Yummy Roast Beef

Posted on July 24, 2015July 24, 2015 by Dusty Roads

I’ve been living south of Boston for quite a few years now. I’ve been in Taunton for 9 years. I lived in Randolph for 6 years before that and a couple of years in Norwood and in all that time I have not found a really good roast beef sandwich down here.

Oh we have great sea food and I found a few adequate prime ribs and steaks but no classic roast beef.

When I lived on the other side of Boston we had Bill & Bob’s, Riley’s and the standard by what all others were measured …Kelly’s Roast Beef.

When I lived on the North Shore the Kelly’s at Revere Beach was the one to go to. It didn’t just offer roast beef either. You could get your greasy fix with awesome fried seafood, onion rings and french fries. It was always mobbed.

A few years before I moved to the “other side” Kelly’s expanded and built Kelly’s in Saugus. I remember it opening but I never went there. Now there are 5 Kelley’s locations. Revere Beach, Saugus, Natick, Danvers, and Medford.

Finally getting a few hours off I felt a craving for a really good roast beef sandwich so I took the plunge and drove through Boston. 1.5 hour drive…like going to NYC for a cup of coffee! Since it was almost 90 degrees out I figured I’d never get near the beach so I headed to location #2, Saugus.

What a neat place! It’s huge and the decor is of a carousel.

They also have a huge fish tank.

You place your order at the counter and receive a plastic number, find a seat and first thing you know someone brings your lunch tray.

The place is sparkling clean and the roast beef turned out to be as good as I remembered….and this is a small!

Now I’ll have to try out the other locations!

Make way for Ducklings

Posted on May 26, 2015May 26, 2015 by Dusty Roads

Although different birds mate at different times, spring is in fulls wing here in New England. So it seemed strange to me that I had not seen any baby ducks.The swans are still on the nest and the Canada Geese have tons of baby goose-poop machines.

I spotted a baby Osprey but where are the ducklings?

There’s a little pond near my house so I took a drive over there with the camera. I brought along a book and settled in to read and watch the birds. There were lots of Canada Geese, no goslings here, however. There were some gulls and few Mallards but no babies of any kind.

I rolled the window down and started reading my book. The birds wandered across the road from the pond to the lawn on the other side and back again. Several geese stopped to check the car out. Apparently trying to figure out what this thing was in their path.

I’d been there about 20 minutes as the mixed flock crossed back to the lawn again when I saw a Mama Mallard with quite a brood of ducklings. I bet she had a dozen! The babies were swimming and diving like corks while Mama chased away all adults, even the much larger Canada Geese!

Happy now that I can add ducklings to my list of babies, I decided to make one more stop before I headed home.

Goslings

Posted on May 25, 2015May 25, 2015 by Dusty Roads

While the “Majestics” wait for their eggs to hatch, several Canada Goose couples have already seen their eggs give way to fluffy goslings.

The families mingled until no one seemed to know which baby belonged to which parent.

I guess even geese have family cook outs on Memorial Day Weekend.

Swan Spring

Posted on May 24, 2015May 24, 2015 by Dusty Roads

It felt so nice to steal a few moments with the camera. The Grist Mill Pond in Plymouth was teaming with new life. Mr. and Mrs. Majestic are patiently waiting on their nest.

To The Beach and Beyond!

Posted on January 13, 2015January 13, 2015 by Dusty Roads

Gurnet Light came into view shortly after we left the snow buntings behind. That signaled we had to be approaching our turn-around as this was the end of the road. To my surprise Dave parked the van and invited us all out to follow him over the dunes to the beach beyond.

There was a lot of bird activity here. No Snowy Owls but enough other feathered friends to hold our attention.

Ducks bobbed on the waves. A seal popped his head up for a quick look around. Several Cormorants stretched their wings to the sun drying their feathers before their next dive. A flock of snow buntings winged past, banking sharply as one before swooping back past us.

Through all this activity the deep blue ocean made a breath-taking backdrop.

Closer to shore the breakers were dropping their bits of sea grass before receding.

A Sandling raced up and down the edge of the waves.

A relative to the Sandpiper this comical little guy didn’t stay still for one second.

Finally it was time to go back to the vans for the return trip. We spotted a finch and a sparrow and Dave began to explain the difference when a flock of snow buntings swooped over the van and settled on the fence next to the road. Dave pulled the van to a stop but before anyone could move there was Mr. Copper’s Hawk dive bombing the little gathering. We didn’t see him catch anything but he got an A for effort as Snow Buntings scattered in all directions.

Show over we moved on a bit further until Dave once again stopped the van. He set up the scope and all he said was take a look and there it was. Our Snowy owl was still right there on the ice but he was a bit more active now. He still had the remains of his breakfast and he hopped up and down on the carcass. Even as far away as we were he seemed to sense us and slowly his head swiveled around and he latched that golden-eyed stare right on us. Those of us at the scope let out an audible sigh before he turned his attention back to his meal.

We watched with scope, binoculars and cameras for quite awhile as he put on his little rapter show but eventually all things must end and we left Mr. Snowy to his lunch.

This was a great experience. I was disappointed that we only saw one owl but it’s better than none. I was also disappointed that he was out of my camera range but at least I got to see him. The hawk was a great encore. I loved the hawk! The sandling and snow buntings were a plus as well…and I was warm the whole time!