I can do stuff...
or I can write about stuff. Not able to do both, it seems, at least not with regularity.
[Note, I'm putting all town names etc. in as initials, just so as not to make idenitfying too easy. If you already know where I live, you can probably figure it out without trouble; I'm thinking more random folks Googling or whatever.]
We rented a cabin for three nights at Lake E. (man-made; they're all man-made here) about 2-3 hours drive away. En route there we stopped in small town W. where there's a window-making business, from which SO is planning to buy custom-made wooden storm windows for our living room (south front, and possibly also the west front of the LR plus the DR) (all this if we get approval from the board, our house being in a local historic distric). Had a good deli lunch there and talked with the window guy for nearly half an hour, so that was all fine, before pushing on to our cabin.
Had some trouble locating the cabin place but SO had the phone number (phew) so was able to call and get better directions. (Google Map!fail) It was actually an old mobile home, so a bit grungy in decor but otoh very clean, and the AC worked fairly well. We could walk easily (<5 minutes) to a tiny public access shale "beach", or drive about 5 mins. to a larger public access sandy beach on the lake. I confess that I never actually swam, but SO did and Juno mostly raced up and down the shore, biting at the little waves and generally enjoying herself. We ate leftovers we'd brought with us for dinner Thursday.
Friday morning at the sandy beach there was a local woman swimming with her dog, and Juno played with the other dog for a while. SO was an excellent visitor citizen and helped clean up where several people had clearly not just left the detritus of partying (bottles etc.) but had in fact dumped trash from their boats or whatever (giveaway - sanitary napkins and diapers among the mess left. ew). I helped a very little bit but mostly made sure Juno didn't get into anything bad.
We wandered around the local semi-touristy town, E., which we quite enjoyed. The woman at the beach had recommended a place for having good barbecue, so we tried that for lunch and were favorably impressed. Bought a t-shirt for SO and a blouse for me (that I could wear to work this fall). Then we went back to the cabin to walk Juno, before going to small city M. where we first visited a museum of Native American stuff, then went through an impressive city park, before going out to a nice dinner at Miss A's (we'd located this restaurant and made reservations well before, although as it turned out they weren't all that busy and we'd have been okay; indeed we ended up showing up about an hour early and had no trouble getting seated immediately).
Saturday after walking Juno we went back to E. for diner breakfast, this diner having been recommended by the woman who ran the shop where SO bought his t-shirt. Good solid diner breakfast, and apparently the place is a local institution. Then back to the cabin, and I took a nap while SO took a swim (sans Juno, since he couldn't watch her and swim at the same time). I should say that Juno, although liking the lake shore pretty well, was not that keen on the cabin for some reason; perhaps because the AC was so noisy, or maybe because it was all one long rather crowded sequence of rooms, not much room for her to move around easily (our own home being rather under-furnished and mostly having lots of open floor space). Anyhow, she was restless every night, making sleep not so easy, hence the need for a nap for me.
But getting back to Saturday, we had a very small bite for lunch, then went to see a very tiny town, K., formerly a mining town but now barely there at all. Went to the town's little local museum (definitely a local amateur effort, but hey, still had some interesting items even if the organization could have been more effective). Stopped by the Italian grocery (large Italian population) and were tempted into buying some of their homemade cheese + sausage + vinegars + bread. (We had brought our cooler along in case we did this. Heh.) Had made a reservation for dinner at a local Italian restaurant, but still had over 2 hours to kill at that point, so went to the larger town only about 5 miles away, M., where we serendipitously discovered a local winery's tasting room and ended up just hanging out there for the duration. SO had a glass of wine, and we bought a bottle of that plus another bottle to give as a gift to one of his colleagues.
Then back to the Italian restaurant, which is locally famous (has been there since the 1920s, brewed beer illegally for many years and now has a legal microbrewery associated with it); dinner is served family style, there's no choice in anything but the entree. So antipasti plate, salad, spaghetti w/ meatballs, ravioli, and garlic bread come automatically with every meal, and in fact one can choose to just have spaghetti and ravioli, and leave it at that. But we both had chicken parmesan and thought it very good. Came home and took Juno for one last swim at the shale beach, and Saturday night finally thought to take off her collar so she wouldn't jingle as much in her pacing.
Came home today (Sunday) via small highways rather than the interstate, which took us about 3 hours but was pleasanter. We unloaded the car and got everything put away, then I did a couple loads of laundry, the grocery shopping, and went to get a couple of take-and-bake pizzas for dinner. SO is going to make dinner tomorrow ( turkey burgers from the freezer for him, Italian sausage from that grocery for me, what else I do not know); I'll make crockpot chicken Tuesday, which is easy. Beyond that, no clue. SO may have to make something else this week, since he'll be around and I don't get home till nearly 6:30. No CSA report, since we gave that to our neighbors last Friday.
Oh yeah, I did manage to edit the remaining request drabbles, so hopefully will post those over the next week. No other writing though. And no pics, sorry folks; I am just not a picture-taker and don't even have a digital camera. SO has one but didn't bring it, as he's not a picture-taker either (he owns his to photograph archival documents).
On the whole, a good vacation, if maybe a little busier than I would ideally like. Not that we were rushed or pressured into doing anything we didn't want to do, just that we did rather a lot in what amounted to less than 2-1/2 days, without having much down time.
And now it's just after 9 pm and I should probably have a slice or two of banana bread as my dessert, put the leftover pizza away, and go to bed. Back to work tomorrow - only a couple of more days for my predecessor, and then I'll be flying solo. Whew.
