Wooden Boat Show

So today, since it's vacation time for the Fellows and for my parents (and Rufus & Cathy!), we all went down to the Wooden Boat Show in Mystic Seaport. It was really cool.

There was an excellent combination of vendors who were selling things/showing off their projects as well as a great number of wooden boats themselves. It was a hot day, but not too bad and once we got water, it was fine. I chatted with a guy from Wooden Boat Rescue, which kind of struck me as hilarious. Seems like we rescue everything: dogs, cats, horses, wooden boats... Anyway, he was telling me about what different kinds of woods they used and why and how they restore a boat. But when I asked him if he thought that a boat that was 90% replacement wood was still the same boat as it was before, I realized that Deerfield has gotten too far into my head. Ahh! I spent a solid amount of time look at the different kinds of woods used and trying to identify them and reason out why they were being used there instead of a different kind of wood ... Oh, Material Culture Boot Camp! You have taken over my little brainsickle.

There were a ton of dogs out, too, which was wonderful. For anyone who has spent more than five minutes with me, you know how I am about greeting dogs that I pass. Or that pass me. Or that cross within a 50 foot radius of me. And since I don't currently have a dog of my own, mooching off other people's has become a priority. In fact, I know many of the dogs owned by people on "The Street" in Deerfield. I know their owners only as "Jake's woman" or "Samantha's guy." I keep wishing they would just leave their dogs with us for an afternoon or evening so we could get all our dog therapy done in one blow. But I digress!

Dad had a great time poking around, he ended up getting some books that are signed & remarked. Here's what I learned: when a book has been "remarked" by the illustrator, it means that he (or she) went through and rather than signing like the author does, drew a unique picture in the book for you. He (in this case) also signed at the bottom of the picture, but it's really nifty because each of Dad's books has this totally unique illustration in it that was done especially for him. They're maritime-y books, of course.

The wooden boats are beautiful: you can tell how much time, ingenuity, pride, and dedication go into the creation and maintenance of these things. I think the best part of the show was witnessing the love these crafts-folk have for what they do. Wooden boats are fine and all, but I don't really know that much about them. What makes the whole show so special is seeing all the passion the people there have for what they do.

Pictures from the Second & Third Weeks

Sunset one evening, looking out across the street from the Wright House. There are incredible sunsets (and sunrises) there, it's ridiculous. I love the colors at sunset.

Five of the Fellows on top of Sugarloaf Mountain right after sunset. From left to right is me, Ryan, Rebekah, Stephanie, and Lauren. Abigail wasn't with us.

Four of the Fellows at Old Ship Meeting House in Hingham, MA. From left to right is Abigail, Lauren, Ryan, and Stephanie. There are other pictures that have all of us (but on someone else's camera) so hopefully I can share those soon?

Topics of the Summerthing

So two of the major components of the Deerfield Program are the research paper and the object study papers. I delayed writing about my topics because I didn't want to jinx it, and then the internet and me went through a silent contest phase. But now that we're friends again, let me tell you what I've chosen to do.

For my object study, I'm going to look at Deerfield's recently acquired 1835 map of Springfield (Mass), done by George Colton. I'm looking at who Colton was (unclear), how it was printed, why, and all that kind of thing. It's really cool: it's a wall-hung roller map. It has rivers and creeks and streets and labels and stuff all over it. It's cool. Paper front, linen glued on the back. It has an engraving by "R. O'brien based on a sketch by Elwell" -- he grew up to become a famous engraver, and Elwell became a famous painter. But I have no idea who Colton was! There are a couple of possibilities, but no way to know for sure, or even if my different possibilities are actually the same guy. Whatever.

