Thanksgiving on the East Coast

New England has to be one of my favorite places to be when the weather starts getting colder. The fall is amazing, and I'm one of those silly people who actually enjoys cold weather, provided I'm adequately dressed for it. And ESPECIALLY when there is a wood stove and hot beverages involved.

The Great East Coast Adventure

The night before leaving on this great adventure, Irwin and I went out for Marni Thai with the lovely Misses Sophia and Bea. Delicious food that we had left overs of for breakfast as we watched the clock the next morning in anticipation; it time to leave for the airport.
Our flight was delayed due to the massive storms they've been having over the wast coast, so Irwin and I played chess in the cafe overlooking our departure gate, which clearly read out every new delay as "Delayed Weather". Eventually we also ended up circling for an hour outside New York as well. The captain announced at one point that we had enough fuel for about an hour and a half of circling and that after that we'd need to divert to refuel. But when we got on the ground the rain had left the air slightly cleaner.
We made it into Manhattan by rail and stumbled around Time Square looking at how it lit up the streets for blocks all around and how it was practically daylight in the square itself. Despite the late hour, or perhaps because of it, the whole area was full of people. Being a giant tourist spot in the middle of the Theater District, it's not surprising in the least. Also, the place is warm enough at night, during the day it's stifling.

Back in New Hampshire again

Hey, so I'm back in NH, for my Aunt's wedding reception. It was a pretty good time! I'll upload pictures eventually. Maybe even soon.
I'm staying with my Uncle Larry and Aunt Sara and their adorable kids again. It's really fun getting to see them again so soon. Turns out while I was gone, Simon and Noah developed a penchant for making awesome adorable videos! Check them out!



My cousins are the super cute Korean ones. The one who MURdered the CIA agent's father, and the head of the thugs who he hired to do the agent in.

Welcome Back To New York

So yesterday I finally got a ride out of Plymouth. I loved seeing my family, but this trip now has less time for all other places and the in betweens. Oh well. Totally worth it.
I got the ride with a really awesome woman named Crescentia who lives in Pennsylvania. And along the way we picked up another girl named Lani from Florida. The ride with those two was a lot of fun. I'll probably come back and put more detail into this after I shower and whatnot. Or maybe tonight after I see some of the city.
So yeah, I'm now in Jersey City, right across the river from Manhattan.
More later!

PS. Larry and Sara! How was the soup? I'm sorry I had to leave before eating it. It smelled and looked delicious!

Lack of Motion and the Movie Marathon

I have a real jones to watch Murder On The Orient Express. Anyone seen that? The 1974 murder mystery with pretty much every famous face of the time in it?
Yesterday I watched the Japanese film, Ping Pong. It was really good.
I can't seem to find a reliable ride out of here. The guy that I had arranged to get a ride to NY with has flaked out on me repeatedly since Tuesday... I've been here for nearly three weeks now. *sigh*
I also have been watching Miyazaki films and playing game cube with my cousins. It's been fun, but I still have so many places to visit before Thanksgiving... I don't know if I can see them all anymore... It's less than a month away.

Some Pictures of the Family

A Furry Friend

Yellow Whisper Blues

We raked the yard today. We didn't really need to, in fact by all logical accounts it was an exercise in futility, meant only to keep Eve busy and out of people's hair. But I joined in. I'm pretty sure my family here thinks I'm crazy for volunteering to rake leaves in the middle of fall when several hours later there are just as many leaves on the ground and you can't tell you even bothered save for the large pile of leaves in the corner of the yard. But I derive a lot of pleasure from it. Standing there under the blue and white sky in the shadow of trees that make dark veins above me and rain down showers of yellow leaves every time the wind comes up. The leaves dance snow-like through the air, whispering as they come to rest on the grass you've just uncovered. Brushing past hair and cheek like the sky is sending kisses. I love it.

Rainy Walks Through Colorful Seas of Leaves

It's rainy out. The clouds wrap themselves around me. Block out all the sounds but the soft crunch of wet leaves under foot. How girly do I feel listening to The Fray's "Look After You" in my head?
I miss Irwin.

New Hair Cut

So here's my new hair cut. It's short in back and longer in front. Whatchya think?

