In the Woods of New Hampshire

August 17, 2009

In the Woods of New Hampshire

While I realize that my posting in this blog as of late has been at best, sporadic--this last respite has been the result of a vacation to visit our PLUs in New Hampshire.

We became lovingly reacquainted with our beautiful niece, Olivia:

Our most handsome nephew, Tony:

And this oh-so-lovable and wonderfully goofy sweetheart, Annemarie:

We saw tall ships in Portsmouth before eating lunch at Smuttynose and hanging out for a couple of hours on Rye Beach:

We made stuffed shells, shishkebabs, jambalaya, homemade pizza, seafood linguine Alfredo, double chocolate brownies, and pie and muffins from wild blueberries we picked and plunked into our pails on Pitcher Mountain.

We had coffee on the porch every morning and got thoroughly caught up.

We walked to the cornfield, around Tarn Pond, and to and from the coffee maker.

We ventured into Vermont, destination: Ben & Jerry's:

We laughed until it hurt and then we laughed some more.

We drove by farms like this:

And contemplated roads taken, and not taken:

We stopped by this farm stand...

...and bought vegetables like these for our meals:

Some went kayaking at a nearby lake:

While others stayed home and made handmade cards.

We froze to death in a cornfield while eating homemade ice cream, went mini-golfing in which I got two holes-in-one, went antiquing, attempted to watch the Perseid's Meteor Shower and giggled far more than there were falling stars, and watched Twilight and Anchor Man as age and interest permitted.

We reincarnated old jokes and invented new ones that will last much longer than we might like.

We grabbed coffee and Chai on one of our many trips to the grocery store:

But mostly we just basked in the joy of being together.

For we are as close as they come, my brother and I--and our families:

And though my heart breaks every time we have to say good-bye, and I fantasize about living near them once again someday, I know that there will be no love lost across the miles, just time...