It's not you ............ it's me.

OK, I bust a move and finally figured out Wordpress.  So, that's it Blogger.  I moved.  There just were not enough options for me here, and I admit it, I like aesthetics and I really wanted my blog to look sweet.  So it's over Blogger, baby.  I wish you well, OK? 

Please follow me on over to www.woodsholeinn.wordpress.com

 And remember, Blogger, it's not you, it's really me.

Weddings at the Woods Hole Inn

Weddings in Woods Hole.  What a lovely idea!

At the Woods Hole Inn, we embrace brides in the tradition of the past and the spirit of modern day design and service.  We love customizing events for you, opening the whole property up for your inspired events and toasting you personally on your big day.

This season, we welcomed countless honeymooners and bridal parties, some of whom took over the whole inn for all their guests.  One memorable event included a day-after-the-wedding brunch on our front porch for the bride, groom and their 80 guests.  It was hot, so we served alot of lemonade and iced tea!  Our restaurant Quicks Hole (open May - September) was happy to cater this lovely morning with homemade muffins, all natural jams, bite-size quiches and fresh fruits.  Delish!

We toast all the brides out there, and welcome you to come take a look at Woods Hole -- a perfectly romantic place to tie the knot.

Memento Vivere

Memento Vivere...Remember to Live.

"Memento Vivere" was tattooed on the arm of a friend who died unexpectedly last month.  Like he was trying to send a posthumous message to the rest of us... And so it was I embraced the carpe diem of it all and wandered off the beaten path this week in Woods Hole.

Ahh, the fall weather on Cape Cod is so unbelievably sweet.  I walked in the full moonlight around on Harbor Hill Road and back into town at School Street.  It was about 10 pm on a quiet Monday night and once I was on Harbor Hill I did not see a person or a car until a got back into town.  The crickets were singing to me, moonlight filtered through the leaves and a soft warm breeze followed.  Magical, zen, very in the moment.

Jon Kabat-Zinn lives in Woods Hole, with his family, and if you have read any of his books ("Full Catastrophe Living" or "Wherever You Go, There You Are") you will recognize the splendor in a moment like that one.   

So I share a few fall photos of Woods Hole.   This is from the Great Harbor where the ferries pass daily to the Vineyard, looking back across the water at our little town.  Windy day, but not cold yet.

The Woods Hole Passage, they call it, and it is one of the most treacherous crossings on the eastern seaboard -- currents of 4-5 knots pull industrial sized buoys sideways at peak tides and the narrow channel is peppered with rocks the size of small islands.  A boat a day goes on the rocks here in the summer and there is a Coast Guard station around the corner to service all the rescues needed.  Through these waters pass huge yachts, old wooden racing boats called "Twelve Footers" and "Knockabouts," Hinckley picnic boats daytripping to Quicks Hole and fishing boats of all shapes and sizes following the striped bass and bluefish.

And this is Hadley Harbor in the off season.  A short boat ride from Woods Hole, through the Woods Hole Passage, any local charter fisherman can take you there.  Empty and undeveloped, it is one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Memento Vivere.

Full Moon Tonight

The moon will be full tonight over Cape Cod.  Fall is in the air, and the leaves are threatening to turn.  Walking the beaches near Woods Hole, stunning vistas to Martha's Vineyard as the light settles down.   Maybe the phosphorescence will glimmer mysteriously in the tides.  For sure, the harvest moon of the Wampanoags will fill the sky with her iridescent glamor and whisper into the souls of hardened Cape Codders about the summers to come.  Winter may be around the corner, but summer will always return.

It's still 70 degrees at 4 o'clock this afternoon and the light is sparkling over Woods Hole's Great Harbor.  Cape Cod in fall -- quieter, just as warm, less humid...this is why the Europeans flock here in this season. 

Don't miss out.  It's sublime.

Simpsons writers flock to Woods Hole

Somehow in the course of my life, I have been privileged to come to know many of the genius writers that bring the hit FOX series "The Simpsons" to life week after week.