An Apology to Noah

I owe Noah an apology. I managed to be in the same town and still miss his birthday. I planned on going all the way up till Aunt Mary said it was too late to go over. I should have just walked there yesterday afternoon.
Anyways, Noah, I hope you had fun. When I called over there was enough background noise to suggest it. I'll give you a card before I leave.
Lots of love and birthday wishes.

A Proposition to be Considered

My stay here seems to be lengthening again. I'll be here till the end of the week. Tomorrow is Noah's eleventh birthday, I wouldn't miss that. And then Aunt Mary has time off of work, so I'll spend some more time with her and Katie and Caroline. But I'm determined to get to New York by early next week.
During the week that I've been here the air has changed. The brightest reds have gone from the trees. The air is colder now. And the smokey smell of the wood burning stoves has become pleasantly pervasive.
I love this season. We don't get it on the west coast. It's too bad. It makes me want to be more productive. Like suddenly my throat has loosened and all the stories and images I've been trying to process come flowing out of me. I have to try to catch them now. I have to try to put them down on paper.
The graphic novel ideas I've had bubbling below my surface may come out soon. I hope they do.
I've mentioned before to several people that I'd like some help with it. Very specific help. So I would like to hear from several people about a possible collaborative project I'd love your help on.
Faded, of course, you already are helping, but I thought I'd include you on this list.
Bea, remember what I asked you when we made blondies? When you've got a lull in your work load and you're not trying to finish your incredibly awesome work for the possible opening in the show at the MOMA... still interested?

Spaghetti and Meatballs and trays full of cookies

So it's been days since I last updated. I'm not dead. I'm actually having a blast with family, I just haven't had access to internet fast enough to put photos up, so I've been avoiding it slightly, cause it means saying "pictures to come" at the end of every entry.
Yes, I need to put up pictures. Because, they're awesome.
Anyways, I'm actually at my Uncle Larry and Aunt Sara's house right now, sitting here smelling Aunt Sara's magic cooking and getting seriously mouth-wateringly hungry. Like when cartoons smell something delicious and suddenly their friends become thanksgiving dinners.
Uncle Larry and I took little Eve to see the cows today. There were new born calfs there that she wouldn't say goodbye to. Eve's in her "helpful" age. She helpfully broke a whole carton of eggs the other night. It was pretty cute though (well, not the mess, but the way she'd been helping put groceries on the counter even though she's two and she was sitting in the cart herself).
Oooh! Dinner's ready, so I'll put the pictures up after dinner!

Ok, so other notes about the last few days, on Thursday we had a dinner at Mary's and saw Uncle Andy and Aunt Debbie, Larry and Sara and their awesome kids, and my Granddad and Jovette (which was... a little awkward...). Anyways, it was delicious.

Aunt Mary also got me a coat and hoodie cause I'm crazy for thinking I'll survive the great lakes around thanksgiving without them.

Oh yes, Aunt Mary and Caroline and I had an interesting breakfast this morning too...

Oooh, and last night I helped decorate nearly a hundred cookies for the Pony Club Auction today. That was actually pretty fun. Music on, icing and sprinkles everywhere. My Aunt Mary's a riot.

I saw my dad's brother, My Uncle Mike and his wife, Wendy, and their kids Elizabeth and Sarah. I really loved getting to see them, it was a lot of fun. We went to dinner.

Tomorrow I'm hopefully going to a farm to press apples into cider with my Uncle Larry and Simon and Noah and maybe Eve. She'll be very helpful I'm sure. Tonight she helped butter corn on the cob. And the couch. She's so cute. Although I'm sure the couch could have done with less butter.

I have more pictures to put up, but I'm going to go be social. More later.

The Drive Through the Doldrums and The New England Fall

I'm really glad I got to see Evelyn and Adrian. It was a lot of fun. And it'll bre REALLY fun seeing them for Thanksgiving at their place in Snowmass. It'll be a lot colder by the time I come back... and I forgot my jacket I was going to bring... It's in my room. Great. Oh well. I'll come up with somthing. Actually, I'll probably forget.



