Swansea MA - October 2, 2016

Nana and Pappa

We had breakfast in a railcar today. We ate at the Railway Cafe in Somerset, MA on this dank and gray morning. The rail car is a narrow affair, and a bit noisy but still maintains the old time railroad charm. It is narrow enough that I decided (being a rather sizable chap) to sit on the same side of the table as Nana, as otherwise I would have clogged up the passageway impeding the progress of the servers and patrons. I had my usual breakfast and have grown to accept that very few people are actually capable of toasting bread darker than they like it. Again, I got very lightly toasted bread, even after joking with the waitress asking, "please run it through the toaster at least twice, very dark please". Warm bread again. I think I should change the name of this blog to 'Pappa whines about toast' - pretty catchy I think. As a review of the diner, I give it a solid three stars, nothing exceptional and still nothing to complain about. If you are traveling along Route 6 in Somerset, stop by and have an egg.

A split in the rock

From the Railway Cafe we drove to the town offices of Swansea, Massachusetts and parked in the lot behind town hall. This area is called Village Park and is riddled with paths and is a great place for mountain bikes. We met a young couple along a path and exchanged favorite places, us on foot and them on mountain bikes. We met a lady jogger that seemed to be jogging every path and up the large boulders, and met a guy (twice) with a Weimaraner, what a beautiful dog and managed to walk

Pappa on top!

completely out of the park where we hiked along the power lines before finding our way back into the woods. Much of the stone formations here are what is called puddingstone likely left here by some Alluvial deposit or glacial flow of times gone by. Geology aside, they are fun to scramble over, as best we can scramble. We found plants that neither we or my apps could identify and along one path there was a sign point to 'Rusty Car' - looked like a good thing to go see so we took that path and felt disappointed when it didn't materialize immediately but in while later as

Rusty Car

we were coming around a bend, there it was, a rusty car, or what was once a car. It lay broken in a shallow ditch, and we figured someone was out driving through the woods, and we are guessing it was at a fairly good clip, and the ditch came as a surprise. The frame was quite snapped in half, and the car fit snuggly in the bottom of the ditch. It looked to be an '80's small import of some ilk, no markings of manufacture remain for identification and it looks as though anything salvageable has long since been taken.  Also to our surprise we came upon a small lake that was quite scenic and more rocks and wildflowers and strange berries that we could not identify.  As it turns out we have found yet another place within 15 minutes of our house that is a great place to go and explore. The path we took today was just three miles but in this park it could have been much longer or much shorter. Life is so accessible, and it is what you make it, so fill your time with new sights and sounds, say hello to those you meet along the trail and keep up the search for good toast.  More photos. . .

Puddingstone

Nana 'on the rocks'

Nice orange tree fungus

Easy way across the mud

the small lake we found

Uxbridge - September 25, 2016

The Mug Shot

Out in good time today and off to Uxbridge Massachusetts for breakfast at Mom's Restaurant on Main Street. When we arrived there was no line (we got in ahead of the church crowd I think) and a table was being cleaned..the prior patron had left one penny on the table, so I made some wisecracks to the waitress and she took them in good nature. Breakfast was served in an expedient manner and we both had omelets this morning along with our coffee.

Main Street - Uxbridge MA

Clean, friendly and not at all expensive..our kind of place. So when the waitress came to pick up the table, the tip she found was generous, and it had an extra penny on top. We got a goos smile and were on our way. Five minutes later we were pulling into the parking lot of the Blackstone River and Canal Heritage Trail at the River Bend Farm. We saw a car with some cool inflatable kayaks - I took a pic to research later. The visitor center was nice and as with all Massachusetts State Parks a map is available, and nicely done too. I chatted with a ranger and she gave us some good information for a 3 mile walk. This is not a challenging walk, but nice and flat, but pretty and tranquil with few people along the trail. The trail is the old towpath along the Blackstone Canal and it passes several interesting spots. We hiked from the farm down to a mill complex which look as though it is being converted to commercial and residential use. I would love to have a studio there.

It looked as though the exterior was completely done and the interior was gutted and waiting to be finished. Nana and I walked all around the place and imagines what it must have been like in it's hay day of manufacturing with water power and moving goods along the canal..a different time indeed.  Along the tow path there was a flood/control gate that maintained the level of the canal.

Flood gate

It is no longer operable and the water beyond the gate was all green with algae. As we were leaving the mill making our way back to the tow path there was three steps of granite and I

Green scum stuff

managed to tip my foot on one of the steps which triggered a great slow motion fall. It is curious how the mind works at a moment like this. I knew instantly that I was going to fall, and knew that I WAS falling and it was all in slow motion, yet I had absolutely no capacity to catch myself or avert the fall or change direction. But I had plenty of time to think about what I should be doing. Luckily I was able to break my fall with my face into a nice soft bush. Of course no one had a video camera running, drat - I would have liked to see what Nana saw. . . must have been awesome. Back on the trail I lamented that no one was around to cheer and Nana didn't have the foresight to videotape my misadventure, oh well. We walked to the far end of the trail where there was a small waterfall and a pond-ish area with stone bridges and such. Pretty cool spot with promise of more trails across the road, next time.  More pix,

Entrance to the tow path

Pond and stone bridge

Flattest 3 miles ever

Not much - Hyannis, MA - 8-13-16

Percy's Place, Hyannis

Not much of an entry this week as we did not get out for our traditional Sunday walk. Instead we went to the Cape (Cape Cod) and visited with friends. We did, however, stop for breakfast in Hyannis at Percy's Place, a great family run 'chain' (maybe 5 locations) of diners in New England. Great food always and they have initiated "Endless Eggs" when you order an egg breakfast you can have as many eggs as you would like. I was a glutton this week and had three... could have had ten, but I practiced restraint. Good service and good food, and toast cooked right made for a good breakfast. Nana and I then went for a walk around town. We walked from the diner down to the waterfront. We are always drawn to any waterfront to check out the boats as our past is filled with many fond memories of life at sea. Hyannis is a busy port with lots of fishing and pleasure boats and of course the ferries that run from the mainland to the islands. After a mile or so of walking I found a place to settle in with my sketch pad and Nana continued to explore the town. As I sat on a park bench and sketched the town was coming to life and more and more people passed by pulling luggage heading for the ferries and several stopped by to look over my shoulder and ask questions. I never mind chatting and sketching. Nana would stop by from time to time to check my progress and the sun was climbing higher into the sky. Soon I was sitting in full sunlight when the heat of the day marched right in and I began my typical projectile sweating. I am 67 years old and no longer have to prove my manhood so I decided to retreat to the air conditioning of my car. I wrapped up my sketching and discovered Nana relaxing in the shade of tree chatting with a local fisherman. We made our way back to the comfort of our car and began a great weekend visiting with friends. . . total hike for me was about a mile and a half.. Nana must have walked well over 50 miles.  . . just guessing. . .

Hyannis House