Oh, precious vacation week, I thought you'd never arrive.
Saturday morning I dashed about madly preparing for a restful vacation in the Berkshires with Dear Cousins J and G. Preparation was something I hadn't, of course, even considered in the days before, partly due to all that is going on right now at work - completely consuming - and partly becuase that's just me. I'm not interested in the whole deciding and packing thing until the time is HERE. So, as is my habit, I left the house Saturday around 1PM and drove the 2+ hours west having finished all the chores, but tired and far more ready for a nap than a long drive.
Arrived Saturday in time for Woody Allen's new movie, "Whatever Works" (loved it, with perfectly tuned performance by Larry David, Patricia Clarkson, and Evan Rachel Wood. The damp reviews be damned, I found it gently neurotic, sweet, sad, hopeful, and everything we have come to expect - and occasionally get - from Mr Allen), followed by dinner in West Stockbridge at a sturdy, cheerful restaurant called Rouge that specializes in lthe best of locally grown organic food. Dear Cousin J and I had perfectly cooked rack of lamb with sweet potatoe puree and snow peas with a Montepulciano Sangiovese, while Dear Cousin G and others in our party had the thyme and rosemary encrusted ribeye steak and an Oregon Pinot Noir to celebrate their return the day before from a wonderful vacation in Oregon. This was a perfect way to launch vacation. By the time dinner and wine and conversation were done it was almost midnight and time for that special night's sleep that happens only the first night of vacation. I fell into bed exhausted and slept until 9:30 the following morning - a complete miracle for me.
And what was the best part of Sunday? The sun was out, yes it was. We have had weeks and weeks of rainy weather in Boston, far more than is reasonable or fair, and all of it centering around weekend after weekend of mist, drizzle, or monsoon. Out here in the Berks the sun is out, it is temperate, breezy, and utterly wonderful. J and G's house is perched atop a big hill that overlooks a lake. Birds are the only sounds around and they have been singing for joy, celebrating the reappearance of the happy yellow orb, since I arrived. Deep breath. Exhale slowly.
We visited with J & G's delicious sons, Bon Vivant J and Fisherman A, had a wonderful lunch just south of Gt Barrington, stopped at many garden centers to admire plants and choose a bird bath. We purchased an obscene number of strip steaks, corn, and a volleyball sized watermelon for dinner. We added a country bread and black bean, corn, lime, cilantro salad from the fridge and oh, my, we ate and talked and laughed. Rinse and repeat.
Bon Vivant J left at 7AM today on his long drive back to Toronto. We all went back to bed and slept until 10. Has the world gone mad??
Today, with repeatedly expressed good intentions of getting to the gym, taking a long walk, doing other productive things, we lazed about instead, killed the Times puzzle, admired the flowers in the garden, dead headed one or two, chatted strenuously, read books and magazines and never quite managed to dress until now - about 6:15 PM. We're off to a local reataurant run by a Vietnamese family where the Pho is incomparable and cheap.
Photo is the beautiful Amy Palatnick pottery brought back from Oregon by lucky J and G.
