Laundry, work and dead critters-- recipe for a great vaca!

I handed over a collection of souvenirs and postcards to the post office clerk " Do you have a box that these will fit in?" She gave a little giggle " You are like me, I don't send out postcards until I'm home either". Big Susan Smile " I'm not home, I'm sending them home, I'm still on vacation."

The awkward part of a vacation like this is that we are not in a vacation area. We are visiting and seeing people in the places they LEAVE when they go on vacation. They are mid real life, not on the easygoing pace of a holiday. They have to go out of their way to make time to see me, and I love them more for doing it. I realize it is an inconvenience but they make the effort because they love me.

Yesterday I hung out with my best friend since kindergarten. I call this woman a Sister Friend because she is family.When my twin brother didn't have a date for a prom, she went with him. We have shared memories, families, vacations, rent,angst, joy, and, in one instance, underwear. Yesterday we went to the laundromat, ran errands,drinking coffee and visiting the whole time. We talk fairly frequently, know all the players in each others lives and can reference past incidents with current ones without explanation. There is never an adjustment time with her so the few hours she could eek out of her schedule yesterday and today to hang out with me doing everyday things like laundry, feel natural There is no hint of cramming memory making activities into a short period. We know that memories will be there in the mundane.

Last night there was a party of another group of friends who are family. In our growing up years this family shared many adventures with mine. Every New Years Day we all had a standing date for a day of board games and fine dining courtesy of my mothers kitchen. Last night we recreated one of those days. I thought the evening was doomed within the first half hour.

After we arrived, the hosts- the friends of my parents, took us on a tour of their daylily garden. They are breeders and have roadside signs leading people to their yard. They also have a decent blueberry patch on the woody acreage where they live. Despite efforts to keep the woodland creatures out of the berries, they had an ongoing chipmunk problem. Chipmunks! The cute singing critters from the movies were eating the blueberries as they ripened.

Being Yankees full if ingenuity, the gardeners had rigged up a pirate plank trapping system for the chipmunks. A 5 gallon paint bucket half full of water with a layer of sunflower seeds , a trail of them up a wooden plank leaning over the top of the bucket. Blueberry thief eats the trail, sees a thick layer of more seeds and plummets to a watery death. Not the most humane, but efficient.Also very traumatic for kids to see when it works just as all the kids get there. yay.

And then the tree fell.

There was no damage to any building, outbuilding or car from the tree. The chipmunk that was swimming in the bucket was taken to a nearby field and let loose. We ate, drank and laughed until we cried for the rest of the evening. Real life with a few hours of vacation for all.

Today is our last day in Connecticut. There are several people making schedule changes in their real lives to make our last day here enjoyable and very full. For me, this year, that creates perfect vacation memories.