For my research topic, I'm doing a study of a newspaper (and job) printer in Greenfield, Mass. The library has one of his account books from 1818 - 1826, although it would be much more helpful & interesting if there were more than just one... I'd like to get to Greenfield to see if they have any other things of his. He wasn't an astounding printer, there's a copy in the library of something he printed in which he misspelled "benevolent" and "school" (which he spelled "sgool"). Anyway, he printed the town's newspaper for 58 years while also doing job printing (including books). I'm not sure yet what kind of equipment he had, although I'm hoping to learn more about that. Also, he had some rocky business partnerships throughout his career, on again off again with several different partners. So I want to look at why that happened. At some point in there he was also a Colonel in the militia and in 1855 was on the governor's council, so he clearly became an important dude. I'm mostly fingers crossed that this works out at this point.

Anyway, here's hoping my brains don't leak out of my ears. Again. I had to duct tape my ears while I was comping (thesis) to keep my brains in -- may have to do that again.

Holy Crap, There's Internet Here!

Sooo this is the first time that I've had internet access in a while, so this is very exciting. I haven't been writing posts to put up because we've been so busy that by the end of the day, I'm too exhausted to even think about writing anything. Which is really stupid now, because I'm so far behind that I'm not sure I can do anything justice. Which is a shame. Because I'm sure you're all desperate to know the details of my life.

I have a list of things -- from last weekend! -- of things to remember to post about, so I'm going to consult with that and slowly work my way through them. I'm fairly certain that I won't catch up, but I'll at least try. And then I will get back to doing the back-dated entries and posting them when I can. Also, I now have a bag that will carry my laptop so it'll be around with me (aka the internet) more. Yay!

And now of course, I don't have the list with me (it's upstairs). I'm an idiot. It's fine.

I'm at Rufus & Cathy's now, it's the Fellows' Weekend Off, and my parents (co-incidentally) are here, too. It's nice to be on break, although I had to bring a lot of reading with me to feel justified with the time off. We'll see if I actually get any work done (doubt it).

Outside the Flynt Center

I'm sitting outside the Flynt Center borrowing the wi-fi. I've posted some back dated entries. I've been writing 'em during the week and saving them post here. So read them chronologically (ie backwards) and then hopefully a nice little story will unfold. Otherwise, it could get weird.

Also, happy father's day to Dad! I know I talked to you earlier today, but I didn't even realize it was father's day so I didn't say it. So I'm saying it now. I love you!

The crafts fair was great fun today, although I've been told that it's pathetically small in comparison with how it used to be in the past. This could be something to do with the $7 entrance fee, but I didn't have to pay that so who knows. I did walk around and see all the different things, which was fun. There was a dinosaur theme to the whole fair which made it about 100 times better. I love dinosaurs. Lauren took some pictures, so hopefully I can get those from her soon and post them here so you can see. I, like a genius, brought my camera and then left it with the other Deerfield people at our booth. I got a thing of fried dough (YUM, and don't any of you judge me) and 6 books from the "buck a book booth" which I am very pleased about.

I was at our booth from 2:30 to about 3:45. We left early, under the guidance of the woman in charge, because the whole place was winding down and no one new was coming in. I had a nice time chatting with the guides who were there. Deerfield opened the Wells-Thorne House for free tours, which was nice (also convenient since it's right at the entrance to the fair). The guides were there to facilitate that. I guess we were there as support and to answer other questions about the place, although mostly we just chatted because no one seemed particularly interested in us. Oh well.

Saw some great dogs there, including two Leonburgers! They were very friendly: one of them sat on me while I bent over to scratch its ears.

I'm going to try and upload some pictures now, but the internet is straining. I'm sitting outside the building and the connection's not that great through the walls. We'll see.

The Connecticut River, as viewed from the top of Mt Sugarloaf, which I hiked a bunch with Jess and then drove up yesterday with Lauren and Abigail. We want to go back and hike it & picnic later, but didn't have time that day. But it was too great a day not to go up and look around.

Abigail and Lauren on Sugarloaf. They have more pictures (with me!), I'll try and get some of them soon.

This is for Cathy: Flat Tapping does his Deerfield readings!

