Sunday night's post - just gettin' back in the routine

Rats! I didn't realize it was 9:00 p.m. already.
cleaned house today
did laundry today
vacuumed, washed AND waxed car today and I am ready to crash.

Lucky for me, my mom has just sent me a perfect little synopsis of our trip!
(My comments are added in blue :o) )

Trip to New England

Jet Blue is the way to fly! No charge for baggage, or soft drinks or snacks. Plenty of leg room. No first class section, and boarding and security went quickly. (We also enjoyed XM radio and found out you can use your own standard headphones.)

We had no problem getting seats together--all we did was look forlorn, and I explained how we'd saved all year for this trip. Nice man at the gate fixed us up fine, and even gave us each a kiss on the cheek! ("Nice man" indeed! Actually, I think he was smitten with my mom and only gave ME a peck on the cheek to be polite!)

We stayed at an old Wyndham, which had been refurbished. The only problem we had was getting an internet connection in our room; Melle had to go down to the lobby to use the slower loading free internet there time after time. Finally she complained strongly when we left and the manager took off the cost of a movie we watched. (Yep, totally true, that's just about how it went!)

I washed my hair with the hotel shampoo on Wednesday and it dried looking like Art Garfunkel's. So luckily I had my wig along, and wore that the rest of the time. ("Art Garfunkel", yep, I'm afraid that was about true too. :o) )

Monday we visited the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, MA. It's simply grand! Dedicated to the art of children's books, it featured works by several other top artists besides Carle himself. We perused the little book store there, and picked up some gifts for the girls, as well as ourselves (!!). (My most favorite purchase was two yards of fabric that looks like Eric's work in Brown Bear, Brown Bear - gotta make new aprons for the art room out of that as soon as possible!)

Melle's father in law loaned us his GPS. Melle named it "Dee Dee", for everywhere we went there was a Dunkin Donuts shop, sometimes two opposite on the same street. New England thrives on DD! Dee Dee the GPS saved us many a time from getting lost. We really are happy to have had "her" help. (Yep, all totally true too! And each day (almost) started with a Boston Creme donut, until the word "Boston" was starting to leave a sour taste in my mouth because of all the interstate driving.)

Tuesday we flew from Plymouth to Nantucket. Saw some of Plymouth before we left for the puddle jumper trip to the island. There, we were taken sail boating and had a picnic lunch in the boat --a gorgeous day for sailing. Melle even learned how to use the tiller and take down the sail. She took many photos all along the way. Our host & hostess were Robert Frazier (poet/writer) and his wife, Karol. (That's right! Captain Jack Sparrow, watch out! Captain Melle is on the high seas!)

Wednesday it was time to travel to new Hampshire (New London) to visit Tomie De Paolo's book store --not actually his, but he lives nearby and his books are there, signed.
N.H. is the prettiest state I've ever seen! We were so impressed by the tidy villages and homes, the shrubbery and carefully orchestrated gardens. We ate at a delightful seafood/tearoom "The Millstone". Out in back, we discovered all sorts of photographical treasures. Melle has some posted at her blog. (Yes! and I'll attach a few more to this post.)

Got to meet with two fellow poets/friends on Thursday at Papa Razzi Italian restaurant outside of Providence. Long and enjoyable lunch and chat! (Lots of fun here too. Mom's friends made me feel very welcomed - we even chatted about photography a little :o) )

Finally back to the car rental place during Boston rush hour. It was horrible! We missed several turns because there was no way to change lanes. Made it about three minutes to closing. If we hadn't, we'd have had to get a cab back to the hotel.(Yep!)

Melle vows she will never drive in Boston again. Or anywhere like it! (Yep!!)I wrote a song about that en route back to Tampa, "Ain't Gonna Drive that Tobin Bridge No More" --something like Dylan's "Ain't Gonna Work on Maggie's Farm No More". LOL!

Wonderful time, wonderful memories. We'll do another trip somewhere in a year or so.
(Yep, to North Carolina to visit Donna Downey, or to Arizona somewhere???)

Off to bed - night, night everyone.
thanks for checking in!
Melle