OK, so I’m sittin’ in this outhouse at my niece Caitlin’s, freezin’ my you-know-what off, watchin’ my breath, trying to relax enough to do my business and get outta there, thinkin’, I am not a pioneer. I don’t want to be a pioneer. I thank God every day I was born now, so I don’t have to be a pioneer.
See, last weekend, my niece Caitlin and her boyfriend Adam had Charlie and me and her parents (my sister Irene and husband Jimbo) over for brunch. The kids are livin’ in a winter rental up on Moose Megantic Lake, this tiny cabin heated only by a wood stove. Beautiful location, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a little rustic for my taste. Three miles in on a dirt road. I don’t think so!
Caitlin’s still workin’ down to Mahoosuc Health Food, doing a little Feng Shui consultin’ on the side. Even teachin’ a class in Feng Shui down to Adult Ed. Plus, she’s part of what she calls an “art collective.” Don’t know what that is, exactly. They have a storefront downtown with a little gallery. Right now, Caitlin’s doin’ these little paintings of broken pottery. Jury’s still out (and frankly, I never thought I’d say this), but I’m kind of missin’ that series she did with them marshmallow Peeps.
I can hear Adam whistling away as he’s haulin’ in wood for the stove, happy as a clam. Adam picks up hours at the Mahoosuc Health Food, too, and works part-time in a music store down to Bangor. Plus, he’s always in one band or another. The one he’s in now is called Who Goosed the Moose, somethin’ like that. He plays bass, I think, and Caitlin says he’s pretty good on the kazoo, too. Did I tell you they met at our yard sale a few years back? Tickles me to think about it, the two of ‘em with matchin’ nose rings, flirtin’ up a storm.
Anyways, we’re all crammed into this little cabin, eatin’ vegetable frittata (delicious), banana bread (let me say, if you’re not used to whole wheat flour, it can kind of overwhelm) and exotic fruit salad with mangos and kiwis and, well, a couple of other things I have never seen down to the A&P. And the coffee was out of this world. ‘Cause if kids these days know one thing, it’s coffee, served with some kind of frothed-up milk. After half a cup, all of us were talkin’ a mile a minute!
I says to Caitlin, “I’m probably not going to sleep until Tuesday, but damn, this coffee’s good!”
The payback for all that good java, or course, was a trip to the outhouse. Just when I was getting’ comfortable. On with the coat, the boots, the hat, the gloves…
Anyhoo, business accomplished, I carefully make my way back down the path to the cabin, hopin’ I don’t fall and break a hip. I come inside in time to see Adam presenting Caitlin with a little sprig from a fur tree. “For my sweetie,” he says, and Caitlin’s face lights up like it’s a bouquet of roses. They exchange a little kiss, and Adam’s hand lingers on the small of her back as she turns to froth up some more milk.
On the way home, I says to Charlie, “Remember when we were first married, livin’ in that tiny apartment over Mrs. Nadeau’s?”
“Sure, how could I forget? Wakin’ up to all them loggin’ trucks rumbling by.”
“Well, we were just startin’ out. Remember that one week, I went to Bangor and saw that blue dress I just had to have for Dottie’s weddin’? And budget be damned, I bought it?”
Charlie shakes his head. “Which left us about fifteen bucks ‘til the next paycheck a couple of weeks away.”
“Oh, I’d never do somethin’ like that now. But I was so excited about the dress. I just loved it!”
“I still remember you standin’ in the doorway in that blue dress. Not too shabby.”
“But I felt bad, Charlie, ‘cause I shouldn’t have bought it. But all you said was, “It’s a good thing I like canned beans so much.” And you smiled, and I loved you so much right then.”
“And we ate canned beans and tuna fish.”
“When we got sick of that, we went to dinner at my parents’ place and yours. But come the weddin’, I felt so pretty in that dress.”
“Ida, you looked better than Dottie, and it was her weddin’.”
And Charlie and me smile and hold hands all the way home to our cozy double-wide with the furnace humming, a bathroom down the hall and little Scamp crazy to see us as we pull in the drive.
Happy Valentine’s Day, folks!
That’s it for now. Catch you on the flip side!
February 15-17
I Married an Alien!
Garrison Players
Friday & Saturday @ 8:00 p.m.
Sunday @ 3:00 p.m.
603-750-4278
http://www.garrisonplayers.org/events.php
Rollinsford, NH
If you’d like me to do a reading at your library, organization or what not, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line:
ida@idaswebsite.com
And if your book group wants to read Finding Your Inner Moose, I’d love to be part of the discussion. Especially if food’s involved!