[Note, I'm putting all town names etc. in as initials, just so as not to make idenitfying too easy. If you already know where I live, you can probably figure it out without trouble; I'm thinking more random folks Googling or whatever.]
We rented a cabin for three nights at Lake E. (man-made; they're all man-made here) about 2-3 hours drive away. En route there we stopped in small town W. where there's a window-making business, from which SO is planning to buy custom-made wooden storm windows for our living room (south front, and possibly also the west front of the LR plus the DR) (all this if we get approval from the board, our house being in a local historic distric). Had a good deli lunch there and talked with the window guy for nearly half an hour, so that was all fine, before pushing on to our cabin.
Had some trouble locating the cabin place but SO had the phone number (phew) so was able to call and get better directions. (Google Map!fail) It was actually an old mobile home, so a bit grungy in decor but otoh very clean, and the AC worked fairly well. We could walk easily (<5 minutes) to a tiny public access shale "beach", or drive about 5 mins. to a larger public access sandy beach on the lake. I confess that I never actually swam, but SO did and Juno mostly raced up and down the shore, biting at the little waves and generally enjoying herself. We ate leftovers we'd brought with us for dinner Thursday.
Friday morning at the sandy beach there was a local woman swimming with her dog, and Juno played with the other dog for a while. SO was an excellent visitor citizen and helped clean up where several people had clearly not just left the detritus of partying (bottles etc.) but had in fact dumped trash from their boats or whatever (giveaway - sanitary napkins and diapers among the mess left. ew). I helped a very little bit but mostly made sure Juno didn't get into anything bad.
We wandered around the local semi-touristy town, E., which we quite enjoyed. The woman at the beach had recommended a place for having good barbecue, so we tried that for lunch and were favorably impressed. Bought a t-shirt for SO and a blouse for me (that I could wear to work this fall). Then we went back to the cabin to walk Juno, before going to small city M. where we first visited a museum of Native American stuff, then went through an impressive city park, before going out to a nice dinner at Miss A's (we'd located this restaurant and made reservations well before, although as it turned out they weren't all that busy and we'd have been okay; indeed we ended up showing up about an hour early and had no trouble getting seated immediately).
Saturday after walking Juno we went back to E. for diner breakfast, this diner having been recommended by the woman who ran the shop where SO bought his t-shirt. Good solid diner breakfast, and apparently the place is a local institution. Then back to the cabin, and I took a nap while SO took a swim (sans Juno, since he couldn't watch her and swim at the same time). I should say that Juno, although liking the lake shore pretty well, was not that keen on the cabin for some reason; perhaps because the AC was so noisy, or maybe because it was all one long rather crowded sequence of rooms, not much room for her to move around easily (our own home being rather under-furnished and mostly having lots of open floor space). Anyhow, she was restless every night, making sleep not so easy, hence the need for a nap for me.
But getting back to Saturday, we had a very small bite for lunch, then went to see a very tiny town, K., formerly a mining town but now barely there at all. Went to the town's little local museum (definitely a local amateur effort, but hey, still had some interesting items even if the organization could have been more effective). Stopped by the Italian grocery (large Italian population) and were tempted into buying some of their homemade cheese + sausage + vinegars + bread. (We had brought our cooler along in case we did this. Heh.) Had made a reservation for dinner at a local Italian restaurant, but still had over 2 hours to kill at that point, so went to the larger town only about 5 miles away, M., where we serendipitously discovered a local winery's tasting room and ended up just hanging out there for the duration. SO had a glass of wine, and we bought a bottle of that plus another bottle to give as a gift to one of his colleagues.
Then back to the Italian restaurant, which is locally famous (has been there since the 1920s, brewed beer illegally for many years and now has a legal microbrewery associated with it); dinner is served family style, there's no choice in anything but the entree. So antipasti plate, salad, spaghetti w/ meatballs, ravioli, and garlic bread come automatically with every meal, and in fact one can choose to just have spaghetti and ravioli, and leave it at that. But we both had chicken parmesan and thought it very good. Came home and took Juno for one last swim at the shale beach, and Saturday night finally thought to take off her collar so she wouldn't jingle as much in her pacing.
Came home today (Sunday) via small highways rather than the interstate, which took us about 3 hours but was pleasanter. We unloaded the car and got everything put away, then I did a couple loads of laundry, the grocery shopping, and went to get a couple of take-and-bake pizzas for dinner. SO is going to make dinner tomorrow ( turkey burgers from the freezer for him, Italian sausage from that grocery for me, what else I do not know); I'll make crockpot chicken Tuesday, which is easy. Beyond that, no clue. SO may have to make something else this week, since he'll be around and I don't get home till nearly 6:30. No CSA report, since we gave that to our neighbors last Friday.
Oh yeah, I did manage to edit the remaining request drabbles, so hopefully will post those over the next week. No other writing though. And no pics, sorry folks; I am just not a picture-taker and don't even have a digital camera. SO has one but didn't bring it, as he's not a picture-taker either (he owns his to photograph archival documents).
On the whole, a good vacation, if maybe a little busier than I would ideally like. Not that we were rushed or pressured into doing anything we didn't want to do, just that we did rather a lot in what amounted to less than 2-1/2 days, without having much down time.
And now it's just after 9 pm and I should probably have a slice or two of banana bread as my dessert, put the leftover pizza away, and go to bed. Back to work tomorrow - only a couple of more days for my predecessor, and then I'll be flying solo. Whew.