Anyways, after we left the cafe in Colorado we drove through the Rocky Mountains, exiting into The Flatlands. Or what I also call The Doldrums of the country... Through the remainder of Colorado, Kansas, and the rest of the states or parts of states that make up the Great Plains there is flat land that is very dry at this point in the year. The highway stretches on and on and the sky is so big it could swallow you whole. Which you might begin to wish for as the drive seems to go on forever. The tiny towns you come to are all very similar. All advertized by grain sillos and a little church, otherwise it's just a smattering or farms that may or may not be close enough together to constitute a town in the rest of the country. Don't get me wrong, the people we met in these places all seemed nice enough... But it's all very homogenized.
I just finished reading American Gods (a definite perfect pick recomended by Jesse. good call Jesse. I LOVED it. I recomend it highly to anyone interested in this blog. Or in mythology, or good writing in general. And especially to Neil Gaiman fans, since he wrote it. Of course, then you may have already read it.) and in that book it describes the middle of the country in a very accurate way. It was funny, and perfect, reading it when I did because I had the giant road atlas next to me and was riding through all the small towns. It was fun being able to say "I've been there!!!!"... Anyway, in the book it mentions that every tiny town has a sign accompanying their welcome to (insert town name here) sign. A sign stating that it's the home town of the champion or runner up of such and such. It's true. Every town we drove through. I wonder how these people (kids mostly) feel having their name be put on the town sign for the year. I wonder if it breeds bad blood between people who would otherwise only have friendly rivalries?

We stopped in French Lick, Indiana because Peter has been wanting to see that place for a while. We drove up in time to hang out in the Pumpkin Festival Carnival. I got a small pizza at the Fresh Off The Brick Pizza place and then walked around till I found myself watching the Til-A-Whirl with Ani lyrics running through my head. It was a moment before I realized the little girl had run straight over to me and was talking excitedly to me about how fun it was and how she was going to go again! I don't know who she was. Little kids tend to pick me out of the crowd. And this one did. She was so excited that Roy the Tilt-A-Whirl opperator noticed me and started talking to me, laughing when he realized I didn't know the kid. Apparently Roy spends six months out of the year riding around the country on his Harley and the other six traveling with the Carnival. Then the little girl came running back up, fist full of tickets and pulled on my sleeve, telling me to come on! Roy cast a look around and then said "Don't look suspicious!" and let me on for free cause I'd said I didn't have any tickets. It was so much fun!
After that it was pretty much more driving. As we drove past Indianapolis I noticed there was a giant closed sign over the road signs into the city. That made me laugh. Indianapolis is closed.
We made it up to Connecticut before stopping.
New England is incredible in the fall. I watched the night mists wax and wane over the grounds and the wet night air turn a soft grey before the sun came to shine through the trees and show off the colors of the leaves. It was incredible.
Peter drove up to Manchester where he bought me a bus ticket and I hung around the town waiting for the bus which was five hours away. Manchester is actually quite pretty. A lot of the classic brick you find in New England. I sat and read American Gods in a coffee house until it was nearly time for my bus, then I walked back to the station and watched the people. I finished the book on the bus ride, and caught a ten minute nap.
When I got into Plymouth and got off the bus downtown by the common, I was half an hour early, so I called my Aunt and told her. She and Caro arrived a few minutes later to scoop me up. It was fun as they got out of the car and came to hug me. I suddenly had that warm feeling of knowing you're loved and being excited to see people you love. We drove back to their new house and sat around in the kitchen talking and eating. Katie and Mark joined us as well for a while. Then Mark went to bed and Katie went out with friends.
I took a shower. Oh my god, I love water. It was probably the longest shower ever because I hadn't taken one in so long and I just wanted to stay in it forever.
Today Katie and Caro and Caroline's boyfriend Zack went on a treasure hunt of sorts. Driving around collecting things from a list that Aunt Mary gave us. Tarragon. Garlic granules. Sesame seeds. Bottles of home made rhubarb soda pop. We forgot the pumpkins. We'll probably pick those up tomorrow afternoon or something.
We're actually about to go over to my Uncle Larry and Aunt Sara's house. I haven't seen them in years either, and I'm really looking forward to it. Their youngest son Noah is a big Miazaki fan. And I have yet to meet their daughter Eve.
(This is a note from later when I'm putting up the pictures: Some of these pictures are from Simon's soccer game. Larry with Eve and Mary with Caro.)