East Coast Girl (for a week)

Autumn is a magical time of year in New England. The crisp air where you can see your breath, the red, orange, and golden leaves, and the smell of cinnamon and apples combine to transport me back to my simple, sweet childhood.  I look forward to my return visit every year.

I spent the weekend with my hubby and meeting up with old friends.  And of course, no visit would be complete without time spent in my favorite Westport store, Terrain. Terrain is a gardener’s fantasy…. a garden shop on steroids!

As if shopping in this veritable paradise wasn’t enough,  there is a darling greenhouse cafe with the most scrumptious food.  It was so delicious, I had to eat there twice!

Vermont was the next stop on my East Coast jaunt.  The 4 hour drive was a spectacle of mountains, colorful foliage, and small towns complete with General Stores and white steepled churches….Norman Rockwelle-sque!  When I arrived at my parents home (which they had just recently sold), it looked exactly the same from the outside.  Inside told a different story….boxes, empty bookshelves, and some bare walls signaled that a big change was taking place.  Why, you may ask, would my folks want to leave their idyllic home that they had built and loved for 20 years, complete with a stream and picture perfect gardens?

While most people my parents age are slowing down and enjoying their Golden Years, mine decided to build a new house.  The excitement of creating something new is what keeps their lives fresh and fulfilling.  When they drove me up to the lot to see the progress, I got it. With views that stretch on forever, I felt as if I was staring at an exquisite painting.  Sigh…

Part of the fun of being with my parents was sitting around the kitchen table and going over and over their new house plans.  We spent hours designing and changing them.  There is just something that sparks our creative thinking when we are all together and I treasure it.

My sister and her husband were also visiting and we overlapped by a day.  We took my parents to the glorious Equinox Resort to toast their 54th wedding anniversary with glasses of wine around the fire pit. Yes, I did say 54!  Then it was on to the historic Dorset Inn for dinner where we had their favorite waitress Noonie wait on us.  I think she may have been there as long as the Inn!

All good things must come to an end and in the blink of an eye the week was up and I was winging my way back to the West Coast and Santa Barbara.  I get nostalgic on visits back East, particularly in Autumn,  but Santa Barbara is home now and there’s just no place like home.