Shelburne Falls, the glacial potholes. I only saw them briefly, but I can't wait to go back. Also, we've all learned that right now you can't, it's all closed Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin are up there filming something. It's called "Labour Day."

What do you all want to know about? What can I tell you about that will answer questions?

Gone From the Internet So Long!

So I realize that I haven’t posted since Monday, and I have been writing entries mostly every other day, but it’s hard to post them when the days are so busy. Today was a nice resting day, it looks like weekends might be something of a breather sometimes. Although we’re doing so much travelling soon and then there’s these papers that we have. So we’ll see how long this lasts. Some of the other Fellows and I were laughing about how we keep hearing stories about Ben (our assistant tutor, a Fellow five years ago) and other people had these adventures. But how?, we asked. When did they have time?

Lauren, my roommate & fellow Fellow, just got an iPhone. We went to the AT&T store today to buy it & set it all up & all that. It’s weird: I didn’t want one for the longest time, because I didn’t want to be constantly in touch with the world. But now I’d like one: it’d be nice to have an easy way to keep not out of touch with the real world. I know there’s so much going on out there. MT is off in India having crazy rocking adventures and Janny is at home preparing to move to Europe. So much is going on in the world and I don’t know what any of it is. The real importance is keeping in touch with the world and my friends and family.

This weekend is the Deerfield Crafts Fair. It’s all around Memorial Hall and on Memorial Street. Typical looking street fair thing. Lauren and I went over in the afternoon to get books out of the Library in the middle of it. The amount of books I brought back was unfortunately heavy. My shoulders hurt. If there’s anything left in the cartography section from my object paper.

Did I mention? I should. My object (for my object study) is a map of Springfield from 1835. It’s cool. We’re all frustratingly lacking in details about what we need in this object study – so I can’t really tell you too much about it. And my research project is going to be a study of a newspaper printing business in Greenfield between 1818 – 1825. I’m looking forward to learning about that – although not the amount of stress that I’m anticipating from the thing. Hmm.

I need to sleep, but I’ll try and write more tomorrow before finding the interwebs and getting on the posting side of this.

Decorative Arts Boot Camp

I was talking to the folks tonight and Dad pointed out that I was talking as though I’d been here forever but reminded me that it has been, in fact, only four days. Four days?! It feels like it has been forever. In the best possible way, I mean, but it does not feel like four days. I was trying to explain what it’s like here, and it’s hard to explain. Dad joked that it was “Decorative Arts Boot Camp” – and it is but with added components of learning how the museum functions & why it made the choices it has & the history of the area.

In the past four days, I have learned more about Early American architecture and decorative arts (in the Connecticut River Valley) than I have my entire life. I’m learning the language, how to approach looking at a house or an object, why things are important and why the producers and the consumers made the choices they did. On top of this, there’s theory readings about how to look at objects and the difference between an object and a thing.

The notebook I’m using already has about a dozen pages of notes. Egad.

So we start in the morning at 9, somewhere along the Street. Flynt Center, one of the Houses, or somewhere else as yet unknown (give me some slack, it’s only been four days). Then we work our tails off learning until noon, break for lunch, then back to work until 5, when we go back for dinner. Until dinner, Josh and Ben are with us, and us Fellows are together until after dinner. We usually spend time before dinner and after hanging out chatting or playing some kind of cards.

I made carbonara the other day. I guess it was good? We had tacos tonight.

I’m exhausted by the end of the day – that’s why this entry is going to be short and less than complete. I’m too tired to do much else. I’ll start with pictures soon – I hope.

Second Day

Today was the second day … overwhelming is the word that comes to mind immediately. Intimidating is a close second. Last night, our reading was about how to do an object study. There was one reading about the practical way to approach it, and then one about the theory behind it all. The inherent difference between an object and a thing. It got really philosophical, really quick. My head hurt for a while – theory is rough. We practiced an object analysis on my water bottle: strange to try and be that objective about something that is, by nature, not objective.

