Vacation is always too short....

It's been a wonderful week off from work, and I still have a day and a half of relaxation to go. Last weekend I went to Bedford to visit Mom and do the Fall Foliage Festival. When I arrived on Saturday morning I met Mom over at Bob Harclerode's to help pick grapes off of the stems that they had just gotten at the vineyard that morning. We then proceeded to have a hell of a time trying to press them. Apparently green grapes, when pressed fresh, are very uncooperative.But after a lot of adjustments, the grapes finally gave up the juice. I'm looking forward to sampling that wine in a couple of years!








After we cleaned up the mess we had made, we headed out to Ritchey's Dairy and Nolt's Bargain Barn. Ritchey's being the home of the best ice cream ever and Nolt's being the best place to find treasures for pennies. It's was a ridiculously warm 86 degrees that afternoon, so my mint chip cone was good and drippy. Nolt's is located directly behind Ritchey's, so I just strolled back there while enjoying my cone. It's very possible to spend all day in Nolt's and not see everything, so I just looked for specific items that are always on my mental list. I found a few good decorative items, one of which is a little gold colored throw pillow that cost me an entire dollar and which Akhee has now claimed as her own.



That night we went to dinner at The Arena in Bedford. I had an absolutely delicious filet mignon while we listened to the entertainment in the lounge. Kent Martin http://www.musicbykentmartin.com/ played keyboard, flute and trumpet throughout the evening, serenading the crowd with laid back tunes by Jimmy Buffet, James Taylor and the like. It was one of those pleasant evenings that didn't have any one memoable moment, but was thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless.


After a good night's rest, we headed into Bedford again on Sunday to go to the Fall Foliage Festival. I meandered through the stalls, noting that once again there were way too many "country" crafts. I mean the kind that are all the same style of painting on wood or slate that people churn out in mass quantities.But there were enough new and truly artistic items to make it interesting.
One of my favorites was Wander Wheel Studio's pottery by Jone Bush. It was unique because besides being beautifully handcrafted, it had a story behind it. Her Mom's Lace pottery is impressed with a favorite piece of her mother's crochet-work. I also picked up some yummy foodstuffs while I was there. You can't go to the festival without eating! I bought a jar of jalapeno pepper jelly from Piper's Peck http://www.piperspeck.com/ and some hot 'n' sweet mustard from Miller's Mustard http://www.millersmustard.com/ .
It was a very full weekend! I headed home on Monday and I've been puttering around the house most of the week. I got my Halloween decorations done, and bought some of the supplies for the party I'm having later this month. And I've finished a few small projects. I also bought the kitties a self-cleaning litterbox. They're still getting used to it. I think Mhunkee is afraid it will start moving while she is in it! But they started using it right away and only freak out if they happen to be around when it turns on. Hopefully they'll learn to ignore it eventually. Then again they are a couple of pampered fraidy cats!
Well, this is running on and I need to make pizza for movie night! Tata for now!

...and the horse you came in on...

Finally, I have a little time to catch up. I've been doing a lot of extra things for work lately. Last Thursday I had to go to Moorestown, NJ again. This time I had to roll up my sleeves and move sports equipment around to help get our prototype set up. I got home from there at about 7pm and then had to pack to go to our White Marsh store outside of Baltimore. We had ourVIP day event there on Saturday. It's a lot of fun because all of the buyers for the "hardlines" areas (i.e. non-apparel) and some of the apparel buyers get together for a dinner the night before along with a lot of our vendor reps. And after dinner a group of about twenty of us decided we may as well go to Fells Point since we were in Baltimore. I forgot just how fun it is there. I think the last time I went was with Kristine back when we were still doing the RHPS thing. But we couldn't get into the bars then! Anyway, I was thrilled because I'd been wanting to go to The Horse You Came In On Saloon. I'm a big Martha Grimes mystery fan and it's the only American pub that has managed to be a title of one of her Richard Jury mysteries. It was a great place,too. Not too big, a good crowd of people and dancing as well as the usual row of televisions tuned to ESPN. So I got back to my hotel a little late and was tired the next day, but I hardly ever go out on the town so it was worth it.

I'm on vacation next week so I will write more then. I'm off to good old Bedford, PA this weekend for the Fall Foliage Festival and to visit my mom. I think I'll also have to visit Nolt's Bargain Barn while I'm there. It's an old converted milking barn full of two floors of antiques, housewares and other used treasures run by a Mennonite family. Lots of fun to dig through and great prices.