Anniversary Tea and Sandwiches in Sandwich, MA

While our anniversary has moved since we got married, I still like to celebrate our 'original' anniversary. I don't need an excuse to day trip!

We headed to Sandwich on Cape Cod to have afternoon tea and take in the sea airs. The weather actually cooperated and the earth was in bloom.  

We cruised the colonial (early American) sites, like this grist mill from the revolutionary days that still grinds corn in season to this day. 

It was warm enough I only had to wear three layers. Success.

We had tea at Dunbar Tea Room which is housed in a carriage house of a colonial home from the mid-1700's. We took no time before diving in...

After tea we headed to the Sandwich glass museum to see a glassblowing demonstration. 

Whilst in the neighborhood we came across a turkey vulture plucking at a cute fuzzy thing. Everything's got to eat and he was quite the majestic creature.

Before leaving the cape we stopped at the shore and walked the longest boardwalk in the history of boardwalks:

...finally the Atlantic lay before us. Beautiful, windswept, and cold - as usual!

Anniversary Tea: Upstairs on the Square

In our of our first wedding anniversary (!) we headed across the river to Upstairs on the Square for afternoon tea. We have been to almost every afternoon tea offered in Boston, Upstairs completing our tour.

I have heard a lot of talk about Upstairs; it is a relatively long-standing establishment in Harvard Square and often classed with the fancy places in the student-heavy area. The building inside was a quirky reno of a classical old world mansion, complete with super high ceilings and a giant mantelpiece...and pink zebra hide.

 Our table seemed like an afterthought, shoved in between the sun room and a large couch-like booth seating area but we had good sunlight and a - very - attentive server.

The tea was high quality with plentiful hot water refills and the food assortment was original without being ridiculous. Upstairs definitely understands pastry from the choix puffs to the quiche shell, it was all delectable. Treats and tea and my lady friend always equal a good time!

Upstairs on the Square provided excellent food but may have overlooked the essence of Afternoon tea. Tea in the U.S. is a luxury, a treat, a way to celebrate  - wedding showers, baby showers, birthdays are all rather common tea events - and deserves ceremony. Our server was very nice and infinitely attentive, but otherwise she filled our water glasses and brought us our food. I like a little introduction to my food assortment, maybe my first cup of tea poured on my behalf, perhaps some fancy china. Tea for me is all about the details and there were a lot more that could have been fleshed out to turn a very nice tea into one for the record books.

Mini things: it'll get you every time

365 plus days of wedded bliss - what more could one ask for? Tea was lovely and I couldn't ask for a better companion to share it with. We finished off the day’s celebrations with a lovely bottle of champagne.

Rockport: Swapping the TV for the Ocean

Fleeing the eerie silence of an empty city under lock-down, we headed North to the coast of Cape Ann. It had been a surreal week but we had had these weekend plans in place for a while and they proved to be a much needed break from the endless hours of watching the news of the manhunt for the Boston bombing suspects. 

Rockport, MA

Leaving the city is always a bit of a shock, even though I am from the ‘country’. Rockport was so quiet, so still and rather empty. We stayed at the Tuck Inn and immediately set off to explore the beautiful colonial downtown and the harbor. Rockport boasts the most painted building in America a red barn referred to as “Motif #1” because of it’s popularity with the painters. Bearskin Neck juts out into the harbor and is lined with shops and restaurants.

There's a few red barns on the harbor...

We spent our weekend walking and snacking and not watching the news. Lobster rolls are a must have; on Bearskin Neck just find the hole in the wall on the right headed out to sea and find a seat on the patio out back. Nothing beats fresh seafood overlooking the source.

Lobster - and love - is all you need

Since eating the main focus of the time not spent walking, the elephant ears / fudge shop on the neck is worth a stop too. Elephant ears are thin flaky spiral shaped pastries of cinnamon and sugar and butter.

A dinner plate sized snack

Sunday we stopped in Gloucester on the way home and visited the Fishermen’s Memorial for all the men of Gloucester lost at sea. The New England town was made tragically famous by the 90’s film “The Perfect Storm.”

Fishermen's Memorial

Sometimes all you need is the ocean.

2012: A Year in Review Part I

2012 is a year that will live in infamy. Not only did I get married and Obama was re-elected, I also met Jeanette Winterson and visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Momentous, if i do say so myself.  So for posterity and good cheer, here’s the year in review:

January
 

See?

It is a little known fact that Hogwarts is located a short distance from Jurassic Park, but I now am privy to this important geological knowledge. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter or affectionately “Harry Potter Land” is located in Orlando, Florida as consolation to all the Americans not lucky enough to actually be British. It is so cleverly appointed, right down to Moaning Mrytle’s incessant weeping and wailing in the girl’s bathroom. It is almost as fun to stand in line as it is to get on the Hogwart’s ride, as you snake through the school grounds, scoping out the greenhouse and Dumbledore's office. Two engaged, late twenty-somethings gallivanting around on the only 40 degree day in Florida to the sound of John William’s “Hedwig Theme” was purely romantic. And cold, but you have to suffer for the things you love.

February

I debate each year which month is worse: February or March. In New England, they are both piercingly cold, dark, mostly miserable time spans. Valentine’s candy typically pushes February ahead of March, but not this year.  I don’t remember anything of note.

March

I think I’ve traditionally disliked March more than other months since by then I am so deep in the SAD disorder, I want to sleep under a heat lamp and can only watch uncomplicated children’s movies without full on weeping. They lied when they quipped “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.” In the northeast, it normally just rains or snows or both, all month long.
 
But this March, I met Jeanette Winterson. British author of “The Powerbook”, “The Passion”, and her cover story / autobiography “Why be Happy when you could be Normal”, Winterson is one of my favorite contemporary writers.  And I met her. I said some silly things to her and she signed my copy of “The Powerbook.” Then I swooned all the way home and bought more of her books on Amazon. It was one of those inspiring experiences that made me simply happy to exist.

Oh you know, me and Jeanette.

 April

April 30th was our four year anniversary (and Queen’s Day in the Netherlands). This year was even more special as we would be getting married in two months, on another 30th. We had afternoon tea at the Four Seasons in Boston and semi-anxiously awaited the upcoming nuptials...by pretending nothing was happening at all.

May

About a month before my wedding, in the midst of a plethora of activity and events, I started this blog. I loved to write and wanted to do it more often, but I needed structure (and positive feedback). Thus “Tea and Circuses” was born and I finally stopped being a total creeper and actually started commenting on some of the blogs I had been reading for years.

June

On June 30, 2012, I married my best friend.  While many people make this cliche statement, I actually mean it.  April and I are madly in love and very compatible, but we spend more time playing silly games, reenacting chase scenes through the house, quoting “Shaun of the Dead” or "Austin Powers" and engaging in general ridiculousness than we do gazing into each others’ eyes and reciting poetry. Though I do sometimes read the sex columns and Jeremy Clarkson pieces out loud to her. She brings me tea every morning and rubs my perpetually sore muscles. I cook her favorite meals  and pack her lunches for work. We are the couple the photographer turns to, even when it’s not our wedding but I rarely notice, since I’m usually whispering to April to check out someone’s unfortunate dress choice.

 Part II to follow...