We awaken to another glorious windless sunny day here in Hyannis. Is this the lull before hurricane Sandy arrives? There has been nothing else on TV except Hurricane Sandy or the elections with the elections taking 2nd place at the moment. Winds of up to 75 mph are forecast which doesn't seem any worse than what we get in Wollongong from time to time. By the time it hits, we will be in our apartment in Boston and may have to be indoor- bound for a day or two. To...

We are so fortunate to be waking up to another glorious morning - cool but no wind so it doesn't feel that cold. As we pack the car to continue our trip to Cape Cod, a guy comes out of a building across the road and asks if we are staying at the airbnb place. Of course he knows Mike the owner of our little apartment and so we start chatting. His name is Daniel Clayman and he is a glass sculptor. We are invited in to have a look at his workshop. He doesn't blow gl...

After all the rain yesterday, we awake to a thick mist over Great Barrington which clears to a beautiful warm day. The local grower's market is on every Saturday so we check it out and admire all the superb local produce. On the way back we notice a huge French style castle with extensive grounds which wouldn't look out of place in the Loire Valley. It is just up the road from where we are staying. We inquire at the info centre nearby and find out that it is the ...

It is wet & blowy this morning and quite unseasonably warm with a top of 20 predicted. From our top storey window we watch the rainbow leaves as they tumble down from the trees around the property. We are the only guests with more coming tonight for the weekend so we eat breakfast alone in the ornate dining room. We are served a poached pear for starters, then 2 perfectly poached eggs on toast, elegantly decorated and served with an accompanying rissole which...

The last 2 days are just glorious with the top temp being about 18 degrees. How quickly one thinks of 18 being warm. Only a couple of weeks ago we would have been thinking how cool 18 is. Our trip south to Massachussets takes us to the widely recommended historic town of Deerfield which is a fullly functioning town of 5000 people but which looks like an 18th century English settlement - very quaint and very beautiful. As we travel south, my attention is drawn ...