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Tuesday, November 1, 2011

C'est Manifiques! Wunderbar! Now it's over.

The Wyeth exhibit building.

Lovely garden behind the Farnsworth Museum.
Three short sentences to describe my long weekend vacation!  I was immersed in cul-cha:  the Farnsworth Museum on Saturday, soaking up the beautiful paintings and sketches of Andrew Wyeth, with a pinch of Nevelson thrown in.  Then, on Sunday, the Portland Art Museum, for a lovely exhibit of Shaker furniture (most pieces came from the Hancock Shaker Village, right down the road from me!), a wonderful photography exhibit of shots of a Brittany farm (circa 1980), a movie (OMG, Sylvia and I were trying to remember the last time we had been in an actual movie theater) - in French, ahem, Mozart's Sister.  I was almost cultured-out.  Nah.

Taken through glass at the PAM - wish it was more clear.  The figure is formed with
thick metal wires, filled with rocks and stones.
There were the divine crab cakes at the Brass Compass in Rockport, TWO trips to Trader Joe's (be still my heart), tip-toeing through the colorful chaos of Mexicali Blues, not to mention, dinner with her daughter, husband and four wunderkinds.  I also discovered Reny's, which almost defies description - picture this:  within 20 feet of entering the store, you can buy snowshoes, gardening supplies, canned goods, clothing, shoes, cleaning supplies, home decorating items, and sleds.  Need I say more?  Should we ALL have a Reny's nearby?  Oui.  And the prices were L.O.W.  And there was Goodwill.  And lots of great, cheap red wine, wonderful conversation and another opportunity to discover the glories of Portland and South Portland.  The area has everything one could want - not too big, friendly people, lots to do - with most of it free, dogs galore (you just have to love a city that has that many dogs!), great architecture.

Henry, as always, with his nose in a book.

Hey, what's Henry reading?  Zuzu and Eli.

Oh, oh.  It's that scary woman!

The only dip in the bliss was the freak snow storm that came through.  Of course, I was way more stressed than my sister back on the farm - she just didn't want the power to go out.  We were very lucky at home - a foot of snow, but no power outages.  What would I do without her?  Portland got high winds, sleet, rain, and a little snow.  I did not get much sleep on Saturday, but made up for it on Sunday night - 10 hours.  Yes, you read that right.  TEN HOURS. 

We saw a lot of tree destruction on our way home and heard the reports of so much damage done just south and east of us.  After going through the storm at the farm, my sister had to drive home to no power.  She should have stayed!!!  And that has nothing to do with the fact that she cleaned my house.  Really.  Nothing at all.

Now, that's more like it!  Mony loves her grandmother.

16 comments:

dr momi said...

Sounds like a great trip!! Love that last shot :-)

Sue said...

Well, I hope you didn't get TOO much Culture. You would forget all us "little people"....LOL!

Susan said...

dr momi - Isn't she adorable? She just gazes lovingly at Sylvia for hours.

Sue - Oh, you are too funny! Of course I won't forget y'all, non, non, non!

Judy T said...

Glad you had a lovely time and weathered the weather!
Judy

Susan said...

Judy - Thanks! It was just the perfect amount of time.

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

I guess you were in Portland ME, right? I do love Maine. I have even started looking at property there. Ahhhh, maybe someday. Glad you had a good time and everyone behaved when you were gone.

Candy C. said...

What a lovely weekend! Glad your place was spared the power outages! What a NICE sister for farm sitting AND cleaning your house! Wish *I* had a sister, pout, pout! ;-)

Susan said...

Jane - Ha! I keep forgetting there are two Portlands (and probably many, many more). Yes, it was the Maine Portland. I have to say that Maine and Vermont are my two favs. When the final move comes, it will be to one of those two states. I did have a good time and everyone looked fatter when I got home.

judy said...

there was my culture experience for the week-accompanied by the little cuties. we went to a shaker house- my daughter curled up and the bed and fell asleep! the proprietor did not mind. this was in KY. funny that they shakers survived at all with there particular little off set of not having off-spring

Carolyn said...

Thank you for the pictures....now those of us stuck at the farm can pretend WE were there!

Glad you got home safely to an intact house/farm and that you sister didn't disown you for making her farmsit!

Ruralmama said...

That looks like a fabulous trip. As a resident of MN, it amazes me that we had such a mild Halloween, and the east coast was bombarded with snow! Usually it's us dreading the possibility of Princess costumes with a foot of snow, or sub-zero temps.

Ah well. I love the pics-- that last one is a keeper!

Susan said...

Candy - I'll have to say, it's nice having sisters. Especially sisters who love animals and clean!

Judy - I bet that was the cutest thing in the world!

Carolyn - Yes, and I am going to have to insist she learn how to milk - next year I'm breeding Sage.

Ruralmama - Isn't the weather weird? I think the new "normal" is "ab-normal".

Erin said...

How fun! This is definitely the time of year for road trips and family!

Mama Pea said...

Your little homestead got a FOOT of snow?? Unbelievable. We haven't even had the thinnest covering yet. Maybe you should move to Minnesota where it doesn't snow.

You saw some wonderful sights and did interesting things. Just exactly what a mini-vacation is supposed to be.

City Sister said...

I grew up with the Reny's of Shay Rennie's (as we locals call it) Really nice people (and Good Ole Mr. Reny gave us a $50 gift certificate for our wedding...He was pals with my grandmother growing up.) I second the motion that every town should have a Reny's And the Farnsworth...don't get me started...it's my favorite ever!

Susan said...

Erin - I love road trips! Of course, now they are restricted to day trips, but I love them just the same.

Mama Pea - Yes. And what's up with that? Keep the front light on - I'll be up in a sec!!

City Sister - I think Reny's would give every discount and department store a run for their money. It's like the very best general store in the world!