Halloween Shenanigans.....

 I've been sorting through some more of the holiday snaps - these are some of the sights we saw in Salem on Halloween...

 ...we all need some 'dabachery' don't we

 This guy probably thought I was stalking him - I have quite a few photos of him in various locations in an attempt to get a proper view.  Luckily this was my final try.

 This stall took facepainting to a whole new level - I would like to have had a bit of gore too but the queue was too long.

 See what I mean?

Not everything was scary...

....ahhhhh!

Boston - Random Snaps

 While various craft projects are still in the pipeline, here are a few pictures from our recent trip - I know other people's holiday pics are usually tedious, so I've tried to pick some interesting ones.
This was a breakdancer on the street outside Quincy Market, part of a really entertaining group.

Stacie and I mid-hurricane....

One of the many decorated houses in Salem at Halloween.

Me making a purchase in a Harvard smoke shop - anything you need for pipe smoking, you'll find it here.  I was actually buying violet flavoured mints!

A rare picture of Stacie grinning - think she was laughing at me (as usual) freezing on the whale trip boat.

Boston or Bust

Just under a month ago we decided after the tough year we'd had, it was time to organise a last minute holiday - it was a toss up between Boston or New york.  Thank goodness we are cheapskates and opted for Boston......

Our first day (October 26th) looked like this - we didn't even need coats.

October 27th looked like this - the sea was as calm as a mill pond and we went whale watching.  The sun shone the whole way, we saw loads of whales (which I failed to get photos of - they don't hang around!) and even the return journey was not an icy ordeal - I got sunburnt!

On our return to the harbour, I noticed this ominous halo around the sun - we already knew Hurricane Sandy was on it's way, this was nature's way of warning us too.

October 28th, we went to a craft market and the weather was closing in - the tops of the tall buildings were shrouded in cloud, the wind was picking up and the rain started.

Monday 29th was wild!  I have never experienced a wind like it - needless to say we took a walk down to the shore to see what was going on.  The beach by our hotel was fairly sheltered as it is part of a bay, but the water was certainly coming in and we had trouble standing upright on occasion.

This was the playground nearby - those 'planks' under the roofing are the tops of benches.

After a sandwich at a local shop, we went back to the hotel and stayed safe in our room watching films for the rest of the day while the wind howled outside.

We did feel the media made too much of how Sandy was going to affect Boston - yes, it was bad throughout the Monday, but the next morning instead of the predicted continued wind and rain, we awoke to brilliant sunshine.

So we visited Fenway Park, home of the Boston Redsox - well worthwhile taking the tour.

Also visited the boutiques on Newbury St. but felt it was not quite for us so left after a quick walk around.

Saw a huge crowd of sparrows on Boston Common - this is just a small section!

Halloween was another warm dry day, so we headed off to Salem - by train this time.  Stacie was obviously not impressed by this mummy!

We loved this family group - inspired costumes!

This house always does an amazing display - this 'vomit' spewed out every few minutes.  I'll show more pictures another time.

Loved this girl's costume - she stayed in character all day and later on met up with her boyfriend who was also a zombie. Creepy.....

This was the most incredible bookshop I have ever been in - I don't know what you'd do if the book you wanted was at the bottom of a pile.....

We didn't stay for the evening celebrations  - by 4 p.m. we'd had enough and headed back.

November 1st was the day we went home - but as our flight was in the evening, we had time to visit Harvard.  Bob had a spot of bother with one of the faculty.....

Harvard is an amazing place - students there are very lucky indeed.

And finally, we ended up back at the harbour for one final bowl of chowder at Quincy Market, a last minute purchase of salt water taffy and then back to the hotel to await the shuttle to the airport.

We feel very lucky we escaped the brunt of the hurricane - seeing the devastation in New York and New Jersey was a very sobering experience.  I hope they get the help they need as soon as they can.

A Little Bird Told Me.......

Here is the finished watercolour painting of a pair of sparrows on Boston Common.  I thoroughly enjoyed this work - sparrows have to be one of my favourite types of bird and I never tire of painting them.  I managed to get quite a few reference photographs of sparrows while we were in Boston - they were just so tame, it was possible to get within a few feet of them without them flying away.

Not too sure what to do next - perhaps more in the same vein, as it's been a while since using watercolours and I do so love them!

Back From Boston....and look what I got!

For a long time I have wanted a Mason drinking jar - don't ask me why, I just fancied the idea of drinking out of a jam jar with a handle.  But they don't exist here in the UK and to get one shipped over from the USA cost silly money.  I even begged a friend to look for one on her trip to San Fransisco earlier this year but to no avail.  So you can imagine how happy I was when we had only been in Boston for a few hours last week and when visiting the supermarket opposite the hotel, discovered this!  It contained stuffed peppers, but they have been decanted into tupperware, the labels carefully peeled from the jar and I can now sit and drink my iced tea from a jelly glass - I'm easily pleased!  Also note the big pile of fabric behind - our hotel was opposite a discount fabric shop so I took the opportunity to stock up - this lot cost me about £18, which is so cheap compared to the UK.

We had a fantastic week in Boston - the weather was glorious as you can see and we did some of this.......

....which was such fun we had to go back at the end of our visit to the aquarium and do it again. The next day we spent whale watching......

...we saw just the one large female hump-backed whale, but she gave us quite a display.

This time we knew where to sit on the boat to get the best view, and even Stacie managed to get an unobstructed sighting.

Well worth the freezing trip back on the boat afterwards!

It being the week before Halloween, there were plenty of pumpkins and decorations to be seen.  Stacie had great fun looking round the costume shops and especially visiting Salem, where there were plenty of these to be seen.....

We felt a bit under-dressed!

We visited Quincy market several times and stuffed our faces with all sorts of dishes, from corn dogs to moussaka....

Hard to find a spare table though, and we had to eat off our laps most of the time.

We also got about 60 reference photos between us of these.....so once the Christmas rush is over (I came back to a slew of commissions - no rest for me between now and Christmas!) there will be some more jellyfish paintings.