BasicallyFX

Mother’s Day started out wonderfully, Duhdee and I were lounging in bed enjoying the novel experience of waking on our own terms.  There was no whining (mine), no wrapping of the covers around heads (Duhdee) or maniacal laughter (Monkey’s, naturally) just quiet.  Did I mention the lovely pillows and the bed that felt as if it were an acre of white, puffy clouds gently cradling us?  *Bliss*

As we checked out we experienced the first of our little “bumps.”  I stood looking out the window of the inn and noticed two things.  One, the cafe across the street had a “Now Leasing” sign in the window…so much for walking across the street for breakfast!  And two, the store two doors down from the shuttered bakery…the ONLY place I could buy the gift that I had picked out for my mom…was dark.  It was supposed to open at 11 AM, just the time we were checking out, but there was not a single light on inside.  We quickly rearranged the schedule in our heads, we would drive out to another restaurant I knew of for breakfast and then come back in town for the gift.  No big deal! *Grin*

As I was putting the suitcase in the back of the truck, we experienced the next of our little “bumps.”  I saw, with horror, that the cards I’d left in the back overnight were soaking wet.  Somehow the window in the cargo area had developed a leak and a small area, just the size of the greeting cards, was soaked but everywhere else, you know, all the EMPTY SPACE, was perfectly dry.  Both Mother’s Day cards, my grandfather’s birthday card and my nephew’s birthday card were totally ruined. *Sigh*

We drove out of town and the alternate restaurant I had picked had been replaced with another restaurant that I’d never tried and it looked a bit sketchy.  OK…alternate restaurant two was decided on and, finally, I could get something in my belly.   Just in time too because I tend to be a bit grumpy when I’m hungry.  (That might be an understatement.)  When we walked in to the restaurant I decided that things were looking up, I saw just exactly what I wanted to eat on the “Specials” board!  Strawberry stuffed waffles, I was so excited.  The service was prompt, the coffee and tea were hot.  Definitely looking up.  Just as I finished my first cup of tea the waitress brought out my waffle and Duhdee’s monster omelet.  I dug right in and then looked at Duhdee in dismay.  There were NO strawberries!  Our waitress walked by just as I was standing up to look at the “Specials” board again and I grabbed her attention.  “I thought I ordered the…oh…right.”  I ordered the waffle.  The “strawberry stuffed” yumminess that I had wanted?  French TOAST.  Damn.   The waitress began to offer to place the order for the french toast but I just smiled and sent her on her way. *Pout*

After breakfast we drove back toward town and stopped to replace the cards that had been ruined over night.  It was now nearly noon on Mother’s Day and the row with the Mother’s Day cards?  PACKED.  All men too, lol.  After making our choices we drove the rest of the way back in to town so I could grab the gift I’d chosen but there was one slight problem…the store?  STILL closed.  There was no sign indicating when or if they would open that day, just a list of their normal store hours which included 11-7 on Sundays. *Twitch*

Duhdee and I sat looking at each other for a bit.  Then I perked up, we had seen a great little nursery and farm store just out of town when we had been looking for a place to eat breakfast.  We’d seen some gorgeous hanging baskets that would be perfect.  We drove over and were able to quickly decide on one of the baskets.  After we paid for it we walked out of the store and I was greeted with the cutest little stone Bulldog butt I’ve ever seen.  Hmmm, come to think of it, it may be the only stone Bulldog butt I’ve ever seen.  I tried to convince Duhdee to buy it for me but at $179.00 he was not biting.  I stood looking at it for a while longer, the little curl of a tail on the back just set me off.  *Giggle*

So, finally, at close to 1 PM we show up at my parent’s house to chat for a bit, pack up the kid and then take off for home.  For some reason SOMEONE (me) told Grampa, in the course of a conversation, that they had never been to a Cabela’s store.  I swear he couldn’t have been more shocked if I’d told him I thought the 2nd Amendment should be repealed (him, lifetime NRA member…he’d rather I admit to being a Commie.)  It seems that one had opened in Maine not so long ago and, ever since, Grampa has been practically living there.  SOMEONE (me again!) also happened to toss out “The store I’d really like to go to is Tractor’s Supply Co.”   Wouldn’t you know it but Cabela’s and Tractor Supply are located very close to each other?  Grampa and Grammy were pretty eager to take us and I did really want to see both stores so, instead of packing up and leaving, we found ourselves headed in the wrong direction on the highway.  *Oops*

So that’s how I found myself shaking my head and staring up at a 30 foot mountain of dead, stuffed animals on Mother’s Day. *Shudder*

Betcha didn’t see that coming.

Once Monkey nearly pushed us to the door so he could get back to watching Winnie-The-Pooh with his Auntie, Duhdee and I drove in town to check into the local inn.  The inn was built in the late 1700’s and everyone knows that it is haunted.  I was looking forward to our night there.  I asked the gentleman that checked us in if we had the haunted room but, alas, we were down the hall.  Maybe next time, I thought!

When we walked into the room Duhdee knew immediately that I was going to love it.  The bathroom had a lovely, deep, clawfoot tub just made for soaking in.  Unfortunately, I hadn’t thought to bring my Mr. Clean Magic Eraser with me.  This is not a comment on the cleanliness of the tub, I need to wash our tub at home every time I use it too.  It’s a thing.   What really made me fall in love with the inn, however, was what I saw when we entered the bedroom.  Sitting there, dressed in crisp, white linens was a king-sized bed with no less than 5 pillows, each of a different style/weight.  I could have happily cocooned myself in pillows right then and there and stayed put until check-out the next AM but we had not eaten dinner and so I had to instead jump into the shower and get ready for our night out on the town.

