(no subject)
Yesterday Ali and I drove up to have lunch at Pickety Place in Mason NH, about a 90 minute drive.
Get out a map RIGHT NOW and trace out our route, just for fun!
Start in Belmont MA, take Rt. 2 W to 495 N, exit onto 119 N through Groton, Townsend, over the line into NH. Quaint Groton and Townsend are in a forgotten corner of MA known as northern Middlesex County. I love this sleepy area of narrow valleys, sandy-floored pine forests, and wetlands, with old farms, orchards, and whatnot.
Picture yourself in a '94 Toyota on a beautiful warm spring day, sun shining after almost two solid weeks of rain, which started the weekend Kebbo came to visit and just wouldn't quit. All the streams and little rivers were churning along, and the trees and wildflowers were making up for lost time. Add to that the sense that a week of vacation was stretching out before you, and you will get a feel for how happy and content I was. Ahhhh!
Pickety Place is at the end of a long dirt road. It's an ancient farmhouse surrounded by herb gardens and tall trees. It was used as a model for the Big Bad Wolf's house in the most popular American edition of Little Red Riding Hood (the little Golden Book edition that most baby boomers grew up with). The place is now a restaurant with a tiny dining room that seats about 25 people, crammed into various nooks and crannies. You have to reserve a seating in advance, sometimes a month or more ahead. The menu changes every month, offering one meat and one vegetarian entree, seasoned exclusively with herbs from their garden. The price is great ($14.95), the food is good, the service unpretentious, and the grounds are lovely to walk around. I enjoyed just sitting on a bench soaking up the sun while Alikander shopped for a Mother's Day gift.
On the way back, there was one point where I spotted the Monadnock range in my rear view mirror -- the absolute southernmost foothills of the White Mountains, and I felt a terrible yearning to go north and be up there, sort of like Bilbo standing on his doorstep in Hobbiton and thinking about the distant Misty Mountains. I am very ready for the hiking season to start.
The whole experience was so serene that I ACTUALLY TOOK AN AFTERNOON NAP when I got home and didn't feel the least bit guilty about it.
Get out a map RIGHT NOW and trace out our route, just for fun!
Start in Belmont MA, take Rt. 2 W to 495 N, exit onto 119 N through Groton, Townsend, over the line into NH. Quaint Groton and Townsend are in a forgotten corner of MA known as northern Middlesex County. I love this sleepy area of narrow valleys, sandy-floored pine forests, and wetlands, with old farms, orchards, and whatnot.
Picture yourself in a '94 Toyota on a beautiful warm spring day, sun shining after almost two solid weeks of rain, which started the weekend Kebbo came to visit and just wouldn't quit. All the streams and little rivers were churning along, and the trees and wildflowers were making up for lost time. Add to that the sense that a week of vacation was stretching out before you, and you will get a feel for how happy and content I was. Ahhhh!
Pickety Place is at the end of a long dirt road. It's an ancient farmhouse surrounded by herb gardens and tall trees. It was used as a model for the Big Bad Wolf's house in the most popular American edition of Little Red Riding Hood (the little Golden Book edition that most baby boomers grew up with). The place is now a restaurant with a tiny dining room that seats about 25 people, crammed into various nooks and crannies. You have to reserve a seating in advance, sometimes a month or more ahead. The menu changes every month, offering one meat and one vegetarian entree, seasoned exclusively with herbs from their garden. The price is great ($14.95), the food is good, the service unpretentious, and the grounds are lovely to walk around. I enjoyed just sitting on a bench soaking up the sun while Alikander shopped for a Mother's Day gift.
On the way back, there was one point where I spotted the Monadnock range in my rear view mirror -- the absolute southernmost foothills of the White Mountains, and I felt a terrible yearning to go north and be up there, sort of like Bilbo standing on his doorstep in Hobbiton and thinking about the distant Misty Mountains. I am very ready for the hiking season to start.
The whole experience was so serene that I ACTUALLY TOOK AN AFTERNOON NAP when I got home and didn't feel the least bit guilty about it.