Author: Lisa

Started today with yummy breakfast with Susie and Steve and ended it with yummy dinner with Mindy and Ralph! In between, I drove to New London, CT, took the ferry to Orient Point, NY, stopped at the beach on Long Island’s north shore, and drove to Plainview. Catching up with long time friends? FABULOUS!

A bit windy, eh?!

View of New London from the ferry.

Lighthouse Point, New London, CT.

Those clouds are a-coming… Heavy rain movin on in.

Orient Point Lighthouse.

The ferry has arrived!

Gorgeous blue beach water.

Curled up on the couch catching up.

Part 3 of 3: Marble House: The Cliff Walk and the Breakers were not enough for Susie and me! We next wandered over to the Marble House, built by yet another Vanderbilt with too much money and not enough to do! Seriously, though, his wife Alva fought for women’s suffrage – after forcing her daughter to marry the Duke of Marlborough.

Part 2 of 3: The Breakers: Following our Cliff Walk and nondescript lunch, Steve returned to work (meaning home office with the dogs!) while Susie and I toured the summer “cottage” of Cornelius Vanderbilt II, the grandfather of Gloria Vanderbilt, great-grandfather of Anderson Cooper, and great-great-grandfather of Wyatt Cooper.

Part 1 of 3: The Cliff Walk: Susie, her husband Steve, and I ventured onto the Cliff Walk which hugs the shoreline behind Newport’s “summer cottages,” affording us an exquisite view of the backyards of the Gilded Age’s rich and famous. About two miles into the 4.5 miles trek, Susie put on her chauffeur’s hat, so she could get the car and meet Steve and me at the end of the trail.

The Cliff Walk

Ochre Court, now part of Salve Regina University.

Vinland Estate, also now part of SRU.

The Breakers: see part 2!

Beechwood, previously owned by the Astors and now owned by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. He bought it in 2010 for $10.5 million.

Pretty beach :-).

Rough Point, built by Frederick Vanderbilt and purchased by Doris Duke, a tobacco heiress.

I don’t remember the name of this cottage!

Lands’s End, the former home of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edith Wharton.

The Waves, through various family relationships, connected to Pell of Pell Grant fame.

Another amazing day! Early – for me! – this morning, Noni and I took the ferry from Hyannis to Martha’s Vineyard. After renting a car for the day, we explored the island, including three lighthouses, lots of shops, exquisite homes, and breathtaking ocean views. Although there were quite a few tourists, most properly wearing masks indoors (although some wearing chin straps more than masks), I can see how absolutely crazy MV must be during the height of summer! We picked a great day – delightful weather and not an overabundance of people.

Geese enjoying MV almost as much as we did.

Kite surfers!

Edgartown – we loved this tree!

Edgartown lighthouse, built in 1875.

Most of the villages on MV have cute shopping districts like this one.

Menemsha beach where we sat on the wall and ate our lobster rolls for lunch.

Swordfish Harpooner sculpture in Menemsha.

Gay Head Cliffs and Gat Head Lighthouse – Aquinnah. The cliffs are a national landmark; fossil bones of whales, camels, and wild horses have been found in the cliff layers. This lighthouse, built in 1856, is the only working lighthouse on MV.

Gay Head Lighthouse.

East Chop Lighthouse, built in 1878, Oak Bluffs.

Oak Bluffs Harbor.

En route to visit my friend Noni in Yarmouth on Cape Cod, I returned to Brandeis where I spent my freshman, sophomore, and senior collegiate years. (For my junior year, I was in Israel at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.) I felt strange walking around campus. So much has changed in the nearly forty years since I attended Brandeis – duh! And…the campus felt somewhat similar to Cal Poly! The same mishmash of architecture, same ongoing construction, same students wandering around… I felt both out of place and familiar…

Brandeis’ seal – the Hebrew word is Emmett (truth). I was bummed the bookstore didn’t have any baby clothes with this seal for my honorary grandson, Emmett. (I’ll need to check online!)

Reitman, my freshman dorm. I was in a two-room triple; most others were in doubles. I remember looking out of my window and seeing snow for the first time. I also remember sitting in this quad on the first warm Spring day – when the temperature made it to 50°!

The steps up to Rabb Hall where I had several classes. Oddly, the steps didn’t seem so steep today.

Usdan which used to be the student center and now holds offices. Starting at the end of my freshman year, I started working as an office aide for The Waltham Group, the student organization that arranges volunteering opportunities for students. The Waltham Group continues to be very active on campus.

The round classroom where I had several classes, including Death and Dying with Morrie Schwartz, made famous in Mitch Album’s book, Tuesday’s with Morrie.

My sophomore year was my hardest academic year since I wanted to study in Israel for a year and needed to complete a bunch of difficult required classes before studying abroad. That year, I closed down Gerstenzang Library most nights. This was the library for studying; Goldfarb Library was more for socializing.

Statue of Justice Louis D. Brandeis, first Jewish Supreme Court Justice.

When I was a senior, we had about three reported rapes on campus. A friend and I, both connected with The Waltham Group, approached Pres. Bernstein for his approval to create an escort service so women would not have to walk alone on campus at night. He gave us his approval, and the program was hugely successful.

Ridgewood, my sophomore dorm.

The Jewish chapel. Brandeis has three chapels (Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant), all situated around a pond so that none ever casts a shadow over either of the other chapels. From my reading, I see that in the past 40 years Brandeis has added space for Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and Jains.

A busy and fabulous day! Kayaked in Somes Sound, walked around the Azalea Garden, drove the loop road to Sand Beach and Thunder Hole, and explored the summit of and viewed sunset from Cadillac Mountain. 🙂 🙂

Sunset!