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Sep. 20th, 2004 12:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
merchimerchR and I are back from our mad cap New England trip. It was exhausting but really fun. It was so wonderful to see Rahvina and Sarisa (and Bahamut) again - I really miss having them in my everyday life. The cottage in Maine was lovely - we had a boat ride and hung out with my uncle J while he did the "around isleboro sailing race."
We also had lobster dinner with my grandfather and Aunt N and Uncle B. My grandfather has mellowed with his wife's death, but he still had time to spout political opinions. We stayed 1 night at Aunt N's and she loaded us up with vegetables.
Before leaving ME we loaded up with doughnuts from Weavers in Belfast. They are little deep fried pieces of heaven I tell ya. Like no other doughnut on earth. We spread the wealth around too. Packed them in plastic so that they survived our 2 day trip to Burlington, VT to see my paternal grandparents. We gave some to cousin D and uncle J when we saw them and just gave some to my mom. The whole family gets really excited about these doughnuts. And I wonder why I have such a messed up relationship with food.
It was nice to see my paternal grandparents, they are both 91 and are certainly feeling their ages, but are remarkably functional. Both R and I had horrible allergies because of the dog and the old dust though. We tried to sit out on the porch as much as possible and took a trip to Waterbury to see the Ben and Jerry's factory and had a tour. We tried "Dublin Mudslide" which is the most amazing flavor ever - coffee and irish cream flavored ice cream with chocolate cookies and fudge. I got to see lots of old pictures which are wonderful and we talked a lot about politics and the state of the world/nation.
Then we went to spend a day in Woodstock with my cousin D, his wife J and his 18 month old who is the sweetest most mild mannered baby. They are a lovely family and made us feel very comfortable. D made an amazing onion and apple sage stuffed chicken for dinner that night. I'm going to have to try and copy it. I decided not to visit my grandmother's grave because it was raining and R and I were so happy that I wasn't ready to mourn at that moment. I think my grandma would understand. We stopped and bought some good sharp cheese and maple syrup to take to UZ.
Our final stop was to NYC to stay with uncle J (the same one who was up in Maine doing the sailboat race). He has 2 seven year old boys and we were total lego maniacs! They had an off-brand lego spaceship Endeavor for each kid. R and I set in and got remarkably far considering how confusing and poorly written/drawn/colored the directions were.
The thing that suprised me the most was the strict gender roles that the 7 year olds wanted. They kept balking and telling me I was "boyish" because I play video games and do legos. When I was working on the legos the one who's shuttle I was building kept calling to R to come help. R was so good and told them that I was better at legos than he was and that I could handle it. I can't help wondering what causes this need for genders to have rock solid deliniations and differences at this age. Their parents certainly don't reinforce it (their mom is a very successful career woman and takes them fishing). Is the media really that strong, is it the school system? Whatever it is I was bowled over by the strength of their belief in strict gender roles.
We also had lobster dinner with my grandfather and Aunt N and Uncle B. My grandfather has mellowed with his wife's death, but he still had time to spout political opinions. We stayed 1 night at Aunt N's and she loaded us up with vegetables.
Before leaving ME we loaded up with doughnuts from Weavers in Belfast. They are little deep fried pieces of heaven I tell ya. Like no other doughnut on earth. We spread the wealth around too. Packed them in plastic so that they survived our 2 day trip to Burlington, VT to see my paternal grandparents. We gave some to cousin D and uncle J when we saw them and just gave some to my mom. The whole family gets really excited about these doughnuts. And I wonder why I have such a messed up relationship with food.
It was nice to see my paternal grandparents, they are both 91 and are certainly feeling their ages, but are remarkably functional. Both R and I had horrible allergies because of the dog and the old dust though. We tried to sit out on the porch as much as possible and took a trip to Waterbury to see the Ben and Jerry's factory and had a tour. We tried "Dublin Mudslide" which is the most amazing flavor ever - coffee and irish cream flavored ice cream with chocolate cookies and fudge. I got to see lots of old pictures which are wonderful and we talked a lot about politics and the state of the world/nation.
Then we went to spend a day in Woodstock with my cousin D, his wife J and his 18 month old who is the sweetest most mild mannered baby. They are a lovely family and made us feel very comfortable. D made an amazing onion and apple sage stuffed chicken for dinner that night. I'm going to have to try and copy it. I decided not to visit my grandmother's grave because it was raining and R and I were so happy that I wasn't ready to mourn at that moment. I think my grandma would understand. We stopped and bought some good sharp cheese and maple syrup to take to UZ.
Our final stop was to NYC to stay with uncle J (the same one who was up in Maine doing the sailboat race). He has 2 seven year old boys and we were total lego maniacs! They had an off-brand lego spaceship Endeavor for each kid. R and I set in and got remarkably far considering how confusing and poorly written/drawn/colored the directions were.
The thing that suprised me the most was the strict gender roles that the 7 year olds wanted. They kept balking and telling me I was "boyish" because I play video games and do legos. When I was working on the legos the one who's shuttle I was building kept calling to R to come help. R was so good and told them that I was better at legos than he was and that I could handle it. I can't help wondering what causes this need for genders to have rock solid deliniations and differences at this age. Their parents certainly don't reinforce it (their mom is a very successful career woman and takes them fishing). Is the media really that strong, is it the school system? Whatever it is I was bowled over by the strength of their belief in strict gender roles.
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welcome back -
Date: 2004-09-20 02:46 pm (UTC)I know the clock is ticking for you......good luck!
Re: welcome back -
Date: 2004-09-21 06:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-20 05:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-21 06:11 am (UTC)