This Week's Blog Post

Buri Root Necklace
I actually made something for myself! These black beads are carved from the buri nut which is native to the Philippines.

Between them I used dark grey hemalyke beads. This is going to be a great staple piece in my wardrobe so I look forward to wearing it many, many times!

Portsmouth

Jim and I stayed a couple of nights in our favorite local spot, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It was our second annual weekend trip there!

This New England gem has great eateries, scenery on the Atlantic Ocean, gardens, theater, art, historical buildings and so much more! Many of the eateries are in old structures that have been renovated. This year was tricky since I realized I can not eat gluten and of course I am a vegetarian. Luckily Portsmouth is well aware of the gluten free population!

This self portrait was taken at the Common Man which is a restaurant with multiple locations in New Hampshire. If you ever visit NH, it is definitely worth looking up the closest location! Its menu includes homecooked style comfort food like mac and cheese and pot roast. For me they have a quinoa and roasted veggie dish which is delicious!

We wanted to check out this newer restaurant called Mombo. It is a more upscale dining but we just went in for a glass of wine and cheese plate.

It is located at Strawberry Banke which was a thriving area dating back to the 1600s. Here homes have been preserved and guests can tour the area with live actors reenacting life in the old days!

The restaurant décor is beautiful with that old American feel.

We also visited Agave Mexican Bistro which has 1 location in Massachusetts and 1 location in New Hampshire.

Both locations have elegant dining and bar areas but reasonably priced.

Annabelle’s Ice Cream was another great stop we made in the middle of a hot day for some homemade frozen yogurt.

It has a feel like it has been around for many, many decades but actually opened in 1982!

We saw some cool sculptures. These metal pieces are by artist Rick Burns who received honorable mention by the NH Art Association. This is Emaciated Farmer.

This is 21^st Century Sisyphus.

This cool rock has random animals carved all around it that appear to be behind windows.

These beautiful hands were in the yard of a temple.

Here I am with a lion. This was outside of an old building that has been converted into upscale condos.

We passed this sweet polka dotted feather on the sidewalk.

Many benches in the park have chess boards on them! There is probably some historical reference to this since one of the buildings downtown has the old ink reading “chess club” on it.

I have been seeing flower walls lately on Pinterest so it was really cool to see this one in person. This gardener used bags to house each plant.

I took a ridiculous amount of pictures so next week I will follow up with some great old architecture and stunning flowers!

Thank you for stopping by! If you ever have the opportunity to visit Portstmouth, NH someday you will not be disappointed!!! Have a wonderful week.  ~Val