Second Day Tourism

Well, the visas didn't come through on time and the new flight plan has us leaving next Tuesday, so I needn't have rushed to go anywhere! The P family are all really busy, so I'll likely end up just doing my computer work at their house for most of the time. Being this close to Boston is so tempting, but there's not any reasonable train service from Hartford and taxis and rentals are way too expensive. So here I am!

Anyway, speaking of sight-seeing today some of the P family and I drove(In the Toyota Highlander) up and over the Massachusetts line to Old Sturbridge Village. OSV is a village made up of various early nineteenth-century buildings that were moved to the location to make a living history museum.

There were two church buildings- a Congregationalist church and a Quaker meeting place. This is the Congregationalist church(Have I mentioned that I am Presbyterian?). All the buildings were fairly simple and I would say perhaps not completely furnished; some of the houses were set up more like museums while others were more like the living history sites I know.

Here's the entrance to the Parsonage. Most of the homes had wallpaper of this style; some of them may have been stenciled. The Village was pretty quiet, since we went on a weekday and school is in; so that was nice. However, because of that and because it's off-season, there were fewer reenactors about.It might be worth it to go on a busier weekend just to talk to more reenactors.

Most of the homes had bread ovens in the kitchen fireplaces, which I thought was nice. The Fort back home is too rustic to have bread ovens. There were some fireplace spiders for sale here, but the cheapest was $60. I don't know if that's normal or not, but that's too much for me to pay at present just to simplify my rare fireside cooking.

 

Mr. and Mrs. P outside of the Parsonage. They've been so gracious to have me, especially since my planned four day stay has turned into ten.

This was the grandest house among the lot; it had Masonic paintings all over one big room upstairs which made for a rather creepy dance hall. There was also a basement kitchen that had a low ceiling- I touched it.

 

There were several very nice herb gardens around the Village that must have taken a great deal of upkeep. Unfortunately by the end of our tour it was raining rather steadily, so only one garden was photographically captured.

Many of the doors and woodwork trim were colorfully painted. I liked that, but I think overall the overdone multi-colored paisley-floral prints, wallpapers, curtains and clothing of the 1830's are not quite my style of choice. It totally made me think of the "Cranford" busybodies.

I like wood.

There were several spinning wheels, but none of them were in use. There was also a very interesting water-run carding machine(for carding un-spun wool), a gristmill and sawmill. It took us nearly all the five hours we planned for to see most of the Village. We did pause for lunch at the "Tavern" which actually had pretty good food. I had New England chowder for the second time in my life, only this time I had it in New England. So it was a good long day, well spent.

The Cemetery

I don't recall the name of the church connected to this cemetery, but it had the kind of stones I like: old ones.

This is one of the earliest ones I saw, from 1718.

A lot of the older stones from before 1800 had very similar images. Like the winged soul stones I saw in Scotland, I'm guessing the point of this winged skull is to remind us of our own mortality, and the fact that death comes in God's time, not ours. Just like visas.

 

 Here's the other type of winged soul I saw today. I think the nose looks too funny to remind of mortality.

See Mom and Dad, I'm still alive!

Later on I stopped at a smaller civil war era cemetery on a hill.

It had a chapel.

And lots of towers.

And then I went home to dinner.

Day Two in CT

The visa situation has probably been settled, but I've not heard yet what the outcome is. Pins and needles, people! But, since I don't know if I'll be here for two days or twenty, I planned to spend the first two sight-seeing. Today the P family graciously loaned me their vehicle this afternoon, and I drove(yes, by myself) about 45 minutes to Wethersfield, which is on the outskirts of Hartford.

 I visited the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum, which is made up of three colonial houses all in a row on Wethersfield main street. I paid $10 for an hour tour which constituted of an elderly gentleman taking me through the three houses, talking all the while. I didn't agree with some of his over-arching statements on the era(mainly those about Puritans, women, and medicine), and I would have enjoyed more practical information about domestic life, but he was a good historian. I think if you've not seen 18th Century homes before it's a good museum to visit, because you get to see three in a row for a good price.

A cardboard statue of Good old George- because George Washington stayed here for some amount of time while planning the final campaign at Yorktown. That's pretty cool- I walked on the same floor as Washington and his staff. I saw his bedroom, too. It still had the original wallpaper, a sort of felted cranberry paisley. I saw two white-work quilts of glazed material that were period; I believe most of the furniture was reproduction. Photography was not allowed inside(sigh).

I love the colonial style of architecture, with the simplicity and beautiful wood. I would love to live in a colonial house someday. This was the nicer house, with a big foyer and a dance room. I figured it could hold about ten couples, comfortably.

This middle house also used to be a textile warehouse, up on the third floor. We went up the small curved staircase to see. It was pretty neat; all rough-hewn beams and wood pegs, and a loom and spinning wheels in storage. Out back there's a pretty little garden, and the weather was beautiful today.

 

I'm enjoying the old New England church buildings as well. They're so classy. The reflection you see here is a church across the street from the 18th Century glass panes of the middle house. After the tour I visited the cemetery of that church and slowly headed home. The roads here are very different in that there's a lot more curves and hills, obviously, that make for slow-fast-slow-fast driving; but there's also small towns all along the highways with stoplights. Just so you know, boys, the P vehicle is a 2004 Toyota Highlander hybrid. It drives real smooth and I enjoyed it, so there.

And if you've not seen enough of 18th Century coolness in this post, check out this really neat striped gown.

Currently in Connecticut

So I left Saturday morning and flew Omaha to Minneapolis to end at JFK airport in New York. From NY I was driven up to CT by some very kind friends and deposited with church family, here is the woods of the teeny tiny state of Connecticut(Be impressed, I just spelled "Connecticut" correctly three times in a row).

