Tuesday was our day with Auntie Margaret. We had pedicures at 11:00 (it was her first one at age 87 and she loved every minute of it!), lunch at Corner Tavern and then took her to the beauty salon for a wash, cut and set. We then hit our favorite store, the Hack and Livery. I didn’t buy much, which was disappointing because it’s usually great for stocking stuffers, but we left with sour grapefruit candy, which is always a hit. We had put the leftover pork in the crock pot so had salsa pork over rice for supper. Frost Nixon was the movie choice that night.
Wednesday was the designated Sharyn day. She’d taken the day off and her husband was dropping her at Carolyn’s on the way golfing so we’d get an early start on our annual project – reupholstering Carolyn’s dining room chairs. Yeah, right. I’d woken up with a cold so Sharyn and I headed out for Claritin D (bless the chemist who created that drug!) and Dunkin’ Donuts to keep our energy up (hee, hee.) We sorted the project out and each took our positions. I was in charge of removing the old fabric (many, many staples) while Sharyn and Carolyn cut the fabric then stretched and stapled. I hammered the staples that needed it. Now you’d think with 3 able bodied women it wouldn’t take that long to recover 6 chair seats. Well, we didn’t finish until 3:30! As Sharyn said later, “At first it was quite thrilling,” which it was, but by chair number 6, we were toast and ready to be done. We did a fantastic job though and you’d think they were professionally done. We did some shopping and, too exhausted to care, ate dinner at Burger King before heading to Attleboro to drop Sharyn off. It was a long, fun and productive day. Nothing like friends to make tedious work tolerable.
Carolyn and I had another leisurely day on Thursday, which we both needed at this point. We did do some shopping in the afternoon but mostly just vegged. I ended the day by meeting my Uncle Ed and his wife for dessert. It was a nice day.
Friday was our big planned excursion to Tiverton to hit Sakonnet Purls, the best local yarn shop in RI according to the Ravelry gang. We were also hitting Evelyn’s for clam cakes, based on a recommendation from Guy Fiori on Diners, Drive Throughs and Dives. (Is that the right order?) We had planned on it being just us but Sharyn had taken the day off because it was her 32nd anniversary but Butch, her husband, was in a golf tournament all day so we headed north to pick Sharyn up to join in the fun. Sakonnet Purls is in an old colonial house (when I say old, I mean hundreds of years old.) The problem with this is that it was hot and humid and they didn’t have AC. At least we got there early enough to stand the heat but it also was dimly lit, which doesn’t help when you’re trying to select yarn. Add to that the lack of help from the 3 staff, which was all the more perplexing because we were the only customers so it was a 1 to 1 ratio. To be fair, one woman was attentive but didn’t seem to be the yarn guru I’d hoped to find working there. Despite it all, I still managed to find more yarn for socks plus a book and Carolyn bought the softest yarn ever for a scarf.
From there we headed to Evelyn’s, which did NOT have good clam cakes and had surly staff (was it the heat maybe?) The frosting on the cake to that dining experience was the shirtless fat man who sat down with his wife and dog at the next table and then lit a cigar! Now it was picnic tables outside but come on! Was he for real? We took a wrong turn on the way home (totally my fault) and ended up in traffic on the Mount Hope Bridge, which was a bit disconcerting because we were on the bridge for 20 minutes or so, feeling it shake with every passing truck. We then hit Wayland Square, only to find out the yarn shop and cheese store we were there for were both gone. So we stopped at Starbucks for a refreshing frapucino (sp?) because it was blazing hot by this time. We decided to hit one more yarn store that we knew was open on Hope Street. Well, this shop was everything a local yarn shop should be! They were uber helpful, the atmosphere was bright and it was downright chilly. Have I mentioned the humidity? Both Carolyn and I were looking for patterns and they cheerfully brought us entire binders full of patterns sorted by type to look through. Despite having bought out Sakonnet Purls, I still managed to find more yarn I couldn’t live without (Miazy yarn made from corn fiber that is super soft without being fuzzy) and a new sock pattern. Sharyn, who does crafts galore but doesn’t knit or crochet, even enjoyed it and scoped out future projects. We’ll get her knitting if it kills us! We did a bit more shopping, dropped Sharyn with a big hug and headed home for sweet potato ravioli for supper. I then met my old friend Janice at the Creamery for a mint chocolate awful awful (a cabinet in RI speak or milk shake for everyone else.) I’ve been friends with Janice since I was 12 and it always feels like we just talked even if it’s been a year.
Saturday was my departure day so after a hearty breakfast (Carolyn makes the best scrambled eggs ever so I had to have them before I left), I started packing. I’d bought so much that I needed to upgrade to a bigger suitcase. After repacking it, I got it down to 49.6 pounds by Carolyn’s scale. She picked up Matt and Aaron, which was nice because I at least got to say hello, and an hour later dropped me at the airport. I had a 3 hour layover in Minneapolis that I wasn’t looking forward to but it was fine. I found a chair, pulled up a table and then ate the lunch I packed, finished my book and started knitting a new pair of socks with my new Maisy yarn. Everything was uneventful and I got home at 1:00 and was in bed by 2:00. It felt good to be home.
Sunday was all unpacking, changing stinky litter boxes, watering plants and doing laundry. Now it’s back to reality and work tomorrow. What a fabulous week I had. Life is good!
When I re-upholstered my dining chairs, I left the old fabric on. Lazy huh? No one knows until now. It sounds like a lovely trip. Never a dull moment with you, girlie.
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