The Easy Life at Grandma's

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Its been a while since I've written anything... I have been here at my Grandma's house in Stratford, Connecticut, since July 4th. My ride out of Quebec (beginning July 3rd) was very very nice, Northern Maine is stunningly beautiful. I had sort of assumed that the entire east coast was overpopulated, hence everyone going west. Not so, there's hardly anyone up there. I took a state road (201) halfway through the state and ended up camping a night at a trailer place for the price of "whatever's in my pocket", a deftly negotiated fee that ended up being $13, when the usual fee is $25. Sweet. All my neighbors were set up for the summer with cars and campers and most were watching TV by the fire. Ahhh American summer. I built a fire and slept on the ground because I didn't bring a tent. A woodpecker woke me up at sunrise and I was back on the road by 8am. I figured that I'd be at Grandma's by lunch, but all those tiny New England states are much larger than on the map. By the time I got to CT it was 3 and looking like rain. By Hartford, it finally started coming down so I got to put on my bright yellow rainsuit and do my best Uma Thurmond impression. Grandma's house has been fun. I learned to make pie crust, strawberry pie, research geneology on Ancestry.com, and all kinds of things about my mom and grandma's early lives. We took a trip to Pittsfield, Massachussetts where Grandma grew up and saw all kinds of churches people got married in, the farm she grew up on, the house, Richmond Pond nearby where my mom and aunt apparently both own vacant lots. Then dinner with some other family, and I won a round of Tiger Woods Wii golf against some other family. Beginners luck? I think not. Also I've gone for a motorcycle ride with my aunt, hung out with both cousins, gone out to dinner a few times, been to Stew Leonards, the animatronic maze of a grocery store that you expect to have roller coasters instead of registers.
But the average day at Grandma's goes something like: Wake at 9, eat Donuts, fruit, and instant coffee. At 1030, go outside and do landscaping work until 1230, eat a really enormous lunch (today was steak, baked potato, salad), then go out for the afternoon and run a bunch of errands. Or, go to my aunts house and go swimming. My cousins have grown up soooo much since I've seen them last (7 years?) Crazy. Seeing my cousin Thomas at 16 has me feeling really old. Anyway, then watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy and eat a small dinner, then she goes to sleep and I practice contact juggling for a half hour and then watch Star Trek and go to sleep at 10. It's been relaxing, and Grandma's front yard is all fixed up. Connecticut is a pretty state too, kind of like southern Wisconsin but rockier, more foresty, and everything is about 300 years older. Saw a house today built in 1672. They're not hard to find either. Hopefully I'll be able to get at some pictures on this computer (been having bad luck with the library's security settings) and get some pictures up. Tomorrow morning I leave CT by train for upper east side Manhattan where I'll spend a few days, then hopefully find someone else to house me another couple days. Hopefully internet won't be so sparse.

http://picasaweb.google.com/wired1000

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