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Wednesday, December 15, 2010

What I Did on My Vacation.

Amazingly, by the time we were an hour into the trip, I completely relaxed and forgot about the farm.  Really.  It was a great vacation - in every conceivable way.  It was short enough, long enough, active enough and restful enough.  It did help that I was traveling with a good friend who is simpatico. 

In no particular order, we:

Walked through some real estate
Met Sylvie's daughter, Julie (beautiful AND talented), SIL Dave (amazing father), the kidlings (Henry, Eli, Zuzu, and Ramona - all bright, fun and gorgeous)


Eli (left) and Henry (right)
 
Flying Ramona and Zuzu modeling her Halloween costume.

Sylvie reading to Zuzu (who has BLUE eyes, not red, darn it)
Walked
Visited Bug Light

Sylvie on our walk to Bug Light


Bug Light.
Walked
Wandered around an architectural salvage warehouse
Squeezed through the amazing Picnic Maine Holiday Craft Fair at the beautiful Maine Irish Heritage Center
Ate Thai food
Walked some more

View from the walking path around the bay
Read
Found a) the greatest Goodwill ever

My $13 Jones of NY coat! (with a glass of Two-Buck-Chuck)
and
b) the country's largest Trader Joe's

It brings me to tears just thinking about it.
Drove to Freeport
Walked even more
Read

Inside Sylvie's little pied-`a-terre.
Talked

View off the deck of same.
Slept.

One thing that really impressed me was the friendliness of every single person we met.  That included people walking their dogs, toll booth workers, store clerks, gas station attendants, people in line.  Every. Single. One.  You would have to live in New York to understand the sheer magnitude of this!

Everything at the farm was great - with the exception of dog antics (a peanut butter eating event, followed by the emptying of the compost pail).  Everyone was happy to see me and the feeling was very mutual.  We managed to pull up my driveway just when the snow started, so our timing was perfect.  Thank you, Sylvie, for the best long weekend ever; thank you, Julie, for your warm hospitality; and thank you, Ellen, for making it possible for me to go!

8 comments:

The Apple Pie Gal said...

Great photos! Glad that you had just the right mix of everything and helllooo, the largest Trader Joes? Cool!

Mama Pea said...

What a perfect mini-vacation! (Ya know, they don't always turn out that way.) I think you should do that once a month!

Photos make it all come back again, don't they? Thanks for sharing.

P.S. Our nearest Trader Joe's is about 350 miles away. I'd take even a teeny-tiny one near us!

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

Your post just brings back all the things I love about Maine. We were to busy on the farm this years to make our annual trip. Now I feel like a was there a little.

Susan said...

APG - I took more but they mysteriously disappeared! SoPo is a lovely place - neat neighborhoods, lovely views, great shops.

Mama Pea - I would be afraid that I would start reading real estate ads if I went back that often...our closest TJ's is a two hour drive. It just is not fair! If we can have a chicken in every pot, why can't we have a Trader Joe's in every city??

Jane - I will be a return visitor myself. Having a farm makes it very difficult to get away; even a tiny farmlet like mine.

Erin said...

I'm lucky, I have a TJ's a mile away, just opened last year - I do love the 2 (now 3) buck Chuck LOL! Thanks for sharing those photos, and great find on the coat, I love thrift shopping, especially when I don't have kids tagging along, they suck the fun right out of that activity :)

Anonymous said...

Ok, time to be honest. I have never been to a Trader Joes... we've driven by one that is 6 hours away that I can see from the freeway when we go past it. I love the goodies I've sampled from friends. Maybe some day?

Susan said...

Erin - you lucky girl!!!! The 2 buck chuck is really 2-and-a-half buck chuck. And, yes, it is a definite plus to thrift shop with adults only!

HJ&F - If you ever have the chance, you should visit a TJ. They have an amazing array of organic and healthy stuff at low prices. The staff is friendly and helpful, too!

Julie Falatko said...

Susan, we had such a fun time with you! It was SO great to finally have you here. Trader Joe's is calling you, can you hear it??