Two more.

Linsey enjoying her first Gram's black and white frappe of the season. A frappe, for all you non-New Englanders, is a milk shake: vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and milk. Gram's is Linsey's favorite ice cream place in town, but Doozie's remains here all-time favorite.

The snow from on top of this vehicle slid off the roof and onto the front windshield, where again froze, creating this ripple effect. It looks like a wave in the middle of cresting. 

A Sunday in Late March, Part 3

In Kittery we drove by this very large wooden chair and footrest. There was no sign next to it explaining its presence. We just assumed someone rather large lived there, and probably sits there when he is grilling out during the summer months. Big people need places to sit, too.

Some where along the seacoast in New Hampshire. The tide was low so we climb around on these rocks for about 45 minutes. A large freighter out in the ocean and we watched as is slowly came closer to shore.

We found this lobster trap on the rocks. It belongs to a guy named Bruce Cayer of ContooCook, N.H., according to a small name plate attached to the cage. Just in case you find this post Mr. Cayer, we last saw the trap on a beach along Route 1A just north of Hampton.

A rather successful timed shot.

Route 1A, our favorite way to get from our home to points north, runs right along the ocean. And, as you would expect, there are many large, beautiful homes dotting the landscape. The home above has a spectacular view of a beach and the ocean.

A Sunday in Late March, Part 2

After shopping, we took a trip to Kittery, Maine, which is about a half hour north of our home. There is a place called the The Dog House there which we've heard some about. Also, we were inspired by an article in the Wall Street Journal on Saturday in which a guy went across the country seeking out the best hot dog in the United States (a small cart in Boston's Roxbury won, ironically enough). 

One dog, grilled, with chili and kraut. It was delicious.

Another dog, grilled, with bacon, cheese and hots. It also was delicious.

This is the place. It is very small and on a rotary just off the highway.

After lunch we started the trip home, but instead of taking interstate 95, we took our favorite roadway: Route 1A along the coast.

A Sunday in Late March, Part 1

The first part of Sunday -- after a trip to the gym -- was dedicated to shopping. First we went to Market Basket and then to Tendercrop, a small local farm market where we prefer to buy our produce. Linsey, above, is browsing for onions. 

Tendercrop, along with its produce, home-grown turkeys, chickens and other livestock, also has two animals on the premises. The top is a llama that doesn't have a known name. The other is Buffy the Buffalo. For a quarter, shoppers can buy pieces of old bread and carrots to feed the animals. We bought a piece of bread. One half went to Buffy, who ate that bread with its long, creepy black tongue. When we threw the llama its half, it stuck to the side of it on its mangy looking fur. It reminded Linsey of those felt boards in Sunday school, with the little felt figures of Moses, Jesus, Noah and other memorable Bible characters. 

These are our shopping bags. We were getting sick of plastic bags -- both the great number of them and, yes, environmental reasons -- plus they are terribly convenient. I suggest everyone invest in four or five.

Tendercrop's daily offerings.

Fistful of Quarters

Steve Wiebe, above, the protagonist from the movie "King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters," after playing an intense game of Donkey Kong. Below is Billy Mitchell, the antagonist, in all his mullet and patriotic glory. 

Jason recommended the movie, an hour-and-19-minute documentary, that chronicles the intensely competitive and secretly popular world of competitive gaming by following Mitchell's and Wiebe's quest to master Donkey Kong.

This underground world of gamers only utilize the games from the so-called Golden Age of Arcade Games, which includes classics like Donkey Kong and Pac Man.

The editors of the Fruit Street Free Press give the movie two thumbs up.

March Snow

The calendar may say spring but Mother Nature says it is still winter.

Random pictures

At the grocery store on the Saturday before Easter. Everyone was grabbing last minute groceries.

Linsey at the Starboard Galley, a nice little restaurant. She ate stuffed pepper soup. I had fisherman's stew, which is my favorite soup in town: shrimp, scallops, carrots, zucchini in a tomato-based broth. Delicious.

Linsey making jambalaya. 

It was good.

Random Pictures

Sen. John Kerry visits the area. He is up for re-election.

