Weekend Wrap-up

Why can’t every weekend be a three-day weekend? A four-day work week is so much more humane. Joe and I gigged last Thursday (Meze) and Friday (Café Apollonia) nights, so we were pretty exhausted by Saturday. Nonetheless, we worked almost non-stop in the yard. I had a ton of planting to do. I’ve been working steadily since late March to have the yard prettied up by the start of June, but there was still lots of work to do this weekend. I also had a ton of laundry to do. With so much gigging and rehearsing, the dirty clothes were really beginning to pile up.

That evening, we had a very late supper with K and our housemate G, who treated us to some delicious Caribbean takeout from a new establishment to open in our neighborhood. I think the owners are Dominican. They make really good cubanos, and I’ve become something of a regular there. Joe likes the mofongo, which is mashed fried plantains and a traditional Puerto Rican dish.

On Sunday, we took off to Martha’s Vineyard on the motorcycle. It’s a not a bad ride for us down to the Woods Hole ferry. The beautiful thing about the motorcycle is that they treat it like a bicycle. No advance reservations are required, unlike for a car. The only problem was that after working outside all day on Saturday and then sitting on the back of a bike for an hour-and-a-half left me a bit stiff (not the good kind of stiff). We took the ferry to Oak Bluffs where we grabbed a quick bite before heading down to Aquinnah. The ride to Aquinnah is one of the best parts of the trip. “Up island” as the south-western corner of Martha’s Vineyard is called, offers some of the island’s most scenic views, especially along the south side of Menemsha Pond.

I love the lush path behind the dunes that leads to Moshup Beach. It was too early in the season for all the beach roses and honey suckle to be in bloom, but in mid summer, the sweet fragrance along the path fills your head until you reach the end and your eyes are rewarded with the rich colors of the cliffs further down the beach. It was like we were just there yesterday. Our last trip was with K in November, when it was warm enough for us to get naked and swim. Surprisingly, the water was too cold to swim on Saturday, though I did venture in for about 30 seconds. We’ve been to Gay Head once before on Memorial Day—a memorable trip with M several years ago—and the water was warm enough for us to take a 15-minute or so dip. I was expecting the same on Sunday, so I was a little disappointed when I found it too chilly to swim. Instead, Joe and I dozed peacefully on the beach and later took a long walk down to the old World War II bunker that tumbled from the cliffs many decades ago and now sits at the water’s edge.

For dinner, we headed to Menemsha for seafood and sunset. Menemsha is one of the few places on the entire East Coast where one can watch the sun set over water. It was a bit overcast, but there was a break in the clouds just above the horizon through which the sun came into view. Joe and I debated whether what we were seeing was the sun or an image of the sun that lingers after it has already set. I thought I had read somewhere that this happens, and Joe said I was nuts. In reality, certain atmospheric and meteorological conditions can cause a distortion of the setting sun where the top half is a true image while the bottom half appears to become flattened as the rays pass through thicker, denser atmosphere. This happens when the bottom half of the sun is already below the horizon, but the bending of the light rays tricks us into thinking that the sun is still over the horizon. But that doesn’t happen all the time, and it probably wasn’t what we were seeing as we sat on the jetty at Menemsha eating our fried clams and fish and chips.

The other problem about taking the motorcycle to Martha’s Vineyard is the ride home. We missed the 8:30 boat, so we didn’t get off the island until 9:30, which put us on the road home at 10:15. It’s a long, cold ride once the sun has gone down, worse for Joe than for me, since sitting behind him, I’m shielded from the full brunt of the wind. It’s worth it though. Spending the day on Martha’s Vineyard is like visiting a foreign country. It’s distant enough and its sights different enough to seem truly foreign, but close enough to do as a day trip. If we lived further north, I’m not sure we’d be able to squeeze in a visit in a single day.

More work in the yard on Monday, mostly filling pots and various containers with flowers and herbs. I drove out to Russell’s in Wayland, which is certainly not the closest nursery to where we live, but it is one of the nicest. Their selection is unbeatable. I really wanted to make sure that what I planted was suitable for the mixture of sun and shade our yard offers. In the past, I’ve been a bit careless about what I plant, and as a result they don’t always thrive because the conditions are wrong. It’s usually about how much sunlight a particular spot offers, and I haven’t always paid attention to how might light each plant needs. Russell’s offers plants and flowers matching a wide variety of conditions. You just have to read the tags.

We had planned to go to Ten Tables with K and another friend for dinner, but both ended up having other plans and the restaurant ended up being closed for Memorial Day. Joe and G made a nice dinner at home instead, which we enjoyed out on the back porch. Our housemate D joined us as did another friend. We all agreed that we were dreading work on Tuesday, but were grateful that it would be a short week.