And if you like "The Simpsons" then you know that the show is filled with erudite, cutting edge references to people, places and things all over the planet. The writers of such a show must be very very smart indeed. Smart enough to know that Woods Hole makes a great vacation!

So it is with some pride that I name-drop two of the very best writers from the show who came to visit us in Woods Hole this summer -- Ian Maxtone-Graham and Mike Reiss. Ian came in early August and held a cool seminar in Quicks Hole as part of the Woods Hole Film Festival. The Boston Globe wrote a very funny article about it which you can read here:

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/
2009/07/22/animated_conversation_with_simpsons_writer/

Mike and his lovely wife Denise came late in the summer and stayed for lobster salads at Quicks Hole. They live in NYC now and commute to LA for Mike to bring his unique genius to the show one day a week. Mike is also known for his great kids books, and a wonderful lecture he gives about writing on the longest running TV comedy.

We are honored to host writing luminaries at the Woods Hole Inn. Any other Simpsons writers who would like to come check it out are welcome to call for a reservation -- I'll give you the Mike Reiss discount (everyone knows he and Denise are all about value:)

Woods Hole = Harvard Square of Cape Cod

So, I guess I am not the only one who thinks the academic buildings of Woods Hole make the whole place feel a little like Cambridge on Cape Cod. And frankly, since I often refer to Cambridge as "utopia," when you mix utopia with great beaches and the positive ions of the ocean air, I guess you get...um... nirvana?

Harvard professor Louis Agassiz was an important force in the development of the Marine Biological Laboratory back in the 1880s. And along with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, there have been countless Harvard grads living and working here for the last 125 years. The MBL is billed as the oldest private laboratory in the country and it is famous for serendipitious scientific encounters such as the meeting of Franklin Stahl and Matthew Messelsen which resulted in the first replications of DNA. And lots of other cool stuff like that including all the research for Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth."

There are two or three Nobel prize winners living right in this little fishing village. So if you are into science, walking around here is like being on the red carpet at the science Academy Awards: "Look, there's Brad Pitt, err ... I mean Osamu Shimomura. He's married to Angelina Jolie, I mean ... He won the Nobel for harnessing the natural power of luminescence found in jellyfish."

Follow this link to the journalist who claims, "I like to think of Woods Hole, in Falmouth, as the Harvard Square of Cape Cod." She has a number of nice photos there too.

http://www.examiner.com/x-18360-
Cape-Cod-Science--Nature-Examiner~
y2009m8d31-Slideshow-Woods-
Hole-in-Falmouth

And if you want to know more about Shimomura, check this out:

http://www.mbl.edu/news/features/shimomura.html

But remember, the "nirvana" you may experience with those positive ions, the great beaches and our wonderful ocean views is not really science. To me, it's more like art.

Nobska Beach

Nobska Beach at 8 am in early July.

One of the finest parts of life in Woods Hole is the warm water swimming. And Nobska Beach is the very best beach in my humble opinion. Cape Cod gets the gulf stream, so the water is really lovely in the summer.

I walked to Nobska one memorable morning. You head up the hill from the village of Woods Hole, past Little Harbor where the Coast Guard are stationed. You take a right on Church Street which must be named for the adorable stone church on the left. It was cool under the tree canopy, and the early morning light filtered through the trees and danced on the grassy curb. A few cars whizzed by me, and I smiled at the steady stream of runners and bikers (this being the path of the famous Falmouth Road Race its a popular and scenic run/bike).

Down the hill a little and then the beach emerged, the ancient light house standing guard. A small row of bath houses stands guard, for locals who like to change before swimming I guess. A woman was out in a chair early, reading a book but other than that the beach was empty. I saw the ferries headed across the Sound and the air was so clear it felt like you could reach out and touch the Vineyard.

I was particularly taken with the clarity of the water, swirling the rocks and gently lapping the beach sand. I took the picture above; it seemed to call out to me.

