Long Hill

Saturday was a really beautiful day: blue sky, a little breeze, and temperature in the low 70s. We got up early, drove over to Arlington to pick up Yen’s mom, and headed to for the dunes walk at Crane Beach. We were surprised how many other people had decided it was a beach day even though the water was freezing (a few brave souls had rolled up their pantlegs and were wading, but not for very long at a time). About five minutes into the walk, Yen made his move. You can always tell when he’s about to photograph, because he slides his camera bag around front and starts rummaging. This time, unfortunately, he had to stop rummaging, slide it back around, and finish the walk up just taking pictures with his mind. Last week when we went to the Bruins practice, we tossed his extra battery into my purse because he couldn’t bring the backpack in. And where was the battery now? Still in my purse back in the car. So no photos of this part of the day. Which is unfortunate, because it really was very beautiful.

Anyway, onward to our next destination, Long Hill.

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Long Hill is the former estate of editor Ellery Sedgwick, and which was taken over by a master garden and made fantastic. It’s got little windy paths and surprises around each corner. It’s not a big space, but you feel like you can get lost in it easily. And there are many, many places to just sit and relax as long as you like.

Here’s Yen posting in a small pagoda-like folly.

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I liked this sculpture, of course. Give me a bird sculpture, and I’m a happy girl.

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Because we’re thinking about our own landscaping, we’ve become very aware of particular types of shrubs and so forth. One thing we are absolutely in agreement about is there will be no water feature. None. They are nice, though.

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You can imagine how long Yen took wandering around, getting just the right shot. I sat with his mom and chatted while we waited. Yes, I’m wearing a ton of sunscreen. My hat was in Yen’s camera bag.

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I like how this tree looks as if it’s nibbling at Yen’s shoulders.

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Here’s the house. Nice, eh?

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Yen said later, “I kept wishing you’d come and sit in that chair.” He should have told me instead of just wishing!

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You’ll see in a moment that this was a crazy long bench. I thought it would be funny to sit in the middle of it. What I didn’t realize is that it’s very bouncy, and as soon as I did, I dipped down and then swung back up. Fun.

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You can’t see it, really, but Yen’s feet are adorably dangling.

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And speaking of thinking about landscaping: we’re considering a clover lawn. This is a particularly fine specimen.

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