Then we went downstairs (we were in the Flynt Center, the main exhibits building, but also where the offices & our seminar room is) to the “Into the Wood” furniture exhibit. We were supposed to do an object analysis on a fancypants chest in the exhibit. It did not go well … I think Josh was disappointed in us: we didn’t cover nearly enough information the first time around, and it was awkward and stilted at best. I think partly we were awkward because Josh and Ben were standing there the entire time looking at us & listening, so we were worried about saying something wrong or stupid. Then we didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes and take charge or be bossy because we’re still trying to figure each other out, make a good impression, and form solid friendships without angering each other.

None of this was helped by the fact that none of us really know enough right now to be able to point to wood types, carving & joining techniques, technology used, worth of the item versus labor as separate things and as a whole. The painting, what it’s aspiring to as opposed to what it was. I don’t think I’ve felt that at sea or at a loss for a while. Ugh, it’s rotten.

Anyway, all of this made for an incomplete and not very good object study, and I think Josh & Ben were disappointed.

After lunch, we went to the library to work on research stuff – mostly deciding on a topic and gathering preliminary sources. I’m not going to share my plan with you yet, I want to be a little more sure of it. I’m sorry, I know it’s kind of a pain to be like that, but I just want to be sure so that I don’t create extra or unnecessary confusion. Or (and yes, I’m this superstitious) jinx it.

There was a potluck dinner for us this evening to introduce us to the guides and staff that work here. Most of them are retirees, and all of them are very kind – the guides, I mean. The staff are all regular aged. One of them had a son that went to Allegheny – graduated a couple of years ago. He’s led an amazing life since then, sounds like one of the grads that the school should be immensely proud of and boast about in the magazines and websites and whatnots. Just like with the Fellowship alums, an inspiring story.

Did I mention this yet? I’m learning more and more about what the program’s alums are doing these days – over 300 of them. They are out in the world being the best of the best of the best. Our assistant tutor was a Fellow a couple years ago after he graduated Yale and now, having just graduated from Winterthur, he’s our assistant tutor and then he’s going to be the assistant curator at one of Cathy’s favorite museums after this. Then there’s the ones that run this place and all the other big ones across the country. That’s where the overwhelming and intimidating come in. Egad.

Fellows came back to the Wright House this evening for an epic game of Apples to Apples. Wot larks, Pip. And now, I’m going to read my pirates book and then go to sleep. Woo.

Have I given a list of dramatis personae yet? I probably should, just so that you don’t keep wondering. Here’s a list:

Fellows Living with Me: Lauren and Abby.

Fellows Living at the Allen House: Ryan, Rebekah, and Stephanie.

Head of Academic Programs: Josh.

Assistant Tutor: Ben.

Librarians: David & Heather. (They will be helping us with our research for our projects)

Survived My First Day!

Today was our first full day! It was kind of overwhelming, but it was fun. Started with having our pictures taken for our IDs, which was kind of hilarious. The woman doing it had all of this wonderfully professional equipment that was clearly meant for photographing objects & museum pieces. But she was really friendly and did the whole “point your shoulders one way and your face in the other and smile” so the pictures will either be great or hysterically bad (I felt so awkward I don’t think I could smile like a normal person if my life had been on the line – I’m willing to sacrifice my dignity, though).

Then we were released to go visit parts of the Village and do some tours and stuff. I toured the baby blue house – the Wells Thorn House – with a great guide who was very different from the people I had when I was here with Jess. I liked the house as well as the lady, although a good guide does make a world of difference. Also saw the Apprentice Exhibit, which I guess is supposed to be self-guided but the man there showed three of us around the whole thing. It’s geared towards little kids, and broken into three parts – textiles & weaving, pottery, and woodworking.

Lunch at the Allen House. Sandwiches & leftover pizza from last night.