Try this walk some morning. You will not be disappointed.

Why Celebs Love Woods Hole

Woods Hole is filled with marine biologists, wooden boat builders and fisherman. If you ask a Woods Hole local, most will tell you that they do not own a TV. The movie theater is at least a half hour from here and dvd rentals are slow at the "Coffee O." Woods Hole is a place where pop culture is not much of a priority.

So when Steve Carell and his family drop in for a lobster taco at Quicks Hole restaurant, NOBODY RECOGNIZES HIM! That's right, it's seems most Woods Holies have never seen "The Office" or "The 40 Year Old Virgin" or "Little Miss Sunshine." So, Steve just wanders around, orders what he likes, sits and enjoys a cold brew -- whateva. No paparazzi, no autograph seekers, no lookie-loos.

Little known fact about most celebrities -- they like being ignored. It's a break from their public lives. Add to that the chance to nosh great local fare and boat in some of the world's best waters and you have catnip for the fabulous and famous. Steve and entourage wandered across Vineyard Sound from their family compound near Tashmoo, swam on a sandbar, toured Woods Hole Harbor and ate at Quicks Hole.

It was a fabulous and famous Woods Hole day.

Fourth of July

You won't see a parade like this one anywhere else on the planet.

On the Fourth of July, the citizens of Woods Hole line Water Street to watch one of the more unusual parades I have ever seen. The marine biological labs empty out and students dress as single cell amoeba, dance like algae and wear crustacean costumes to ring in our nation's birthday. Its a fabulous amalgamation of science and patriotism and I can't imagine a better spot to enjoy this important holiday.

On the porch of the Woods Hole Inn, we offer free lemonade, ice tea, cookies and a great view of the festivities. Our guests mingle with locals as festive floats and scads of graduate students dance and laugh their way from School Street across the drawbridge. Kids and their parents line the streets and enjoy the antics. After the parade, the shops and restaurants are filled with hungry revelers eager to get a nice lobster taco, ahi tuna burrito or cold draft beer by the waterfront. This year was one of the first great days of the summer weather-wise, so it felt especially festive and crowded. Hot in the sun, the steady southwest breeze off of Vineyard Sound kept everyone cool.

We open the inn up on the Fourth and give tours. This year a grande dame from Juniper Point came in to look around and see if we were "up to snuff" (as my own grande dame of a grandmother used to say) for later in the summer when her large house by the water would be packed to the last maids room and she might need some overflow space. I toured her through the renovated property and in her own quiet and WASPY way she seemed impressed. She had that wonderful lockjaw that distinguishes the generation that grew up listening to Katherine Hepburn and living in the world chronicled by movies like "Philadelphia Story." She told me she was 84 years old, she had been coming to Woods Hole her entire life and she had never before set foot in the Woods Hole Inn. "We always thought it was a house of prostitution!" she exclaimed. Well, I said, who knows, maybe it was?

But it's not anymore, and next year when you are scratching your head about what unique way to spend the Fourth, consider the Woods Hole Inn. We may not have any "ladies of the evening," but we promise to show you a good time:)

Lobster Tacos

Lobster Tacos are a sublime idea. Cold succulent lobster lightly dressed. Fresh cut red cabbage, a touch of lime on a hot corn taco?? Incredible.

New to Woods Hole this summer, the lobster taco is an inspired fusion of traditional Cape Cod with a dash of innovation from the surf shacks of Baha California.

Don't miss this treat, and much more at the all new Quicks Hole restaurant. Its on the ground floor of the Woods Hole Inn, right next to the t-shirt shop and facing the Martha's Vineyard ferry hides the hottest new joint in town. Word is leaking out about this place, and while it opens at 10 for lunch there is often a line of impatient ferry-goers at the door, jonesing for their fix that will be bagged and consumed on the the ferry. What's better than the upper deck of the "Island Home" with a lobster taco, a 360 degree view of the Sound and the gulls circling jealously overhead?

