Old friends

Last month, as October opened her gates to heightened colour, snow flurries, and all that a northern autumn holds, Caroline came to stay for a couple of weeks, bringing with her a fresh air of enthusiasm and excitement; warmth and stories, generosity and love. It was a lovely visit, and rather fun to, all at once, want to show her everything that Vermont had to offer. The first day, we let her rest...and indeed, that was a good idea, since her luggage had never left England's green and pleasant shores! Surprisingly, it arrived on our doorstep by 10 o'clock the following morning! Here are a few of the things we did together: picked apples at the Shelburne Orchards; followed by an afternoon at the Shelburne Museum; dinner with the girls at American Flatbread; went to see "Where The Wild Things Are" (Papa cried!); dinner on the lake at the Eastside in Newport; Simon Pierce in Queechee, where we had lunch, then watched a couple of vases being blown and shaped by 2 glass-blowers; we went to the Billings Farm Museum in Woodstock, then on to the Woodstock Inn and a lovely amble through the town..a beautiful fall afternoon; heading north again, (and this COULD be the highlight of her trip!), we stopped off at Exit 17, and took her to the truck stop for dinner!! Real style! Caroline and I, one Sunday afternoon, took a mini-trip up to Averil and beyond to look for a moose, unsuccessfully of course..they rarely show themselves when you actually go looking for them! One day, Caroline took Murgatroyd (my little red VW Rabbit), and said she was off to 'explore' Newport! She had an errand to do, but when, after 5 hours, she hadn't returned, I started to feel a cold chill. The 'what ifs' started in my mind: She's lost! She's in a ditch! She accepted a ride! She's definitely lost! No map! No cell phone! Sun's sinking...getting dusky! So Larry and I jumped in the truck to go and look for Caroline. Just as he put her in reverse, along came Caroline and Murgatroyd down the drive....ahh! Unbelievably enough, she had parked the car, and literally spent 5 hours exploring Newport!! It was the joke of the century! But I've been thinking: this is a pretty neat little lakeside town, and because we live and work here, we don't see Newport as the charming place others see. The boardwalk and state building and the marina, she had lunch at the Montgomery cafe, popped into the newly renovated bookshop and spent ages in there perusing the books and drinking coffee, and a few more of the great shops on Main Street. She spent an extraordinary amount of time at the Pick and Shovel, marvelling at the variety within its walls. She came, she stayed, she went ... I miss her. It was lovely. Her she is hanging over Queechee Gorge!