By Patricia Harris, Globe Correspondent

The last new New England book I recommended dealt with 50 icons. This time I'd like to call attention to a book devoted to only one. In Search of Motif No. 1: The History of a Fish Shack (L.M. Vincent, The History Press, Charleston, S.C., $21.99) is one man's account of the history and meaning of the frequently painted (and photographed) red shack on Bradley Wharf in the middle of Rockport harbor. Like all good tales it begins with a question and tracks through some pretty interesting turf to get to an answer. When Vincent first saw Motif No. 1 on the advice of a cousin, he found it attractive enough but couldn't see how it had become the subject of paintings by so many artists. As he unravels that tale, he takes the reader through a delicious amount of local art history populated by some pretty colorful characters. The author himself joins the cast as he tries to decipher the ''secret'' formula for the shack's shade of red. More than 200 footnotes notwithstanding, Vincent takes a light tone throughout--and even a mocking one on the subject of his own obsession. It all makes for a quirky, personable read.

By Patricia Harris, Globe Correspondent

Writer and photographer Jonathan Scheff grew up in Brookline but has since traveled in more than 20 countries and lives in New York City. So he brings a worldly eye to his former home turf in Boston Icons: 50 Symbols of Beantown (Globe Pequot Press, 2011, $16.95). Predictably enough, he covers a lot of familiar territory. (After all, how many icons can one city have?) But Scheff's photos often surprise with a different angle or view that might make even long-time Bostonians take a fresh look at such landmarks as Faneuil Hall, the USS Constitution, or the Bunker Hill Monument. He also frees Boston from the grip of history by conferring icon status on the Samuel Adams Brewery and the Zakim Bridge, which became a highlight of the Boston cityscape even before the first car drove under the soaring cables. No book of icons would be complete without a mention of America's game. But Scheff chooses to focus not on Fenway Park or the Red Sox. Instead he gives a call out to the diehards of Red Sox Nation. Scheff is mum on the issue, but I bet he still roots for the home team.

By Paul E. Kandarian, Globe Correspondent

Want to stick close to Boston over the Christmas holiday? The Fairmont Copley Plaza has a few seasonal deals it is offering to keep folks, and their spending dollars, in the Hub.

The Fairmont's "Twelve Days of Christmas Package," which runs Dec. 14-30, includes a night's stay at the hotel, a "Sleigh Ride: A Traditional Holiday" CD from the Boston Pops, and late check-out of 4 p.m., with rates starting at $239 a night.

New Year's Eve revelers can do the Fairmont First Night package, which includes two nights, Dec, 30 and 31, and two First Night Boston buttons that provide access to all activities in the city, with rates starting at $279.

You can ramp it up with the Fairmont's New Year's Eve gala package, with rates starting at $779 that includes a room for the night and a five-course dinner for two in the hotel's famous Oak Room, with live entertainment and dancing later in the Oak Bar.To book or for more information, visit www.fairmont.com/copleyplaza or call 617-267-5300.

By Paul E. Kandarian, Globe Correspondent

Want a burger with your new year’s eve celebration? Check out Postcard Inn Beach Resort and Marina at Holiday Isle, on Islamorada in the Florida Keys, where major renovations were scheduled to be done by the first week of December and the world’s first Shula Burger, founded by famed football coach Don Shula, is located and scheduled to be open by Dec. 8. The resort is running a New Year’s Eve special, with rates starting at $439 per couple, plus taxes and resort fees. The rate includes the room, dinner for two in the Horizon Room, open bar from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m., DJ music, dancing and fireworks from the ocean. If you get too crazy, they’re offering late checkout Jan. 1, until 2 p.m. For another $20 per person, you can join the party at the resort’s tiki bar from 8 pm.. to 2 a.m., which includes midnight champagne toast, noisemakers and hats, midnight appetizer buffet, dancing and fireworks on the beach. For information, and to book, visit http://holidayisle.com/ or call 800-327-7070.