Also on the menu -- amazing local salads served in a fried tortilla bowl, rare yellowfin tuna burritos, sweet potato fries, hot chips with fresh salsas, made-to-order quacamole...see where we are going here?

Woods Hole Inn guests get a discount at Quicks Hole at check in.

See you soon!

WHOOSH Trolley in Woods Hole

Here she is, the inevitable sign of summer -- the Whoosh Trolley. This quaint old trolley runs between the Falmouth Mall (on route 28) and Woods Hole leaving every 20 minutes or so all summer long.

Come stay in Woods Hole and use the Whoosh to explore all the shops and restaurants on Main Street, Falmouth. I like the kids bookstore called "Eight Cousins" and the toy shop is pretty awesome too. I enjoy lunch at "Laureens" where the lamb kabob is off the hook. And you should not leave without trying one of Tammy's "CupCapes" at the gourmet cupcake shop.

The other way works pretty well too -- just hop the trolley at the Falmouth Mall (or anywhere along the route) and come down to WoHo for the fresh air, great views and fun shopping. I recommend the "Sweats" tshirt shop for great selection and bargains. Don't leave Woods Hole without trying the lobster taco at Quick's Hole. That plus a Cape Cod beer? Leave that car behind and enjoy the green benefits of great local transportation. Perfect!

The Whoosh Trolley starts running in late June and goes until early September.

If you miss the boat, don't Miss The Boat...

Any season. Especially summer! You DON'T want to miss that last ferry to the Vineyard.

You find yourself, cold-knuckling it on the last bus down from Boston (or up from NYC). Over the Bourne Bridge, through the rotaries on Route 28. You are glancing nervously at your watch...will I make the boat? You glide into Woods Hole, the distinctive curve of little Harbor and your first glimpse of water to the left. And there she is out on the horizon, your eyes on the prize... Martha's Vineyard shimmering in the moonlight. You mutter to yourself, damn it that boat better still be there.

And then, the slip is empty! The dock deserted. The ticket window closed and dark. You have joined legions of travelers who over the years have missed the last boat.

So, when you miss the boat...don't Miss The Boat. Walk 100 yards up Luscombe Ave and ring the doorbell at the Woods Hole Inn. If we have room, we will welcome you with open arms. Relax onto your pillow top mattress and dream about the morning ferry, the early one with your "New York Times" and a hot cup of Joe. The one where the bow of the ferry seems to separate the fog bank and the sleepy gulls drift after you looking for scraps. The one that gets you there with a great night's sleep behind you.

The Woods Hole Inn. The place to go when you miss the boat.

Tally Forbes show at Quick's Hole

Quick's Hole is open for the season with wicked fresh lobster rolls, burritos and tacos! Come in for a mouth-watering meal or to see the amazing new space hung with new paintings by Tally Forbes.

In addition, Quicks is now selling gourmet cupcakes made fresh daily from all organic materials by our friends at "CupCapes of Falmouth" on Main Street. The Red Velvet Sox with cream cheese frosting are not to be missed. And our coffee is roasted locally at "Pie in the Sky"

Stop by today and learn why people are saying this is the "hottest new joint in Woods Hole" -- we are across the street from the ferry landing and at the end of the Shining Sea bike path on the ground floor of the famous Woods Hole Inn. 6 Luscombe Ave in Woods Hole. Menu and more at www.quicksholewickedfresh.com.

Woods Hole Inn recommended by the Boston Globe

WOODS HOLE - by Patricia Borns for the BOSTON GLOBE

To understand this village in Falmouth, you have to think beyond the parking lots overflowing with ferry passengers bound for Martha's Vineyard. Park at the Falmouth Mall, hop the WHOOSH trolley, and you can spend a day on beaches laced with salt ponds and pink rosa ragosa.

What to do in Woods Hole:

OceanQuest
Waterfront Park, Water Street
508-376-2326; oceanquest.org
90-minute trips June 22-Sept. 5, adult $22, children 4-12 $17.

