2 sisters in the bog
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Vacation report
I just got back from my 2-week vacation, which was one of the best I've ever had. It was really grand. Molly came here on a Thursday night--she came by train from RI and I picked her up in Vermont so we got to ride the night ferry home, which was really pretty. We stayed together in the boat house until Tuesday, when we drove to RI. That weekend we had our family's annual meeting (yes, some families have reunions but ours has a meeting). Many cousins, lots of children, even polite conversation with ex-husband. Lots of swimming and dock time, and great visiting with my sister, just the two of us. That hasn't happened for decades.
We got to RI on a Tuesday and spent the next 10 days having a really good time. We read a lot, visited a lot, ate a lot, laughed a lot--it was truly great. Mark had to work the first week but had time off during the second week. We went to the beach in the mornings to avoid crowds and often had the beach pretty much to ourselves. Great beach weather. One rainy day when we went shopping. Earrings for me. The ocean was cool but very nice. Lots of swimming.
We ate lobsters and clams, and had RI corn every night for dinner. There is the most delicious corn in southern New England--it's butter & sugar and is soooo sweet. They don't have corn on the cob in Italy so we take full advantage of its availability while Molly is here. And we sure did. Wow was it good. And me without my braces! So easy to eat.
We went out to dinner one night, courtesy of Mark. I have a favorite restaurant, it's an inn in an old house and the food is good, atmosphere nice, etc. Fully of Vera Bradley and Lily Pulitzer prints on attractive women. Anyway, we had a delicious meal and nice time. Another night Molly taught me how to cook a chicken dish for the Hawkeye Chicken Wars which are going on this summer.
Everyone in the neighborhood is cooking a chicken dinner of some sort, scoring takes place by attendees, and at the end of the season a winner will be declared. I dreaded my turn--it's hard to cook for 10 when you're by yourself. Molly was a great help in getting me set up for the meal (complete with illustrated menu in Italian) so now I think I'll be able to pull it off without too much craziness.
I came home on Saturday, something I never do--I always wait until Sunday. But Sunday was Chicken War entry #4 at noon, and book group in the boat house at 5ish. So it was a busy day, my head was a'twirlin. I slept in the boat house that night, all was right with the world.
Monday night I picked up the cat, released from jail. She suffered mightily I suspect, complained for hours when she got home, but cuddled up with me at night. Now she's treating the whole thing as if it never happened. She's a tad tubby so I'm feeding her a bit less until she's once again svelte.
Work is busy, much catching up to do, plus my co-worker is out this week so I'm doing her work too. Lots of running around, filling requests, cataloging books, etc. Keeps me busy & makes the days go by (exhaustingly) quickly.
We got to RI on a Tuesday and spent the next 10 days having a really good time. We read a lot, visited a lot, ate a lot, laughed a lot--it was truly great. Mark had to work the first week but had time off during the second week. We went to the beach in the mornings to avoid crowds and often had the beach pretty much to ourselves. Great beach weather. One rainy day when we went shopping. Earrings for me. The ocean was cool but very nice. Lots of swimming.
We ate lobsters and clams, and had RI corn every night for dinner. There is the most delicious corn in southern New England--it's butter & sugar and is soooo sweet. They don't have corn on the cob in Italy so we take full advantage of its availability while Molly is here. And we sure did. Wow was it good. And me without my braces! So easy to eat.
We went out to dinner one night, courtesy of Mark. I have a favorite restaurant, it's an inn in an old house and the food is good, atmosphere nice, etc. Fully of Vera Bradley and Lily Pulitzer prints on attractive women. Anyway, we had a delicious meal and nice time. Another night Molly taught me how to cook a chicken dish for the Hawkeye Chicken Wars which are going on this summer.
Everyone in the neighborhood is cooking a chicken dinner of some sort, scoring takes place by attendees, and at the end of the season a winner will be declared. I dreaded my turn--it's hard to cook for 10 when you're by yourself. Molly was a great help in getting me set up for the meal (complete with illustrated menu in Italian) so now I think I'll be able to pull it off without too much craziness.
I came home on Saturday, something I never do--I always wait until Sunday. But Sunday was Chicken War entry #4 at noon, and book group in the boat house at 5ish. So it was a busy day, my head was a'twirlin. I slept in the boat house that night, all was right with the world.