Here's what else I've learned so far.

Connecticut is a miniscule state, and it has a lot of trees. The vast forestry hides towns and dwellings and smothers every living thing. But, since it is fall and very pretty here, it is more forgivable. Because it is really very pretty.

Our sister church here meets in this imposing brick building that used to be a school, and is now owned by the local historical society. The upstairs was closed off, so I didn't get to see all what was upstairs. The church body here is smaller than back home, and it's more like an oasis in the midst of a desert(forest?). As something of a minority(Reformed Presbyterians) I think maybe even in our larger churches there's a feeling of relief on Sundays when you know you're around like-minded people. How much more so when you live in a very liberal state and your church is less than fifty people?

The building was very large, and had at least one towering brick chimney.

 After the church service I helped out with a dance, since some of the young people here are just getting started dancing. It went fine and everyone did well. Across the street was another formal church(With a very nice clock tower) that was hosting a free concert.

On the way home my hosts treated me(and themselves) to locally-made doughnuts and apple cider. Good deal all round! The original plan was for me to only stay three days, but as of today my traveling group has had no word on the status of our visas. We are all very much hoping that the visas will arrive in time to allow for departure; but in the case that they're not I expect I'll be in CT for a little longer.

Departure in eight..four, now wait, two, oh never mind.

Yes, I'm leaving soon and totally freaking out about it. Until last Tuesday my time was taken up with costumes and church events, so I've just now been able to think about packing and all the little details that come with travel. I can't really say why I'm stressed, but I'm pretty sure I am.

Our collective traveling party(zoo?) of family and nannies learned last week we'll be sharing the apartment of a missionary family in St. Petersburg during our stay there. I'm not concerned about dealing with the adorable D children, because I know they're well-disciplined; but even so I have no illusions about what it will be like to live in an apartment with eight children and eight-ish adults. That's just a lot of people in one space. I'm sure it will be very sanctifying. I'm probably being too pessimistic about that. Happy thoughts happy thoughts happy thoughts. Or sleeping pills might work too.

In other news, Grandma's in the hospital because of an infection in her leg. It seems strange not to hear her muttering(because she talks aloud to herself all the time) and throwing her TV remote down when she gets frustrated with the TV. It's also a bit of a relief. Having Grandma is not maybe as horrible as I've made it sound; but she is almost constantly negative(even when she's not mad) and very self-centered; so there is a sort of underlying stress of "what if Grandma gets really mad today." When someone is always negative it's wearing, and it's like a kind of mental poison that I have to consciously resist. Life lesson: Make a habit of Godly positive thinking or you'll poison people's minds.

Goals

Before Departure on 9/29:

• Finish the costume season well. Tomorrow and next Saturday I have two costume events, and after that all the costumes need to be washed, labeled and put away ready for the Ball that happens the week I get home. There's always lots of last minute sewing to be done when this many costumes are involved.
• Pack judiciously. Since I'm stopping in CT on my way to Russia I really do not want to haul a large amount of luggage, and now that my trip is bumped down to eight weeks I'm hoping I can do with one medium sized suitcase. Besides, I have to pay for checked luggage.
• Leave with dances pre-planned. I'm leaving a week after the September dance, missing two, and arriving home a few days before the Fezziwig Ball. Everything needs to be settled before I go.
• Somehow, earn more money. Fast, in less than two weeks. How, I don't know.

During Travel 9/29 to 10/27:

• Blog prolifically. Since so far about half of my present travel funds have been gifts from friends, I feel like I should give something back. Stories seem the most cost-effective way of doing this.
• Somehow purchase economical presents for my ten immediate family members and a few special friends. DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD THIS IS? Everything costs three times as much in Russia, and remember, I'm only taking one medium sized suitcase.
• Plan the upcoming dance events and performances for 2013. I have exciting plans for performance group and public dances next year, and I am so happy with our new location for public dances.
• Keep working on my resume and searching for a job. Childcare is a good money-maker if one can find a good family to work for, but I still prefer the dance/costume field. And I don't have any guarantee of getting back my recent nanny job when I arrive home. And I really want to start working part-time soon after I get home, so I won't have to ask for money next time I travel(bids are in for summer 2013: Either Scotland again, or the East Coast).
• See lots, learn lots, and serve.

I had to write this post in breaks because looking over all the goals together makes me hyperventilate. The next three weeks will go fast, I think.

Tickets Purchased, Sister Home

My plane tickets to St. Petersburg have been purchased. Four weeks to departure, three days in Connecticut, several days in various airports and eight weeks in Russia. I  think comparatively staying in Russia will seem like vacation after the upcoming month of September. Even though I feel stressed out right now about the earlier departure date it worked out well overall- I will be home three days before the 2012 Fezziwig Ball.

So Jennifer arrived home from her summer in Switzerland today. When Jen left we were only half moved in, so it should be interesting to see how she settles into the mix. Her arrival made for a good deadline for a few projects around the house. The previous owners of our new house left all the old curtains and blinds, and that worked out well: I shuffled them around a bit, got rid of the ones I didn't like and put up some of our old ones. Our bedroom has three windows with all white blinds. I wanted to buy dark shades for our bedroom, since on one side Al the neighbor(he sits in his garage watching big screen TV) has a motion-sensitive light that never goes off and on the other side there are the rotating airport lights. Yes, we live across from a local airport now. It's cute. Anyway, it turned out to be a challenge to find any dark shades locally for a good price, so instead I used brown satin spray paint to color the white blinds. It makes a dramatic difference! Now our bedroom smells like paint and I can check that project off my list.