See, last weekend, my niece Caitlin and her boyfriend Adam had Charlie and me and her parents (my sister Irene and husband Jimbo) over for brunch. The kids are livin’ in a winter rental up on Moose Megantic Lake, this tiny cabin heated only by a wood stove. Beautiful location, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a little rustic for my taste. Three miles in on a dirt road. I don’t think so!
Caitlin’s still workin’ down to Mahoosuc Health Food, doing a little Feng Shui consultin’ on the side. Even teachin’ a class in Feng Shui down to Adult Ed. Plus, she’s part of what she calls an “art collective.” Don’t know what that is, exactly. They have a storefront downtown with a little gallery. Right now, Caitlin’s doin’ these little paintings of broken pottery. Jury’s still out (and frankly, I never thought I’d say this), but I’m kind of missin’ that series she did with them marshmallow Peeps.
I can hear Adam whistling away as he’s haulin’ in wood for the stove, happy as a clam. Adam picks up hours at the Mahoosuc Health Food, too, and works part-time in a music store down to Bangor. Plus, he’s always in one band or another. The one he’s in now is called Who Goosed the Moose, somethin’ like that. He plays bass, I think, and Caitlin says he’s pretty good on the kazoo, too. Did I tell you they met at our yard sale a few years back? Tickles me to think about it, the two of ‘em with matchin’ nose rings, flirtin’ up a storm.
Anyways, we’re all crammed into this little cabin, eatin’ vegetable frittata (delicious), banana bread (let me say, if you’re not used to whole wheat flour, it can kind of overwhelm) and exotic fruit salad with mangos and kiwis and, well, a couple of other things I have never seen down to the A&P. And the coffee was out of this world. ‘Cause if kids these days know one thing, it’s coffee, served with some kind of frothed-up milk. After half a cup, all of us were talkin’ a mile a minute!
I says to Caitlin, “I’m probably not going to sleep until Tuesday, but damn, this coffee’s good!”
The payback for all that good java, or course, was a trip to the outhouse. Just when I was getting’ comfortable. On with the coat, the boots, the hat, the gloves…
Anyhoo, business accomplished, I carefully make my way back down the path to the cabin, hopin’ I don’t fall and break a hip. I come inside in time to see Adam presenting Caitlin with a little sprig from a fur tree. “For my sweetie,” he says, and Caitlin’s face lights up like it’s a bouquet of roses. They exchange a little kiss, and Adam’s hand lingers on the small of her back as she turns to froth up some more milk.
On the way home, I says to Charlie, “Remember when we were first married, livin’ in that tiny apartment over Mrs. Nadeau’s?”
“Sure, how could I forget? Wakin’ up to all them loggin’ trucks rumbling by.”
“Well, we were just startin’ out. Remember that one week, I went to Bangor and saw that blue dress I just had to have for Dottie’s weddin’? And budget be damned, I bought it?”
Charlie shakes his head. “Which left us about fifteen bucks ‘til the next paycheck a couple of weeks away.”
“Oh, I’d never do somethin’ like that now. But I was so excited about the dress. I just loved it!”
“I still remember you standin’ in the doorway in that blue dress. Not too shabby.”
“But I felt bad, Charlie, ‘cause I shouldn’t have bought it. But all you said was, “It’s a good thing I like canned beans so much.” And you smiled, and I loved you so much right then.”
“And we ate canned beans and tuna fish.”
“When we got sick of that, we went to dinner at my parents’ place and yours. But come the weddin’, I felt so pretty in that dress.”
“Ida, you looked better than Dottie, and it was her weddin’.”
And Charlie and me smile and hold hands all the way home to our cozy double-wide with the furnace humming, a bathroom down the hall and little Scamp crazy to see us as we pull in the drive.
Happy Valentine’s Day, folks!
That’s it for now. Catch you on the flip side!
IDA'S PODCAST: Pioneers of Love
Comin’ up this week:February 15-17
I Married an Alien!
Garrison Players
Friday & Saturday @ 8:00 p.m.
Sunday @ 3:00 p.m.
603-750-4278
http://www.garrisonplayers.org/events.php
Rollinsford, NH
If you’d like me to do a reading at your library, organization or what not, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line:
ida@idaswebsite.com
And if your book group wants to read Finding Your Inner Moose, I’d love to be part of the discussion. Especially if food’s involved!
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