Eat Dessert First…

A short work week after Memorial Day meant less time between Adventures. Friday evening we threw some clothes into bags—we should put together “fly-away” kits to make this easier, then it just becomes a continuation of the amount of underwear debate (see 39 Feet of Separation if you are unfamiliar with the question)—and headed for the Cottage.

Since we had minimal food in the house—a combination of being away much of the previous week, plus a couple of dinner meetings and events scheduled during the week, plus general laziness on our part in putting menus together—we decided to stop for dinner along the way. These stops usually involve roast beef sandwiches from a local pizzeria / sub-shop, but we decided to head north a ways first before stopping…we weren’t overly hungry and Friday night traffic through Massachusetts into NH can be tough.

I like to take the back roads from Worcester up to Manchester…winding through Lunenburg and Townsend, MA then Brookline and Milford, NH…it’s less boring then the Interstate all the way and it often seems to take the same amount of time…or less. The added benefit on this trip was an ice cream stand in Townsend that we have wanted to try. Since we hadn’t had supper, we were not too hungry, and there was an ice cream place we wanted to try…it seemed as if it were meant to be…ice cream for dinner.

It turned out that the frozen and churned cream was worth the stop…we will probably try it again some time in the future…just in case this time was a mistake.

With our making the stop for dessert, it was after dark when we arrived at the Cottage. So we listened to the end of the Red Sox game on the radio, read for a short time and then hit the hay for the evening.

Thunder storms and the sound of rain on the roof made it difficult to get up in the morning, but the weather did clear off and we were able to head out on our primary purpose for the trip—not that just going to the Cottage is not reason enough—but not before updating the location sign.

If you haven’t seen the sign-post before you will see in the photo that it is an effective way to show how far the Cottage gets us away from our day-to-day lives (and reminds us of where family are while we relax near the lake). Over the last several years I have only had to change the signs for two people— Sarah from Philadelphia to London and Dan going from Rutgers to Harvard. Now it is time to change Sarah’s once again.

For the curious…the direction the signs point is a straight rhumb-line (those who have taken advanced navigation courses will understand this) and the distance is a great-circle or shortest distance. Anyone who wants an explanation or discussion regarding the differences should feel free to comment or send me a separate E-mail.

Previously Sarah was the furthest away of our far-flung family and she continues that trend with her residence in Gowrie, Australia (a suburb of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory), measured at 10,207 miles from the Cottage.

After making the changes to the signpost we took an otherwise overcast and intermittent rainy Saturday and turned it into a work day—making Dad’s house ready to put on the rental market. Dad has settled in to Summer Residence at Bill and Sheila’s house where one of the bedrooms has been turned into a small study / bedroom for him. This way he can keep abreast of all the comings and goings of Bill & Sheila’s family and Bill can keep him busy with projects around the house.

Sorting through clothes, knick-knacks, books, tools and memorabilia kept Dave, Karen, Cheri, and me busy through much of the middle part of the day. Some items went to the waste transfer station, some being claimed as “new to us” items (us collectively), some for consignment or rummage sale, and a significant amount being designated for review by the appointed family historian—assigned to me by my siblings at a time I wasn’t present. Karen also began a major thinning process on the bushes and shrubs in the front yard—opening the house views up and allowing more light into the rooms.

Later in the afternoon we picked up Dad and headed for Johnson’s Dairy Bar in Northwood for dinner. Johnson’s is always great for their seafood (although I go for their ribs) and they are famous for their ice cream (there seems to be a bit of an ice cream theme to this Adventure). So we ate beyond all reasonable sense and still had some take-away trays for Dad.

Sunday morning was more rain…making it even more difficult to get up…but it didn’t keep us from heading back to Dad’s house for a few more hours of sorting and staging. Derek joined Dave this day as some of the muscle to move furniture and we also used him to tote bags and boxes up from the basement to the garage.

By two in the afternoon we all needed to head off to other commitments, but we left feeling that we have made good progress making the house ready. At least one more day is being planned to get the majority of the remaining steps completed.

Cheri and I headed back to Connecticut with just enough time to change and head over to Deb & Bob Kirk’s house for an informal dinner with them and Martha & Jamie Harrison...a nice way to end our weekend Adventure.