Um, yeah. I realize this blog has gotten kind of well, rather rancid. Sorry about that. At least it’s keeping in the theme. Last week was an overwhelming one, actually. Cat went missing again (retrieved his kitty a$$ from the old neighborhood and carted him back to the new one), I went out of town, work is hectic, the cat went missing AGAIN (retrieved his kitty a$$ from the old neighborhood AGAIN and carted him back to the new one AGAIN). To add to all the fun-ness, I had to take some classes last week. Since I am a licensed CPA (even though lately the only books I touch are the fiction kind), I am required to get re-educated every year. Imagine that! Furthermore, thanks to Enron and Bunch, I am also required to take an ethics course every year. Because that will make things ohhhh so much better, right?. Anyway, enough excuses. Blogging shall commence.
One of the great things about Big Al is that he celebrates Columbus Day and allows his minions to partake, also. To that end, the Husband (hereafter name changed to Mr. X to protect the innocent) and I decided to go to Boston over Columbus Day weekend for a visit with our friends. Rushing through the airport, I noticed a display of banned items – things you can’t take on the airplane. Most of the items were common sense – leave your toxic liquids and knives at home, folks. However, I was taken aback to see a freakin’ chainsaw displayed. Is that truly necessary? Has this been a problem? Apparently, while I’ve had people express concern over my blunt-tipped bamboo knitting needles that are barely longer than a pencil, others have been attempting to sneak chainsaws on board. My goodness.
Thankfully, we had an uneventful flight to Manchester, NH (the official hometown of Adam Sandler, by the way). I love New Hampshire, my blood pressure decreases as we cross the state line - I feel so peaceful when I am there. Okay, maybe not serene enough to quit nagging Mr. X, but hey, we can’t ALL be winners. We weren’t specifically going for leaf-peeping, but by the sheer virtue of just being there you get plenty of leaf-peeping in. The foliage was just gorgeous – it wasn’t in full display yet. This was almost prettier with the bold reds, bright golds and yellows contrasting with the green.
Our gracious hosts, S and A offered to come to pick us up at the airport and we eagerly accepted when Mr. X and I realized that we both thought the OTHER was booking the rental car. The airport in Manchester didn’t have a single car available. Probably due to all those damn leaf-peepers. When we left the airport all was going well until a cop with his lights flashing came up behind us, pulled a truck over in front of us and then stayed parked in our driving lane. I am an idiot and would have just driven around the cop, but luckily the driver A, is much smarter than I am and diligently pulled his car over. You see, we had encountered what amounted to a law enforcement wet dream. The cop was pulling over TWO vehicles at the same time. Is that even legal?? Did he have TWO guns to clock us separately? I think A was robbed! We were shocked, to say the least. Hopefully, A will contest the ticket because we have doubts as to whether he was speeding anyway.
Other than being pulled over by a cop who didn’t look old enough to drink, much enforce the law, most of the weekend was significantly more relaxing. We went to Marblehead MA, which is an adorable sleepy seaside town that has managed to attract tourists while still retaining its charm and local flavor. In contrast, we drove through Salem which was in full buzz due to the Halloween season. I can’t say we were compelled to stick around there. We arrived in Marblehead, parked, and walked everywhere thereafter (the streets are narrow and winding – parking is a bear). It was so relaxing to stroll through the neighborhoods on foot – the entire town has a lazy, calm feeling to it. Even the shops didn’t appear to be overly aggressive in their pricing and we found some reasonable buys.
After Marblehead, we went back to the house and began what would turn out to be a Quentin Tarantino Festival. I really enjoyed Pulp Fiction, but hadn’t seen his other films. We ended up watching Reservoir Dogs and both of the Kill Bills – Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. I highly recommend watching both Kill Bills in rapid succession – what a great set of films! They were Tarantinto’s Valentine to Kung Fu. I can’t imagine what it must have felt like to sit in the theatre after the Vol. 1 with such an explosive ending and realize you have to WAIT for Vol. 2. Luckily, our hosts S and A have a monster TV, so I don’t think I missed much from not having seen it in the theatre. Plus, you can’t make snarky comments in the theatre, which was half the fun.
The weekend was nicely rounded out with good meals – we sampled Indian, Tibetan, and some local offerings in the form of steamers and lobster rolls.
I was ready to come home, but I wasn’t exactly ready to leave, either. I always feel torn like that when I leave there.
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