Finally caught a break!

Sorry to have been so long since the last post -- it's been chaos here the past couple of days. Yesterday we went to Strawbery Banke (2.5 hours away) and then to Peter Spang's house in Manchester-by-the-sea (in Mass. -- I had to ask). The day before that, we were at Hancock Shaker Village and then at a dinner with a Deerfield bigwig. Two late nights, and another one coming tonight. But we got this morning off, hurray, partly because we didn't get back to Deerfield last night until midnight, and partly because our intended plans fell through.

I really loved our outings, what nifty museums and what larks to learn so much that I just didn't know. I'll post more about them and everything, but I thought I'd just share a couple of the best pictures, to keep you interested & to rub in your face the fact that I get to do these awesome things. Heehee.

Me and the parents on Mt. Sugarloaf from their visit. Mom just sent it and I love it so I thought I'd share. I do love my parents.

Hancock Shaker: the dramatic entryway looking into the village (featuring their wonderful round barn) from the visitor's center. I really liked it here, in no small part because I made friends with a calf who licked my hand with her scratchy tongue and had huge eyes. Aww. Also, the behind the scenes tour was AWESOME.

Strawbery Banke. Cool museum -- their current textiles exhibit that goes throughout the museum is wonderful. If you're wondering whether you should go check the place out, but think you've seen everything there: GO. Because you haven't seen this. The historic textiles are amazing.

View of P. Spang's private beach. We got to go swimming there. The water is so clear that you can see all the way down, even when it's 7 feet deep. Gorgeous. Can you see Boston on the skyline?

P. Spang's private island that we swam out to. Fun rocks to walk around. Made me wish I had been a kid growing up here: I would have built a fort and made up fantastical stories about pirates and caves and monsters and it would have been AWESOME. Very Swallows & Amazons, but on the ocean. Gorgeous gorgeous.