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Published: October 30th 2008
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I started out washing the dishes this evening, but Rich said I didn't know how, so I'm writing the blog instead. He's finishing the dishes. 😊
This morning we had breakfast in a little local restaurant where everybody knew everybody. The customers knew the waitresses, too. I was enjoying listening to their accent, but Rich couldn't understand anything anyone was saying. He couldn't even read their lips. I had to repeat everything.
Our plan for the day was to head up to Salem. When we got there, there were a lot of people because it's almost Halloween, which for witches in Salem is, apparently a BIG time of year. We saw many women and girls in witch costumes and capes, and others in various other costumes and/or with painted faces. We were told that except for Halloween itself, today was the busiest day of the year. So, parking was $20! We found a place in a free lot, by luck. Apparently on Halloween over 100,000 people show up to party! Who knew? There were concessions in the park, and the town has a lot of interesting tours and activities all year. The lines were too long for us to want to
House of Seven Gables
the other two are on the other side stand in, but here were some choices: Salem Witch Museum, Witch History Museum, home of Judge Corwin a judge in the witch trials, Salem Witch Village, Witch Dungeon Museum, and the House of Seven Gables. Several of these were performances by actors depicting scenes from the trials or the history of witchcraft. Others were just obvious touristy gimmicks. We did walk down several narrow streets and looked at the old houses. We passed Hawthorne's statue and the House of Seven Gables. In a little park, we saw a woman in a fabulous witch costume and asked if we could take her picture. She was glad we asked first. She and her jhusband were very enthusiastic about being in town. She was staying all week until Halloween. They come every year. They told us that last year, one street was blocked off and guarded by police against revelers, while another street was wild and crazy with no police. I, jokingly, said, "Why didn't you put a spell on some of them to go to the other street?" They said, "Oh, that wouldn't be right. You don't just do that." So we walked away thinking, "Okay, she's a real witch!" But a
nice and friendly one. We went into a coffeeshop and I ordered a Dark Knight, a mocha. The girl put a Batman symbol on the foam with chocolate syrup. The coffeeshop shared a restroom with the movie theater next door, so in order to use the restroom, I had to take a magic wand to show the person at the theater. I chose the Elder Phoenix Feather wand. We took our coffee and said, enough with Salem.
We decided to drive on to Gloucester, a few miles farther up the coast. Rich had been there years ago when he drove trucks cross-country during one semester of college instead of going to school. (He did turn the experience into an independent study sociology class when he got back. That's another story.) He wanted to see the town again. There were no more whale-watching tours. Besides, a gale warning and a storm warning are up for tomorrow. We walked in a nice park and let Daisy have a run on the beach. Again, places were closing up for the season. The place where we ate lunch is closing tomorrow. We overlooked the harbor. No sea lions or seals to watch in the
water like on the west coast. I had a yummy salmon sandwich and Rich had clam chowdah that he rated a surprising 5. We walked around the old-fashioned downtown a little. Many shops are closing tomorrow, too. We better get out of here! The tide was out and we saw a lot of boats tied up to their docks, but sitting on the bottom completely out of the water! On the way into town, we saw a service station with diesel for $3.39. We decided to get some on our way out for that price! By the time we went back on our way out of town, the price had been lowered to $3.15! HOOOWEEE! (Would I have said that five years ago?) The "service island" on the freeway was still charging $3.69.
I made apple crisp again for dessert. We played more backgammon. Rich has won three tournaments and I have won 0. It is a little windy and a little rainy as we go to bed. We're thinking about witches as we go to sleep!
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Phil Guthe
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Witches & global warming
I think the witch in the Salem photo used to work for me! Also, the ship aground in the harbor, is that a result of global warming?