The Distracted Wanderer

I had signed up to be on the list to receive emails from a lovely Bed & Breakfast in Vermont called the Inn Victoria and about a month ago I received an email from them that said they were looking for volunteers for a "Work Weekend" wherein they'd exchange lodging and board for a little elbow grease in getting the inn fixed up for the season.  It sounded like an excellent deal to me so I immediately fired off an email and was fortunate to be amongst the first to do so and secure a spot. On Friday morning Jamie and I set off from Connecticut around 10:00 a.m. to make the roughly 160-mile drive north to Chester , a small town in southeast Vermont.  For a change the weather seemed downright spring-like and the traffic was light as we made our past Connecticut's Capitol city of Hartford and Springfield, Massachusetts into the less populated area of Massachusetts north of Holyoke.  I'd only driven to Vermont once before myself and that was in February 2009 when...

Tuesday afternoon in Kennebunkport was fast becoming Tuesday evening in Kennebunkport by the time I finished taking pictures of the interior of the Captain Lord Mansion AND it was starting to get rather gray and chilly so I figured I'd best get myself outdoors to take some exterior pictures before I had absolutely no light to work with. The entrance to the mansion for guests is located on the left side of the building if you are standing on the road facing the house and that side is also where you'll find lots of Adirondack chairs, a pergula, a cozy swing for two, a gurgling water fountain, and sculptures of Fiona and Shamus who I am going to assume were beloved pets once upon a time.  I meant to ask if they were Rick and Bev's pets when I saw Rick the next morning but the question totally skipped my mind until I was driving back to Connecticut.  I'm going to have to start remembering to write questions down as I've found I can't rely on my memory for...

Having caught a glimpse of the beauty within the Captain Lord Mansion while checking in, I decided that it was finally time to leave the opulence of the Callender Room where I would be spending the night and head out with my Nikon to take some pictures of the rest of the house. Even though what I really wanted to do was make use of the step-stool next to my bed and see if the bed was as comfortable as it looked I resisted the urge, opened the door, stepped out into the hallway, and then was faced with a decision. Should I go down the stairs to the main part of the house and work my way back up or … … go up the stairs to the third floor of the house and make my way back down? After debating it for a moment or two I opted for heading downstairs and working my way back up to the third floor before heading outside to check out the grounds. I suppose that in retrospect it might have made more sense to go the other way but when do I make sense? Besides, I knew tha...