WHOI tours
93 Water St.
508-289-2252
About 75 minutes, July-August, weekdays 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., free; call for reservations.

MBL tours
Water and MBL streets Reservations: 508-289-7623 About an hour, late June-September, weekdays 1 and 2 p.m., free.

Where to eat
The Captain Kidd
77 Water St
508-548-8563
thecaptainkidd.com
From $8.75.

Where to stay
Woods Hole Inn
28 Water Street
508-495-0248

www.woodsholeinn.com

From $125.

From its main drag Water Street to the channel between Penzance Point and Nonamesset Island for which it was named, Woods Hole is synonymous with ocean. You can smell it in the air, see it from almost every restaurant, appreciate it in the seascapes at Edie Bruce's art gallery on School Street, and learn about it from some of the world's premier marine research institutions, starting with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) and the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL).

You might start by admiring the new drawbridge on Water Street as it opens and closes on a pageant of boat traffic in and out of Eel Pond. Then, follow Woods Hole Road to Church Street where Nobska Point Light overlooks one of the best views on Cape Cod.

See white sails tacking toward the purple outline of Martha's Vineyard on the Vineyard Sound chop, and the mostly Forbes family-owned Elizabeth Islands tapering to a southwest vanishing point facing Buzzards Bay. A day could start and end on this spot, as it often has for artist Doug Rugh, whose career began as an illustrator at the MBL, where his grandparents did research. Rugh and his wife, artist Hillary Osborne, have created an oeuvre of Woods Hole scenes. To locate these in physical reality, link to the Google map on their website, osbornandrughgallery.com.

Spread your blanket on Nobska Beach below the lighthouse on Church Street, or on Stoney Beach beside Gosnold Road, where "you can hear children calling the shells by their [scientific] names," Rugh says. That's because scientists by the hundreds flock to the Buzzards Bay-side beach during the season.

"I love the summer. It's great to be around so many new and different people," says Cliff Pontbriand, a junior engineer working on oceanographic instrumentation at WHOI. For a peek at the marine scientists' inner sanctums, he suggests one of the WHOI or MBL tours. The WHOI tour includes a view of the institution's dock where recently sub-sea robot Nereus was being tested before shipping out to the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of Earth's oceans.

Along with a library of scientific journals dating from the 17th century, the MBL tour visits the Marine Resources Center on MBL Street, where Ed Enos presides over tanks filled with sea creatures used in research.

"What does this remind you of?" says Enos, handing around a mass of gelatinous, fingerlike squid eggs to some shy youngsters. "Gummy bears!" He likens a sea urchin to "mom's pin cushion" and presses a finger to a toad fish's soft abdomen so that it grunts "like a frog."

Pontbriand suggests that if you want to experience what scientists do, get out on the water with OceanQuest. Located next to the WHOI docks on Great Harbor, OceanQuest's 63-foot, three-station research vessel is the brainchild of Kathy Mullin, a math and science teacher who moved to Cape Cod with her husband but couldn't find a teaching job. The 90-minute cruise starts on the bow, introducing the atmospheric and ocean dynamics that make our planet viable. There you'll take a water sample, and in the cabin, analyze it under a scope. On the stern, you might trawl and handle crabs, lightning fish, or any of 200 species found in just a 10-mile radius.

"In the fall we even see trigger fish, usually found in the tropics. The confluence of currents gives Cape Cod waters incredible diversity," Mullin says.

Science is present even in the spiritual quiet of the Garden of Our Lady, located on Millfield Street across from St. Joseph Church. Created by Frances Lillie, who came in 1894 to study at the MBL, the garden offers a bench where you can contemplate the messages inscribed on the bell tower (Lillie named the two bells for Roman Catholic scientists Gregor Mendel and Louis Pasteur) and the prolific flowers with names like Lady's Slipper, Lady's Mantle, and Madonna Lily invoking the Virgin Mary.

