Yesterday
was supposed to be our annual day trip to view the spectacular fall colors of northern
New England. It had been delayed since the traditional Columbus Day departure
due to the nasty cold I was fighting earlier this week. It was a fantastically
clear, bright autumnal day as we set out as the leaves had only begun to turn
here and we anticipated the usual explosion of color as we went into the Berkshire
Mountains and southern Vermont. It was not to be. The colors were drab and most
of the trees had already lost their foliage once we passed I-91 and started up
into the mountains. While that was a definite disappointment, the day turned
out to be one of the best I’ve had in a long time. That was all due to my co-pilot,
my Favorite Panamanian.
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| Wife and I on the Bridge |
Since
we weren’t trying to one up each other in finding the next beautiful vista to
photo, we spent the time talking as we drove. I know it sounds weird, especially
since we spend virtually every waking (as well as non-waking) hour with each other.
I marveled at the talk we had because despite all that time together we‘re usually
doing something else together other than talking. Yesterday we were each other’s
captive audience and I re-discovered that I kind of like my wife. She can be
fun. I revealed what her surprise Christmas present was which will remain a secret
for the foreseeable future. By the time we reached Shelburne Falls and the Bridge
of Flowers we’d talked more in those two hours than we had in the last month, kind
of cool.
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| The Bridge |
The
bridge, recently featured in the last season of Dexter, was beautiful and since
this wasn’t a holiday there wasn’t a big crowd. We explored a couple of shops
in the small town adjacent to the far side of the bridge which was liberally
laced with hold hippies. I discovered they make really good fudge but they don’t
believe in stocking sodas in their grocery stores. There were about seventy different
varieties of healthy watery substances but no carbonation. We continued up into
the mountains to our usual lunch spot for these expeditions, the Golden Eagle
Restaurant at the hairpin turn above North Adams on Route 20. Even the views there
of the Hoosic Valley were blah but the meal was superb. My Favorite Panamanian instructed
me during the meal on how to recognize the difference between Japanese, Korean,
and Chinese. I had to leap across the table to stop her from demonstrating the difference
since the Asian family behind us in the dining room (which started her on the
subject) might have noticed. It was a very fun meal.
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| The Rt 20 Hairpin Turn |
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| Colorless Views from the Golden Eagle |
Since
the leaves were not up to their usual standard I agreed to stop by Williamstown
for some shopping. I didn’t expect to run into a traffic jam in that small town
but that’s what you get when you turn Route 20 into a one lane road because they
had to touch up the paint. So frustrating and my wife disappearing to shop , a
true recipe for head explosions. Fortunately, I’d brought a book to read and munched
on a hippie produced Whoopie Pie while my Favorite Panamanian commenced Christmas
shopping for the granddaughters. We snuck into Southern Vermont from there and
turned west in Bennington at the road intersection my father and I had a car
accident when I was very young and dad was driving my grandfather’s car. Some things
just stick in your mind, it hasn’t changed very much.
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| Atop Hogback Overlook |
Luckily
the rest of Route 9 has over the past sixty years but, again, the colors were disappointing.
We stopped at the Hogback Mountain Overlook to say a quick prayer for my mom as
that is where we spread her ashes (she loved her native Vermont mountains).
There was also more shopping to be done since the gift shop there sports a
treasure trove of Maple Syrup related items and maple syrup is a huge delicacy
in Panama. We’ll be pushing the weight limit in our luggage again when we go
south. We continued on to Brattleboro and then across the mighty Connecticut
River into New Hampshire. Leaves were once again drab but we had the added benefit
of dinner with Keene Friend and the Cantankerous One.
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Latest Puzzle Finished
Had So Much Fun Finding the Different Characters |
I
forgot to snap a photo of the dinner but it was the usual lively affair at Margarita’s
with the Cantankerous One talking in high decibels. It was a rewarding end of
what had already been, despite the lack of color, a fantastic day of conversation
and memory troves. The Cantankerous Friend leaves this morning on his annual forage
south to Myrtle Beach and will not return until the week of the annual birthday
pub crawl. Speaking of that auspicious event, I’ll be returning to Keene this Saturday
to conduct a final reconnaissance of the intended axis of advance for the crawl.
Yesterday was a very fun day spent with three of my best friends. Why should it
surprise me that I’m married to one of the three.
Two
movies fell in my A-Z watch, both keepers: Gladiator, so good, forgot how
compelling Decimus Maximus Beridius was; and The Glass Bottom Boat, nearly got
rid of this, a bad movie but still love Doris Day and Rod Taylor together,
silly 1960s vision of the future
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RECURRING CHARACTERS:
ABFA – Amazing Best Family
Athlete - my daughter
in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter
#3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel -
second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue
about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut
Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor
of the big river; Curbside Girls – close
friends of my daughter acquired during him her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which
grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of
course); FBR - First Blog Reader -
first granddaughter; First Friday –
celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene
Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene,
NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend
since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife –
her US sisters, my wife is the 3rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew –
son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia
member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends
of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin
Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we
have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high
school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the
Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather -
my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course
