Laconia NH, if not all of New England, had 48 days of rain the past month.  But, somehow, the annual Motorcycle Week went on as scheduled (third week of June) with very few events cancelled.  Surprising how many attended, coming from all over the country, given the poor weather. I'm told this weather is practically a tradition after several years in a row of it. 

The end of Bike Week (rain all that week seems to be a tradition) was the start of my timeshare week in Western MA. Daughter-in-law, (ellyssian is my son), 11.5 old grand-daughter, R, and nearly 5 year old Mr. B were with me for the week. It rained every day, with a few hours sun in the mornings  which allowed pool fun.  

By the time the week ended, we'd visited the Norman Rockwell Museum with its very good kid's activity room as well as most if not all his work, played miniature golf in the rain, swam as often as we could, watched a few movies at the resort's theater,  won some prizes in the arcade games room and played our version of charades.  D and Mr. B left Thursday; R. and I waited till Friday to leave, going first to my younger sister's house, a few hours away, for an overnight, returning to NH Sat.  morn.   

Mon. R & I prepared a 37th birthday lunch for my younger son -- with his favorite birthday cake. Once upon a time, I used to make train cakes, truck cakes, tiger and bear cakes and for his 10th b'day, a "make peace not war" cake by request, but now he got a traditional store bought... oh well - I doubt I could have made a Harley Davison bike anyways.  Dan works 3rd shift, so lunchtime is dinner time. R offered to make garlic mashed potatoes to go with the  ham steaks and sweet corn. She did an excellent job, from peeling to cutting to browning the fresh garlic like a pro.

Tues., was a 125 mile trip to Boston for my eye exam appt. early that afternoon. Because driving 's not a good idea after eye dilations so we stayed over.  Dinner, at nearby Whole Foods Market, (huge emporium of environmentally safe-raised foods and other products of all sorts and a wonderful cafeteria with a seemingly endless selection of near everything) and R chose tuna salad "NOT,"she said, "on bread!"; I opted for a marvelous brisket roasted in a peach sauce... who knew brisket could be so scrumptious?  The inn is near Government Center and the Beacon Hill neighborhood where I had my first apt, (or, hovel, as my Dad  called it and wouldn't bring my Mom to see it), a small studio on the "wrong" side of the Hill and as full of students and ancients now as in 1964 -- the"right" side (read: wealthy) of the Hill starts at the top and down to Boston Common and Public Garden. We decided to walk up it to see my old building. I'd forgotten how steep and long the that Hill is, but finally we made it to the correct cross street only to learn I couldn't be sure which old brick building it was! They all looked alike and been modernized.   

At the bottom of the Hill's neutral western side is Charles Street, an historic street filled with many genuine antique stores.   Sadly, the shop where my husband bought our beautiful, sharp mother-of pearl handled French steak knives now close to 150 years old, is gone replaced by a real estate office. We walked down one side and up the other, finally finding a shop with a book for R. I recalled there used to be several books shops, but, alas, not any more.  

 All this while, it was getting very foggy and chilly. after eating, we were happy to return to the 8th floor room and check on the fog's development through the window.  Within a few hours we could no longer see the tops of tall next-door  Mass General Hospital buildings, nor the laser-warning-to-airplanes-light atop a crane atop another building.  Thankfully, it lifted overnight, so our return drive was fine if wet.

ellyssian and 17yr old J were driving up Thurs,  so we planned a menu and went to the market ... later we read and watched one of R's dvds, "Totoro" which was pretty good.  Besides raining, it  was still chilly as well and we didn't do much more than read.   R was happy to also have uninterrupted computer time.  We were happy even though not doing much' of course, we chattered a lot!  The guys  arrived late, after a long drive due to a big traffic delay in CT.
 
Friday we lazed a bit,  going to a fish and chip spot for lunch then, after trying out for NH's Stone Henge type attraction -- but traffic proved too heavy (Laconia is a vacation destination), instead we decided to go to  -- want to guess? --  a bookstore, one of my favorites in Meredith, a town 12-15 miles away.  The last time I was there, a few authors were around, signing books, but today was just ordinary...    Later, R helped me prepare my version of noodles Alfredo-- she is pretty adept in the kitchen,  a grand sous-chef and so dinner was delicious.   

Sat., younger son and his lady friend came over for an indoor 4th of July BBQ (no outdoor grills at the condo).  It was excellent.  The night before, ellyssian told me how to prepare the rump roast for long slow cooking. Arrrgh-- I'd have to get up real early to get it going, but okay, I'd do it. So come 6:31a.m. (gotta love these digital clocks: no more "about" "almost " or "close to" hours!), I got up, groggily opened the fridge and NO RUMP ROAST!  Surprised, I found it, all cubed and simmering away in the large crockpot.  I went back to bed thankful  ellyssian had gotten up earlier and got it cooking. Need I tell you it was delicious, fork tender and just perfect? Everything ellyssian cooks (unless it's too spicy hot for me) is soooo good.  

Speaking of "too spicy hot for me," R & I went to market at the time share too. There, above the sweet red peppers, were small scrunched up orange peppers, the likes of which I'd never seen before;  deciding to taste one (I'd read of small sweet orange peppers a short while before), I bit into it just as R said, "NO!"   Too late. OMG, I thought I'd burn my head off -- I do not like  this, no siree!  R says, "It's a habenero pepper; I told you not to" and moves away giggling as I grab some grapes which help as long as they're in my mouth, but no good at all if swallowed. I ate about a 1/2 pound of them to little effect.  I grabbed some nearby peapods. They worked! 2 handfuls later, I was near normal.  There has been one aftereffect due to last awhile: I've another entry in the family stupid doings history -- on all sides; you know how fast those stories travel!   Thankfully, ellyssian's BBQ beef was not hot (except for temperature) and perfect with rice pilaf and salad. 

Later R and I walked the 2 blocks to town hall for the band concert followed by fireworks off the top of the town parking garage.  We wanted to be where the crowd was; the others stayed preferred the condo parking  lot (as I said, only 2 blocks from the official site) to watch in comfort.  The usual spot is several blocks away at  Lake Opechee Park,  but ongoing construction there made the area unsafe for a large group. The fireworks  set off at 9:30, after a local band's rock concert (excellent).  We were back inside in time to watch the televised Boston Pops display at 10:30. 

Sadly for me, this morning, ellyssian and his family began their trek southward and home to PA,  the trail of which went from NH's White Mtn foothills through VT's Green Mtn Forest and MA's uncolorful Berkshire Mtns and CT's non-mountains before reaching their very own Pocono Mtns.  It was so quiet, too quiet and all the tasks got done too quickly. They called about 6:30 pm, to tell me they were safely home. I'll see them again come the fall.  

Happy summertime to all.