hitting the road!

This morning Mom and I are getting on the road with our ultimate destination, Connecticut. I haven't seen my family in three and half years, and it is past time! Now that I'm unemployed I have the luxury of time for an extended visit, so I'll be gone for about ten days. She's got a box of fresh South Carolina peaches in the car and they smell so good that I may eat half of them before we get home, but I'll do my best to exercise restraint. Darn!

I'll check in from her place, and do my best to keep up with you all. Be well!

honey...!

I'm home!

I confess that I'm not fond of reentry. I would love to be in Florida still, enjoying the beautiful days of late fall and the pleasure of the company of friends. I like to laugh and leave the cares of my own world behind for a while. But likewise I love being home. It was luxurious this morning to sleep in with McKinlee at my feet, to get up to the pot of coffee that Ken had brewed for me, and to look out the window at the leaves that still cling tenaciously to trees, preening with one final, bold showing their glorious color. Reentry is bittersweet this way, caught between the pleasures and realities of worlds that do not coexist. To shift from one to the other will be helped by the act of unpacking, running loads of laundry, and turning my attention to the pressing schedules and tasks of the day ahead. To ease the transition I have pictures, and the sharing of new, "in" jokes through blogs, emails and chats with friends with whose company I have recently parted.

With the busyness of the week between my return from Melrose and Clare's subsequent arrival and our departure to Florida, I failed to share this particular gem from my visit with Mom. She made the acquaintance earlier in her stay of a woman named Bea, who had returned from a trip somewhere and brought with her the gift of this jar of honeycomb for Mom. Bea quickly became known as the Bee Lady!

In a time in our culture when we seek locally grown provisions, there comes with that change in our habits an appreciation for the natural state of things. Like honey. I simply could not help but feel elation just looking at this jar filled with honey, never mind the delight of enjoying it on my food.

Transitions are aided by things that bring comfort, so today I am sharing my comforting honey with you all as I pick back up the rituals and routines of home. It IS good to be home, and I savor the day with the joys of life on this side of the journey.

friday five: vacations

Mary Beth at revgals is getting us thinking about vacations!

1) What did your family do for vacations when you were a child? Or did you have stay-cations at home?
In the summer we spent a couple of weeks in Hyannisport, where an elderly cousin had a house. Yes, it was on the water!! There were times when we stayed there while JFK was in office and we would watch Marine One fly in to the Kennedy Compound with the family on board (or at least some members of the family--we couldn't see them disembark). In spite of that excitement Hyannisport was just another place to spend time. We swam, learned to sail, walked down to the general store and post office to pick up mail, newspapers and licorice. There was a place in a nearby town that had homemade ice cream, and going there was always a treat. I have some wonderful memories from those vacations!

On spring vacations we visited Melrose, my family's tree farm in South Carolina. You've already heard about that place and seen some of its photos! Activities when we were kids were a little different than now. We did a lot more climbing around in trees, on huge rocks, had picnics by the creek at a favorite location, swung in the hammock, read books... We lived in Connecticut, so on many of our drives to and from (it's a good two-day drive) we detoured to places of historic significance: Valley Forge, Williamsburg, Monticello, Gettysburg. Those visits made our nation's history come alive for me in ways that might not have happened otherwise. The colonial and revolutionary war period continue to be favorites of mine.

2) Tell us about your favorite vacation ever:

Hands down, my best vacation was a two-week trip through Scotland to dance in castles. We were a fairly small group of country dancers (12), but we traveled with our own fiddler and pianist, which meant dancing to live music whenever and wherever! We danced at places like Blair Castle (pictured, in the ballroom) in Perthshire, Culzean Castle in Ayr, and smaller venues less well known. We also danced spontaneously--on the side of the road at Rest and be Thankful (the dance of that name), on the ferry, in an empty chamber at Castle Campbell. It was the most extraordinary trip, and twenty years later I am still in touch with some of my fellow dancers that I met on that trip (four of them came to my wedding three years ago!). There are not enough superlatives to describe it.

3) What do you do for a one-day or afternoon getaway...is there a place nearby that you escape to on a Saturday afternoon/other day off?
I adore Cheekwood Botanical Garden in Nashville. Middle Tennessee has lots of interesting places to go to within a relatively short distance. In fact, when my husband returns from his fishing trip I'm going to suggest we go strawberry picking at a place near a popular lake less than an hour from us.
4) What's your best recommendation for a full-on vacation near you...what would you suggest to someone coming to your area? (Near - may be defined any way you wish!)
Depending on what you like to do, there's lots to do in Nashville (and it's not all about country music!), or the Smokey Mountains are a few hours east. I have fallen in love with the Smokies. The mountain streams are clean and clear; the moutains are covered with rhododenron; there is history; music; shopping; horseback riding; hiking; fishing...

5) What's your DREAM VACATION?

There are a number of places that I'd like to visit: return to Scotland, head to Cantabria on the north coast of Spain, visit Italy, see Machu Picchu in Peru, and get to New Zealand where my friend Clare lives. But since we're talking about dreaming here and reality doesn't have to intrude, my dream vacation would be to spend a week or so anywhere with our kids and grandkids (so far there is one grandchild, with a second on the way). We aren't especially close these days with my step-daughter and her family, and step-son isn't married yet so the next generation from that branch of the tree is yet to come. But in some hopefully not distant day it would be a treat it we could all be together and enjoy being a family together. That is my dream.