Today has been a very productive mix of work (4 hours this morning) and leisure this afternoon with art group.
Work is OK and it is nice to feel valued and serve a purpose and meet nice people but I am glad itis only a couple opf weeks every few months - suits me well.
At art today our brief was to be free and loose and paint with marks, no detail and quickly in sketchbook style. I haven't picked up a brush for 5 weeks and I really don't do free and loose, I do tiny and detailed and painstaiking hours. So it was a really really good exercise for me. And I loved it. I completed my painting in well under and hour and it looks kind of OK. I am not sure it is a style I will revert to but it was great fun.
Today I am thankful for
- work accomplished for the week
- my car - I love driving her and she is so so pretty
- the weekend - it starts now
- an amazing amazing DT package
And now on to travel journals as I left you just about to get to Concord Massachussettes where Nigel's brother lives.
Thursday 18th October Part 2
The One Where We Reach Historic Concord
Bridge traveled and recorded for posterity ... and scrapping, we continued towards Concord. Tummies were rumbling and the need for a Starbucks was great and so we entered a town called Keene. Well, it was so us. We love nature and scenery and views, but we also love retail therapy. Starbucks and fast food and Keene offered it all, I was thrilled to find cards at Target that were awesome. I had been upset that, when packing, I realized that whilst I had bought and wrapped presents for Nigel’s birthday which would be during the trip, with everything going on I had not bought a card. And yes, I do make cards, and no, it wasn’t happening at that point. I have vowed never to buy Nigel a birthday card from anywhere but America again. The cards had such wonderful words. Americans are not afraid to wear their hearts on their sleeves and that floats my boat.
Starbucks bought, Macdonalds eaten (I love that they have all day breakfast as I can have an egg McMuffin for lunch) and we agreed it would be rude not to visit the Michaels. My heart wasn’t in it though as I knew we had a lot of travel to accomplish and scrapbook supplies would be hard to store on the move so I was remarkably restrained. My time would come later. I did manage 4 180 sheet pads of paper though - well it would have been rude not to when they were half price
It wasn’t long before we were nearing Concord, Mass and, as it was earlier than expected, we decided to park up in the town and take a few photos as the sun was bright and the sky cloudless. We walked around, enjoying the small town feel and the picturesque buildings before a quick visit to the Alcott house, one which I couldn’t miss as I had already bought Little Women scrapbook supplies.
Concord is a very special town for many people for many reasons. The town of Concord, Massachusetts, just 20 miles west of Boston but with major small-town charm, holds a special place in the heart of many Americans. What was once the site of seasonal Indian camps, and then a sleepy New England village, became something else entirely one April morning in 1775 when one of the first battles of the American Revolution was fought in Concord and later immortalized in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Concord Hymn.” Emerson, along with the likes of Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the Alcott duo of Bronson and Louisa May were part of Concord’s mid-1800’s literary and transcendental flowering, for which the town is also famous.
In no order some of the beautiful houses int he town, the gorgeous churches and general shots. It is a town we have always loved visiting when we go to see Nigel's brother. He has lived in Concord for some 35 years now.
The Colonial Inn has been used in many films including one of our favourites... Housesitter. It also serves a delicious breakfast i remember from many years previously.
well, the immigration officer did ask us if our vacation was to go leaf peeping
Isn't it such a pretty town?
and this is Louisa May Alcott's family home
We checked in to our hotel and rang Nigel’s brother, Jim, to let him know we had arrived and arranged a pick up time. Cases sorted, photos downloaded and a quick wash and change and we met Jim and Diane and we went to dinner at a lovely pizza restaurant with an amazing brick oven and great food. It was a far cry from Enzo’s pizza of yesterday ... I mean they even had real silverware and china plates. It was lovely to catch up with a Jim and Diane and Jim even paid for dinner as Nigel’s birthday present.
Exhausted and very happy we climbed into bed at the very late hour of 9.30. Tomorrow we could have a lie in, our first for days.
and Nigel's
By Lunch time we reach Keene which proves to be a veritable oasis for weary travellers providing several options for food and shopping. We decide on a visit to McDonalds and take advantage of their ‘all day breakfast’ menu to ward off our hunger thanks to a couple of Mac muffins... Oh and a side of fries!
There is also a Starbucks inside a Target store so we are all set for part two of the journey to Concord.
Arriving a little ahead of schedule there is time to tick off a couple of places from our ‘hit list’.
We park in the centre of Concord and walk about amongst memories of previous visits and recollections of stores, churches, the village green and the post office.
There is even time for the briefest stop at the Alcott house where we pretend to be interested in seeing the entry fees whilst in reality only aiming to steal a few picture opportunities.
Job done, it’s time to find our hotel for the next two days and we easily locate the Best Western on Elm street which is pleasant and proves another well researched stopping point.
Here we discover the convenience of what’s app phone calls thanks to Jim’s ingenuity and we are are able to make arrangements for dinner.
Taking a rest from the wheel it was nice to be a passenger and be taken out this evening. We make for Bedford and a Pizza restaurant called Flatbreads. I learn that Jim and Diane have favoured this place for some time and that they even brought Mum here on a previous trip.
It turns out to be a lively location.
It was in danger of becoming even more lively when the food came. We had ordered a large pizza made half and half with pepperoni and mushroom & onion.
The pepperoni was so large that it had overlapped into the ‘vegetarian’ half and was present on every piece of Karen’s portion.
Undeterred, we ate well and even managed to squeeze in a desert. But the biggest treat came when we tried to settle the bill and Jim insisted that it would be their call as it would be a suitable birthday present for me.
We were very grateful and, suitably full, we were Chauffeured back to the hotel for a not too late night.
Tonight might be more of a challenge though as we have to share a bed for the first time on the trip.. although I have to say with it being the size of a small football field there was still a feeling of remoteness about it!.
