Portsmouth

Earlier this summer my husband and I went to Portsmouth, NH during our yearly vacation to Rye Beach.  I took a few snapshots of this really adorable town to share.

One thing I really love about the downtown area is that they are completely flower happy. I have never seen so many beautiful window boxes and planters! (Well, actually Carmel-by-the-Sea is pretty obsessed with flowers, as well.)

The shops are about 90% locally owned...the big chain stores are in a nearby mall.  The street is very pedestrian friendly with a big 5-cornered intersection and outdoor tables for coffee and peoplewatching.  There are plenty of benches and water fountains, too.

This was early evening and the streets were crowded with tourists and people going out to dinner.

At the center of the town is this beautiful church with a clock tower.

This little cutie was parked on the street!

Finally, this is a shot of the salt marshes we drive by on the way to the ocean beach.  I always think this is such a peaceful view.

Portsmouth also has a Naval Shipyard and there is a lot of work on vessels that is done there.  Over the waterway, which passes right by the downtown area are several bridges that raise up and down when ships need to pass through.  If you are on the bridge, you have to stop and wait for the bridge to come down again.  There is something so charming about that to me. 

You can even have dinner on one of the ships that is permanently moored there, for that full seafood experience!

Memories are made of this...

I bought these shoes from E-bay, after looking for them for quite a while.  Remember them?  If you are a person who was around in the late 70's, you will. 

I remember them for quite a different reason.  You see, when I first met my friend Mase, she was wearing these.  I remember her walking up with her little daughter Autumn who was around 2 years old at the time.  Autumn had hair the color of spun glass, and it looked like it most of the time, too.  She had bright blue eyes and her upper lip was chapped more often than not.  Mase, to me, was just the coolest woman.  She was a single Mom and she drove a blue and white Volkswagon van.  She was tall (or maybe it was these shoes) and beautiful and had the nicest manner about her.  I just admired her immensely.  We ended up becoming friends and she was my confidante, she rescued me with that van from my first husband's violence at least once, she listened to endless whining after I moved away to Vermont from Cape Cod (Provincetown, to be exact) and she has stayed a true and wonderful friend all these years.  Mase makes her living by painting horses, figures and abstracts, all of which are just stupendous.  She has given me quite a few of her pieces, which is a truly overwhelming act of generosity.  They are among my prized possessions, along with pictures of my family, and toys my father played with as a child.  To me, having a friend like this for all these years is really a miracle.  I have been blessed. 

And so I bought these shoes because they remind me of Mase and what a treasure I have in my life with a good friend and inspiration like her.