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Aug. 29th, 2005 08:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gilanaHad a very full and very lovely weekend. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
miss_chance and I went to visit an old friend in the Berkshires (Great Barrington, MA, to be precise.) She's been living out there for a few years now and just bought a house, so it seemed like time to finally make the trek out there. We left Boston at 3:15pm and after a quick stop in Stockbridge to stretch our legs and enjoy a peach smoothie (her) and Thai coconut lime sherbert (me) we pulled up in front of what looked like a cute little half of a house. It looks as thought someone sliced through a house along the roofline and just picked the other piece up and left. But the inside is gorgeous, all wood and windows and open space, perfect for Laura and her roommate Bessie Fred the basset hound.
Friday night she invited a bunch of her friends over to join us for dinner, and it was a fun and lively evening as her various friends got to meet each other and us. I had some interesting conversations about Israel, theater, design, and all sorts of things. Dinner was a collaborative event, in part because Laura does not yet own any pots, but it ended up being quite the feast which we enjoyed sitting out on the porch.
Saturday we got up around 10:30 and had a delicious brunch in a little cafe, then wandered through Great Barrington. Wandered into some galleries, bought some gorgeous silk clothing in a fabulous little store (including a skirt for me made of strips of old saris -- just luscious), stopped in to an open house at a radio station, and walked along the river. We ended our walk with a stop in a gallerymiss_chance had particularly wanted to see in an old vault, and it turned out that the artist she was interested in was actually there! So they got to have some interesting conversation, and then as I was talking to the gallery assistant it came up that she sang opera, so she ended up performing an aria for us that brought tears to me eyes. A serendipitous stop, indeed.
After a brief stop back at the house to let the dog out and change into elegant outfits, we ran back into town to catch some theater and dinner. We saw In Season, a set of four short plays set in the Berkshires by Joan Ackerman and Michael Dowling. The playwrights performed in two of the pieces, which was interesting. After the show, we had dinner at Club Helsinki, where we enjoyed too much delicious food.
Sunday morning we had adventures in Judaism. We had brought Laura a mezuza as a housewarming present, and I knew that it goes on the right side as you enter, but could not for the life of me remember which way it tilts. We tried calling her parents, but her father always puts in on just so it looks good with the molding, and her mother has been teasing him about it for so long that she's forgotten which was it actually goes. We tried calling a number of other people who were not home, and finally got my mother who gave us the answer. (Bottom to the outside, in case you care.) It was really nice to help Laura put it up and know that there's a part of us that's now permanently part of her home.
We ran out for a quick bagel breakfast after that, then hit the road to get toinfinitehotel's pancake extravaganza. Got caught behind a really nasty accident on the Pike for a while -- it was both hopeful and scary to see multiple ambulances racing down the wrong side of the road along with a medevac copter landing not far ahead of us. Rachel got out to share a case of seltzer with people nearby, and we ended up having some nice conversation with one family with a dog; seems like you can connect with people anywhere. Found some info on the accident later, and it seems like it may not be as fatal as we had feared, which is very good to hear. Seeing a minivan in a crumpled heap with children's bikes on the back gave me the chills, I'm really glad to hear that the kids at least are physically ok.
Made it toinfinitehotel's not too late, and had some yummy food and even yummier company. I ended up getting a ride home with lillibet and jason237, except that instead of going directly home they kidnapped me to see The Brothers Grimm. They're great kidnappers, or is that the Stockold Syndrome speaking? The movie was fun and not quite as twisted as I would expect from Terry Gilliam. If you're not majorly squicked by bugs, I recommend it. And Heath Ledger, yum.
Finally made it home and slept peacefully once again in my own bed. Yay. The End.
miss_chance and I went to visit an old friend in the Berkshires (Great Barrington, MA, to be precise.) She's been living out there for a few years now and just bought a house, so it seemed like time to finally make the trek out there. We left Boston at 3:15pm and after a quick stop in Stockbridge to stretch our legs and enjoy a peach smoothie (her) and Thai coconut lime sherbert (me) we pulled up in front of what looked like a cute little half of a house. It looks as thought someone sliced through a house along the roofline and just picked the other piece up and left. But the inside is gorgeous, all wood and windows and open space, perfect for Laura and her roommate Bessie Fred the basset hound.Friday night she invited a bunch of her friends over to join us for dinner, and it was a fun and lively evening as her various friends got to meet each other and us. I had some interesting conversations about Israel, theater, design, and all sorts of things. Dinner was a collaborative event, in part because Laura does not yet own any pots, but it ended up being quite the feast which we enjoyed sitting out on the porch.
Saturday we got up around 10:30 and had a delicious brunch in a little cafe, then wandered through Great Barrington. Wandered into some galleries, bought some gorgeous silk clothing in a fabulous little store (including a skirt for me made of strips of old saris -- just luscious), stopped in to an open house at a radio station, and walked along the river. We ended our walk with a stop in a gallery
miss_chance had particularly wanted to see in an old vault, and it turned out that the artist she was interested in was actually there! So they got to have some interesting conversation, and then as I was talking to the gallery assistant it came up that she sang opera, so she ended up performing an aria for us that brought tears to me eyes. A serendipitous stop, indeed.After a brief stop back at the house to let the dog out and change into elegant outfits, we ran back into town to catch some theater and dinner. We saw In Season, a set of four short plays set in the Berkshires by Joan Ackerman and Michael Dowling. The playwrights performed in two of the pieces, which was interesting. After the show, we had dinner at Club Helsinki, where we enjoyed too much delicious food.
Sunday morning we had adventures in Judaism. We had brought Laura a mezuza as a housewarming present, and I knew that it goes on the right side as you enter, but could not for the life of me remember which way it tilts. We tried calling her parents, but her father always puts in on just so it looks good with the molding, and her mother has been teasing him about it for so long that she's forgotten which was it actually goes. We tried calling a number of other people who were not home, and finally got my mother who gave us the answer. (Bottom to the outside, in case you care.) It was really nice to help Laura put it up and know that there's a part of us that's now permanently part of her home.
We ran out for a quick bagel breakfast after that, then hit the road to get to
infinitehotel's pancake extravaganza. Got caught behind a really nasty accident on the Pike for a while -- it was both hopeful and scary to see multiple ambulances racing down the wrong side of the road along with a medevac copter landing not far ahead of us. Rachel got out to share a case of seltzer with people nearby, and we ended up having some nice conversation with one family with a dog; seems like you can connect with people anywhere. Found some info on the accident later, and it seems like it may not be as fatal as we had feared, which is very good to hear. Seeing a minivan in a crumpled heap with children's bikes on the back gave me the chills, I'm really glad to hear that the kids at least are physically ok.Made it to
infinitehotel's not too late, and had some yummy food and even yummier company. I ended up getting a ride home with lillibet and jason237, except that instead of going directly home they kidnapped me to see The Brothers Grimm. They're great kidnappers, or is that the Stockold Syndrome speaking? The movie was fun and not quite as twisted as I would expect from Terry Gilliam. If you're not majorly squicked by bugs, I recommend it. And Heath Ledger, yum.Finally made it home and slept peacefully once again in my own bed. Yay. The End.
