can't wait for my sandwich today because it's going to be full of it!

Garden and Pets

OK, so I just realized it has been over a month since I posted something here!! Wow... shame on me! I've been crazy busy, so that is why. My birthday was the 17th of May and then my parents came out for a visit and we went to a wedding in Cooperstown, NY and then I've been busy busy at work and with things here and there. I'll write a few posts on the various topics to catch you up, but here's the quiet time I've been having at home.

Remember my Canada Goose that I told you about? Well, they had babies! There were 3 but one of the babies and momma got hurt by something. They were both limping. And, sadly, baby didn't make it and now there are only two. They are growing so fast. They are best seen early in the morning on my lawn picking at the grass but they occasionally stop by in the evenings and mid-morning. Did you know that geese mate for life? True. This family is always together.






I've also been doing some "gardening" in little pots outside my apartment. I rent, so this is about all I can do, but it adds such a nice touch! I asked Dave to help me pick plants and it was so awesome how he really put effort into helping me with this. This is my first attempt to getting things to grow, so I'm pleased with the results. I'm also growing a Basil plant. I bought a small little one from the grocery store for $1.99 and planted it and it's more than doubled in size. I think it's time to make some pesto!!

Well, you may have read about our beach adventures in my last post, but what I failed to mention was that although it is May and we are still having spring temperatures and rain, on our perfect beach adventure, Dave and I got a bit crisp that day. We had bought some of the sunscreen shown above from Costco. We thought it would be good. It has SPF 45 and this new formula blocks both UVA and UVB rays. We thought we would like the spray sunscreen, but what we found was that even in the slightest wind you get spotty coverage. To say the least, I had major spots that just didn't get sprayed and ended up with some serious sunburn. You can even see me turning a little pink. We got home and I was a bit toasted and in a fair amount of pain. Fortunately, I had the foresight to throw some Solarcaine Aloe Spray into my bag. But you have to make sure that it dries completely before putting on clothes, so at an hour way past our bedtime, Dave covered me with spray and stood there with a cool hairdryer drying the aloe spray (with lidocaine) to make sure that it was all dry before we went to bed. He wasn't as burnt as I was, so he didn't need to be "dried" but I did. I thought it was the sweetest thing the way he looked after me when i was all burnt up. He took really good care of me. Although it certainly wasn't something that I planned on happening since it had been a while since I had been that burnt.

dinner @ cape cod, originally uploaded by mleehartman.

A Day at the Beach

Dave is now working on weekends again for skydiving season, so we've had to move our "weekends" to a day during the week. This week, that day was Wednesday and it was fantastic. We had almost 80 degree weather and not a cloud in the sky. We headed to Cape Cod for the day to a Beach in the town Sandwich called "Crane Neck Beach" This was pre-season so they didn't charge us to park there. I'll say this, the beach was unbelievably rocky. see here:

crane neck beach, originally uploaded by mleehartman.

But otherwise, it was great. We practically had the beach to ourselves and it was quiet and lovely. The water was a bit cold (think 41 degrees) so we didn't swim. We brought a volleyball and smashball, but couldn't play because it was way too rocky. But we laid out in the sun. ate a nice lunch on the beach blanket and then went hiking in the dunes with our flip flops on. We ended the day driving across to the "oceanside" part of the cape since we ended up on the "bayside" mostly just to check it out. It was a little too windy there for our taste so we saw it, we got back into the car and we went to go get ourselves a seafood cinco de Mayo dinner at a pub nearby. What a great day... can't wait for more adventures!

P1030261, originally uploaded by mleehartman.

P1030252, originally uploaded by mleehartman.

P1030290, originally uploaded by mleehartman.

P1030275, originally uploaded by mleehartman.

Pets

Recently I have a goose (sometimes two) that hang out on my lawn sleeping and eating things in the grass. I also have a pet beaver who swims and builds things along my shore. I usually see the beav swimming away as I come home from the lab. This morning I caught him on his way in. I think he likes my little piece of cove. So do the geese. This morning I fed my goose a little piece of bread that was the soggy end piece. He coo'd at me and ate it graciously. But then I went back inside, since I was out in my robe and crocs and the poor guy just stood out on the grass, confused as to where I dissappeared. He was sad about me leaving for a good 15 minutes or so, but he finally moved on. I think he'll be around for a while.

The Graduate!

Dave finished his B.S. in Economics on Wednesday. Hooray! One more year and the masters will be in the bag. Got him a little 'happy graduation' gift. I thought it was nice, he didn't love it, although he did humor me with a photo. What I should really do is learn that the boy does not like surprises, and if I want to get him a gift, I should ask him what he wants. The problem is, I LOVE surprises and it's not natural for me to say "hey, I was thinking of getting you a little something for your graduation, got any ideas?" I like having the clever ideas for gifts... oh well. I am sure that one of these times I'll get it right.