We spent yesterday tooling around York County, something we used to do with a little more frequency in the summer before gas prices went through the roof. It was definitely nice being on the road and seeing what was open/closed/changed since the last time we went through.
We stopped at a couple of used book stores, meeting the gentleman above, who obviously has good taste. I’ve found over the past couple of years that my relationship with books has changed. I’m much less likely to stock up on books, no matter how much I like them. I lost most of my Mercedes Lackey Tregarth books several years back to a borrower who never returned them (I think I’d brought over around 20 of the books, because I had previously trusted this person). I could have bought one of the now missing trilogies at one of the stores yesterday, but I realized that I didn’t really need them taking up space in my house, when I probably wasn’t going to be rereading them anytime soon. This is a fundamental change in my thoughts on books, and is still leaving me in a weird pondering place today. (I did buy two books that I’d never read before, and would probably not come across in another place. Those seemed worth the money/space.)
Another stop was at the Stonewall Kitchen headquarters in York. I don’t know who does their landscaping, but that person is a genius. I look forward every year to seeing what they came up with this time. This years theme seems to be big and tropical:
The row of elephant ears up the front walk is incredible. They have them in these interesting spiral metal planters, so they have an impressive height to them. Very cool display.
I also noticed this angel’s trumpet, which is right in the corner near the door, for the first time. It’s actually an impressively sized speciman, considering that these do not over winter up here. I can’t remember seeing it before, so I wonder if it was just never in bloom, or if they brought it in specially this year for the tropical theme, and someone overwinters it in a greenhouse. It’s gorgeous whatever the story is.
They also maintain a cutting garden, which they use for the cafe. The zinnias and dahlias are in full, gorgeous bloom, and were host to a bee smorgasboard.
We stopped and had an early dinner with T, on her break from work in NH, and then head back over the border, to York Beach.
This was actually our second try to get parking. Dinner time seemed to be the charm, and the BF head into the Fun O Rama to play some video games, while I wandered around the souviner shops to see what knick knacks are available for the tourists this year.
I actually like hitting York in the summer at least once, because it reminds me how lucky we are to have this place all year. The summer visitors see the view we had yesterday, which is clogged with people and traffic. I’ve been to the beach in the winter when there was no one there, and it was actually quiet enough to hear the pounding of the surf. And you know what? Sure, it’s cold in the winter, but I still think my quiet view is the better of the two.