day twenty two - quite a bit of mileage to do

Ok, let's get this out of the way. Are you losing sleep over what my new outfits from Consignment House look like? Here are the 3 tops. Sorry can't show you the pants (you need some surprises).  Don't be shocked about the green as I plan to have it dyed black as soon as I get home. It is a lovely light linen material and will dye well.

Do you like?

Today we had a few hiccups with the bank and drawing dollars so we left Littleton a bit later than Judy wanted to. We had about a two hour drive to Stockbridge in The Berkshires. We had a lovely lunch on a shady verandah at an old world inn. The shops and gardens in the area were wonderful and we spent some time window shopping, taking pictures and buying a few small things (lemon drops and cinnamon drops - old school hard candy).

Michael,is forming a firm friendship with Samuel Adams

Lilies taller than me

Cute shops

More cuteness

Inside the shop was like going back in time

Guinness is quite nice

Lunch overlooking the courtyard

After lunch and more browsing, we made our way to Jacob's Pillow - a small settlement in the forest of preserved buildings where dancers get to dance throughout the summer. They have a festival there once a year and tourists and people from neighboring towns flock there to picnic and enjoy the rural feeling of the place and watch some dance. During the summer it is open most days. Derek and Judy's daughter Joanna is a well known dancer and did a residency at Jacobs Pillow and lived and danced there for a month or so last year.  We had not booked for a show but were fortunate to see a short free concert. The setting reminded me much of Kirstenbosch. The dancing was different, some of it very good but mostly it was a bit weird and the music was unsettling. The 

The weather was perfect today. Clear blue skies and not humid at all.

Places to picnic

#justbecauseyoucan

Beautiful gardens

The stage in the forest. Isn't it wonderful?

Picnics

What an amazing place to visit.

Excellent choice Judy. It was well worth the traveling time. It is now after 12.30 and time to sleep. I have had one of those doff headaches ever since I slept to 11 the other mrorning.

Some of us are asleep before others

I found this in a file today while clearing out some pictures off my iPad.

Nice words with which to end the day. Goodnight. Xx

day twenty-one - the day we slept away the first half

It craziest thing happened today. Yesterday was a hot and steamy and long day (and an even steamier night). I woke up around 5 this morning, went to the bathroom and then read and blogged a bit. It must have been close to 9 when I started thinking of getting up as I had heard some movements downstairs. I am not sure what happened next but Michael and I both woke up at 11 and not for any other reason than because we were incredibly hot. The bright sun was beating Into to our room and, because our door was closed we don't get the benefit of the air conditioner. The  last time I slept until 11 was when I was twenty and experimented with tequila for the first time (I also woke up in more than a pool of sweat, I am sure). By the time we showered and dressed it was mid-day and our hosts had the table set for breakfast for hours and were starving hungry.

So we had a chilled day around Littleton today. We even did some shopping. Yeah!! I got dropped off (on my own) to take a look (and shop) at The Consignment Store while the guys went grocery shopping. Quite a treat and an array of new and second hand clothes. As with not being shy to give myself a complete makeover with testers in a foreign country, buying clothing in a second hand store is also an acceptable and pretty cool thing to do. Not everything was 'used' but I found myself four items that I am very chuffed with (and three of them are even a colour!). The one top even has Jennifer Lopez's name sewn into it. As it fits me, it must have been from her maternity range.

The day clouded over but it was still extremely hot so we ventured down to Littleton Lake for a swim. Great spot, the water was the right temperature and we swam until the thunder clapped loudly and the lifesaver blew her whistle and hurried everyone out of the water. Big drops started to fall and if Boston was steamy before, it was now properly steamy with the heat rising off the tar. Home to the air conditioning and wonderful Cranberry Chicken that Judy had prepared. Derek went off to collect Caroline who arrived in Boston to join us from New York. Some dessert and more wine and more chats and two rounds of contract rummy ended our chilled "half a day". Michael now sleeps soundly (as does the rest of the house), while I lie here wide awake. It is nearly 1. Unfortunately my new purchases are in another room so you will have to wait for those pictures until tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow we are heading west, to the Berkshires and to Jacob's Pillow (a dance town). We must get going early so I am going to finish up now.  Apologies for not many pictures or news today but it was exactly the kind of day we both needed (and my first swim in an American lake).