After lunch, we had an introduction to the Memorial Libraries here, which is where we’ll be doing most of our research for our projects. The people seemed nice, the collection was impressive, between both Deerfield & PVMA’s libraries being there. So there’s Historic Deerfield, where I am, but there is also the Pockumtuck Valley Memorial Association. I know I spelled the P word wrong. There’s also bound copies of all the former Fellows’ projects there, which we got to look through. We’re supposed to be coming up with a topic. Egads. I got nothing.

Then we had a seminar discussion, recovering the history of Deerfield the town and then the museum. It’s interesting how it just kind of segwayed from a town into a tourist attraction without doing any of the middley bit.

Not sure what I want to do my big project on yet, I'm hoping to have that figured out soon because it's kind of weird not having that. There's so many choices, and this is kind of a big deal. I feel like I'm picking my thesis topic all over again. AHHH.

I have many more thoughts, but I have to get to the library to use their wi-fi to post this and then back here to do more reading.

Send me emails, I’ll read them when I can!

First Post as a Fellow!

So, as you may have noticed or guessed, there is no internet in the Fellows’ summer housing. I’m told that there used to be Wi-Fi on the whole Street, but then the economy went splat, and the interwebs suffered in the subsequent budget trimmings.

Also, it’s midnight as I’m writing this, sitting in my room in the Wright House and I’ve just finished the readings for tomorrow. Actually, I haven’t, there’s still two pages left – from a PDF file. The other bit – the other 57 pages – were in a book about the history of Historic Deerfield. We were told, when this was assigned, that it was a short reading and that we should not take “extensive notes.” Hmm.

I’m having a good time so far – so far being one night, since I got here yesterday afternoon. I was earlier than I’d intended to be, so I drove up to Shelbourne Falls to see what all the fuss was about. Turns out, they were having a Riverfest, which was interesting. It seemed about a 60-40 ratio between aged hippie-stoners and young families. Not big, but plenty of the usual festival stands. Also, a group of hula-hoopers, which was a new thing for me to see.

The real magnificence, though, was the glacial potholes that form the falls that gives the place its name. They are curvy and swoopy and full of pools and magnificent. I took some pictures, and I’ll post them soon.

After a quick break there, I came to Deerfield. My house is on the north end of the mile-long street. It’s the second brick house built in town, and we – that is, Lauren, Abby, and myself – live in the built on addition in the back. We have a kitchen, two full bathrooms, two floors. It’s quite nice actually. It’s nicer than either Plimoth or Sturbridge – sorry to them, but it’s true. Although we don’t have wi-fi (neither did either of them), but there are real mattresses on the bed, the place does not inspire the name “the Crypt,” and there is a full kitchen. Win.

I have met the five other Fellows, the last two got here today. I met three others yesterday, and including my two roommates and Rebekah who lives with the other two in the Allen House down the road. So it’s myself, Lauren, Abby, Rebekah, Stephanie, and Ryan (who goes by his last name, but I’m not going to announce that to the world). Anyway. They all seem like good kids, I’m excited to get to know them better, it should be an interesting summer.

We amused ourselves this afternoon first by going to Yankee Candle, which was hilarious. The place is massive and so very full of candles. A fire there would be disastrous. Also, it would smell like an terrific medley of every kind of flower, grass, rain, sea breezes, also “hugs ‘n kisses,” “whoopee pie,” and “stars ‘n stripes” to name a few. Did you know that it snows in there? Every four minutes, in this special little room. Goodness.

Then we went to Wal-Mart & Target to pick up extension cords and things like that. We looked at Ethernet cables, since we heard that Fellows in the past have been able to get internet that way, but nothing looked promising. I tried plugging the phone cable into my computer but that did nothing, so I gave that up. We also picked up a set of Bocce balls, and played happily for about an hour before dinner. We’re a bit hazy on the rules, especially since none of us read them and I’m working from memory, but we managed to lark about lobbing plastic balls around which was the whole point anyway. We have this great lawn space behind our two houses, it seems such a waste not to use it.