By Paul E. Kandarian, Globe Correspondent

Providence’s Benefit Street, a stretch of gorgeous Colonial-era homes on the city’s East Side, is known as the "mile of history" for its 18th- and 19th-century architecture and facts such as the area was where Edgar Allen Poe wooed poetess Sarah Helen Whitman. On Dec. 3, "A Benefit Street Holiday" will be held, sponsored by the Providence Preservation Society, a day-long festival that includes storyteller Len Cabral reading to kids, a holiday pet parade, and gingerbread-house decorating. Self-guided house tours and educational programs will also be held. Tour tickets are $30 each the day of the event ($25 ahead of time), and for more information, visit www.ppsri.org or call 401-831-7440.

By David Lyon, Globe Correspondent

New England is such a gorgeous place that the publication of yet another photo book is not exactly earth-shattering news. But this one is different. The Lobstering Life (David Middleton and Brenda Berry, The Countryman Press, Woodstock, Vt., $19.95) is not just a pretty picture book of idealized landscapes. It documents the gritty work and, yes, the everyday drama of fishing for lobster. I feel qualified to make that judgment since I used to haul traps on Maine's Penobscot Bay.

Neither Barry nor Middleton was a fisherman when they took on this project to chronicle lobster fishing in the Gulf of Maine, but they were quick learners. The photos are extremely handsome because many of the scenes were shot in that wonderful spring and fall light when the sky is a limitless blue and the sun shines at a low, golden angle. If there's a fault to the book, it's the lack of photos showing fishing in the rain or before dawn in the fog.

But the book does reveal aspects of lobster fishing that I haven't seen since I left the boat to go to college decades ago. For example, most people never see a female lobster covered with eggs because no lobsterman would ever bring one ashore. (They go back in the water to replenish the stock.) But the image is enough to make even a fisherman acknowledge the crustacean is something more wondrous than a bug that can take your fingers off. Likewise, I haven't seen anyone stand up to pole a rowboat since my own fishing days--until I came across just such a photo and it made me smile. This book catches those details that fishermen take for granted and almost no one else ever gets to see.

By Paul E. Kandarian, Globe Correspondent

By Paul E. Kandarian, Globe Correspondent

Provincetown may be the literal end of the Massachusetts earth, and a pretty cold place in winter, but the locals there are warming up to the holiday season with several events. There are lodging discounts and such to be had as well, check out www.provincetowntourismoffice.org for more information.


First up is the annual lighting of Pilgrim Monument Nov. 23 from 5-7 p.m., a yearly tradition that kicks off P-Town's holiday season. Check it out at www.pilgrim-monument.org/lighting.html On Nov. 26 at 5:30 p.m., local artist Julian Popko and his family light up a two-story high tree made of more than 100 lobster pots in Lopes Square, a tradition now in its eighth year.

A Casino Night fundraiser for the Provincetown Business Guild is scheduled for Nov. 25 from 8 p.m. to midnight, see www.ptown.org/home.asp for more info. A Holly Folly Weekend, said to be the world's only gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender holiday festival and now in its 15th year, will run Dec. 2-4 along Commercial Street, with sing-alongs, performances and parties. Check out www.ptown.org/hollyfolly.asp for information.

A yearly tradition in P-town, the Land's End Holiday Gala and Tree Trimming, happens Dec. 2 from 6-9 p.m., marking the opening of the Holly Folly Weekend. Included are music, cocktails, snacks and a silent auction benefiting Baobab Home in Tanzania, an organization that provides services and support to those affected by HIV and poverty. It is hosted at Land's End Inn, and for information visit www.landsendinn.com

"'Tis the Season for Giving Drag Show" at the Crown and Anchor, an annual event that unites Provincetown's best drag queens to perform and raise money for the Aids Support Group of Cape Cod, runs Dec. 2, from 9 p.m. to midnight, with tickets at $10 each; check out www.onlyatthecrown.com/events. The Boston Gay Men's Chorus performs at town hall Dec. 3 at 8:30 p.m., with tickets running $27 each.

Provincetown Theater celebrates the town's theatrical history with weekly performances of "The Snowman in the Dunes," a classic children's musical. Check www.provincetowntheater.org for times and cost. The performances run Dec. 3-17, on the weekends. The Provincetown Art Association and Museum's holiday concert, featuring Bart Weisman and the Klezmer Swing Group, is Dec. 17 at 2 p.m., free with museum admission. Visit www.paam.org for info.

