2024 Life Logs, Day 264: Day Trip to Springfield to Visit with Lynne Kirwin
Date: Friday, September 20, 2024
Weather: Overcast with Rain, Gale Warning; High Temp 65, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
My friend Lynne Kirwin, along with two of her sisters, flew into Hartford, Connecticut from Michigan yesterday and made their way to Pittsfield, Massachusetts. They came to visit for a few days with the fourth sister. Her name is Hope and she has a summer place in Pittsfield in the Berkshires. Since Lynne was here for 10 days at the end of July into August but I only got to see her for a day and a half, I told her I would drive out to see her if she had time. When she arrived yesterday, her sister seemed to have every minute of their visit planned, but this morning Lynne sent a text saying the others were going to the Norman Rockwell Museum. She had visited on another trip to see her sister and said she would skip it if I could come. She wanted to meet halfway, but since I had about 2 minutes to figure out where we could meet, I suggested Springfield and gave her the name of a restaurant that came up when I Googled ‘vegetarian lunch restaurants in Springfield’. It was a 2 ½ hour drive for me with traffic around Worcester and an hour for her. That seemed fair to me since she spent all of her time here dog sitting Shadow while I went to visit with my sister. She arrived at the restaurant first and called to tell me the door was locked. I was about 5 minutes away, so we agreed for me to continue on and once I got there, we could figure something else out. Actually, the restaurant was open, but for take-out only. We both had to go to the bathroom, so we both got in my car and traveled on to the next restaurant on my list. It was in town and there were no parking spots available. But we found a couple of friendly guys doing valet parking, so we left my car with them and walked to the restaurant. The street it was on was under construction, but with the help of a women we asked for directions, we found our way around the construction site and had a delightful lunch in a little hole in the wall restaurant called Noche Café and Restaurant in The Marketplace in Springfield. It had great food and was also a bookstore. I had falafels wrapped in phyllo dough and Lynne had a black bean burger, also wrapped in phyllo dough and served between focaccia bread
Both were delicious and the setting was perfect. We ate and talked for two hours and then we were both back on the road. The visit was far too short, but it was great to see Lynne. She heads back to New Zealand in October, so I won’t see her again until she returns to Michigan for her summer visit next year.
The drive home took an hour longer than the morning drive to Springfield. The weather in Springfield was overcast with no rain, but as I drove back to the east, the rain started. It got heavier and heavier and was raining so hard it was difficult to see the last 50 miles. But it was worth it. In addition to spending time with Lynne, I got to see the first colors of fall. Leaves are falling here in Falmouth, but there are no fall colors showing. But the closer you get to Boston and as you drive to the west, the leaves are beginning to turn. Last week it still felt like summer, but this week it is evident that fall is coming. Sunday is the autumnal equinox, but when this rain ends and the sunshine returns, I will hold on to summer as long as I can.
