A few days away

  I am blessed to have a couple of long time friends in my life. One became my friend in kindergarten, the other in junior high. The three of us have remained connected and even though they both live thousands of miles away whenever we get together we pick up the threads as if it has been hours instead of months or even years since we've been in the same room. One of these two women has a 1900 built farmhouse on 40 acres in a rural part of northeastern PA as a summer/vacation home. She invited me up to spend a couple of days with her and her spouse and her sister who was also staying  up there with them. As it is a drive of less than two hours from home I did not hesitate to accept. So off I drove on Monday morning!
This summer has not been very warm. We haven't even had a day over 90 in northeast Ohio/PA yet. Which is very unusual. This is not a complaint but merely an observation and we have had summers like this before but Monday's weather was odd by any standard. It appears that October broke out at the end of July here. Highs were in the low 60s and it was rainy, downright fall like in fact. Ugh. It didn't matter though since my welcome was warm and sunny. We 'visited' (i.e. talked the leg off a chair), grabbed lunch at a local diner, stopped by the grocery store, cooked together, and settled down in the evening with a dvd.
The next morning the sound of cows gently mooing from the farm across the road woke me up. So very different from my urban existance. Tuesday was at least sunny if not much warmer. My BFF's sister declined to join us at yet another local diner for breakfast so friend, spouse and I went off for a short jaunt. Us ladies did plan on a matinee in the afternoon so spouse went off after breakfast and did his thing. More 'visiting' before we went to the theatre. Then a quick stop at a huge grocery store in the suburban area we were in to pick up an array of different prepared foods for dinner before heading back to the farm. A smorgasbord dinner followed by a wonderful visit from BFF's stepmom as we all sat around the bonfire spouse had built. Once the sun went down we retired inside for more 'visiting'.
I was so refreshed and relaxed by Wednesday morning and it came time to say my goodbyes. No cell phone service at her place meant just lots of time for us to reconnect and enjoy each other doing simple things together.
I cannot imagine a more perfect break from the routine.