The 700,000 daffodils may have passed, but the rhododendrons will be blooming in Spohr Gardens, an out-of-the-way landscape off Oyster Pond Road that's worth a painting or picnic in early June. Begun in the 1950s, the six-acre plot set on a still green pond was the passion of Margaret and Charles Spohr, who also collected the ships' anchors, bells, and millstones on display.

You could wind down the day with a brew and burger at "the Kidd" (Captain Kidd Restaurant on Water Street) where wisps of theoretical discourse can be heard among the tourists' din.

But if you like to bike, follow the Shining Sea Bikeway out Quissett Road to Quissett Harbor. New this year, the shore-hugging route, which many consider the sweetest on Cape Cod, has been extended from the Woods Hole Steamship Authority to County Road in North Falmouth, about 10 miles. Slightly north of Woods Hole proper, inner Quissett Harbor looks like a page from a children's book: deep and glade-like, dotted with classic sloops. Around the shoreline, the buildings of the former Quissett Harbor Hotel and James Marshall estate, now a conference facility of the National Academy of Sciences, recall Quissett's days as a 19th-century vacation spot.

A leafy trail shoots off to small beaches, and a narrow neck of land, the Knob, wraps its protective arm around the harbor. Here you can watch the sun set with a wide-open view to Buzzards Bay and the Elizabeth Islands.

While I was here, a boy splashed in the shallows with his parents. "Mom," he said, "isn't this the perfect place?"

Patricia Borns can be reached at patriciaborns@comcast.net.

http://www.boston.com/travel/explorene/massachusetts/regions/capecod/articles/2009/05/31/village_of_big_science_big_water_small_pleasures/?page=2

Best Lobster Roll in Woods Hole

Quick's Hole is known for its wicked fresh lobster roll, burritos and tacos. The newest restaurant entry in busy Woods Hole, this spot is committed to serving great food made with local ingredients -- seasonal, family-farmed, fresh from local waters, all natural, healthy and green.

Park your bike at the end of the Shining Sea bike path and enjoy a Cape Cod burrito and beer combo. Come at night for our seasonally-inspired Tapas menu paired with organic wines selected by our award-winning chef. Grab a Yellowfin Tuna BLT burrito with a sangria and homemade pico de gallo with hot chips. Sit on the deck and watch the sunset over Woods Hole harbor.

We opened late last season as it took longer than expected to make the changes we planned to the old "Naked Lobster." This year we flew in the face of the recession and expanded again, adding room for actual tables. We will be open starting next weekend for the summer season.

What does "wicked fresh" mean to us? Live, Love, Laugh and Eat Local! Learn more at www.quicksholewickedfresh.com.

The Landfall

I love the Landfall Restaurant.

Perched right on the edge of the Atlantic with french doors across the front, it sits like a dock on the cusp of Woods Hole harbor. From here, the ferries come and go like stately matrons marching back and forth across Vineyard Sound. Watch the gulls, hear the tinkle of a child's laughter as the boat pulls away, sit back with a cold brew as the crowds fight their way onto the Vineyard.

You see, the locals know that there is no rush to get out there. That half the fun is the process and if you miss this boat, another one leaves in a half hour so why not enjoy the breeze for a few extra minutes? The room is littered with lobster pots hung from the rafters and staffed by the college kid you wish you once were -- bright-eyed, optimistic and efficient.

The Landfall is such an institution that they hold reunions of their summer staff each year and scores of former employees now masters-of-the-universe show up for one more Cape Codder on the edge of the world. This is one of the few spots on the East Coast where the sun sets over the water (think about it, setting in the west usually means over land if you are on the Atlantic).

When hurricanes come, the owners just take the french doors off, clear everything out and wait for the tidal surge to wash through the restaurant. That's how close this place is to the water.

