Procrastination Guilt

So, I blogged for a while - and then I didn't, and once I didn't I thought about how I should...but then I did something else, and that's how it went for a while.  I'm scared to actually look at the last time I made a post, so I'll just continue with this one as if I never stopped, and you will be so entranced by my pictures that you'll forget I ever left and all will be well and good.  OK?

Around here Summer has really started, and I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job of making the most of it.  Some, and at time all of the 4 kids I watch are going to be away at different summer camps over the next 10 weeks and that, in combination with not having classes, has afforded me an abundance of glorious free time.  That means I am able to do things like this -

Thursday Tre and I went on a tour of Choate Island with the Trustees.  You may recall I blogged a bit about having a parking pass for Crane Beach.  Well, to get that you also have to be a member of the Trustees, who are a conservation organization that manage dozens of historical and environmental locations all over Massachusetts.  Because a) I am a crazy person always trying to "get my monies worth" and b) the membership did cost $107 we have been trying to make good use of it, and for the discounted member price of $10 this trip was an incredible deal.

Basically, Crane Beach is in this unique river basin that is characterized by  rolling hills and large sand bars.  Its basically wedged into a nook by Plum Island and Gloucester, and as the shoreline has washed away over the past few thousand years, what was once forested hillside has now become sand bars and a collection of islands.  Back in the early 20th century, this guy Crane - who was one of those rich industrial tycoon types bought up a bunch of beautiful land on the Ipswich coast, built one of those European Mansions on the tallest hill and then when he died, as rich families do, they donated the land to The Trustees.

SO - Choate Island was apparently purchased because Mr. Crane loved Maine so much, that he hired a bunch of people to make the island look like Maine (lots of tall evergreen trees, with a hilly coastline) so that when he looked out from his mansion atop a hill he would see "Maine".  Before that, in the 19th century the island was used for farming sheep and goats, and more akin to my interest, there are some leftover few-hundred-year-old farm houses/barn still on the island, which are maintained by the organization.

So we met up at the dock, rode about 1000 feet over shallow water in a little boat and spent the beautiful Thursday afternoon (mostly sunny, 75 degrees) walking to the summit of Choate Island.

If you look closely, the bump of land in the distance in the left of the photo is York, ME - probably about 40 miles away.

Piping Plover egg and nest

Glasswort, an edible succulent that grows in salt mashes.  Apparently, as I learned on Thursday, I love this stuff - tastes like salty dandelion greens.  These kept me from dying on the seemingly endless walk back to the boat.