Monday, June 29, 2009

photos: boats and such

Gull fishes eel
This gull had an eel in its mouth.
gull on A-frame
swallow by the wheelhouse
A pair of swallows had built a nest by the wheelhouse, not understanding it was a mobile home.
swallow nest

UConn from the water
Campus, viewed from the water.
long island
Long Island - yes, we ended up going the wrong direction, towards NY, instead of Massachusetts, because it was safer.
shore

We passed a regatta:
turning sailboats
sailing race

boats and swan
Swan, in the harbour.

Amistad
In the distance, you can see the Amistad, as used in the movie.

the island

Sunday, June 28, 2009

photos: New London, Groton and Mystic

stonework
The University of Connecticut satellite campus in Groton is quite pretty. Apparently the castle-like buildings were once the home of some local Robber Baron. While we were there, they were filming a movie, of course.

Groton is quite small. Parts of it are quaint and parts of it are rather industrial. We did not get a chance to go to the nuclear sub museam, but we did see subs in the harbour. We had dinner in New London and were regulars at West Marine. There seems to be quite the rivalry between the towns. On the other side of Groton is Mystic. We went there for dinner a couple of evenings, prior to the cruise. Part of Mystic is what we might call a "pioneer village" like Black Creek, but with more boats and less blacksmiths. We took the chance to walk around a take a lot of photos.

UConn campus is castlelike
UConn campus

old shipyard
weatherwanebunting
tall ship in Mystic
thimble, with frog
New England home with roses
shingleschairs
fire alarmchurch
Mystic pizza
blossomsship weatherwaneMystic homeMystic drawbridge

Photos: Before the Research Cruise

On the way there, I took the first driving leg, starting our trip at 5:30 pm, largely as I was voted "most likely to get us across the border with minimum effort" and "most able to deal with rush hour traffic without loosing my mind." Between Toronto and Hamilton took a lot of patience. I pulled over somewhere past Buffalo and RM took over. The rental car had more buttons than the average computer. RM found the button to switch units, which made driving in the US easier, with the speedometer in miles per hour rather than km/h, but sadly switched everything. I do not speak Fahrenheit and had no idea how to set the A/C. We got to - oh, I forget... past Syracuse but not as far as Albany. The next day we continued and were almost at Springfield, Massachusetts, when the guys saw signs for the Basketball Hall of Fame. So here is where we made our unlikely pitstop.

basketball beacon
basketball

It was not open, so the guys had to settle for more ice cream. I swear, how a young man can eat ice cream three times a day and yet be so slim is unfathomable.

We got to New London, across the river from Groton by afternoon. This is a view of Groton from New London. Because CS took the train from Boston to New London, RM assumed his hotel was in New London. So we drove around New London, looking for the Hilton, until I made the guys stop and and went for directions at another hotel... where the clever woman behind the desk printed out google map directions without being asked. It turns out that the hotel was in Groton, not New London, and despite having Mystic in its name. I guess they like confusing tourists.

View of Groton
whale mural in New London
feather
birds chasing

Eventually we even found our own hotel. Here is our view:
view from hotel

More later... gotta go return the rental car.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Craftster Crush

A short message from sea to report that I am immensely flattered to be this month's "Craftster Crush". They even mentioned Albrecht Dürer! Dear craftster, the feeling is mutual,
love,
minouette.

Friday, June 12, 2009

paper paper paper

Do you think I can get my colleagues to hurry up if I impress upon them my NEED to go to the Paper Place tomorrow?



{via the Toronto Craft Alert}

Need a clone!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Typography, reggae classics edition


{by Tom Gabor via swissmiss}

I don't care how bad that pun is, I love it.

Book of Hope 2009

So alteredmommy raffled off the Book of Hope collaboration and a cross stitch piece and raised $630 for cancer research! Check out the whole book here.