Dinner was great, pizza from a local place, and we learned more about what we’ll be doing this summer. I’m going to stop here though, since it’s 12:45 am and I have to be on the other side of town tomorrow at 9 am. So I’m going to sleep and you can all sit and wonder what it is that I learned at dinner tonight (bwahaha). Actually, I’m sure I’ll just tell you about it tomorrow at some point, unless you’re my parents in which case I’ve already told you.

Elijah & House of Worth

Cathy has House of Worth designs in her collection. I drooled at her until she let me see them. Also, she let me copy a few on nice paper to put in frames to put on walls. I am overwhelmed by how wonderful they are, and how incredible it was of Cathy to let me see them. Cathy's really wonderful and I'm very lucky that's she's Dad's sister.

Also, I'm angry and disappointed with Elijah. Today, when I was reading his account book, innocently reading about the coming and going of rum, molasses, cloth, hogs/pork, and barrels, I turned the page and found. I don't know how best to say this and not be awkward. He bought a slave: a nine year old girl. I was stunned. I mean, I know it's the kind of thing that was going on. It was 1790, it happened. I was still really surprised. And let down. I like Elijah & then this.

Aside from that and an employment contract, not too much exciting happened in his account books today. It's winter, so he's got people doing his delivering & fetching on sleds. He also seems to have gotten big into pigs -- dealing in pork, I'm betting, from the way he's buying.

Rufus & Cathy & I went out to dinner this evening, which was delightful & delicious. I'm having a blast here. I don't really want to leave. But I know I'm going to have fun in Deerfield. Speaking of, they're being vague about arrival time so I'm confused, but that's okay. It'll work out.

Short entry today, but it covers the day. All in all, a really stellar one. I'm really so lucky.

The Maryland Bridge Committee

Today was great: had a big win in the Elijah Boardman papers. Basically, I found him hiring a few guys to do some masonry, then a fairly large lumber purchase, and finally, at the end of today, ten minutes before we had to leave, I found him paying John Couch -- a joiner in the area -- for "raising part of the house."

I WIN.

There was definitely some whooping and cheering. I may have done a victory dance. Cathy & I are going to take pictures of it tomorrow so we can send it to Darrin, for whom I am doing all this searching. I can't wait. I am gloating.

In between these, there were lots of delightful little entries. Probably not as amusing to most everyone, but as (a) a nerd, (b) someone whose been reading those papers for a day and a half, and (c) an only child used to amusing herself at odd things, it was delightful. For example, I found several instances of Elijah buying strawberries -- and then not selling them. Someone in the Boardman family likes strawberries. A bit later, he bought whortleberries. I have no idea what they are, in fact I'll look now. Ah. They are berries. Look like blueberries but are, I guess?, different.

He also is something of a clotheshorse. Actually, he's a big one. He's bought quite a lot of new clothes for himself and the wife. Mostly from a man named Samuel Garlick, who also has a relation named Reed Garlick. The names kill me. Every time. The best name so far, though, has been Lazarus Ruggles. I can't decide whether or not it's a dog's name or someone out of Harry Potter, but either way, it's great. Somewhere towards the end of the day, he got made a Captain (Elijah notes all military titles, church titles, and any widows, which is interesting). I was excited for him. Captain Ruggles, to the rescue! I may name a dog that.

Meanwhile, I found an entry in which the "Maryland Bridge Committee" purchased rum. I was confused. The next day, they did the same thing. In fact, for five days in a row, they purchased rum. On the last day, they also purchased powder (as in, gunpowder). At this point, I was laughing so hard that I had to share with Cathy (aunt) and another woman named Cathy who was there researching and an intern and a couple of other people who were hanging around the library. We all laughed. On the sixth day, the Committee hired half a dozen day laborers for unknown work. What?! At the end of the day, Cathy did some research. Turns out: Elijah Boardman owned an island in the middle of a river nearby that was called Maryland (he owned a slave from Maryland who named the island after his home, or so said the history of New Milford book). We figure that he was thinking of building a bridge out to it -- although Cathy (aunt version) & I decided it was probably just an excuse for the men to sit around and drink. We're thinking of re-forming it. Any takers??

