T Stands for Pop's

     Hi everyone. Happy new week. It's also time for T again over at  Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog   so hello to everyone who joins us with their drink related photo(s). 

    Since my post is about Pop's today I must warn you there are some food photos which may or may not be appealing to you. 😏

    Those of you who have been visiting my blog on T day for a while know that in the summer I like to go and eat at a little hole in the wall place called Pop's Clam Shell.  This vintage restaurant is only open from May and into early September and is about a 10 minute drive (if there's no traffic) from my house.

      I knew Pop's had been around  since right after the Second World War since it opened in 1945 (and it looks like it too ❤), but I recently learned that it  has been owned and operated  by the same family the whole time too. I want to know what their secret is for making fried food because it isn't particularly greasy, isn't overly coated in batter, and I never get that after dinner taste in my mouth either. 🫢

    We've taken a few trips there this year because we like to enjoy it while we can. Early and late in the season Pop's is only open on weekends because many of their staffers are high school students. Once school is out they are open every day for lunch and dinner except Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  But since they are a small operation, those hours can change on a dime. (As I believe CJ learned last summer. 😩)

   The first couple of times we went it was a little chilly  so my husband and I split their fisherman's platter. This next photo isn't a very good view of the meal, but you can see the drink I brought with me. We bring our own drinks because one thing we think is overpriced at Pop's are their sodas.  

      However, their fisherman's platters haven't gone up in price for the last several years, and we get so much food we split one meal and still have leftovers to bring home. In this photo we switched out the usual French fries for  onion rings, and also buried in that plate is a cole slaw, as well as fried fish, shrimp, clams and scallops.

      Then we went on a Sunday evening for dinner another time, and they must have had a busy weekend because when I went to order a lobster roll, they were out of lobster. My husband  really likes their chicken fingers and they were out of those too. 😒  And they were out of scallops too. Good thing I am a fried clam lover because they had plenty of those. The hubby settled for haddock nuggets which is also one of his favorite meals. 

       But finally we went a couple of weeks ago on a rainy Saturday for a late lunch, and they had both the chicken and lobster. (Although that day my husband decided to go for a fish sandwich instead.)

    I was glad to see the price of their lobster rolls had not gone up at all, and although they are not a bargain, you certainly get your money's worth. This time I had my lobster with butter instead of mayo (I like them both ways) because it was a chillier wet day and the buttered lobster is a little warmer than the mayo style.

    If you ever get to Pop's, they only take cash. They do have seating in a small separate building. You can either sit in the roof area which is outdoor seating or you can sit inside. The town of Alton, where they are located, also has lots of picnic tables around the area.

   I hope I didn't make anyone hungry (grin) and that you have a super T day and week ahead.

   

    

    

T Stands for A Week in the Heat

   Hi everyone. Happy new week to you. Happy July to everyone too, even if you stop by Monday night and it's still June. I know I say this all the time (about time flying that is), but I can't believe  July is here, we're into the second half of 2025 already.

   It is time for T Day over at  Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog again. Last week at my house we had a mix of very hot and humid weather  (highs around 101 degrees F/38 degrees C) and some beautiful, not quite so hot weather. I'm not a fan of the high heat. For a few days when  I was sitting inside because it was too hot to go outside, I ended up watching a movie called Hitchcock from 2012 on Netflix. It was all about when Alfred Hitchock made the movie Psycho, and it was pretty good. Then I noticed Netflix had several original Hitchcock films in their line up, so I ended up  watching or rewatching The Man Who Knew Too Much, Psycho, and Vertigo.  Other than the clothes and other time dated styles, those films really do still hold up well.   I think I'm now back on a Hitchcock watching binge as there's a few other of his films on Netflix I wouldn't mind seeing again.

         

    The other thing from last week was I spent some of my time up at my mother-in-law's house. This summer, like last summer, my husband and his sisters are all getting weeks  when the house is theirs. Last week was one of  our weeks, and since we don't live very far away, it was easy to go up for a while to take a swim and let the dogs swim too. 

      Of course the one afternoon I had invited friends up to hang out and swim it was cloudy and not so warm. 😒 We had lunch on the dock and some good catching up for a few hours, but then it started to rain. Luckily the rain didn't come until it was getting time for us all to head home, so I'm not complaining.

     I need a drink for T day, and this photo is from one time when I was at the lake earlier this season, but it was not from last week. I don’t think I’ve shown it before, and it goes with my lake photos so here's my ticket to T this week.

     Have a super T day, start to the new month and week ahead too.

T Stands for Driving my Mother-In-Law Again

 Hi everyone.

Happy end of February. Winter has returned here to New Hampshire with more snow and some cold temperatures. And according to the forecast there's more of this type of weather coming later this week also. That old saying that March comes in like a lion and out like lamb  sounds like it will be true about the lion part. 

Since winter is rearing its ugly head in my location today, let me start off with my tulips which are actually looking lovely right now.