After primping and grooming we set out, on foot, looking for a nice restaurant.  There was a perfectly lovely restaurant in the inn but we wanted the chance to walk and hold hands.  Monkey doesn’t often let us do that.  It began to sprinkle before we’d even crossed the street but we had planned well and used the umbrella.  After a bit of adjustment we figured out how to share it even.  We stopped in to the store across the street for a moment and when we came out the sprinkle had turned into a torrential downpour.  There was a small creek where the parking lot had stood a few minutes before!  We stood in the entryway to the store with a few other people for a few minutes.  Duhdee looked up the weather map (gotta love a smartphone) and we could see that it was a passing shower.  Within 10 minutes it was back to a gentle sprinkle and we once again set out in search of dinner.

The restaurant we found was in a great location on the first floor of an old, converted mill.  It had great views of the river and the falls but it was also very loud and very crowded.  Not exactly what we were looking for.  We decided to walk back to the inn and drive toward the beach.  There were more dining options and I would be able to grab my purse from my parent’s house where I had left it (not that anyone cards me anymore *pout*)  When we stopped at my parents we had my sister bring my purse out so we didn’t upset Monkey.  I don’t think he would have cared but we were being careful.

We drove down to the village of shops and restaurants and quickly settled on an Italian bistro.  It was divine!  Not only was it clearly a restaurant for grownups but it had a lengthy wine list.  Score!  We ordered an appetizer of fried calamari and reveled in the fact that we could have an appetizer.  Normally, we are only able to sit down long enough for an entree, we wanted to spoil ourselves and have multiple courses.  We are so pathetic 🙂

Dinner was just as fantastic as the appetizer and the wine was perfect.  We enjoyed the time to talk about everything and nothing.  We didn’t have to worry about how long the entrees were taking because we had all the time in the world!  I had lobster, cream cheese and scallop ravioli with lobster and mushroom sauce.  I had ordered it largely because I wanted to see how they could possibly get all those ingredients into a ravioli and I was quite amazed when they brought me ONE ravioli that was just a little bit larger than a baseball.  It was sitting on a portobello mushroom cap and it was heavenly.  I ate every single bite even though I was really, really full much sooner than that.  Duhdee ordered spaghetti with clams, mussels, shrimp and scallops in a garlic cherry pepper, white wine-butter sauce.  I have no idea if he finished his meal or not because my eyes were crossed by this point. I then witnessed something I have not witnessed in years!  I watched Duhdee pay for the meal!  Typically, Monkey and I are headed for the car as soon as Monkey finishes chewing.  I was quite excited…such silly pleasures.

After dinner we decided to head back to the inn and have dessert in the bar downstairs.  We would have liked to have been able to walk and enjoy the sights but the rain was falling steadily again.  The bar was quite an experience.  First of all, it was a rainy Saturday night in a tourist town.  There are two ways this can go, either the bar will be packed or it will be deserted.  It was deserted.

There were 3 couples in the entire bar, including us.  There was an older man, in his 60’s I would say, with a very young woman at one end of the bar engaged in a lengthy discussion of his love life, mostly his awful choice in women.  They only broke from this discussion to comment on the “Kill Bill” scene on the television at one point.  They were going to count how many people Uma killed but they lost count at 4.  They were slightly drunk. The other couple was at the opposite end of the bar.  They were in their early-20’s and between the two of them they had approximately 2 bazillion facial piercings.  Really.  They seemed very nice but they were quietly engaged in their own world.

Duhdee and I planted ourselves smack in the middle and began chatting up the bartender who also happened to be the nice gentleman who had checked us in earlier.  We each had a drink and Duhdee ordered a cheesecake, I was still too stuffed to even consider it.  We put the Celtics game on (the bartender had handed us the remote control…it was a really slow night) and the odd couple to our left (the loud, slightly inappropriate old man and his little chippy…not to be confused with the ever so polite pierced and dredlocked couple to the right) departed and as they were wobbling toward the door she called him “Dad.” Even more creepy and inappropriate than we’d thought!  Then the young couple paid their tab and left.  Duhdee asked the bartender if he would, on a slow night, close up or stay open until a certain time.  When he said he’d probably close up this early in the season but he would stay open if it were the height of the tourist season, we took pity on the man and went back to our room so he could get off work an few hours early.

Then we got ready for bed.  I might have even run and jumped into the bed out of sheer joy.  Then we did something ELSE we haven’t done in a while.  We slept ALLLLLL night (except for that short period of time when I woke up with a cough and ended up laying awake freaking myself out about the ghost in the middle of the night.  At this point I was very, very glad we didn’t have the haunted room.  Heh.)

The next morning we lingered in the room until we absolutely had to go check out.  We went to find a place to eat breakfast, we wanted one more meal where we could linger.  Happy Mother’s Day to me!  After finishing breakfast we headed to my parents house.  The “plan” was that we’d talk a bit, pack up the kid and hit the road on the early side.  The best laid plans often get set aside though and that’s just what happened.

Up next, How I Spent Mother’s Day.