Looking at these pictures you would not believe how hot it was.

Still my guitar gently sleeps.. (I had to take this by the torch on my phone). Mean hey?

It is Friday for you guys already. Enjoy it. xx

day twenty - air conditioned museums and steamy sport

I should be under the table and screaming!! A whole post deleted by mistake and all because of my efforts to catch the best angle of Michael sleeping (I suppose I deserve it?)

Shucks this is irritating. Been up for ages giving you news and details of our trip to the museum, the temperature outside (and how to convert Fahrenheint to Celcius). I even went into details of the Cuban Crisis 1962 and Jackie Kennedy's outfit to the inaugural ball. Now I have lost my mojo a bit, so, in a nutshell, our day yesterday.

It was steamy hot and a good idea to spend the hottest two hours of the day in the coolness of the John F Kennedy Library and Museum. My kind of museum - got the facts and history stuff but all the little personal touches of videos of family holidays, John playing golf, the children swimming. His desk at the White House with not only the factual stuff but the little toys and trinkets he had on his desk. 

I have always been fascinated with Jackie and there were displays of her wardrobe and video interviews of her conducting a tour of the White House and how she was redecorating certain rooms. She was just so beautiful and stylish.

It was poignant to note that for all the wealth, wonderful homes and money that the Kenedy's had, they also had more tragedy than was fair for one family to be landed with. I left the museum feeling quite emotionally drained (but cool).

View of Boston across the water

From his desk

We had tickets to Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox play the Chicago White Sox. We found parking and made our way to a diner (nice word) to have burgers and beer before the game. 

Gardens on our walk to the stadium 

A pitcher of beer for $15 dollars was good value (four glasses)

My ticket (scary price)

Lights on

Come on Red Sox - They are not having their best season and lost 9-2 and all three in the series against Chicago White Sox.

It was a wonderful evening. The atmosphere at Fenway Park is amazing. Outside the stadium it is much like Newlands on match day. Vendors, programmes, drinks and memorabilia but they also have jugglers, magicians and mime artists. It was a pity the game was not more exciting but we did see a couple of home runs, fast action between the bases and some good hits. Pedro Martinez, a former player of theirs, was admitted (inducted) to the Hall of Fame so there was much celebration before the match and he and his family and previous team mates were all there. His number 45 was mounted on the wall next to the scoreboard. A boys choir sang the anthem (amazing) but The crowd did not sing Sweet Caroline (probably because they were loosing). They also do some booing when they don't like what is happening.

So this has now taken me double time, Day 20 yesterday and the number of HRT pills in my bubble pack tell me that we are three quarters of the way through our trip. This last part is whizzing by so perhaps I need to get up and moving while...

day nineteen - bulls eye - target!!

Quick readers test.

1. How many times have I mentioned going shopping on this holiday?:-

a. Once

b. Twice

c. Never

Correct answer, I think is 'once'. Primark in Leicester (a grey melange t-shirt, chewing gum, a $1 grey vest with butterflies for Amy and some Polo mints). Between you and me the grey melange t-shirt is not as great on the body as it as it looks off the body (but the colour is right).

Today was scheduled to be a chilled day. It started off that way with a lie in and a lovely brunch. Not too much was planned. I mentioned that a friend had asked me to buy a game of Sequence for her (our favorite board game). She had given me the dollars and, as we had bought our game in Boston, it was on our list of things to do. First stop this morning was Target (said the French way). Well walking into this Makro-esque store my mind went into overdrive. I almost forgot that my husband was with me. The first tables were $1 bargains and I found a whole lot of little things for Dalene's school (a bit crazy but they are lightweight foamy things, which were a bargain). 

