The Negrons Visit

Val and Tony came for a visit during their spring migration back north.  We had fun at Demen's Landing in St. Pete even though American Stage in the Park sucked this year.
We had a great time with Val and Tony,
and with the extremely lovable Toby.

In Ptown

Our drive from NY to Ptown was not only long and hard, but also included an encounter with a big pickup truck in the middle. Right after crossing the Bourne Bridge, we entered one of the many roundabouts that seem to have no rules or lanes, just lots of confused drivers. One of them saw her exit and didn't see me. So our peaceful week in Ptown started with an accident that created stress, pain and expense.

But, eventually, we made it to the tip of the Cape and to Four Gables. This year we stayed in the wonderful contemporary apartment called Hollyhocks. So comfortable and nicely decorated and stocked, French doors and access to the outdoors from every room, we had everything we needed to feel a little spoiled and a lot at home. One of my favorite things about Four Gables is how green it is. They provide the motivation and means to recycle just about everything, and compost too.
You can see more photos of the place on the website, but here are some of the things we loved about the place.

A great deck for relaxing and reading.
The dogs loved the fenced common yard that is filled with artsy touches and beautiful plants. We loved being able to open the doors to the deck and letting them out first thing in the morning.The dogs loved the inside of the apartment as much as the outside; so did we.The west side of Provincetown, where we stayed, is very much New England and we enjoyed the short walk to town.We also visited Val, Tony and their new dog, Toby, in their little cottage at the far east end of Ptown.
Toby is a friendly, sweet, and very handsome boy.

We all wandered the town,
and Dylan tried to convince us to buy him a stroller so he could ride everywhere. Marley said he'd consider riding in it too from time to time. Maybe someday.
We met Val, Tony, and their friends Ron & Buzz, for breakfast with a view one morning.We did a lot less than usual in Ptown this year. The weather wasn't great all that often and we had to contend with my arm pain which involved wasting lots of time at a medical clinic and some alternative treatments. But we did see a couple of plays in Provincetown and in Wellfleet, visited both Wellfleet, which is really a nice town we'd consider staying in sometime, and Orleans, and got a lot of sleep and reading in.

Then, after a solid two days of intense but uneventful driving, we made it back home. We are all so happy to be home after this very long vacation. Daisy was thrilled to rejoin the family.

Thanks to everyone, in Tampa and Hillsdale, Brooklyn, Provincetown, who made this vacation great for us.

What we did in Ptown

We did a lot of reading and relaxing, I read The Other Boleyn Girl, Mark read the new Harry Potter, then Mark read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and I read the new Harry Potter. But we did other stuff too. Shopped...and
rambled through the artsy and fun town on a daily basis.





We had no other means of transportation (but thanks to Val and Tony for shuttling us to the beach and to their house at the very way east end of town) and that turned out to be great because we became better acquainted with this town we keep returning to. And it was really fun having the poodle boys with us, they were welcomed pretty much everywhere. Well, not the library. But we did get to watch the cupola being returned to the top of the library after being restored.Of course, we spent plenty of time on the beach which is so peaceful, though the water was freezing. When we went to the beach right by Val and Tony's house the tide was way out and it was fun walking way out there with the pups. Mark even got to fly a kite, and get ogled by a guy in a thong, all at the same time!

It was great to get to celebrate Val's birthday while we were there. We had an afternoon party with fabulous cake and good friends on Val & Tony's deck. Later we went to see a seldom performed (with good reason it turns out) Tennessee William play set in Ptown, Parade. But it was followed but a truly fabulous dinner at one of the many excellent restaurants in town.

It was a very happy and relaxing vacation. We shall return.

Peace in Provincetown

After a long day's journey to the tip of the Cape (car, plane, bus, water taxi, ferry) during which our perfect little poos uttered nary a complaint (aren't drugs grand) even during the two hours we wandered downtown Boston between taxi and ferry, we arrived at the place we have fallen in love with again and again. This time we are staying on the quaint and quiet west end of town, a few blocks from the main drag, in an amazingly dog friendly compound of cottages, houses, apartments, called Four Gables. Our cottage is Daisy Mae, an homage I chose to the big dog left behind.




It has a front porch looking out on a small shaded yard with a
pond where dogs can congregate; our dogs also visit
our neighbors on their porches. The porch is also
a great place to read and Mark's been making his way through
Harry Potter while I have been continuing my study of 16th century English history after the first season of The Tudors by reading The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. Our place is also well equipped with a flat screen hdtv and a nice stereo system we have used for our yoga and meditation dvd/cds.

The cottage also has a private little side patio where we can have some breakfast or whatever and there is all kinds of interesting artsy stuff scattered throughout the property and in our cottage. It's the best place we have found to stay here in Ptown and I can definitely see coming back to this one. The guys next door are here for the summer and when we are retired I'd like to do the same, a month at least. Everyone has dogs and everyone is friendly (even though we are the only "mixed sex couple" here). We even stopped in to a wedding party for a couple of guys who had recently gotten married.



It's just a short walk into town for a cup of Joe, though we have
stocked our tiny kitchen with stuff for breakfast and snacks.
Dogs are welcome almost everywhere in town and ours get lots of
attention; they are incredibly cute after all. There is good shopping (Marc by Marc Jacobs has opened since our last visit!) and lots of galleries to oogle art. And is this the only place in
the country that has no sign of HP7 in the bookstores or the
library? (At least Mark is not the only one; one of the guys next
door is reading it too.)




Today is Val's birthday and so we will go over to their place this afternoon to hang out on the beach near them, have a birthday party, and, well, relax some more. Tonight we are going to the theater to see a short and little performed Tennessee Williams play that he wrote here in Ptown about Ptown, Parade. Then to a nice dinner at one of the many fabulous restaurants here.
That's what Ptown is all about, beach, reading, relaxing, shopping, eating. That's what I call a good vacation.