Week 33 - Perfect Beach Week

What can I say about our beach week except that it was fantastic. I can't remember the last time I felt so relaxed. Could it be a hint of retirement feels? Or maybe that we weren't crammed into the tiny house? Whatever... it was wonderful.

As usual, John and I had a great time doing almost nothing. He did the majority of the cooking (I only did one dinner of spaghetti with jarred sauce, a few sandwich based lunches and our last breakfast) and I did the clean up. We had visitors every single day and enjoyed some amazing meals with them. John took a few walks but I spent that time knitting on the deck (slug fest!) and there were days I never left the house and when I did, it was mostly going off to Job Lot or to buy provisions for yet another meal. We ended each night in front of the TV and we found a wide variety of things to watch. The weather cooperated for most of the week with no humidity and pleasant temps, only getting muggy on Friday afternoon. Sleeping was easy and with no cats to wake me up, I slept later than I do at home.

Most of our visitors were more into hanging at the cottage but we did make it to the actual beach on Wednesday. Carolyn and Matt were coming down to be on the beach at 9:00 and would be staying all day so John and I walked down just after 11:00 and were back at the cottage all showered and eating lunch by 1:30. We did swim and I got a doozie of a wound on my toe from walking in the slides I bought to wear to swimming this summer but had never walked in (the cottage was about 1/4 mile from Matunuck State Beach). John got me a bandaid from the lifeguards and I limped home. 

John's aunt and uncle came for dinner on Thursday (swordfish with melon salad and I made a blueberry pie for dessert) and they brought prosecco and chocolates to celebrate my retirement. When Kate, who used to own the cottage, came on Friday, she brought me a gift too. How wonderful!

In a flash, it was Saturday morning and time to check out. I made a big breakfast to help clear out the fridge, we packed the car and headed north. John was dropping me at Carolyn's where I'd be for a few days. It was such a great week that we talked about renting it for longer next summer. Time will tell on that.

My 45th high school reunion was that night and I was bumming a ride with Janice, who had been at the cottage on Tuesday. It was fun to see people, some of whom I didn't know or recognize at all, despite Deanne and I studying the yearbook the previous weekend. But here's a pic of some of my girl scout friends (Janice, Beth, Deanne, me and Linda) and it was great to catch up with them. There was a ridiculous amount of food (we all took some home) and in honor of high school, I drank sea breezes. Ha!

Sunday was yet another veg day but this time at Carolyn's. John and I had been to the Wakefield Job Lot (it's similar to Big Lots but much better and started in Rhode Island but has spread out from there) several times but Carolyn and I went to the bigger one in Warwick to look for more of the hand towels I'd bought for the beach house. We hit another one on our way to dinner but no luck. Dinner was at one of Carolyn's favorite restaurants that I'd always wanted to try and we were meeting our friend Bob. The espresso martini was delish but alas, the lobster roll was not good. They come either cold with mayo or plain and hot to dip in butter. It was supposed to be the salad kind but was just plain lobster meat cold in a roll. Bob got one too and we concurred that it was not good. Oh well.

So another beach week was in the books. I was feeling completely relaxed, had seen lots of friends, got to swim in the ocean and ended with a couple of days to hang with Carolyn before flying home on Tuesday. All good in my book and I'd be going back to retirement. I'll take it!