Well of the three family members I was with, it would be a close contest to see who dislikes shopping the most. They all do and they carry a shopping list. Beware of people with lists. They know what they want and are there with a mission to get only those things on the list. Well I was on a mission too and ducked and dived a few times. What a shop. What bargains (even at R12.55 to R1). I headed for the Pet Department. I am in Boston after all and was expecting a whole display of Boston Terrier outfits, memorabilia, postcards and specialized treats. None of that but I did find some stick like looking treats made from jerkey with a cheese filling! I hate to admit that I spied Michael in the distance and quickly hid behind the display of awesome beach towels for $6.99. I grabbed two. Then the grocery section....not much time for that but I had to buy a bag of Goldfish for Kelly (hope they don't end up as crushed as Gareth's Maltesers from London). Just as I found the chic-chip cookies ...Oops...Derek found me. He had found the one thing he was looking for and told me that Michael was waiting for me in the toy section. So off we went to find him. There he was (the happy shopper) looking so pleased with himself for finding the one thing we had come to buy - the Sequence (you have it Jackie and nearly $10 cheaper than you thought). 

Now my problem. Michael thought our shopping was now over. How do I now get rid of these two brothers who had me cornered? Think fast, Jennifer. I had an idea - the beach towels were heavy in the basket - our case was already heavy and I knew the answer I would get before I asked the question "What do you think of these beach towels, Michael?" His face was the picture of horror and he answered sensibly "Aren't they a bit heavy and bulky for our cases?" "Oh dear", said I in a sad kind of way, "You are right" (and then the clever part) "Meet me at the tills and I will take the towels back". Before anyone could object, I was gone. Down the cosmetic aisle (6 of those new lip balm things that Gill had told me about - bargain price of $2.10). Then I got "lost" and found an awesome grey melange t-shirt for Nic (cheap as chips). I took the long route back to the tills where, thank goodness, only 3 of the 26 tills were open (not only in Africa). The three non-shoppers were in the long queue and I was not going to waste anytime standing around. I gave Michael the basket and said I was going to look for a birthday card. Good idea because I could keep my eye on them in the queue while choosing some cards. On my way back to the till I found my favorite toy ever, which I don't think you can get in SA. Crocodile at the Dentist. If you don't know it you have to come and see it when I get home. My grandchildren are going to love it.

Sorry this post was not supposed to be about shopping. After Target we went through to this town called Lowell. It is an old industrial town with canals and cobbled streets and really very quaint and Englishy. We had a good walk around (Did I tell you how hot it was today? Scary hot and hottest day of summer in Cape Town kind of hot) and found the cutest wine and cheese shop.

Then we headed home via Kimballs Farm. A wonderful ice cream place which has developed a whole centre of fun things around it. A golf driving range, dodgem boats, baseball nets, food stalls and lovely tables under trees all around. It took some time to decide on an ice cream flavor. Michael had Butter Pecan (pronounced Peecaaan). I had the Cookiedough, Derek the most divine Coffee Crunch and Judy something fruity. Small cups were hard to finish but they were outstanding.

We came home for a siesta, woke up to a long, strong gin and tonic, had a lovely chicken and salad supper and played some Sequence. 

Great day

Some pictures to prove it

The Kotze Boston home

Garden and back patio 

So great to have gardens with no fences (not even between neighbors)

Helen and Theo Kotze have a new place in the the home

The Wine and Cheese Shop

Kimballs

Butter Pecan

Supper

Target Treasure (oh I forgot about The Notebook on DVD for $4. silver slip slops for me (I only have my black ones with me and may need something smarter)

Remember this Gareth? Not sure whatever happened to it. Aunty Iris bought it for you (well now Alfie has one)

It is now very late. Goodnight xxx