Adventuring
Can you ask for a weekend more wonderful than this?
Rosemary came up Thursday night, and while we did our usual gallivanting, we also spent a lot of time just hanging around the apartment, snuggled up in the air conditioning and watching TV.
Friday was a Rosemary day: New England Carousel Museum, "Sex and the City" the movie, shopping, and even a DVR'd documentary about beavers. If I had organized a trip to the puppy parade, I'd have been a rock star.
The Carousel Museum was really fun. The Bristol wing of it is an old factory building, with nearly 100 horses on display. Our guide was very funny, and we had a good crowd with us. I never knew that much about carousels and their horses. It's interesting to see them and think of carousels as the thrill-ride entertainment of its heyday. They had the two-seater derby horses, which were loaded onto a steeplechase track that went 30 miles an hour: Imagine living in the 1920s, with your date clasped around your waist as you went the fastest speed known to man, with only a metal ring to hold onto?
"SatC" was pretty darn good. It had all its gags and dumb stuff, it tries too hard to throw out the Cinderella fairy tale and replace it with its own, and I still wag my finger at how all the non-white characters are plot devices only. But it also had some smart things to say about relationships, the biggest themes being that once you forget that it's just about the two of you together, the relationship falters, and that responsible people try to clean up their messes, and forgiveness must outweigh resentment. Some things it played deftly when I expected them to go dumb, and the dramatic scenes had some really unexpected punch. Otherwise, it was a little too long (the Judd Apatow 20-minutes-too-long kind of long), and I still don't like any of the characters except Big and Mario Cantone's character, though I have a new respect for the mature Samantha. Also, the sex scenes were cartoonish in a manner that befits direction by a man who doesn't have sex with women :P But for the one chick flick I've ever watched with Rosemary - in five freakin' years - this one had quality.
After "Sex," of course, comes shopping. I bought a few dress shirts and some new plaid shorts (damn this preppy look works on me!), and Rosemary discovered the joy of crop pants after I put my foot down on the cargo denim shorts. We had some delicious Thai for a break, and then back to more shopping before settling in for the night.
Saturday we got up for breakfast chimichongas and pancakes at Main Street Diner in Plainville - anyone who visits me in CT, I am taking you there. And then we came home and went back to sleep, knocked out by our carb coma. We pretty much hung out around the house until we met up with our friends Mike and Virginia in Collinsville for a walk around the Farmington River, antiques and dinner at the Crown and Hammer Pub. We always have a good time with them, and now we're planning a Six Flags visit. We had other plans for that night, but we were pretty tuckered out so we stayed in and watched George Carlin host the first episode of "Saturday Night Live." Usually we're here there and everywhere when we're together, so it was good to have some downtime.
Sunday I had to work, but got out early to take Rosemary to the train in Hartford. After a few hours at home, I got a phone call for my co-worker's birthday meetup at the Half Door in Hartford, so back out the door for a night of many pints of beer, a giant 22-ouncer of hefeweizen, and then a shot of SoCo before heading back home. Rosemary called while I was there, and she stewed in jealousy that I was hanging out with Mike and Virginia again without her.
More Rosemary time is coming up, with vacation in July, and she'll make another trip here in August. We always find something new to do, so maybe this time it'll be the Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe houses, and a trip to CT wine country. This state is gonna be our home, whether it likes it or not. And we're looking forward to making our home.
Rosemary came up Thursday night, and while we did our usual gallivanting, we also spent a lot of time just hanging around the apartment, snuggled up in the air conditioning and watching TV.
Friday was a Rosemary day: New England Carousel Museum, "Sex and the City" the movie, shopping, and even a DVR'd documentary about beavers. If I had organized a trip to the puppy parade, I'd have been a rock star.
The Carousel Museum was really fun. The Bristol wing of it is an old factory building, with nearly 100 horses on display. Our guide was very funny, and we had a good crowd with us. I never knew that much about carousels and their horses. It's interesting to see them and think of carousels as the thrill-ride entertainment of its heyday. They had the two-seater derby horses, which were loaded onto a steeplechase track that went 30 miles an hour: Imagine living in the 1920s, with your date clasped around your waist as you went the fastest speed known to man, with only a metal ring to hold onto?
"SatC" was pretty darn good. It had all its gags and dumb stuff, it tries too hard to throw out the Cinderella fairy tale and replace it with its own, and I still wag my finger at how all the non-white characters are plot devices only. But it also had some smart things to say about relationships, the biggest themes being that once you forget that it's just about the two of you together, the relationship falters, and that responsible people try to clean up their messes, and forgiveness must outweigh resentment. Some things it played deftly when I expected them to go dumb, and the dramatic scenes had some really unexpected punch. Otherwise, it was a little too long (the Judd Apatow 20-minutes-too-long kind of long), and I still don't like any of the characters except Big and Mario Cantone's character, though I have a new respect for the mature Samantha. Also, the sex scenes were cartoonish in a manner that befits direction by a man who doesn't have sex with women :P But for the one chick flick I've ever watched with Rosemary - in five freakin' years - this one had quality.
After "Sex," of course, comes shopping. I bought a few dress shirts and some new plaid shorts (damn this preppy look works on me!), and Rosemary discovered the joy of crop pants after I put my foot down on the cargo denim shorts. We had some delicious Thai for a break, and then back to more shopping before settling in for the night.
Saturday we got up for breakfast chimichongas and pancakes at Main Street Diner in Plainville - anyone who visits me in CT, I am taking you there. And then we came home and went back to sleep, knocked out by our carb coma. We pretty much hung out around the house until we met up with our friends Mike and Virginia in Collinsville for a walk around the Farmington River, antiques and dinner at the Crown and Hammer Pub. We always have a good time with them, and now we're planning a Six Flags visit. We had other plans for that night, but we were pretty tuckered out so we stayed in and watched George Carlin host the first episode of "Saturday Night Live." Usually we're here there and everywhere when we're together, so it was good to have some downtime.
Sunday I had to work, but got out early to take Rosemary to the train in Hartford. After a few hours at home, I got a phone call for my co-worker's birthday meetup at the Half Door in Hartford, so back out the door for a night of many pints of beer, a giant 22-ouncer of hefeweizen, and then a shot of SoCo before heading back home. Rosemary called while I was there, and she stewed in jealousy that I was hanging out with Mike and Virginia again without her.
More Rosemary time is coming up, with vacation in July, and she'll make another trip here in August. We always find something new to do, so maybe this time it'll be the Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe houses, and a trip to CT wine country. This state is gonna be our home, whether it likes it or not. And we're looking forward to making our home.