I also picked up this hyacinth bulb at Trader Joe's, and it is blooming and smelling great too.

I think the roots are really interesting too.

You might remember last week I mentioned I had had a mother-in-law driving day.  My husband and I  had taken her from one  sister-in-law's home to the other's home. This past weekend it was a reverse driving day. We picked up my MIL at my sister-in-law's house in Massachusetts (where she had been visiting for the week)  and drove her to the other sister-in-law's home in Maine. My mother-in-law "lives" with my SIL in Maine, but that SIL had been having  her school vacation last week and had plans to go away for a part of the week. My 89 year old MIL isn't in good enough shape to stay alone any longer (even if  she's still convinced she is) so she had needed to go to my other SIL's home in Massachusetts for the week. 

You might also remember that last week for T day  I mentioned  how when we drove my MIL down to Massachusetts, we stopped for lunch while traveling.. We did the same thing this past weekend when we drove her back to Maine. We were going to have lunch at a different restaurant, but my MIL (who can't remember what she did an hour ago) remembered where we ate last weekend and asked to go back there. Since that restaurant worked in every way we needed it to, back we went to Grill 28 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It's actually the restaurant on the golf course near the airport, and I'm guessing used to be the clubhouse when this was all air force base.

Here's my drink photo for this week's T day over at   Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog . All you need to join is to share a drink related photo.

The pastrami sandwich on the menu caught my eye, and although I don't think a pastrami sandwich is something you'd usually rave about, I could about this one. This was pastrami sandwich perfection. 😀 You can see my diet coke in the glass and also the home made potato chips with it. And you can see a bit of my blue sweater on the right since my husband took this photo. I am glad we went back to Grill 28 because I had this delicious sandwich. 

That's all for me. I had a fairly quiet week last week, so I can't say there is all that much else to write about. 

Have a great T day and week ahead. And as always, thanks for stopping by my blog.

T Stands for End of January This and That

 Hi everyone. I am writing and posting this Monday night for this week's T day over at Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog.

I thought January went very fast until I realized that January 1, New Year's Day, seems like a very long time ago.  I am ready for spring, but I am happy it is almost/or is (depending on when you read this) February as that means we are slowly getting closer to better weather. If we're lucky March will be mostly snow free and mild.  I'm hoping for that at least.

Like many of you in the northeast, this past weekend we had a big snowstorm on Saturday. Here's some Sunday morning views out my kitchen window and then out the living room window when the dogs went outside.

It was cold so the snow was light and powdery, but with the wind it drifted. It was still a pain in the you know where to shovel, especially where the dogs tramped it down.  

That makes it hard to tell how much snow we actually had. Whether we had 9 or 10 inches, with drifts over a foot, it was more than enough, especially with the next storm on the weather horizon.  (This photo of my deck looks deceiving -like there isn't much). I know the coast of NH and down in Eastern  Massachusetts had a lot more snow.

I did a bit of baking this past week also. I made this Basque Cheesecake (Tarta de Queso).  The recipe comes from the King Arthur Flour website (Basque Cheesecake recipe), and it was very easy to make. It had no crust, and all the ingredients get put into a food processor, mixed until smooth, and then poured into a parchment paper lined pan.

It's baked at a high temperature for a shorter period of time, which browns the top ( and makes it a little like a crust) but leaves the inside really creamy.

That browning also gives it a pretty but rustic look. This was the yummiest cheesecake as it was much lighter than traditional cheesecake but still quite tasty.  Nothing tasted burnt. I recommend giving it a try sometime if you're a fan of cheesecakes.

The other thing I did twice last week was head down to the beach to walk a couple of days. The beach is  one of the few places you can walk easily at low tide during the winter when other places are snow covered or icy, but it is also a bit of a pain (for me) as it means driving an hour each way to get there. The drive is worth it though when it's not too cold or too windy.

One of my beach walks was at York Beach in York, Maine. York has a couple of beaches, and I walked Long Sands (to answer your question CJ).   Back in my 20's, I lived for a couple of off seasons in York. I loved being near the beach and being able to walk it on a regular basis, and that's one reason I enjoy going back there.

After the beach I took a drive over to Nubble Light.

Nubble Light is not only picturesque, but is on this island just off the shore.

Here's a little info about Nubble Light from Wikipedia:

The Cape Neddick Light is a lighthouse in Cape Neddick, York, Maine.^[2][3] In 1874 Congress appropriated $15,000 to build a light station at the "Nubble" and in 1879 construction began. Cape Neddick Light Station was dedicated by the U.S. Lighthouse Service and put into use in 1879. It is still in use today.

Nubble Light is a famous American icon and a classic example of a lighthouse. The Voyager spacecraft, which carries photographs of Earth's most prominent man-made structures and natural features, should it fall into the hands of intelligent extraterrestrials, includes a photo of Nubble Light with images of the Great Wall of

 China and the Taj Mahal.^[4]

If you want to read the full article, you can here: Nubble Light.

