The weekend began in Philadelphia, actually. I welcomed BostonErin to the city of brotherly love at 11 AM on Friday--in the wrong terminal. Therefore, I had to welcome her by cell phone until I was able to find my way through baggage claim to the proper location. We headed back to DE, where we had lunch with Superman, wandered around town and campus, tried to track down the marching band and failed, and bought new toothbrushes (we're having a little issue with pictures staying on the wall in our house, and the latest incident involved a photograph falling on top of our toothbrush holder). No one likes a toothbrush that's been behind the toilet.
After a brilliantly cooked meal (thank you, Superman) and the usual good conversation, we made applesauce from half of our bushel of apples and played with Supercat, AKA Poppette the Rockette. Supercat likes BostonErin--Erin plays mouse, and cat dancer, and is quiet and sweet around cats.
Saturday, after applesauce pancakes, we took a girls' trip to Pennsylvania for an afternoon at Longwood Gardens. We stopped for lunch in Kennett Square at my favorite place in town, the Half Moon Bar and Grill. Next, we visited a specialty paper store, where the owner thought we were the most fun people he'd seen all day (we really are quite fun, but perhaps he hadn't seen anyone else that day, either). We had quite a chat with him, and I have some plans for my Christmas cards now.
At Longwood, the Christmas decorations-in-progress are looking more and more elaborate, pansies have been planted, my favorite huge tabby cat was out and about, and we got to hear some Korean drumming. Another highlight was the traveling puppet theater. I'd been expecting several adults, several puppets, and a lightweight portable theater of some type. In fact, the traveling theater was worn by a person in tights, Converse, with the theater as her upper body. A frog puppet was available to act whenever children were nearby, and as we passed the puppet theater person, murmuring, "So cute...", the frog said, "Hi there!" So nice to be greeted.
We couldn't tear ourselves away from Longwood in time to make it to the Brandywine River Museum or Chaddsford Winery, but fortunately, I live here. Our goal for the day was to find Trader Joe's, and we did. Unfortunately, Trader Joe's cannot sell alcohol within the store in Delaware, so after stocking up on groceries, we had to locate a liquor store. We traveled down 202, which is close to the PA border, meaning that it has every store known to man, so that the Pennsylvanians can cross the state line and shop, sales-tax free, any time they like. All the liquor stores were on the wrong side of the road, so we returned to Newark and went to the one in town. Not too many pinots or zins out here, so we bought some shiraz.
Another great meal, this time with wine, followed by more good conversation and cat entertainment. My kind of weekend.
Sunday was Baltimore. We wandered around the Inner Harbor, ate Maryland crab cakes, toured a Norwegian Royal Navy ship, and visited the fabulous National Aquarium, where we saw sharks, dolphins, frogs, all manner of fish (we found Nemo!), and even some birds and monkeys. The building is a beautiful glass and concrete structure with fabulous viewing tanks and a few very real-feeling exhibits--rainforests and Australian outback. We drove home in Chesapeake Bay/Veteran's Day weekend traffic, making it home just in time for Peace A Pizza slices and a (thankfully, traffic-free) trip to the Philly airport.
Today is Monday. Back to swimming, and some work at home, which will be cozy because it's raining outside. I'm contemplating some pie-baking for Thanksgiving and cleaning the house. Ah, another fall day on the East Coast.
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