Fall in New England

That's right, kids. It's that time of year again. The time when I talk less about travel, more about projects around the house, and that I realize that I actually talk about the weather A LOT.

Really, I can't help myself. It's just amazing outside. We aren't even at the most beautiful point, when the leaves are all sorts of reds and oranges but there are glimpses here and there of colors other than green in the trees. A big tree right outside of my office window always turns early and I can see some yellows and oranges blooming. But it's also that in between time when it gets warm enough during the day to wear shorts and a t-shirt but it's crisp at night. You can smell fresh mowed grass by day and fires in the chimneys by night. It's also apple picking time, although I'm waiting for October apples, the way Lucy from Charlie Brown waits for January snow:) And fall in New England is also time for some of the biggest fairs and I lllooooove me some fair food so I can't wait to get a day to do that.

In the meantime, though, I am training to hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim next month so I have been begging my friends to get out in the woods with me. A couple of them indulged me this past weekend and it was glorious so I wanted to include a couple of pictures.

Blog Recommendation: Something Clever 2.0

My very clever friend who also happens to write a very humorous blog has been documenting her recent trip to the North Conway, NH area. Growing up in New England, I'm pretty sure this is like a required family trip. And in my world, where tradition is king, that makes it awesome.

The natural geography and geology make it a stunning backdrop but, beyond that, there are tons of family activities including fabulous camp grounds, Story Land, Santa's Village, Clark's Trading Post, and (my fave) moose tours. I wanted to share a link from Day 1 of their trip, especially, because it has a link to one of the coolest hotels I have ever seen and because I just love reading about these places that I visited as a child. Also, you should "like" Something Clever 2.0 on facebook so you get all of the funny posts and other little tidbits. I'm off to read Day 3 Part 1 now.....

Family Vacation Memories

I just saw a brilliant commercial by Disney. First off, the background music is "Good Life", which is a great travel inspiration song anyway. The theme of the commercial was that some people recognize that there's only a short window of time to make family memories, for kids to "meet their heroes". Presumably, those people go to Disney in a timely fashion.
My parents never took me to Disney as a kid. I'm not gonna lie; it's still kind of a sore spot. In fact, to date, I have only been to Disney for one day. At least it was the Magic Kingdom, right?
Furthermore, I have still never been on a plane with my parents. None of our family trips were extravagent or exotic or far away. Maybe that's one of the things that makes me appreciate New England so much....there were so many places to see and go within driving distance. Most of my family vacation memories are from Cape Cod, New Hampshire, New York, and Newport, Rhode Island. And despite the lack of mouse ears or princesses, I wouldn't trade those trips for anything.
What was truly great about the Disney commercial is that it got me thinking about my childhood memories and how so many of them come from those family vacations. So their pitch is spot on. To this day, when we get together for family events we still talk about those memories. Like the time we saw a water snake on while walking through some sea grass and my mother pretty much pushed me out of the way to run. Or the time we went to the White Mountains for my brother's high school leaf project and his friends tried to steal my cousins kittens by tucking them in their football jackets. Or the April school vacation that I got chicken pox while we were down the Cape and my mom put concealer makeup on me and took me to the movies anyway.
As a person who values travel and worries about doing all I can now before I have kids, a take away from this for me was that the trips don't have to be to really different places to be awesome. And that it's usually the unplanned, small moments that stay with you years later. That's really comforting to me.

Here Comes Hurricane Irene

It's hard to believe that we are batting down the hatches up here in New England to brace for Hurricane Irene. This is what the sky looks like at the moment: beautiful. Supposedly, the hurricane is on track to overwhelm us on Sunday. The Olympic distance triathlon that is part of the series I am participating in tomorrow has already been canceled for tomorrow. No fear, I still get to do the sprint distance race early, early in the morning Saturday.  Church has already sent out an email to prepare for disaster and cancellation. Rumor has it that a state of emergency has already been declared. The meteorologist says that the storm is on track to follow a very similar path to Hurricane Gloria, which I remember from when I was 6 years old and my parents wouldn't let me stand on the front porch to watch the storm because they thought I would blow away. A friend left work early to get batteries and has since proclaimed that there are no D batteries in all of Metrowest County. That's really too bad for me because, although I have enough cereal and even powdered milk to keep me going for a couple weeks, I don't have any batteries and I am not sure if I have a working flashlight. Woops. For now, it's hard to worry when the sky looks so lovely.

