Pat’s Diner

While birding for the Newburyport Christmas Bird Count, Mark and I made our traditional stop at Pat’s Diner (formerly Ann’s Diner) in Salisbury MA for breakfast.  One of the things I look forward during our annual stop is chatting with the owner, Pat.  She is such a gracious woman and during our conversation, she told us that this might be her last year at the diner.  At the age of 81 (you would never know it!), Pat is finally ready to retire.  Knowing how much we enjoy her diner, and the food, she gave us this wonderful print that was painted by Don Sawyer of W. Brattleboro, VT!  I was so honored to receive the print and will miss Pat and her diner the next time we are Christmas Bird Counting in the Salisbury area. 

For you diner history buffs, I found this information on the National Register of Historic Places (NHRP) web site:  Ann's Diner was added to the NHRP in 2003 (#03001264) and it’s also known as the Worcester Lunch Car Company Diner #824.  Its historic significance is “event, architecture/engineering” and the architect, builder, or engineer was the Worcester Lunch Car Company.  The area and period of significance is “commerce, architecture” from 1950-1974 and its historic and current function is “commerce/trade, restaurant”.    

This bit of history is from the Pat’s Diner take-out menu:

Wine Making at Alfalfa Farm Winery

This fall, Mark and I completed a full season of wine making at the Alfalfa Farm Winery and it has been a great experience!  We learned a lot about the wine making process and met wonderful people who also share a passion for wine and community farming.  As a volunteers at the winery we have:

Pruned.

Harvested.

Destemmend and Crushed.

Pressed.

Punched.

Racked.

Bottled.

Labeled.

House-kept.

And Tasted.

Wherever you may be travelling from ...

... stop by and visit the Alfalfa Farm Winery if you are in the area.  Check out their web site at: http://www.alfalfafarmwinery.com/  for tasting times and event information.

Cheers! 

Apples

One of the things I love about autumn ... Apples and apple picking!

Sunflowers

One of the things I love about late summer ... Sunflowers!

My Wing Haiku

One of the people I follow on Twitter is the editor for Wild Bird Magazine. Every once in a while she Tweets a contest to write a poem and today she had a Haiku contest. You had to use the word “wing” in the Haiku so I wrote this:

Tree Swallows staging. Flocks are ready to migrate.

On the wing they'll be.

I won and received this prize:

A Few Vacation Birds and Flowers

While on our annual birding vacation with friends in northwestern Maine, I photographed a few cooperative birds - and flowers.

This Merlin flew in and landed atop of a spruce tree while we were looking for warblers below (I think he was looking for warblers too)!

A very cooperative Gray Jay stayed with us for several minutes and took food (gorp) from our hands!

These Tree Swallows perched on a wire next to a busy roadway. 

This Ruby-throated Hummingbird made frequent visits to the feeder at our cabin.

White Daisies …

… with morning dew.

Hydrangea

This is a Mophead Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla), which is the most popular hydrangea grown in gardens and is spectacular when in full bloom!

Lunchtime for Ospreys

While birding Cape May, New Jersey this past May, Mark and I were fortunate to see several Ospreys enjoying their lunches.  The first seven photos were taken near Reed’s Beach in Cape May Courthouse and the last three were taken at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), also known as Brigantine NWR.