Martha's Vineyard
I really love Boston. It is such a great city. It is also one of the most historically interesting cities in the United States. On a trolly tour we passed by THE bridge where the disgruntled settlers threw THE (now famous) tea into the Charles River. We also drove past a graveyard whose inhabitants were some of the original passengers of the Mayflower!
This indeed is history of the North American kind, which I think is still quite young, especially, when I compare America to some of the various places I have been lucky enough to travel to. Off the top of my head....standing in the middle of a courtyard at Kings College in Cambridge, England where the date 1499 is emblazoned in gold on one of the exterior walls. Jerusalem, Nikko Japan, cave paintings in Northern Australia and Rome. On a funnier note there, is a sign on the side of a building here in Toronto that houses a school and Native cultural center. The sign reads "Celebrating being in the neighbourhood for over 10,000 years" I'll go take a picture tomorrow!
We had the most extraordinary weather! Long after we up here in the north had our first killing frost, we had temperatures around 20 above and the sun shined almost every day. It really FELT like a vacation. So we had lots of busy ness and learning in Boston and Loads of fun in New York. What I want to tell
you about is Martha's Vineyard! What a place. I don't really know how to describe it. Rich in history as a whaling town. Quaint and lovely architecture, which is heavily protected and cherished by the local people. Mostly board and batten, Cedar shake boxy homes with wrap around porches and beautiful gardens. Once you get out of the small towns and out to the country side they become more expansive. We had hoped to stay at an over the top gorgeous modern inn over looking the ocean, but like most places on the island in Late October it was closed. We ended up staying at the most laid back place called the Duck Inn. For the "down end" of the island, it is the epicenter of relaxed in an increasingly gentrified experience of the island. We could walk down to the ocean and the view 
from our bedroom window was incredible, especially the sunsets. At night the sky was so clear that we could see the Milky Way. This area of the island is called Aquinna, and I wish I had 32 pages to tell you about the native people who live here and lifestyles of the rich and famous who visit here, but I have only 2 more paragraphs for fear of boring you to tears so I have added lots of links.
One of the highlights was the Polly Hill Arboretum. We got some great if not windy footage of the park land and landscaped grounds around the collection of trees. My favorite tree was this enormous Weeping Beech whose age I cannot determine, but a guesstimate would be 75 years, or older.
I have been very busy finishing up the season and I am sorry that there have been some delays in postings.
It is going to be far easier to tell my stories now that I have time to report them, rather then being up to my eye balls in busy ness living them.
Enjoy the change to winter, as we to hunker down for the onset of Arctic breezes and YEAH the holidays!
Beth
Photos: Gary Marriott and me
