What Does a Girl Who Travels Too Much for Work Do on the Weekends?

...Why roam about, of course.

Last weekend, we did the Countryside Artisans' Studio Tours again. Last time, I went with Yvonne, and since our interests are fairly similar, we ended up going to just a few of the studios (well, there was that and the pouring rain for the better part of the morning).

This time, John and I took Alicia and Guillermo. Alicia's a knitter, but she doesn't have the rabid gleam, and I was afraid of freaking out the boys, so the only yarn studio I insisted on was Dancing Leaf, since Dalis' colors make me drool. The lesson? The yarn is probably the best of the bunch, with a nod to some of the art and the refreshing (in more ways than one) newcomer to the group, Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard. Alden Farms, a treat in the spring, is pretty much a bust in the fall, unfortunately.

But photographs were taken:

The "yarn dog" at Dancing Leaf was doing his part to keep the customers happy (I was good: I bought one big ball of roving - done up in delicious Dalis-y colors, and one batt of brown undyed roving that John picked up and noted that he'd be happy with something made out of it. First time he's done that, to my knowledge).

Some of the wares, not to mention the view, at Dancing Leaf. The sheep were shy, so no photos of them.

We did make it to Kiparoo, where the sheep are not shy in the slightest.

Yesterday, we idiotically did what we always do and went to Linden Vineyard on the day they run the fall Gold Cup, which happened to coincide with what those who don't have 20-odd New England autumns in their memory banks would call a peak leaf-peeping day. (No, we don't set out in the knowledge that it's Gold Cup day, we just hit the usual traffic snarl on Route 66 and say, "Hey, ya think it's Gold Cup day again?" All evidence to the contrary, we are generally intelligent people. Yeah.)

The view from the deck at Linden certainly helped to ease the pain of the traffic, though.

And the venison sausage was as good as I remembered.

And I did my best to channel Brian, in taking some macro shots (of which this was the best one):

It's rather banal to say, but all in all, a very nice couple of days roaming about.

Posted: Sunday - October 22, 2006 at 10:11 AM | |