What else? I know there was a lot, mostly relating to Litchfield/New Milford history. Boardman family stuff that helps us understand them, so that's good.

Anyway, I'm going to read my book & pass out because I'm back to Elijah tomorrow and I want to look my best for him!!

My New BFF: Elijah Boardman

Today, I went in to work with Cathy at the Litchfield Historical Society. I always have a great time when I go in with her, and today was no exception. I started out doing some scanning of old pictures -- photographs & portraits of an old Litchfield family for the archives. Kind of repetitive, but I think it was helpful (C. told me to do it, so hopefully it was of some use). And some of the pictures were great: the clothes worn were wonderful. One woman -- I'm guessing turn of the century? -- was wearing a huge silk dress that was massively poofy in the skirt & shoulders. It had a couple of huge bows on the front of the skirt connected by these streams of flowers that wound around the skirt up to the neck. Outrageous.

After a while, Cathy pulled me away from that to work on another project. The LHS has been given Elijah Boardman's papers. You may recognize the Ralph Earl portrait of him.  The account books below his desk by his legs were lost for a long time, and recently recovered and donated to the LHS. They've been kind of explored, although not very thoroughly: they are waiting for someone to come along and analyze them. You can learn more about that here.

Anyway, my project is to go through his books from 1790 - 1795, when he was building his new house, and look for references to the building of it. So I'm flagging anything that might be interesting. It is incredibly fun. I'm enjoying so many things about it -- the names (Erastus!), the sales (so much rum! and also tea, sugar, ribbons, labor, and recording deliveries sent & received by Boardman), the people who appear regularly, the settling of one man's accounts on his death, when Ralph Earl (!!!!!!) came in to purchase things, and so forth. It's slow going (for now at least) since I'm not yet used to his handwriting, but I hope it will pick up as I go. And I'm learning his writing style, so that's helping. It's a really cool resource, and it's a shame that it's not been explored more.

Cathy had a "do" this evening that she had to go to, so Rufus and I wandered around West Hartford for a while (very cute, although most everything was closed). Then we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, which was fun -- we'd neither of us been there before & he had a card as a teacher gift, so that was nice. We had a great time. Then we picked Cathy up & got back here, so that was it. I'm really looking forward to getting back to the books tomorrow. Laugh all you want, I'm a dork and I'm proud of it.

More Deerfield & Litchfield

So I'm now in Litchfield with Rufus & Cathy. I got here last night, and although my Garmin took me around all kinds of everywhere that wasn't right. In the end, I used it more as a map and found my own way (I can get to their house from the museum, so I just followed some signs). I'm going to have to sit down with the thing: I think it bumps things in the car and then sets all kinds of new routes or just resets itself. Hmm.

So yesterday, Jess & I went around Historic Deerfield. Not all of the places, just a quick tour, which was fun. It's a cute town, really just a couple of streets with old (OLD) houses on them, I'd say a third or so of them are museum property. I could be wrong: I'm sure I'll more about it soon. Anyway. I didn't take any pictures, I'm sure I'll have a bunch soon.

Rufus & Cathy took me down to Mystic Seaport today, it was great fun. I've never been before, and enjoyed it. Got some postcards and a book (Seaafaring Women about, guess what, seafaring women; I'm really excited about it, although my book pile rose dramatically these past couple of days. Used book sales will be the death of my bank account. "When I have a little money, I buy books. If any is left over, I buy food." -- Erasmus

We also went to Ikea, I'd never been to one before. Mind is somewhat boggled by the experience: it was huge. Madness. I had fun playing Pinterest in my head with which furniture and knick knacks and decoration things that would be fun in the future. Not that the blue hand chair won't always be with me, but it will get lonely. HA.

Kind of tired to write much tonight, but I am determined to get a little something said as often as I can, so here's this.

Pictures soon, promise.