Monday night I picked up the cat, released from jail. She suffered mightily I suspect, complained for hours when she got home, but cuddled up with me at night. Now she's treating the whole thing as if it never happened. She's a tad tubby so I'm feeding her a bit less until she's once again svelte.
Work is busy, much catching up to do, plus my co-worker is out this week so I'm doing her work too. Lots of running around, filling requests, cataloging books, etc. Keeps me busy & makes the days go by (exhaustingly) quickly.
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This is how we spent a whole lot of our time. Sitting in the living room. Reading. Visiting.
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Me cooking lobsters. My mother always cooked the lobsters and I cooked the clams. Now she's let me take over seafood hogger-pig meals, so I cook the lobsters.
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This is the back of Liza's house--it's what I see in the morning when I get up. I sleep in a screened-in gazebo back in the woods. It's fantastic and I wish I had one just like it at home. The dogs and I are out there, peaceful in the woods. Occasional buck snorts from invasive deer, lots of crickets and cicadas. It's really wonderful.
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Mark's pond in Liza's backyard. He built the pond a few years ago and has been adding to the plantings around it. There's Joe Pye weed, mallow, cat o'nine tails, water hyacinths (which bloom and are really pretty) and pond lilies (which also bloom). There are a bunch of gold fish in the pond and Mark has a heater in the water to keep it warm enough for them to winter over. One got too big, though, and his days are numbered. This is probably the most-photographed backyard pond in America. Many, many shots of individual blossoms. fish, people looking in the pond, oh so many things.
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Betsy and Mark at the beach. We went in the morning so we'd have the place to ourselves.
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My mother's back yard. It's where I got married. Not that I hold that against it or anything ...
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Jenica and her auntie, eating like little pigs at Champlain's, home of the best seafood.
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Catching up
Boy it's been a while. I didn't realize how far away from 7/22 we'd gone. It's August now, many of my friends at the lake are saying summer is over. Well, the end is coming soon I suppose. I'm about to embark on my 2 week vacation trip to Rhode Island, which is wow-ily exciting for me. My sister is now in Rhode Island and will come here to the North Country on Thursday. I guess I'll pick her up at the Burlington bus station, though travel plans are not totally firmed up yet. She'll be here for our annual family meeting, which is Saturday morning. Jenica will come for it, too, dutiful Rogers that she is. Molly will stay until Monday or Tuesday, when we'll drive to RI together. In my new car.
Yes, I bought a new car. Another Civic. I think this is my 6th Civic. It's a 2012, not that I wanted such a new one because they've redesigned the car almost completely this time. Anyway, it's pretty and it's new. I got a fairly ok trade-in for my old car--a 2008 Civic with 67,000 miles on it and some body issues. I needed new tires and knew it wouldn't cost that much extra to have a new car, so I opted for the new car. Now I get to worry about messing up this car. I got it on Friday and so far: wet dogs have ridden in the back seat; I've taken garbage to the dump in it; I'm still trying to figure out how to make everything work but I finally figured out how to turn the radio on (or even more, how to turn it off); I'm trying to figure out why the colors on the dashboard display change from blue to green to bluish green; I've driven it to the boat house without doing any (apparent) damage to it; I'm still trying to figure out how to make it stop locking all the doors when it goes forward and/or stops. My sister reminded me that, when I got my previous Civic I complained that it had too many complicated things to figure out. Mostly it was the digital speedometer, which I now much prefer. I'll probably never figure out how or why to use the USB port and who knows if I'll ever have a cell phone or MP3 player. But it's always good to be prepared, no?
Work is moving along, nice calm pace. Home life not so much. There are many people in Hawkeye right now, all wanting to get together, eat, drink, be merry. I hosted a cocktail party for about a dozen people on the boat house porch, which got others in the mood to do more of the same. Last week I had dinner with 3 cousins, with much reminiscing about the past. Sunday at noon we had round 2 of the Hawkeye Chicken Wars, hosted by Joe & Martha. They served Vietnamese food, which was tasty. Participants have to rate the chicken-based meal on taste and presentation. I'm not at all competitive, so it's hard for me to participate in this part. What will I cook when it's my turn? Yipes I have no idea. I'm hoping my sister can help me come up with something Italian and interesting.
