8 - 11 August 17, 2014
After a quick catch-up with
my hosts after my late Thursday (7 Aug.2014) arrival it was off to
bed, in the morning meeting the babies who, 15 months after meeting
them at their first birthday party, aren’t babies any more.
Gorgeous little people, non-stop action and chatter. The best part of
my visit was catching up with the Boston crew. Such a happy time for
me.
East of Boston is what I
think of as typical picture-postcard New England perfection. Friday
morning I was taken for a bit of a drive around the local area to see
some places I hadn’t been before, including “Mary had a Little
Lamb’s” school house, moved from its original Massachusetts
location to a preservation area set up by Henry Ford. A church,
Longfellow’s “Wayside Inn”, a barn with old vehicles and a mill
were there too.
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| Mary's little lamb followed her to this school house |
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| The old mill |
The local library is rather
lovely – but more on libraries later. There’s talk of abandonning
it in favour of a new mega structure. What a pity if that happens.
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| Wayland Public Library |
And then supermarket to
stock up on provisions. That afternoon we set of for the
quintessential American experience: a relaxing weekend in a cabin in
the woods in Vermont. Closer to the woods we stopped off for yet more food, including lobster for that night’s dinner. Yum! I’d never eaten a whole lobster before. I rose to the challenge – messily!
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Yummy, messy lobster and ...
super-fresh corn bought at a farm shop along the way |
The cabin was everything I expected it to be:
rustic (i.e. basic, raw inside, no plaster just undressed timber),
one ‘dormitory’ bedroom (with patchwork quilt on my bed), and in
an idyllic location by a stream.
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| The cabin in the Vermont woods |
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| A corner inside the cabin |
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| The quilt on my bed in the cabin |
The next morning, after a relaxing start –
for me, not for my hostess the chef! … Karon cooked a great
breakfast, a new treat for me: biscuits (scones) and sauce (ground
pork in a sort of gravy) – we went for a drive through the
countryside, visiting some country towns, again, picture-postcard all
the way.
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| The Boston Crew - visiting Grafton, Vermont |
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| Town Hall, Grafton, Vermont |
Sunday was brilliantly lazy,
doing what I don’t normally do when I’m away – I stopped, sat
out in the sun and read a book. Others did a spot of fishing, i.e. poking sticks in the stream 😊
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| "Fishing" with daddy |
Later, we played croquet – my first
attempt, all a bit hit (or miss!) and giggle, the ground freshly mown
but country-style, not the velvet lawn on which croquet is usually
played. Another first in the evening – darts. By accident, I
managed to come second!
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| Playing croquet on the 'lawn' |
Then later in the day it was
time to go home, stopping off to admire an historic covered bridge
and to buy the last culinary treat, ice-cream (the rum tasted
suspiciously like vanilla but the ginger was delish). Time had gone
so quickly.
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| Dummerston Covered Bridge, 1872 |
Thanks so much to Joe, owner
of the cabin, for making this part of my Boston stay possible.
Monday it was back to the
supermarket again …. we’d got through a whole lot of food and the
fridge and fruit bowl needed replenishing. This time though it was
with the twins in tow. It’s been a while since I wheeled a trolley
with a toddler on board. I’d only marginally lost my touch, i.e. I
didn’t crash very often!! 😉
Then it was time to pack my
bags again. I did that while the twins had their afternoon nap and
their mum and dad went off for coffee together, without the dynamic
duo. They brought back dinner – another American treat: roast pork
ribs (could leave those), pulled pork sandwiches (not bread but a
type of hamburger bun) which I loved, and corn and black-eyed peas
along with food I know, mash and coleslaw.
And at last, sadly, it was off to the
airport. Words can’t convey what a happy time this visit was for
me. “THANK YOU” to Piers and Karon and the little ones is so
inadequate.
