#mini golf
A few days ago I returned from an Actual Week’s Vacation! A bunch of friends and I rented a beach house on Long Beach Island, NJ (where I partly grew up and where my Mom lived until only a few years ago). I hadn’t been back since Mom moved to assisted living, and I missed it. You can rent houses real cheap in October – but in fact we had PERFECT weather. Warm but not hot, the ocean itself was 70 F (which is as warm as it really gets on the Jersey Shore).
I took So Many Pics. So many that I’ll be doing a second post tomorrow.
Here:
Sunset on the first day, from the upper deck. (I don’t even know what was up with that almost woven effect in the clouds but it was spectacular.)
Bear Mountain Carousel in Bear Mountain State Park, NY. (We drove through on our way down, and the Carousel was open and working, so we stopped. It features a bunch of local animals, and the entire thing with all the paintings is just gorgeous.)
The view from the deck off the living room. Wonderful place to sit and watch and listen to the ocean, while having a cup of tea in the morning. Or any time, really. (Signs on the dunes say: Stay Off the Dunes, and Don’t Feed the Seagulls, lol.)
Would it be a trip to the shore without mini-golf? I think not! Sand Trap, the mini-golf course of my youth, my beloved. (It’s been redone a bit since the time when I was REALLY small, but is still wonderfully familiar.)
Only subjecting you to one of eight billion pics I took for identification purposes of sandpipers. Conclusion: either spotted sandpipers (in fall/winter plumage) or semi-palmated sandpipers; need to do more investigation. In the foreground, a laughing gull starting into winter plumage (i.e. losing the distinctive black head.) And, a great black-backed gull in flight.
(To be perfectly honest, I was not as avid a birder in my youth, so I thought all of the big gulls were herring gulls. And we DID have a ton of those. But there were a LOT of great black-backed gulls mixed in, and now I’m wondering how many we had there when I was younger and I just didn’t notice. The most obvious difference is the color of the feathers on top – the very dark for the black-backed, obviously, while the herring gulls have much lighter-grey wings. Easy to tell apart, now that I know. Was I just unobservant before?)
Still to come: more sunsets! And a lighthouse!
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Golfie is now available!
.Weekend In Photos.
This weekend has been so jam packed with fun, I don’t even know where to start!
On Saturday we woke up to pouring rain and our original plans become a bit of a washout, so we decided to pop our wellies on and head into town to book a holiday – I even tried out a new hairstyle that two strangers complimented me on so thank you for that wonderful strangers! We’d planned to squeeze another holiday in before the end of the year but just hadn’t got round to booking anything, so we took the plunge and will be jetting off to warmer climates in just over 4 weeks’ time for a week of pure relaxation together. After that we realised around a year ago we were embarking on our first dates together so we decided to head over to Manchester to re-create those happy first days with a game of mini golf! In the end we drew which considering we’re both incredibly competitive was the best outcome(!) and we headed off for lunch at a beautiful Thai restaurant. As I’m currently on the Kayla Itsines programme I wanted to find something healthy so I chose a super spicy Tom Yum soup followed by seafood in chilli & basil with brown rice and stir fry veg and you know what?…It was delicious!
After our date afternoon we headed over to the Holi One festival that was in full swing in Manchester as I’d been given two VIP wristbands and we couldn’t turn down the opportunity for a bit of a boogie! We rocked up in our bright white t-shirts only to be pelted with coloured powder by other festival goers as punishment for being ‘too clean’ – nothing like getting stuck right in! After a powder fight with each other, a couple of mocktails and cocktails, watching some of the circus performers in the crowd and getting covered in even more powder while having a dance in the happy crowds we headed home for a much needed shower! If you’re thinking about heading to a Holi One festival next year (they hold them all over the country) then definitely do, they’re great fun and a fantastic day out!
Yesterday I was invited to review Miller & Carter in The Mailbox in Birmingham so we hopped on a train and made our way to Bar Epernay for a cheeky few glasses of bubbly before our meal! I’d been working so hard on my new fitness programme during the week and as I’m only allowing myself one day for booze that glass of Veuve was the best I’d ever tasted! After a good old chinwag over a few drinks we headed upstairs to enjoy a delicious steak meal (more on that coming later this week) with even more wine and we left two very happy bunnies with two extremely full tummies to catch our train home.
Asthe weather was glorious we decided to walk home form the station stopping at a favourite watering hole on the way for one more drink before cuddling up on the sofa in front of the new Keeping Up With The Kardashians (we’re both sadly addicted) and waving bye-bye to another weekend.
I hope your weekend has been just as jam-packed with fun! ♥
xax
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Skeeball + golf = The Putskee
- - Built in America. Built to Last.
- - 12mm 9ply Baltic Birch & UV resistant nylon turf.
- - Classic skeeball game for putting.
- - Fold up/wheel around design.
- “Best. Game. Ever.” - The Caddy Girls
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Designs from “Chester’s Roasting on an Open Fire”
