My vacations...
And when the hour of his departure drew near---
"Ah," said the fox, "I shall weep."
"It is your own fault," the little prince said.
"I never wanted to do you any harm,
but you insisted that I tame you. . ."
"Yes of course", the fox said.
"But you're going to weep!"
said the little prince.
"Yes of course" the fox said.
"Then you get nothing out of it!"
"I get something," the fox said,
"because of the color of the wheat."
Then he added:
"go look at the roses again.
You'll understand
that yours is the only rose in all the world.
Then come back to say goodbye,
and I'll make you the gift of a secret."
The little prince went
to look at the roses again.
"You're not at all like my rose.
You're nothing at all yet," he told them.
No one has tamed you, and you haven't tamed anyone.
You're the way my fox was.
He was just a fox
like a hundred thousand others.
But I've made him my friend,
and now he's the only fox in all the world."
And the roses were humbled.
"You're lovely, but you are empty," he went on.
"One couldn't die for you.
Of course, an ordinary passer-by would think
my rose looked just like you
But my rose, all on her own,
is more important
than all of you together,
since she's the one I've watered.
Since she's the one I put under glass.
Since she's the one I sheltered behind a screen.
Since she's the one for whom I killed the caterpillars
(except the two or three for butterflies);
Since she's the one I listened to
when she complained,
or when she boasted,
or even sometimes when she said nothing at all.
Because she's MY rose."
And he went back to the fox.
"Goodbye" he said.
"Goodbye," said the fox.
"Here is my secret. It's quite simple:
One sees clearly only with the heart.
Anything essential is invisible to the eyes."
"Anything essential is invisible to the eyes,"
the little prince repeated,
in order to remember.
"It is the time you spent on your rose
that makes your rose so important.”
"It is the time you spent on my rose...,”
the little prince repeated,
in order to remember.
“People have forgotten this truth,” the little fox said.
“But you mustn’t forget it.
You become responsible forever for what you've tamed.
You're responsible for your rose...”
On my first day of vacation we had the joy of gazing up the JEEP for about half of the usual price… Hurray for the US of A.
On our way to Runtt and Silvermane, we stopped for a hike at Mount Philo VT. Half way to the summit we took a small side trail called “The Devil’s chair”. It’s only after I took a picture of my mate that we understood the meaning of its name. We returned to the main trail and went to the summit for enjoying the view before heading back to the car. It was very pleasant to walk in the nature again. It is what I needed to realize that I was really on vacation.
We arrived at our friends place a bit late for diner but to our happy surprised, Silvermane had waited for us to eat diner. We went to eat some BBQ and to chat a bit. We came back and watch some “The Venture Bros” before heading to bed.
Next morning, my mate and I went to shop around while Runtt went to work and Silvermane slept in. We came back early after-noon and we all waited for Runtt to come back from work before going to eat hibachi at Kon. The food was succulent, the chef was entertaining and the company was overwhelming; we really had a blast.
The day was going toward its end but they brought us to see Fort Williams and the Portland Headlight where we took some photos before going for ice cream to end the day. We went back home where I stayed with Silvermane watching a pretty bad movie “Poltryguist” while Lupine went to watch some cartoon with Runtt. We finally all felt asleep on another movie “Killers from Space with the Film Crew” and we decided to call it a day.
Next morning, we packed our bags, we discussed some music and we watched “Dr. Horrible Sing Along Blog”. I haven’t laughed that much watching a movie in ages. Before long we were heading toward Brun’s place. We arrived just in time to catch him (we thought) on his return from work just to learn that he had taken the day off L. If we had known, we would have arrived much earlier.
Bruns invited us to diner at a nice little diner and we came back home where we chatted and watched some more of “The Venture Bros”. It is always so pleasant to chat with him; I really wish that I wasn’t leaving so far north. Before we went to sleep, he gave us his old “Think Pad” (which I am using right now to write my LJ report). We woke up early in the morning and sadly, we had to leave soon after so to let him go to work. I got another very valuable treasure before leaving… I got my number “2” ticket which I can’t wait to cash in ;)
Since we had a lot of time in our hand before our “Blue Man Group” show, we decided to visit the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester MA. I always dreamed of having an armor made for me and for my horse (well my future horse). Let me just say that this visit was as painful as it was wonderful. I came back with a lot of very nice pictures, memories and intensified desires. I highly recommend everyone to go visit tat exposition; it is well worth the $9.
We arrived in Boston with some time to spare before diner so we decided to go and see if Okemon was working. Sadly he wasn’t so we went for diner and headed up to the theatre. The show was highly entertaining; so much that the 1H45m show ended up leaving us on our appetite. Quite frankly I felt like the show lasted only for a bit more than half an hour so much it was perfect. I was also very surprised since I was expecting more songs and music (like in their DVDs) but was treated with a much more theatrical experience which left me even more enthralled. On a side note, I cannot say that I was impressed by Boston, quite the opposite; it is a town that I really didn’t like.
After the show, we headed out south of Boston to avoid the morning rush hour and as I write this, we are in a Walmart parking, getting ready for a night of sleep in the JEEP. Tomorrow morning, we will go visit the old “New-Gate Prison & Copper Mine” in East Granby CT before going to visit Princess and the Bear for a much needed relaxing treatment.
Time to go to bed now, my battery is almost dead.
Good night, let the angels keep you safe, healthy and may your dreams be pleasant.
-Kildoo
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Well the night was quite awful…
The Walmart parking lot we chose for our night of sleep was visited by one delivery truck (which kept his beams fully on, on us until the end of his delivery). The sweeper came that night and did the same as the delivery truck did as he was hand picking trashes on the grass areas. Finally, all the construction crew left in the middle of the night (around 2 AM) with there RAP music blasting out full throttle.
