James and I took a nice long drive today; it was perfect weather, cool and clear (at least until we got close to our destination). I said, "Let's see if we can find some snow," so we ran up I-95 and I-495, first to Marlboro, MA, where there was a hobby store called the Spare Time Shop that he'd read about online. This was a small store, but crammed literally ceiling to floor with plastic models, fantasy card games, military/aviation books, model rockets, and other hobby materials (James saw everything but train supplies). You could probably look around for a couple of hours before you saw everything.

From there we drove west (US 2) and then north (I-91) to the Vermont Country Store. This is the "new" store in Rockingham as opposed to the original store in Weston. It's a fascinating place. They truly are a "country store" in that they sell clothing, gadgets, and even some "grocery items" like cheese, preserves, and maple sugar/syrup products, plus they have soaps, candy, toys, souvenirs, dishtowels and regular towels, slippers, blankets, sheet sets, Christmas ornaments, gardening implements, books, and probably a lot more things that I've forgotten. They also have a "discount barn" with out of season items. Some of their items are old brands and items that have been discontinued everywhere else. You can get old-fashioned candies like Mallow Cups and Charleston Chews there, a Chatty Cathy doll, Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls, Evening in Paris perfume, Beeman's and Clove gums.

And of course the place was decorated for Christmas, with trees and roping and garlands.

We stopped to take some photos on the way out and I looked up at the sky. It was starting to turn from grey, high clouds to that lighter silver that occurs before it starts to snow. It was about 42°F, but I said, "It could snow." In a minute or two, it was snowing, just briefly, a small flurry of flakes around our heads and the front of the store.

Rockingham is off I-91, which runs up the length of the Connecticut River (its source is somewhere in Canada), and on the east side of the road is the valley surrounding the river. It must have been magnificent with color about five or six weeks ago, but now the grass spreads alternately green, brown, and yellow behind the sketched branches of the trees. On the return trip there was a parking area across from one of the vistas where they had trimmed the trees down enough for you to see beyond. It was all very pretty and peaceful, even if there were only a few flakes of snow.

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:24:00 PM

Comments: Post a Comment