There is a webcam at the end of the dock here, looking out at Nonamesset Island. In the spring there's a banner announcing the restaurant's opening day. I like to log on just to see if it's raining, or if the ferry is pulling out. Or some brave spring fisherman is heading out from the Eel Pond. Or a new vessel has docked at WHOI. For me it's a rite of spring to start thinking about what is happening in WoHo, who is there, what's going on and when will I get to the Landfall for the baked scrod and a pinot grigio?

Somehow, I suspect, I am not the only one who counts on this webcam to bridge me to the actual summer. Check it out on www.woodshole.com.

WoHo's Colorful History

This little town is completely surrounded by water.

Woods Hole is one of the few good harbors on Cape Cod -- it was a whaling port like Nantucket back in Melville's time. In the 1860s, the peninsula was developed as a fertilizer factory. Shipping merchants from Boston were looking for a commodity to fill empty ships on the journey back from China. They settled on bird dung from a South Pacific island. When mixed with fish scraps, I guess the lime was an effective agricultural aid (is that organic?). This fine brew was shipped by railroad out of Woods Hole. I bet that smelled great on hot days.

Anyway, eventually the company literally emptied all the bird guano from their island, and the Woods Hole site was abandoned in 1889. So what happens to old factory land in America? Build a resort, of course! The thin strip was renamed "Penzance Point" (that sounds better than, say, Former Guano Factory:) Smack in the middle of the Gilded Age, (think "Gatsby"), up went Newport-style mansions. Most of these shingle-style cottages are still here, behemoths perched on the edge of the sea with spectacular water views with the great grandkids of their builders still racing to Hadley Harbor in 12-footers.

Around this time, a strong-minded local decided to improve the sound of things by renaming the town, "Woods Holl." This had "a sylvan and romantic flavor...suggest(ing) moonlit glades and flowery dells" according to the New York Times in 1899 -- and was better than the somewhat crass "Hole," I guess. Perhaps the locals were hoping to disassociate themselves with the memory of a factory town that smelled like bird *@#%. But whatever the reason, the affectation did not stick for long. People couldn't spell it or say it, letters to the post office were lost and with little fanfare, the name was changed back.

So here we are now, living in this little slice of heaven that I call WoHo. It's like SoHo, only cooler (literally -- there is always a breeze). I wonder what it would take to get that name on the post office door...

Spring has come to WoHo

I like to call it WoHo. And when spring actually arrives, watch out 'cause it's really gorgeous. When you glide into the ferry landing from Martha's Vineyard, you can see the inn commanding the harbor in all her grey-blue shingled glory. Water views! I love being in the middle of everything but also able to meditate on the water from my room.

In WoHo this time of year, everyone is sweeping their stoops and shaking off the winter blues to get ready for the summer season. I saw Donny Estes of the famous Landfall Restaurant -- he opened a few weeks ago offering customers the best waterfront view in town. And my friend Erik Gura who runs "Pie in the Sky" was puttering behind the counter even though he sliced his hand fixing his expresso machine last week.

At the inn, we have been closed for a few weeks to finish some construction on the ground floor. Our incredible construction partners (Lauren, Dan, Kat you rock) have been hustling to get it all done. We put in a new sprinkler system and upgraded all the walls and ceilings to "2-hour fire ratings" which means our old Victorian is now updated to current building code which is pretty darn cool. Born in 1878, made modern in 2008.

We have a new T-shirt shop (Cape Cod Sweats) opening on the ground floor in a few days, and we are rushing to get our burrito bar/restaurant called "Quick's Hole, wicked fresh" open by Memorial Day. More to come on that subject.

But the weather! Can I wax rhapsodic for a minute? It's sunny, not too hot, gentle breeze off the still wintery waters. So crisp and clear, it looks like you can reach out and grab the Vineyard. Like, who-needs-the-ferry-I'll-swim, kinda clear.

I took my bike out of the basement and rolled up the Shining Sea bike path to where the woods melt behind you and Surf Beach yawns out like a crescent. I had to stop and just gape, it was so gorgeous. I turned back and cycled straight to "Pie" -- in WoHo, a 20 minute ride earns a latte and popover.