I stopped at Linda's last night, briefly, and friends from Baltimore were there. Other friends are hosting a duck dinner one night this week and a wine & cheese tasting on another night. I should take an evening off to get the dogs to the vet before leaving for RI. This will interfere with my social AND financial lives, but I think it would be a good thing to do. That would be tomorrow night. Hmmmm. I'm undecided about this. One reason for doing it now is that they would get their Lyme vaccinations, and we're heading into prime Lyme country. Kitty will be incarcerated for 2 weeks (more animal expense). See? I couldn't afford new tires at all.
I have tons of lilies blooming in a few different places around the house. I like lilies and have usually stuck to Asiatic lilies, but I bought a bunch of lily-combo packs and stuffed the bulbs in the ground. Right now there are tiger lilies blooming, along with the day lilies, of course. I was supposed to get married when I was 19 and the year before the scheduled wedding my mother planted a yardful of lilies for my outdoor wedding. The wedding never happened, but she said the lilies were spectacular. Sorry I missed it, huh.
I go to the dentist on Thursday to have my permanent retainers put in. Right now I'm wearing plastic removable ones that are so horrible I can't wait. This is the final (I hope) installment of my Tooth Drama. So far they're still lined up as well as they were when I got my braces off. As they should be.
Yes, I bought a new car. Another Civic. I think this is my 6th Civic. It's a 2012, not that I wanted such a new one because they've redesigned the car almost completely this time. Anyway, it's pretty and it's new. I got a fairly ok trade-in for my old car--a 2008 Civic with 67,000 miles on it and some body issues. I needed new tires and knew it wouldn't cost that much extra to have a new car, so I opted for the new car. Now I get to worry about messing up this car. I got it on Friday and so far: wet dogs have ridden in the back seat; I've taken garbage to the dump in it; I'm still trying to figure out how to make everything work but I finally figured out how to turn the radio on (or even more, how to turn it off); I'm trying to figure out why the colors on the dashboard display change from blue to green to bluish green; I've driven it to the boat house without doing any (apparent) damage to it; I'm still trying to figure out how to make it stop locking all the doors when it goes forward and/or stops. My sister reminded me that, when I got my previous Civic I complained that it had too many complicated things to figure out. Mostly it was the digital speedometer, which I now much prefer. I'll probably never figure out how or why to use the USB port and who knows if I'll ever have a cell phone or MP3 player. But it's always good to be prepared, no?
Work is moving along, nice calm pace. Home life not so much. There are many people in Hawkeye right now, all wanting to get together, eat, drink, be merry. I hosted a cocktail party for about a dozen people on the boat house porch, which got others in the mood to do more of the same. Last week I had dinner with 3 cousins, with much reminiscing about the past. Sunday at noon we had round 2 of the Hawkeye Chicken Wars, hosted by Joe & Martha. They served Vietnamese food, which was tasty. Participants have to rate the chicken-based meal on taste and presentation. I'm not at all competitive, so it's hard for me to participate in this part. What will I cook when it's my turn? Yipes I have no idea. I'm hoping my sister can help me come up with something Italian and interesting.
I stopped at Linda's last night, briefly, and friends from Baltimore were there. Other friends are hosting a duck dinner one night this week and a wine & cheese tasting on another night. I should take an evening off to get the dogs to the vet before leaving for RI. This will interfere with my social AND financial lives, but I think it would be a good thing to do. That would be tomorrow night. Hmmmm. I'm undecided about this. One reason for doing it now is that they would get their Lyme vaccinations, and we're heading into prime Lyme country. Kitty will be incarcerated for 2 weeks (more animal expense). See? I couldn't afford new tires at all.
I have tons of lilies blooming in a few different places around the house. I like lilies and have usually stuck to Asiatic lilies, but I bought a bunch of lily-combo packs and stuffed the bulbs in the ground. Right now there are tiger lilies blooming, along with the day lilies, of course. I was supposed to get married when I was 19 and the year before the scheduled wedding my mother planted a yardful of lilies for my outdoor wedding. The wedding never happened, but she said the lilies were spectacular. Sorry I missed it, huh.
I go to the dentist on Thursday to have my permanent retainers put in. Right now I'm wearing plastic removable ones that are so horrible I can't wait. This is the final (I hope) installment of my Tooth Drama. So far they're still lined up as well as they were when I got my braces off. As they should be.
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