At Last, a September Trip Retold

I have a slight headache tonight, just enough that I decided on a quiet evening at home instead of stitch and bitch. Social is nice, but rarely quiet enough for even a mild headache. Hopefully this will tame the head.

Since I mentioned in yesterday's post that trip I took to Central Mass at the end of September, I was reminded that I never did blog about that trip. I meant to, of course, and have lots of pictures to share, but it got sucked into the vortex that is October for me, and is only now bobbing up to the top. The original idea for the trip involved perhaps making applesauce or apple crisp, but we ended up mostly wandering instead--which made for a fun day too, don't get me wrong. Just looking at all the leaves turning made it a beautiful day, and spending it with a friend, being driven around to fun places, what's not to like?

The weather was actually not beautiful, being overcast and threatening rain, but at least it never really rained, just drizzled on and off. We went to an orchard first, but since it was so chilly and damp we decided not to pick apples after all. We got cider donuts, which were hot and delicious, and we looked at the cute animals. Look at them all!

 

 

 

 

 

And there were a few not-so-real animals, too.

 

That last one would have given me nightmares as a kid. Other sights at the farm included a very convoluted tree branch.

And some lovely flowers with raindrop adornment, plus a tree in mid-shift.

 

 

I got a few things at the store there; I bought this delicious brittle, which did not last long:

 Then this caramel:

It is (I regret to say) good but not transcendent. You can't win them all. You already know what I got at the feed store, but what I didn't get there included (among so many other things) a few calendars.

 

And a John Wayne toothpick dispenser. Sorry, you're not getting one for Christmas. Not from me, anyway!

In other I-didn't-buy-it news, at the cheese shop I did not get some amusing ice cream.

(Why is it amusing? Well, if you've heard of Mass MoCA, then Mass Mocha is a pretty funny name for ice cream.) I did get some delicious cheese, and also a very amusing gourd. See him looking up at me? Doesn't he resemble a flamingo more than you would have thought a gourd could?

 

What a well spent fifty cents! I brought him into work and he is still hanging on my monitor, making me smile.

Next we went to an alpaca farm and got to pet the alpacas. And not just the adults, although they were cautiously charming.

 

 

The woman told us (primarily my friend's kids) that if we could be quiet, we could come down to the pasture and see the babies. We assured her that we could, and when we got to the pasture, she went and picked up this guy to show him to us (or perhaps show us to him).

Isn't he adorable? She said he was only ten days old! He let us say hi, and gently pet him (the world's softest thing, I swear, see how her hand sinks in?), and then he was ready to gallop back to mama.

 It was skeery, mama! They so big!

And did I buy yarn there? Well, of course I did! Just these two little skeins.

 One has a tag, which gives the name of the donor, Emmeline; the other didn't have a tag, and though they told me her name I didn't write it down. I'll call her Clementine. Sorry, Clementine! I love your yarn!

So there, finally, is the full story of my trip. After all, I did say at the time only that I'd tell it "sometime"!