We decided to end our night at 7AM at the overture time for the Walmart. We slowly headed to visit the prison. We were very surprised to find it close. It seems that they changed there opening hours to Friday, Saturday and Sunday only. I will make sure to send them a very nice thank you letter (to them and to the tourism office). We then decided to head out directly to Bear and Princess. We were a bit early for our appointment but that left us some time to chill out and take a shower before getting to business.
The massage was simply wonderful and very liberating. After that, we savoured parmesan chicken that bear cooked for us. After diner, we chatted more. It was nice to have some time to better learn to know him and K’gra better. I see them every year for four years now but somehow never got the quality time to really learn to know them until now.
More time for that tomorrow but it is now 1AM and I must head up to bed since we have a lot on our plate for tomorrow.
Goodnight and sweet dreams.
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The next day was as wonderful as I had expected it. The only things that could have made it better is if Tama would have been able to tag along with us for the visit at the cartoon museum (five minute away of the FF hotel) and if the sun would have been a bit more present. In fact, my day was so enjoyable that even the news of my camera being broken (I cannot use my flash anymore without completely freezing he camera) didn’t bother me at all. I was just so happy to finally being able to enjoy Belic’s and Kgra’s company. I was so amazed at all the common points I share with Belic.
Sadly, life has its way to impose itself and I wasn’t going to be impeding in their work, so after a very pleasant after-noon, we left to pay a last visit to the falls of Wadsworth Falls state Park which Belic previously quickly showed us that day.
We took nice photos and we decided to head up toward LupineFox den so to avoid as much traffic as possible getting out of NY State before the morning rush hour. We took some back roads and again, we took a few nice night pictures of a beautiful pass. Around 11PM we found a Walmart in Milford and decided to park there for the night. It was one of the few Walmart in the USA that didn’t permit it (I think it is because of town’s law). So we went through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreational Area with all its road detours. I wish it would have been a bit less dark because the scenery looked promising. On the other hand, we probably would have missed the deer encounter.
We finally found another Walmart around midnight and we crashed there for the night.
Next morning, we did some shopping and went to LupineFox. He looked really busy so we left him to his work and went exploring the shops around. We went to a thrift store where we bought some clothes and 10 books. We also visited our only adult shop of the trip and all I can say is that it was very disappointing.
We went back to LupineFox’s den just in time; he was coming back from some chores and Soma arrived as Lupine was giving us a tour of his very interesting property. We went to visit Easton town. It was very interesting to listen to Soma and Lupine telling us about all the history of all the places we where seeing. We went to the a very surprising little book shop where I bought a cute mouse pad (adorned of two horses) and two books (Chosen by a Horse, and Chosen forever). When came time to pay, we noticed that my mate had lost his credit card but that was OK since we had other means to pay the bill.
The rain shortened our visit of the town and we headed to Don Pablos for some tasty food. We came back home and I learned how to play NERDS with Lupine, Soma and Skippy. Soon it was time for us to head to bed. My mate and I chatted some more with Skippy and finally we enjoyed a good night of sleep.
Next morning Lupine cooked us a delightful breakfast and introduced us to disc golf at which I sucked but I am please to say that I was the only one who didn’t loose a disc ;P. Soma arrived as the game was ending. It was decided that we would go visit the town Thorpe “town” before the evening meet.
The scenery was breathtaking. I could have been there a full weekend just taking pictures of everything. I also did something I usually don’t do, I visited and old house. Thanks to Soma cat, we saw something that was very insightful, very humbling and so beautiful. I know that this visit will stay with me for a long time and will make me reflect on many things (I know that I am somewhat vague here but this post is already so long…). As we were looking at shops (there items and the architecture of the buildings inside), an old man told us about a manor in ruined. Curious as we are, we went to find it and it was worth the climb. I love the feeling it leaves; that feeling that you just peeked on some private part of ancient life and that leaves you puzzling, trying to fill the gaps.
We ate at a small restaurant and we stopped at a view point on our way back. Sadly I dozed off on our way back home; the food, and the sun in my face (I didn’t have my sunglasses with me) was too much for me. Once home, I jumped in my fursuit and the meet was on. Oh what a nice meet it was. I met so many interesting new furs in addition to some I already knew. I did many back rubs, some nice cuddling and then I was kidnap by a very cuddly fur. It all started innocently but before I knew what was happening, the cuddling was more serious. I just hope I didn’t indispose anyone; I am usually very respectful of common place and I don’t exert such display in public but keep that for more restrained spaces. I don’t know why I did it… well maybe because I hadn’t had any kind of release since our departure (a week prior) but I don’t regret a thing.
After the meet was officially over, five of us talked about energy, technology and ways of life ‘till way too late in the morning but I just didn’t want to let it all end. I was way too aware that my vacation was over. Just before we all went to our bedrooms, Lupine came with his chain and mail because I wanted to try one. Knighthood has always be a very vivid fantasy for me… you could almost say a fetish so deep is the feeling that it brings to me. I was overjoyed just to be able to wear it for even such a short moment.
The feeling was all that I had imagined and more; heavy, hugging and simply overwhelming. Words are failing me; THANK YOU SO MUCH KINDLY LupineFox; for that and for everything else.
I woke up after a short four hours of sleep and I packed the JEEP preparing myself for our departure. Before we left, LupineFox took us in his chariot to the Farmer’s market where we found some nice little treasures. I bought myself two interesting hats and we were finally heading back north for a very long and depressing trip no matter the beautiful sceneries. We arrived at the border around midnight after over 1600 miles trip.
I just have to work to get over the PVD now.