New Year's Eve weekend is huge in P-town, with comedy performances, drag shows, concerts and more, with clubs, bars, restaurants and inns holding a variety of events. Check out www.ptown.org for specific listings and times. And the unofficial wrap-up of the holiday season is "Re-Rooter's Day," on Jan. 7, which is said to personify P-town's quirky character. The event started in 1983 with local artist Jay Critchley, and since then, revelers gather yearly at the East End flats at sunset, chant nonsensical poems and burn a Christmas tree in the harbor to, it is said, shed the excesses of the holiday season and start the new year.

So it sounds like another reason to party, P-town style. Nothing wrong with that.

By Patricia Harris and David Lyon, Globe Correspondents

Shh-h-h-h-h! Don't tell the kids, but after the guests repair to their rooms following Thanksgiving dinner at the Mountain View Grand in Whitefield, N.H., all the resort's elves get to work. They transform the immense hilltop inn from an autumn getaway into a Christmas season destination by decking the halls and hanging wreaths everywhere.

There's a big Christmas tree in the main lobby and some years Santa's helpers manage to erect a smaller one near the fireplace in the cozy Dodge Lounge. Wooden “soldiers” like figures from The Nutcracker stand sentinel at the ends of the corridors. In fact, the 6-foot-tall soldiers are all over the hotel at the holidays, rather like the army of Christmas. Mind you, the effect of all the decorations is like a Victorian Christmas--gleeful without being gaudy. Most guests know in advance about the overnight transformation, but it still comes as a treat to the kids. So mum's the word. Instead of standing in a mall parking lot, Black Friday at the Mountain View Grand is like a preview of Christmas morning. Mountain View Grand, Mountain View Rd., Whitefield, N.H.; (866) 484-3843; www.mountainviewgrand.com.

By Paul E. Kandarian, Globe Correspondent

Thanksgiving time of year can be pretty dismal in New England, that shoulder season of gray days waiting for snow you know is coming sooner or later. For something decidedly different, Cotton Tree, a boutique hotel on Grand Cayman in the Caribbean, is offering a Thanksgiving special, which includes a free dinner prepared by your own personal chef, with a four-night reservation. The package dates are Nov. 23-26.

Included in the $890 per night special rate are accommodations in a Cayman-inspired beach cottage, with full kitchen, free Wi-Fi and roomy living spaces; the option of booking a spa treatment in an open-air pavilion surrounded by sea grape trees; pre-stocked selection of coffees, water, tea, milk, juice and assorted cereals; use of the swimming pool, fitness center, yoga, bicycles, media library, water sports, hiking, and culinary and art classes; and one-way airport transfer. Concierge, in-cottage catering, sommelier and wedding and business services are also available, at extra cost, to further customize a holiday.

 

Cotton Tree is on the northernmost point of Grand Cayman, 10 minutes from the island’s fabled Seven Mile Beach. To make a reservation or for more information, visit http://www.caymancottontree.com/ and mention promotion code CT375 when booking the Thanksgiving special.

(Photo courtesy of Cotton Tree)

By Patricia Harris, Globe Correspondent

Next month the Boston Pops will launch their Holiday Tour, which will include stops in Worcester; Lowell; Providence; Storrs, Connecticut; and Manchester, New Hampshire. But before the seasonal festivities get underway, Keith Lockhart and the orchestra will delve into a quirkier thematic program this Saturday, October 15, when they join the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra at Rupp Arena in Lexington for “Post Time with the Pops.” Fittingly enough, this celebration of the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Keeneland thoroughbred auction house and racetrack will feature music with an equestrian bent, including such classics as the ''Light Cavalry'' and ''William Tell'' overtures, along with the ''Seabiscuit Suite'' by Randy Newman and the Carmen Dragon arrangement of Stephen Foster's ''Camptown Races.'' And speaking of races, the Keeneland fall race season continues through October 29.

