Blue-Footed Musings

We brought some of our family games with us. My father even played a few rounds of Stinker and Five Crowns with us, which was awesome, because normally he’s not a big one for games, particularly not in the evening when he is tired. He was just as good at Stinker as I had thought he’d be. But, it was my husband’s entry for the category of breakfast cereal slogans that was the most memorable. It was “Doo doo that sunrise!” After that round, every player who had the same selection of letters also incorporated “doo doo” into their answer.

We picked blueberries at a little farm on a hill. My dad made blueberry pancakes for us the next day. We had a lot of blueberries left over, and we brought them home with us. Later my husband and I made them into a blueberry pie. Yum.

We took a lot of walks. We walked around the neighborhood, down the shore, and over to the local memorial park, among other places. My dad took me and the kids down a local nature trail. He and I also found a nice area of sandy shore that was open to the public but not much frequented, as it was sort of hidden away. We brought my husband and kids back there the next day. It turned out to be a great shell-collecting site, plus there were little fishes, mussels, and shrimp in the water, and wildflowers along the edges. We had the beach to ourselves while we were there. It was pretty much perfect.

There is a deer that browses in the neighborhood. My parents have named her Flora. She got very close to the house one day. We watched her from the window for a while, then Livia and I went outside and took selfies with her in the background. Flora was remarkably chill about us being in the yard with her.

I chitchatted a lot with my parents. It was great.

We went to a maple syrup store where we sampled four types of syrup (light, medium, and dark, plus bourbon-infused). The owner poured out samples for himself, too. If it’s possible to be addicted to syrup, he’s gotta be, because I’ve never seen anyone happier to taste maple syrup. It was a novel experience for me to drink syrup, though my mom tells me that it’s a popular thing in Vermont, which explains the guy’s addiction, I guess. We spent a veritable fortune, buying three kinds of syrup, plus maple kettle corn, maple cotton candy, and maple candy. But, to our surprise, grandpa picked up the bill, so all that yumminess was free, free, deliciously free. Thanks, Grandpa!

The running joke during our stay was that every outbuilding that the kids saw, from the smallest shed to the biggest barn, was a “writer’s haven” (a place where a writer can get away from the world and write in solitude–my husband is planning to build one for me). The more dilapidated and/or less suitable the building was for writing, the funnier it was.

Last week we finally visited my parents. We went up on Tuesday and returned on Saturday. It was a short visit, mostly because we didn’t want to leave our pet rats by themselves for longer without knowing how they’d fare. But, three days is pretty much the ideal visit time, so the rats might have done us a favor by forcing our return before we had overstayed our welcome. Impressions:

• It was good to see my parents. The last year-and-a-half took its toll on all of us, but on some more noticeably than others. Going forward we need to get together more often, even if COVID-19 gets bad again.
• I’m planning to visit again soon. I may take the kids up there myself and leave my husband at home (but only if he wants to stay home–a little time alone might be nice for him, but then again, maybe he’d like to relax up in VT, too).
• Vermont is full of wildflowers. I took some pictures, but not as may as I would have liked. I hope to find more time for that on my next visit.
• TBH, I do not love the lake that my parents live near, particularly because it’s so far away. But, there are a lot of positives. The house is pretty, comfortable, and conveniently located. There are restaurants, a grocery store, and a weekly farmer’s market within walking distance, plus plenty of scenic places to walk. The children enjoy collecting shells on the beach, and there’s a boat landing nearby with an excellent view of the sunset.
• It’s good to be home. We hadn’t done a ton of cleaning before we left, but our bed was made, the dishes done, the kitchen counter clear, and my office neat. All of those things helped to make our return comfortable rather than anxious. The older I get, the more any disorder in my immediate surroundings affects me, so I am grateful to Me-Last-Week for getting those things done.
• The rats were physically fine when we returned and seemed to be in good spirits. They still had food and water left. So, if we need to leave them home alone again, we can feel comfortable doing so.