Back to Our Worold

Arrived home yesterday afternoon (about 1:30 pm) Usual stops along the way. Everything is desperately dry and brown - especially lawns. Yard looking good. Buffalo grass is gorgeous - gray green and blooming and fun! One tomato close to ripening, lots of lettuce. Cukes growing well, picked some sugar snap peas. Wish we could spend Thursday at home putzing. There should be a law about having to go right back to work after vacation. I don't want to go - want to spend the day in the garden.

Our own bed, toilet, food. Life is good! Busy day today though. All will be well.

Rocky Mtn Chocolate

Makes up for the cheerios (seriously???) and banana on the stupid plane. Geez. No mimosas, no real food, no real value to first class.

MSP

And we are down. Not raining.

Gate B7 Albany airport

So what's the deal? 4am and the concourse wine bar is not open??? Good grief! :)

Albany International Airport

And we are headed home. Hour 45 minutes from Sudbury to airport. Expedited security - no shoes off. Cane and gray hair :) Smallish airport. Starbucks, Italian restaurant and McD's. Caramel waffle cone iced and d mocha for M. Busy for 4 am. Lots of connecting flights. Hi ho, hi ho...

Happy 4th of July!

And the living is easy :) Quiet day just hanging. Jeb and Melissa and Nathan (Alex's brother) stopped for short while before heading back to
MA. Guys went to Rutland to buy gun cleaning kit and groceries. Plan is to show A how to clean and then plunk a few cans. I got to have a lovely nap. Plane leaves 5:45 am from Albany - 2 hrs. West. Leave here @2am. Arrive MSP around 8:30. Light rail to near Mall of Am. Jill and Christopher will pick us up. Spend day w/ them. Life is good and we are so blessed. Hugs and love to you.

Peace I leave with you...

Peace which the world cannot give. Extraordinary sung liturgy.

Saturday strawberry fields

Today was wandering. Started out to pick strawberries. Farm wasn't where Jay thought. Ended up passing by Otter Creek Bakery. One cannot just pass by best bakery in US :) Ham/cheese croissant w/ latté. Strawberry delivery lady tells you pick 'em @ Wood's Market. Guys drop us at market while they fill gas. Strawberry field 1/2 mi. from stand. Nice walk, beautiful Green Mtn. scenery, and 7 lbs we 3 picked. Then some plants for Elaine and tomatoes, sugar snap peas, cuke and  red onion. Elaine's brother, wife Melissa & son Nathan arrived. They've gone fishing. Michael reading and I joyfully cleaned strawberries and froze about half. Beautiful day again. Dinner out, fireworks later. Burgers and dogs & strawberry angel food cake tomorrow. Plan to go to Weston Priory for mass in am, then join rest @ Pico ski area.

Friday, July 1

Train finally arrived in Schenectady after hour delay for freight train and an hour for rail workers. Small train station next to Katie O'Byrne's Irish Pub. Bags reclaimed Hertz driver arrives, car signed for and off we head to Sudbury. Jay thought 3 hrs. Halfway in an hr, so we stopped at Fitzgerald's for dinner at 6. Not the best choice. Chicken walnut Mandarin salad - chicken seriously undercooked, Mike's fish and chips mostly breading. Arrived at Sudbury; Jay anxious - thought we got lost. Thurs. Alex, Mike and I return to Schenectady to pick up rifle. Best chocolate ice cream at Stewart's Shops (convenience store) and fantastic food at Katie's while we waited for 2 hr. late train. Thry really should change schedule to reality Thick fish, extra crispy fries (sweet and Irish). Picked up baggage and returned to Sudbury. Today, Burlington to see Jay's new shop and CNC machine. Lunch @ Otter Creek Bakery in Middlebury, shopping groceries again and back home for evening. Lovely rain storm. Asparagus spinach ravioli (ok but not what I was craving). Tomorrow plan is to pick strawberries and BBQ burgers and hot dogs. Sunday Weston Priory and then Pico ski area. Tired. 5 days maybe too long. Is what it is. Delightful spending two days w/ Alex. He has matured a lot. Deep voice, taller than both guys. Very insightful and sharp on the uptake :) Deals better w/ meals and food stuff too. Not buried in screens. As Jay says, he's worth it. Carol would be/is pleased.

Need a map or geography

Hard to figure location sometimes.

Train ride

Happy whistle blower (annoying to sleep) and very bumpy track/lurches. Saw lake for 45 seconds this am. Fields of vineyards while eating mediocre breakfast. Different crops in fields. Phragmites/wetlands along track. Ugly  industrial and train track views. And tree tunnels. Cloudy and cool I think.

Monday to MN

Usual drive to cities. Zellas in Hutch closed even though door posts said open M-W 11-2. Disappointed. Detours off hwy 7  to Lake Harriet and parking difficulty @ rose garden frustrating. On to kids' house. Good to be together. Phone messages from Amtrak. Service interruption. Train delayed 9hrs. Bus to Chicago best option. No room available next day. Some folks found out next day.

Wed am

So...train from Seattle to St. Paul delayed 9 hrs. Would not make Chicago connection. Really? 8 hours on a bus... really turned out well in the end. Bus driver good, w/ sense of humor. "Thank you for flying Amtrak. Couple serious road construction bottlenecks in WI put us into rush hour almost gridlock. Arrive 1.5 hrs later than scheduled. First class lounge brand new. Espresso, wireless, fresh cookies. Last train to leave. Room on train accommodating but tight quarters. Wouldn't want 3 people that's for sure. Every hour train stopped I had to sit up &see what station. Breakfast included pretty mediocre. No espresso on train:( In NY state now. About 5 hrs. to Schenectady. French train far superior.

Off to VT on Amtrak

Monday (June 27) we head to Bloomington to spend an evening @ Christopher's. Then Tues "All aboard" Amtrak Train #8 to Chicago. Layover of about 5 hours (we'll do some exploring for sure) then Lakeshore Limited # 48 overnight (first class room :), upper level to Schenectady, NY.  Rental car to Sudbury, VT, to visit with nephew Jay & son Alex. Gonna' be cool, I think.