By Kari Bodnarchuk, Globe Correspondent

Adventrer and bestselling author Robert Edsel, who wrote ‘‘The Monuments Men’’ (Center Street, 2009), leads a 10-day trip this fall for the National World War II Museum retracing searches by ‘‘scholar soldiers’’ who saved artworks and cultural treasures from destruction by the Nazis in the war’s final months. The In the Footsteps of the Monuments Men Tour departs Paris Sept. 16 and includes visits to the Louvre, Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest Retreat in Berchtesgaden, Germany, and the salt mines of Altaussee, Australia, where thousands of artworks were recovered. Rate: $14,999 per person, based on double occupancy, includes travel from Paris to the tour’s final destination in Munich, accommodations, and meals.

877-813-3329, www.nationalww2museum.org/travel

Photo: National World War II Museum

By Kari Bodnarchuk, Globe Correspondent

Make pottery using ancient Anasazi techniques and tools, or hike through Zion National Park with new programs offered by Red Mountain Resort in St. George, Utah. In the ‘‘Touch the Spirit of Clay’’ group workshop, you shape pottery by hand and then decorate it using paint made from natural minerals and local vegetation, and native plant brushes ($100 per person every Saturday, 3-5 p.m.). Then explore Zion on an eight-hour adventure, hiking along exposed sandbars and cooling off in the shade of the 1,000-foot-tall canyon walls and the waters of the Virgin River ($199 per person with a boxed lunch, hiking poles, and water shoes). Room rates start at $189 per person per night, based on double occupancy.

877-246-4453, www.redmountainresort.com

Photo: Red Mountain Resort

By Kari Bodnarchuk, Globe Correspondent

On Air Adventure Australia’s flying photo tour, you can spend two weeks next year flying across the outback in a private plane, guided by award-winning travel photographer Ewen Bell, and visiting some of the country’s most stunning destinations. With a maximum of seven other photographers, you will visit remote tent camps and aboriginal settlements, shoot rock monoliths in the Red Centre and the wetlands of Kakadu National
Park, and explore wilderness areas that are unreachable by road. The 14-day tour departs Melbourne June 4, 2012, and includes ground and air transportation, lodging, and meals. Rates are $15,990 per person, based on double occupancy.

224-588-8039, www.airadventure.com.au

By Kari Bodnarchuk, Globe Correspondent

American Express Travel’s new Nextpedition program offers customized mystery trips for flexible young travelers. Take an online quiz regarding your hobbies, interests, and social media habits to determine your sign from ‘‘adrenalista’’ (outdoor adventurer) to ‘‘technologian’’ (high-tech). A specialist creates an itinerary based on your sign, budget, and travel history. A special smartphone arrives on your doorstep a few days before departure, providing your itinerary, Lonely Planet guidebook content, restaurant recommendations, and other travel tools. Nextpedition offers itineraries for groups and solo travelers starting at $1,000 for a minimum seven days, based on two people traveling. Available only through American Express Travel’s Cambridge office.

617-520-1236, www.nextpedition.com

Kari Bodnarchuk, Globe Correspondent

On WildChina’s eight-day guided trip, Soul of Tibet, you will explore sacred monasteries and pilgrimage routes, meeting artisans and villagers along the way. You will visit Samye Monastery, believed to be Tibet’s first, and Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, founded by the first Dalai Lama. Then meet a Tibetan medicine specialist to learn how tradition plays a role in daily life, and explore the landscape of this western China region, including holy Yamdrok Tso Lake. Stay an extra three days and explore Mount Everest Base Camp. Dates for this personalized trip are flexible; rates start at $2,410.
888-902-8808, www.wildchina.com

Photo: WildChina

After the holidays everyone is going to be looking for a little peace and quiet--and will probably need to jump-start a fitness program to boot. A gift membership to the Appalachian Mountain Club might be just the incentive to put that New Year's resolve into action. One-year memberships start at $25 for under age 30 and over age 69, and the family membership is only $60. Members receive a subscription to AMC Outdoors, an additional monthly e-newsletter, discounts on huts and programs, and savings on maps, trail guides, and outdoor gear. Membership dues also support the stewardship of more than 1,500 miles of trails and research on air quality and alpine ecosystems. And a gift membership says that you think the recipient is cool and athletic, or could be.

