East Coast: New houses and Ithaca
I guess we’re at that age now where everyone’s getting engaged, buying houses and having pets and/or babies. I’m not ready for all of that right now, so it’s good that we’ll be escaping/exploring/volunteering to South America and I won’t feel any of that pressure since our lifestyle will totally change. I enjoyed having a house and obviously having my own kitchen, garden, space but it’s time for a change. We can go always go back to it (I’m already missing not having a home or my kitchen..I hope someone is enjoying my spice rack!) There’s nothing like turning your life upside down to get some perspective on it. But it was so nice to visit my friends on the east coast and see how they are carving their lives out for themselves.
We got a lot of grandma time in this week. It’s hard to believe she’ll be 92 in a month. She’s still got plenty of spunk and is aiming for 100. We spent a day visiting her sisters and seeing the homestead they grew up on.
Two friends bought houses in the past year and two friends bought houses the year before, so there was much to see. One of the new houses included moving with two cats, a dog and a baby. I don’t know how people can move, let alone do major construction projects with an infant. They moved the basement stairs from one end of the house to the other…amazing. Miss Bedilia is now a year old. She’s so beautiful, calm, happy and balanced. So much development happens in a year-I remember spending a week with them when she was three weeks old and slept in my arms. I hope I can be as good as a mommy as she is; she’s so patient and relaxed and HAPPY. Another friend got a puppy with her new fiancé (congratulations my bouquet toss diver, it was not in vain J). Not just any puppy, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, my dream dog. After a day with Miss Savanna, I still want to have my own ridgeback. They are amazing dogs. Loyal, independent, laid back and a bit stubborn. Their hair is short, so the shedding is not insane and somehow they don’t smell like dogs, they smell like seaweed. That’s not unpleasant, considering my backpack stinks like skunks.
We went to Ithaca for a day with friends to see the gorge-ous #1 Most Enlightened Town in the US. It is also one of the most culturally liberal, lesbian-friendly and vegetarian friendly small towns in the US. We brought the thunderstorms there with us as well. It rained while we were driving in but stopped before dinner so we were able to squeeze in a little swimming and rock scrambling in an unnamed gorge and a stroll along Treman State Park. We ate dinner at Moosewood (my review is on the food blog), ran in the rain to snag yummy desserts at the ABC café and hear live music (J-San, dancy reggae dub tunes) at the Chapter House bar, where there were lots of yummy beer on tap, especially the Cascazilla! We did randomly come upon the farmer’s market, which was huge and was open-air with roofs (thank goodness because it was pouring rain while we were there as well). I was surprised at how much ethnic food was available at the farmer’s market…especially since it’s upstate New York, but there was Japanese, Cuban, Thai, Caribbean and a lot of other foods I can’t remember. It was a fun visit, but a bit short so I think I may have to return to get a better feel for this highly rated small town.