At about 4 p.m Sunday we got a tip from an editor at the newspaper about a bald eagle on Water Street. We went there and about 100 other Newburyporters were there with us, staring up at this incredibly huge bird. While we were there -- about 10 minutes -- it sat perched the tree, looking toward the Merrimack River, presumably looking for fish it could eat. The eagle does not have a white head, since it is considered immature. It's head will turn white in several years, according to experts. 

The bird come to the area this time of the year -- and especially in January and February -- since the waters they usually "fish" in Maine freeze over. The mouth of the Merrimack, where we live, does not freeze over. There are ice flows, and on large pieces of ice, bald eagles sometimes float. 

Near the eagle, floating in an area of the river called the Joppa Flats, where for decades they dug for clams in the old days, a bunny inside a decorated Easter egg has been floating around for about a week. It is beached on this section of grass during low tide. 

St. Patrick's Day Party

One of Linsey's co-workers has for the past 37 years hosted a St. Patrick's Day party along with three other friends. Each year the site of the party switches among the four. This year, it was at a nice house in Lynnfield, Mass., where a reporter who works with Linsey lives. 

For about a decade, the four men have also dressed as leprechauns, which adds to the revelry of the celebration. The picture above shows two of these leprechauns preparing the delicious meal served Saturday evening. One of the leprechauns also had a beer holster made by Rolling Rock.

The guys cooked up 60 pounds of corned beef -- the grey variety -- along with carrots, turnips, potatoes, cabbage and other deliciousness. The food boiled in two large vats just outside the garage, creating a very welcoming smell for those entering the party.

Toward the end of the night, drunken men were seen with forks in hand stabbing at a large bowl full of corned beef, while sipping Gloucester-brewed Fisherman's ale to wash it down. 

Linsey with her beer goggles. For once, she finally found Stephen quite attractive.

Linsey with co-workers. The three guys are reporters and the other girl is a photographer.

Linsey and Mary, both appropriately wearing green. Stephen, on the other hand, forgot about that tradition and wore grey and black with a pair of brown corduroys. 

Sunday

We had a mostly lazy, but often fun, Sunday.

It started with Linsey brewing Dunkin' Donuts coffee and Stephen walking to Fowle's to buy the Sunday newspaper and some breakfast (pictured above). The newspaper proved worthwhile, but the breakfast was disappointing: the place forgot the bacon, which is the corner stone of every nutritious breakfast.

After reading the newspaper, drinking coffee, relaxing and getting ready for the day, Linsey went to the newspaper office to work. It took about 10 minutes for her to download two pictures into the inter-connected system.

Then we went on a walk along the Merrimack River (pictured above) and to the Black Cow for lunch. Linsey ate salmon cakes. Stephen at a chicken sandwich and clam chowder. Stephen also drank two beers. (Or as my Canadian professor would say, "two beer.")

After that, we walked to the movie store and rented The Darjeeling Limited. We enjoyed that movie, just like most all the other Wes Anderson movies. Linsey fell asleep at the end, but not out of boredom, she says, but rather extreme comfort.

Linsey then left Stephen to go out to dinner with people from work, where she drank a beer and talked photography. Stephen ordered beef lo mein and ate that while watching the Detroit Pistons. Then he read.

Now they are together again, at 11:35 p.m. and plotting their next move.

Air cannon

Imagine the fun we could have.

Technology

For the past hour or more, Linsey and I -- as we browse (or surf for you kids out there) the World Wide Interweb -- have connected with the Hermans of Kentucky via our iChat programs, which include cameras that allow us to look at each other and talk.

Right now, Lucas and Spencer are in deep concentration playing Sonic (the hedgehog), while Adam reads, Cassandra comforts Eli, who is sick, and Maisy does something -- something we are not sure of.

Earlier tonight, we watched them eat a delicious looking dinner of chicken stir fry. We also saw Spencer and Lucas be forced to clean up the kitchen afterward, bringing back strange memories of our own childhoods, when dinner clean up was a much-dreaded activity.

Anyway ... what we are trying to say is that technology is nice. It makes being hundreds of miles from family a little easier. And, in other words, everyone should get an iMac, so we can communicate, not just in the written but through video chats: it is like reality television, but with people you love instead of strangers.