Ee-by-gum - did I need to get away from it all or what!?!
I think that if I had stayed in the city any longer I would've spontaneously combusted! Just think of what a nasty mess that would've made - who would clean it up? - Not me!!
Sooooo, things didn't go quite as smoothly as I had hoped....
My lovely boyfriend, who has been working hard in Montreal for most of the past year, was supposed to arrive back here two days before we were due to set off northwards but his work kept him up in mounty-land another day. I was worried about him driving all the way down here, then turning back around to take me to NH the next morning but he assured me that he would be fine.
I was wishing the day away, looking forward to seeing my giant canook.....then I got a phone call... "The gas tank is about to fall off, it will be fixed tomorrow morning. I'll come and get you then we'll go to NH"
Flippin' heck! I was a little miffed.
I thought about it for a second then called him back and told him to just drive directly to NH and I'd get the Greyhound. He thought about it for a while then agreed that that would work.
Very early on Friday moring I packed as much into my duffle bag that I could carry, grumbling to myself that I wouldn't be able to take the car-load of yarn I would need for a week of relaxing!
Limiting myself to one project, I cast on the hooded version of
Ruthie Nussbaum's Sweet and Seamless in the queue for the bus, (pattern from a certain little book that'll be hitting the shops in 4 weeks - yipee!) The rib was finished before we left Manhattan. Knitting all the way to Boston got me quite far into this project so I put it away whilst taking the T from South to North Station and flopped down for an hours ride on commuter rail to Newburyport. Picked up the knitting again whlie I waited for Chris to pick me up - quite concerned about the lack of heat up there - I had been used to 90+ temps, so the low 70's up there felt positively chilly!
It was so good to see my country cousins - I LOVE LOVE LOVE 'em!!!
Here's how much I knit since the early morning wait at Port Aurthority standing alongside the other carless misfits:
It doesn't look like much in this photo but that's a medium sized sweater up to the waist - how much prettier it looks in the country setting.
More red?
I know.
The tall one arrived at 10pm all pleased with himself at how much easier the drive had been.
I kept my mouth shut.
Chris and Valda's family had grown since my last visit - two more four legged friends to play with - meet Mel and Dee:
Mr Freakishly Tall standing there makes them look like ponies - don't be fooled folks - those are two big horses!
It was fun getting to know them.
Poopy D used to get all the attention, and was often found looking like this, hoping for someone to throw the frisby for her - arrh.
Not only is my fella a handsome beast, he's an amazingly good cook too. We enjoyed many a delish meal prepared by his giant hands from the fresh local ingredients - this particular evening the beverage of choice was the black n tan:
Tuesday arrived bringing rain with it.
We opted to spend the day in Boston. A lovely little city with lots of history.
I dragged my fella along the Freedom Trail, teaching him about the comings and goings of Paul Revere, Sam Adams, (not
just a tasty brew), the Boston Tea Party, Massacure etc.... It was fun to play tour guide, (the bits I didn't know I just made up - heehee!)
The burial grounds were cool - loved the carvings on the little dark gravestones - is that slate?
Hunger prevented us from getting any futher than Faniel Hall but nothing tempted us at Quincy Market, so we jumped on the T to Newbury Street and found a lovely little Italian place that didn't dissapoint.
We found some long legged jeans and funky t-shirts at Lucky Brand which made the other half happy - he doesn't buy clothes very often as
normal shops don't usually have his size.
We need to go back to finish the Freedom Trail next time....
The weather was gorgeous for the rest of the week. We rented a Harley to see the coast in style.
Here's some shots of my favorite beach on
Plum Island. We couldn't go to very end beacause of the Piping Plovers, (it's a nature reserve and very popular with twitchers):
I love to swim in the Ocean, even though it was nippy!
and frolic around in the soft sand...
Back at the Love House, Chris had the tall one busy with yard work, (feeding and cleaning horses - they do an awful lot of pooing!!) Chris is a massage therapist and his strong hands work on both humans and horses. He also makes and restores sadles - if you need his assistance drop him a line horsekneads@hotmail.com
check out this beauty I spied in his workroom:
With his new beard he thinks he looks like George Clooney - I'll leave that up to you...
While the men were busy getting their hands dirty, I was on babysitting duty. Annabel can be quite a handful but she is hilariously funny and has an amazingly large and well developed vocabulary for a two year old - it's a shame her little English accent will dissapear when she starts going to school.
She spent most of our stay there running around in the buff, so it was quite a challange to get her to pose in the pinafore I crocheted for her birthday:
She's a star!
The plan was to just stay with our friends for the weekend, then go off and find a little cabin in Maine to shack up in for the week but they convinced us to stay with them the entire time and what a fabulous idea it was - great friends - delicious home cooked food - fresh country air and lots of laughs - THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!
We did spend an afternoon in Portland, wondering around, so I can tick Maine off the list of American states visited, I think I'm up to 13 now.
It was hard to leave but Valda packed us up a delicious bag of road snacks, including a batch of her melt-in-the-mouth oatmeal-chocolate-peanut-butter cookies - mmmmmmmmm!! Who has better friends than me??
So now I'm back in my shoebox.
Back at work.
Boyfriend has returned to Montreal.
But I did get to enjoy a bit of culcha.... Johanna rounded up Sam, Jacob, Suzsi, Nick and I to see the Metropolitan Oprea perform La Traviata in my
front garden yesterday evening. Check out the pretty evening sky:
Too far away to see anything but it sounded lovely.
The hoodie knitting continued but did have to put it away when I dropped a stitch whilst attempting a three needle bind off in the dark!
I did have to sneak out early though - I can't miss
Rockstar!!!