Since it is T day, and since I need to share a drink photo, I will let Maddie do that this week.

Ha ha. I don't think she'd even drink Diet Coke,  but she looks like I caught her sipping mine.

Thanks for visiting. Have a great T day and week ahead. And Happy February too.

T Stands for Holiday This and That

Hi everyone. 

I thought today  I would do holiday  post for T.  It is that time of year, which doesn't quite seem possible. 

Be sure to stop by Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog and check out what the T gang has been up to. And please join us for T. All you need to do is share a drink related post.

The trees are up.

Here's the "live" Christmas tree in the living room.

And I have a narrow artificial tree in the kitchen/dining area. This one is decorated with an actual theme. I went with winter woodland since I leave this tree up until later in  January and don't need Christmas at that point. We like the light it gives off in this darker side of the house.

The house is decorated.

I found a new spot for most of my collection of Swedish tomte and horses

except for the 2 big ones that are on my living room fireplace mantel.

The snow has melted, so your guess is as good as mine whether we'll have a white Christmas.

I've baked a few cookies and have plans to bake a few more.

And the Trader Joe's Jingle Jangle has been bought.

This treat is dangerous-smile. As is visiting Trader Joe's during the holidays.

Good thing with all these calories we have milder weather this week so I can get some nice long walks in.

For my drink today, I'll share a sign from Chick-Fil-A. My mom lives just over 2 hours away from me, and when I went down at the end of November to visit, I went through drive through on my way home. I like to do that sometimes as I can grab food and eat as I head north on the highway, beating the late afternoon traffic.  

I was excited to see their holiday shakes being served. I got a small one that was cold and minty and definitely better than my chicken sandwich that day.  And definitely not a low carb drink either, but I enjoyed  sipping mine 3/4 's of the drive home.

If you want to stop by for some cookies and T, let me know. (Smile).

Wishing you all a happy T day and wonderful week ahead. 

 

T Stands for Garden Flowers

 Hi everyone.

How was everyone's week? 

I had a busy week last week. I visited my mom, got to see a couple of friends I haven't seen in well over a year since before Covid arrived,  made some bread, and I visited a couple of gardens too. Then the long holiday Memorial Day weekend came along and basically it rained. 

You would think the rain would be restful, but my daughter and her beau arrived for an overnight. When they were here we had a bathroom overflow with water running from the second floor down through the ceiling onto the first floor. Luckily there was 4 of us to mop it up quickly, and nothing seemed to be damaged or needed major repair. Of course that meant many loads of wet towels that  needed to be washed after my daughter and her beau left. I had been planning on having a quiet afternoon of art, reading or watching TV.

 Oh well, it is a more interesting story to tell  than if it had been quiet.  

The exciting news is that bees will be here Tuesday (tomorrow for those of you who post on Monday and today for those of you who post on Tuesday). 

They were scanned into Manchester, New Hampshire early Monday morning, which means next scan is at my post office.The post office worker in my town told me he will be giving me a phone call around 7 AM so I can go get the bees. Everything is ready for them, including me, and hopefully they are still buzzing around in their box. 

For those of you who are interested in how they ship bees, there are new post office rules that don't allow bees to be shipped overnight on planes, and since my bees are coming from Georgia, that would have meant a long road trip if I had decided to go pick them up.  The same worker who told me he'll be phoning me at 7 in the morning also told me he's had several shipments of bees as well as chicken and ducks already this year and there has been no problems with any of them. So keep your fingers crossed.

My gardens are also ready for bees. All my hard work this month and the much needed rain we had is making them look very lush (and weedy too) right now. Here's some photos from last Friday and also in between rain drops.

If I could figure out where to plant them, I would make an iris garden.  Too bad they don't bloom for very long.

I also have azalea blooming.  This orange-red one was once a little shoot next to the one my Dad had, and he dug it up and gave it to me. It always has wonderful blooms, and a lot of them too. Dad's original tree is gone (my brother cut it down) and so is Dad, making this plant more important in my garden than most.

I bought this pink one a few years back, and this is the first year it has had more than just a few flowers or buds.

My concord grape plant is getting its leaves.

My peonies will be blooming soon.

My cornflowers are blooming.

 My veggie garden is mostly planted and so far no critters have destroyed anything.

Look at the sizes of my rosebushes this year. 

I also recently found this photo of when I planted them in late May 2014.

What a difference 7 years make. 

OK, enough of my going on about my current obsession. 

It is T day so stop by Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog   to  catch up with all the lovely ladies who join in.

My walking friend and I went out for lunch after we visited Bedrock Gardens again this past week.  I had a salad with some water and a glass of red sangria for lunch. It tasted yummy since it was still on the warmer side that day, and the rain hadn't yet arrived. I'll post those photos from that garden trip later this week.

Thanks for sticking through this yet again long T day post. Hope you T day is a good one!