Let the sun shine in.

How many times have I written in the past couple of weeks about the weather? Either I'm writing about how hard it's raining, or I'm writing about how fantastic the weather is. I'm like a broken record. Someone give me a new topic, please! But I haven't got a new topic yet, so let's continue with the weather theme.

Saturday was such a beautiful day. I mean, a really, really beautiful day. Doug and I got up early to enjoy as much of the day as possible. We drove down to Newport to see a couple of the mansions, and also to walk the Cliff Walk, the 3.5 mile walk along the water. Views of the ocean on one side, views of the palatial estates on the other, with bright sun shining down. Can't think of a better way to spend the day.

Doug posed on the grounds of The Elms. We really liked the grounds of this mansion; no ocean view, but the gardens were very European. And on the way to and from Newport we saw several of these: Personally, I think wind turbines are beautiful (how many times can I use that word in a blog post? Let's count.), like art, and I wish I could see more of these dotting the horizon. They spin in this very constant way, reminding me of the wings of a large bird. More of these, please!

We also spent the beautiful (what's that... ten times now?) days doing somewhat less exciting things, like grocery shopping (Wyatt's not sure he approves of the new bag, but I do), quilt-making, and fixing a couple of toilets. We could put off fixing the toilets no longer, so now the now one in the basement actually works, and the one upstairs flushes properly. (Thanks, Sasha, for all the hard work helping Doug with this!) And I could put off taking the next step in my quilt-making no longer. This project, as expected, is way more intensive than bib-making. I am trying to do it in little steps, and so this weekend I laid out the top layer in the pattern I liked, noted which square went where, and then put all the squares in a pile again to sit and wait for me to get time to do the next step, which is to start sewing them all together. Here's the top layer as it will hopefully look when done: I'm a little apprehensive about starting the next layer. With my bibs, I had so much extra material that it didn't matter if I messed one up. It was easy enough to just cut another piece and start again. I don't have extra of these t-shirts, so if I screw this up I have to somehow figure out how to either fix the mistake or... well, there is no other choice. The stakes are higher with this project, but that just means that the reward will be higher. I can't wait to see the final product, which I'm still hoping will be by summer.

I also have hope that one day I'll finish True Compass, which I've been reading for what seems like forever. I am enjoying it, and I am learning a lot, but reading a book that's over 400 pages is a real commitment for me. There are not enough hours in the day! But there's time to read now, so that's what I shall go and do.

I love nice weather (though it became a tad hot...)

I've come to the conclusion that as much as I love New England and the change of seasons, the two seasons that are my favorite are spring and fall. Well, I don't even love all of spring and fall, but we're in the part of spring right now that I really like. I like spring from about the end of April to the middle of June, when summer usually comes on with a vengeance. And I like fall throughout October, when the days are still a little warm but the leaves are turning colors and starting to fall off the trees. Temperatures for these two season-parts are usually in the 60s, with occasional 70-degree weather or 50-degree weather - perfect! This past week we had a few days of just beautiful days, and I actually got to enjoy a little of a couple of them.

So what did I do in the nice weather this past week? Well, on Thursday I was determined to ride my bike in the daylight, so I left work a little early and got home at about 7:30. Doug and I got on our biking gear and headed out for a leisurely ride around the town. We crossed Route 1 and went over into Dedham Square and into Precinct One, the beautifully historic part of Dedham. I took a few photos along the way of some of my favorite parts of that part of town. The first here is the Dedham Bike Shop. It's actually called the Dedham Bike & Leather Shop, but I didn't see too many leather goods for sale in there. Maybe it's a throw-back to services provided in yesteryear?

We also rode by the main branch of the Dedham Public Library.I've been in there once or twice and I like it, but after having been spoiled by the wealth of resources at the Boston Public Library and the Newton Free Library, the Dedham Public Library seems very sleepy. But nice, so I really can't complain. Across from the library are a couple of court buildings and also the registry of deeds (where we signed our closing on the house). Doug took a break from biking behind this municipal complex. Don't you love the trees? That's another great part of this time of year - everything is still green and lustrous, not brown and dried-up from weeks and weeks of scorching heat and no rain.
On our way back to our house we rode by the Dedham Community Theatre, home of two movie screens and the Museum of Bad Art, and also host to occasional comedy shows. We saw one movie there, but I forget what it was. Uhhh... right, Slumdog Millionaire. Moving on from there we crossed back over Route 1 and then took a detour (gotta get my blog content) past the Endicott Estate: This place is pretty impressive, and while I've never been inside I think that I would have liked to have had our wedding here. Of course, it probably costs an arm and a leg to rent out and we wouldn't have had the casual feel of the UConn Alumni Center to welcome all of our wedding guests (and we didn't really know too much about Dedham back then...), but still. Maybe we can have our 50th anniversary there or something. What's cool about the Endicott Estate is that on the grounds is the little branch of the Dedham Public Library that I am more apt to frequent, since it's on my walk to and from the commuter rail each day.It's small, but they pack a lot in there, and since most of the stuff that I get from the library has to be shipped from other libraries in the network, I don't need a big library. It's just very nice to have it so close by. But, anyway, that was our bike ride. The more we drive and bike around Dedham the more we learn about it, which will be my response to my mother the next time she asks me how we know our way around the area so well. Just takes time to explore, that's all.

Friday was another beautiful day, though it bordered on hot. Because it was the day before a long weekend, Pain let everyone out at 3pm. This means that I got home at 5pm, but wow! It felt nice. To celebrate the weather and the early evening, we went to a PawSox game. It really takes us no time at all to get down there... maybe 40 minutes? Not too bad! And the games are a good time. They're casual, go by faster than major league games, and you can get really great seats for only $10 each. Doug and I always say that we should get season tickets, but there are so many games each season, and I can't usually get out of work early enough to make the games on weeknights. But here are a couple of shots of us at the game: Doug likes to watch the game, and while I do, too, I also like to watch the people (who love to eat. I mean, really love to eat. First hot dogs, then french fries drenched in orange cheese sauce, then fried dough, washed down with soda and ice cream). Your average baseball fan is much more interesting to watch than your average soccer fan (note I said average, so not the people in the Fort at the Revs games), so I wish I could go to more games. I'd get a degree in sociology sitting there each night!

The weather doesn't seem to be continuing on its beautiful course this weekend, but I'm sure we'll manage to enjoy the rest of it anyway. My sister, brother-in-law, mother and all the kids are coming up soon to stay over night. I'll have some adventures to share, I'm sure.