For more information, see the AMC web site, www.outdoors.org, or call 800-372-1758.

Photo courtesy of Appalachian Mountain Club

Its location in a former red brick wool warehouse on Fort Point Channel gives the Boston Children's Museum plenty of room to spread out and its current roster of 19 exhibits gives families plenty to do. In fact, the museum recognizes that the sheer number of choices and activities can be overwhelming for younger kids and advises that families start slowly by visiting one or two exhibits or activities at a time. A Family Membership (which start at $125 for up to four people) will make it possible for the families on your gift list to return as often as they want to check out the jackhammers and trucks in the Construction Zone, tackle the New Balance climbing sculpture, or explore a 100-year-old Japanese house. If that’s not enough, Boston Children's Museum members also receive free admission to more than 100 other children's museums and more than 200 science museums throughout New England and around the country. By the way, if you purchase an extra membership, museum staff will make sure it reaches a family that can’t afford to buy their own! www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org, 617-426-6500, ext 354.

Photo courtesy of Boston Children's Museum

Today's travel gift ideas are about finding your way and bringing what you need in style. It's always a trip to visit the DeLorme Map Store in Yarmouth just to marvel at Eartha, which DeLorme claims is the world's largest globe. If you're not in the mood for a drive, you can purchase a gift certificate by phone, but your recipient will have to use it in the store. We have sworn by DeLorme's state atlas books for years because they offer just the right level of resolution to find your way across large stretches of territory while still being able to see the major roads and streets. More tech-literate types swear by (rather than at) their GPS software. Give the gift of clear directions. As frequent travelers, we're really hard on luggage, but we blanch at the prices for new suitcases--except at the Samsonite Factory Outlet, which deeply discounts Samsonite and American Tourister luggage and often has specials of a 50 percent discount on the second piece you purchase. If a short pre-holiday road trip appeals, gift certificates are available in any amount you choose, but must be purchased at the store.

DeLorme Map Store, Rte. 1 (I-295, exit 17), Yarmouth, Maine; 207-846-7100 or 800-642-0970.
Samsonite Factory Outlet, 95 Main St., Warren, R.I.; 401-247-3302.

--Patricia Harris & David Lyon

Based in ''rustic'' offices in Waterbury, Vermont, Country Walkers offers walking itineraries around the world, but they don't ignore New England. In 2011, five guided excursions are scheduled in Acadia National Park along with two guided fall foliage season outings in Vermont. You can purchase a gift certificate in any amount for a specific trip or let the recipient choose his or her own dream destination in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa, the South Pacific, or Latin America. If your friends and family members are independent types who steer clear of guided tours, Country Walkers has introduced self-guided hiking and bicycling adventures in England, Spain, Italy, Malta, Austria, Portugal, France, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Gift certificates, by the way, come in a beautifully wrapped gift box. And Country Walkers does not cancel its departure dates if enrollment is low, sparing the giftee from potential disappointment down the road.
www.countrywalkers.com, 800-464-9255 or 802-244-1387.
Photo courtesy of Country Walkers

Today’s gift idea involves the federal government, so, yes, there is a bit of bureaucracy. Oh, and a long name: ''America the Beautiful--The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass.'' But the idea is a good one, and the $80 pass is a great gift. It allows free entrance for a year to more than 2,000 sites administered by five federal agencies, including the National Park Service, the USDA Forest Service, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Some sites, of course, don’t charge admission, but for those that have per-person entrance fees, the America the Beautiful pass admits the pass holder and three other adults (ages 15 and under are free). For those sites that charge a per-vehicle fee, the pass covers the car and all the people who can squeeze inside. If you need further clarification, check out the web site for a handy page of definitions of such terms as "domicile," "standard entrance fee," and "non-commercial vehicle." But sarcasm aside, the pass is a great option if you are looking for a gift for a family--whether they like to learn about art and history, prefer to light out for the wilderness, or just like to have fun at the beach. Here in New England alone, some of the sites covered by the pass include the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in New Hampshire, Acadia National Park in Maine, and the Cape Cod National Seashore. And that’s just for starters. http://store.usgs.gov/pass/annual.html

