close to home…

It seems a bit odd for me to categorize the following two places I took E to a few weeks ago under “travel”. To me they are home. They ooze with home-li-ness and I felt very comfortable and relaxed. I could travel around here with my eyes closed… well, I used to be able to. While there aren’t many new stop lights (EQ still only boasts one, I was in 5th grade when they turned it on) there are many new housing developments. Wow.

First I took E to see the Big Duck, [photopress:big_duck.jpg,full,alignright] a fixture of my childhood. I remember when they moved her and I was upset. I still look for her in the old spot and had a difficult time remembering how much further along route 24 she was. We didn’t go inside this time, which means we didn’t visit the shop. I have asked mum to rectify that small oversight on my part. I grew up feeding corn to the various mallards and the odd white duck that lived “with” us (we had a small stream in my back yard).

On the drive to visit where I grew up (and see my house) E tried to take some photos of places that were “quaint”. ARG! I ate there (pre-kashrut days) and played mini golf next door with my dad. Needless to say I didn’t slow down (I was actually driving! Imagine!) to let him get a focused shot, it was just too weird.

Next we went to visit another place I grew up with, the Quogue Wildlife Refuge. We walked around, saw a deer, a turtle, and a few birds. I caught this quick picture of the photographer stalking nature, this is the deer pond close to the northern tip of the refuge. [photopress:photographer_in_wild.jpg,full,alignleft] I think this is where I acquired my dislike of bridges over water. Considering I first came here when I was three (and I was a very little three year old) with my pre-k class and one of the big boys rushed past me (I don’t think anyone fell in) but I recall Mrs S & my mum being scared. Also QWR has recently reconstructed all the “bridges” so they no longer tilt at bizarre angles. (The water is perhaps six inches deep, maybe I should have had E push me in to stop my fears. I used to jump off the bridge we had over the stream in my backyard.. why are these so different?)

One day I hope to post about older trips we’ve taken as I’ve neglected to do so. Many pictures have been uploaded to the albums, I know the template is still a little wonky, but I think it’s working better than before. Tomorrow I hope to talk about my attempts at organizing my knitting, a nice book, my LYSs (yes there are two, and no, they are actually not the ones closest to where I live or work), and perhaps show some pictures of some kitchen cotton. Oh, and my faux-pas last week regarding peaches & cream vs sugar-and-creme. Get thee to Knot another Hat where Sarah has some yummy stuff, including a few things by lavendar sheep. They have peaches & cream in the shop, look for it online soon (or so I’ve been told). There are 1 lb cones available… (I am not responsible for massive stash enhancement as a result of this PSA).

• Category: travel