Home Sweet Home with a Case of the Mondays

So many of my posts over the last six months have somehow related to travel. Neighbors and people at church have begun frequently commenting on my adventures and I'm happy and proud to have another activity with which to identify.
For the past few years, doing triathlons has been a big part of my identity and a source of pride. It's funny how quickly things can flip upside down as this year, without the aid of a team to train with, I feel woefully unprepared for the one sprint race I registered for. It's this Saturday and I have had a stomach ache all day in anticipation. 4 more days of this feeling??! Somehow, I need to convince myself to not worry about the numbers and just enjoy the event. We use to placate ourselves with thoughts of it being more than most people do but it's still hard not to make comparisons, if only with your former self.
Identifying with travel as my hobby of choice slightly softens the blow of not being proud of myself for triathlons this season. At least I have something else exciting to fill the void, right?
That was all a tangent, though. My main focus when I started writing this blog hours ago before I got sidetracked about 419 times was to write about the mixed blessing of coming home again. After another week away, I really wanted to be at home.
Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to spend 4 days at a friend's beach house on the Maine coast followed by 3 days at a different friend's Cape Cod house. Both were relaxing, filled with good company and conversation, and wonderful venues to follow my own volition; to choose how I wanted to fill my time instead of sticking to frantic schedule that is my normal routine. With one night at home in between, I found it hard to leave again. I wanted to spend time with Hubby, to pet the cats, to clean the house!
When I finally arrived home last night, it was welcomed as I enjoyed my familiar surroundings, my own comfortable couch and bed, the TV shows I had recorded, the husband and the cats. However, it also brought a to-do list both at home and, today, at work as long as the neck of a giraffe. After a week of ignoring responsibilities, it feels like they have reproduced Gremlin-style, seemingly exponential in growth.
This post isn't profound or even amusing but it was really cathartic for me. I just needed to "say" that I'm glad to be home and glad to have a break before my next extended stay away from home but also that this kind of stress that I'm returning to is exactly what makes me want to drop it all again and lay in the sun without a deep thought in my head.

Reading Is FUNdamental

When I really enjoy a book, which is almost every book I read otherwise I don't even keep going, it becomes an impediment to my daily functioning. I will ditch out of social activities, sit in my car before going into work meetings, and carry the book with me at all times in case I get a spare moment.

Being the New Englander that I am, loyalty and history hold more than their fare share of weight in most of my decision making process. The things I love in this world, I embrace with a passionate ardor bordering on fanaticism. I have long known this trait about myself and seen it applied to favorite foods and favorite bands but I just realized I do this with authors, as well.

This is what led me to the point, yesterday, of doing some Google searches on some of the authors that have earned my devotion. The list is small, as are the lists of favorite foods and bands; just as Massachusetts is famous for it's unfriendliness and "Massholes", we don't run around giving indiscriminate accolades to just anyone who writes a book, either. I went to the publishers' websites that represent the likes of Philippa Gregory and Wally Lamb to glean when I might get my hands on a new gem from them. I pretty much read every book my favorite authors create, as any devotee should. Not infrequently, I put release dates of books into my calendar so I can make sure to schedule a trip to the bookstore into that day.

It was during this that I stumbled upon an essay written by Wally Lamb that tied together his own life experiences with some of his characters. I knew little bits of his story before reading it but this essay really tied it together, appealed to my roots, and spoke to my psychoanalytic self about how greatly we are all influenced by the family who comes before us and the community in which we are raised. I have so much hometown pride that I thought the guy in the movie, The Town, had a stellar idea when he tattooed this hometown zip code across his knuckles. I have seriously considered doing a blog post about the top townie spots of my hometown but realized it would only really appeal to me. I might still do it for fun, just because it would make me happy:)

And with that, I want to share the essay I stumbled upon, Braided Cords, for your reading pleasure.