To the Berkshires

We slept in until 9 with the cat snuggled in with us. Having a cat in the bed made us feel right at home!

We scurried around, throwing weekend essentials into smaller bags to take up to the lake house, then headed to Paul's restaurant for breakfast, then on to the nursing home to see Grandma.

Grandma was asleep when we got there but we woke her up and she was glad to see us. We gave her the book of Lexington pictures we had bought last year and she was very interested in it, even seeming to recognize some of the places in it. Then she insisted we stay for lunch. Of course we weren't at all hungry, having just eaten breakfast, but Grandma wasn't taking no for an answer, so we asked the nursing staff for reduced portions and went to the dining room. The food was pretty decent, for a nursing home. It was certainly no worse than anything students eat in college. The dessert-- chocolate cake-- was particularly good, although I can't imagine how they could've screwed it up.

After lunch we took Grandma back to her room for a nap, then picked up a few groceries for the lake house and headed north, toward the Berkshires. We got off track briefly in a little town with some of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen, but got straightened out again and soon were in Tolland, MA, where we were surprised to find that it was Black Fly Day and a small festival was going on. While we were pondering the meaning of Black Fly Day and trying to get a better look at the alpaca in the town square, we missed our turn and had to double back. After that though, we found the house with no trouble and let ourselves in.

After we unloaded our bags, we suited up for a run and ran twice around the lake, then took one of Aunt Susan's canoes out on the water for awhile. Tired after that, we had melon and ginger ale on the back patio and watched the local wildlife before going in and relaxing for a bit with our new books.

That evening we went to the New Boston Inn for dinner. The dining room was packed, so we had to wait in the pub for awhile, where we talked to a transplant from El Paso and watched the CNN news ticker. It had been so long since I had read any news that it was kind of nice to get caught up again on what was going on in the world.

We finally got a table and settled in for a very fine meal. There was enough food left over that we had it boxed up with a dinner salad for lunch the next day. After a dessert of blueberry streusel, we went upstairs to see if we could find any ghosts, since the inn is quite famously haunted. Dan felt very certain that there was something in the pool room, but I felt nothing. Later though, when I went into the bathroom something creeped me out so bad that I didn't dare look in the mirror and I nearly panicked when I had trouble getting the bathroom door to open. It was probably my imagination, but I sure wasn't chancing looking in that mirror and it was a relief to get back downstairs and out to the car.

Back at the house, we went for a little walk by flashlight, then hung out on the back porch watching the stars. Then I called home to check on the pets and found that Pixel, my antisocial cat who hates everyone, had taken a shine to my father. Poor little guy was lonely, I guess. Finally it was bedtime, and after a shower (quick so as not to run out of hot water), I went to bed.