Massachusetts: Two-Shore Summer

The summer has been a busy one for both Jane and me. After a few years of lead-up, we’re expecting a new addition to the family at the end of the year - our first child. To the usual slate of work responsibilities and few weeks off (I’ve usually taken my vacation weeks in the spring and fall, my favorite seasons for travel and prime landscape photography), we’ve added medical appointments and planning for home furnishing and childcare arrangements. With everything going on, I’ve honestly felt quite fatigued. Weekends, especially the hot ones, have been spent largely napping, resting, and being lazy. In the midst of it all, we’ve had to make intentional effort to go out, camera in tow, to photograph Massachusett’s beautiful greenery at the height of summer. More and more, we’re becoming cognizant that we may be making some of our final memories as a traveling, childfree couple. In a few more months, everything changes.

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July 17, 2022: A visit to Bird Park in Walpole, for a friend’s wedding gathering.

July 30, 2022: A spontaneous day out on the South Shore. We drive an hour out of the city to the Whitney and Thayer Woods in Cohasset. After a brief walk in the woods, we stop by the beach in Minot before grabbing lobster rolls, fried seafood, and iced tea at the Olde Salt House. After lunch, we drive along Jerusalem Road, visiting Holly Hill Farm and gawking at Cohasset’s seaside mansions. We return home via Hwy 3A, stopping along the way for Chinese groceries in Quincy.

August 13, 2022: A morning trip up to Smolak Farms in North Andover. After stopping at the farm store for amazing breakfast sandwiches, cider donuts, drinks, and honey, we walk around the property, say hello to Mister Pig, and visit the peach orchard to pick a big bag of yellow peaches.