{Before I get carried away telling the tale of our weekend, I want to let you know that Kathreen has posted an interview she and I did on WhipUp, and you can enter there to win a copy of The Creative Family! That ends later today.}
Well that was a longer trip than expected (and full of far more of the above than we expected). The last 24 hours of our trip started with a sudden car breakdown, waiting for repair shops to open (of course it happened on a Sunday), finding a hotel for one more night, and coming up with ways to spend 24 hours with three kids in a hotel room in the middle of a strip mall with no working car. Oh yes - an adventure in ingenuity and patience. Our bodies are all now full of chlorine, I'm quite sure, but thank goodness for hotel pools. And mechanics that work quickly (once they open). And cardiovascular workout equipment that fascinate small children.
(in the Mount Holyoke library)
But before all that drama began...we had a really wonderful time in Western Mass! Odyssey Bookshop hosted a great book event and Crafternoon - my favorite part (always) being the one-on-one chats and visits with you. It is truly such a treat to have an email name I've "known" and seen for so long come to life as a flesh-and-blood moving and talking person (more likely than not with a smaller, adorable one on the hip, too)! It was such a pleasure to meet so many of you on Saturday - thank you for making the journey on such a gorgeous day - and thanks to Odyssey Bookshop for a great afternoon. (And again, I come to you with no pictures of the book event. I seem to forget my camera - and everything else - when suddenly in front of a group of people.)
Some other (photographed) highlights of our time in the Valley (am I saying that right? Can I call it 'The Valley"?) - delicious dinner at Fresh Side in Amherst (and some great uh, "college" entertainment that followed), the reading room at Mt. Holyoke's library, and a really special visit and breakfast picnic to a farm with friends. (And oh, what a difference a few hours south makes in the seasonal growth. There was so much color!)
Sadly, our car trouble quite literally steered us out of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art before we could go in, but we all left so enamoured with the whole area that we're sure we'll be back there soon. That is, after we've recovered from this little adventure.