Photo courtesy of National Park Service, Cape Cod National Seashore

Museum memberships are always a good gift. Every time the recipient enjoys free admission and other perks, he or she will remember your generosity. By the same token, a lot of museums also offer gift certificates. But I think the Worcester Art Museum’s Art Card is an especially clever gift option for someone who might like to date a museum without going steady. Select your gift amount and your recipient will receive an attractive plastic card (sort of like a debit card for art) that can be used for admission, lunch in the cafe, purchases in the gift shop, classes or special events. The museum opened to the public in 1898 and has built a collection that spans more than fifty centuries. If that’s not enough for the art lover on your list, curators also mount intriguing special exhibitions. I’m particularly curious about next spring’s ''Leisure, Pleasure and the Birth of the Modern French Woman.'' Hey, a girl can dream. www.worcesterart.org; 508-799-4406, ext. 3122. Make your online purchase by noon on December 17 to be sure to receive your card by December 24.

Photo courtesy of Worcester Art Museum

For the truly gift-challenged, we have a suggestion that will help kill two birds with one stone. We know that’s not the most appealing way to put it, but this gift is not only clever--it's even romantic. The Essex, Vermont’s Culinary Resort & Spa, has a packed schedule of classes nearly every day in its Cook Academy.

They really dial up the romance in February, so why not purchase a gift card now for a Valentine feast? ''Cupids Culinary Creations'' features a three-course menu of warm Vermont blue cheese souffle, steak au poivre with truffled potatoes, and hazelnut lava cake. Couples who prefer to head straight to dessert, can create chocolate black pepper cookies, pumpkin chocolate bread pudding with warm rum sauce, and dark chocolate souffle with hazelnut crème anglaise in the ''Addicted to Chocolate'' class. Both are offered throughout the month of February, along with ''Saucy Sauces,'' ''Warm Winter Wonderland'' and a variety of other options. The Essex, Vermont’s Culinary Resort & Spa, 70 Essex Way, Essex, Vt.; 800-727-4295; 802-878-1100; www.vtculinaryresort.com.

Patricia Harris is co-author of the food and travel blog Hungry Travelers.
Photos courtesy of The Essex

Last year we offered a lifeline to last-minute shoppers with a list of suggestions of New England travel experiences that their friends and family members might enjoy. We hope that we helped spread a little joy and made life a little easier for the gift-challenged among us. In that spirit we thought we would offer some suggestions a little bit earlier this year. A getaway to an inn or bed and breakfast is sort of the Snuggie of gifts--one-size-fits-all. But you won’t have to worry about your gift-giving choice being turned into a You Tube parody.

To keep things really classy, Kennebunkport, Maine, has a rich concentration of old homes that have been converted into lodgings with a lot of character. Six of them are loosely banded together as the Historic Inns of Kennebunkport. As part of the town’s 11 days of Christmas Prelude activities, the inns will each host an open house on Saturday, December 11 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. so that visitors can ogle the Christmas decorations and sample holiday treats. All of the inns offer gift certificates, so you can check them out and match the place to the personality of the lucky recipient. We don’t want to encourage you to procrastinate, but the 1802 House is offering discounts on gift certificates purchased through December 31.

Open House donation $5 benefits local food pantry. For details see www.kportinns.com and www.christmasprelude.com.

--Patricia Harris & David Lyon
Photo courtesy of 1802 House

Due to high demand, the Blackstone Valley Polar Express train ride in Rhode Island has added tour dates. The Dec. 4 and 5 tours are sold out, but new ones will be held Dec. 12 and 19. Departures both dates are 10:45 a.m. and 1:45 p.m., leaving from the train depot at 1 Depot Square in Woonsocket.

During the one-and-a-half-hour ride, passengers will hear a story presentation of “The Polar Express,” be served hot chocolate and cookies, join in a sing-along, receive a special holiday remembrance, and have a visit from Santa Clause.

Tickets start at $37 each. For ticket reservation and information, visit www.tourblackstone.com.