Ah, the life outside of Long Island. So quiet, so serene, so..inexpensive! On a weekend trip to Pennsylvania this past weekend my sister-in-law M took me for a walk around her quaint neighborhood and lead me straight to a house that was for sale two blocks away from her. This was no coincidence. My sister-in-law M and brother-in-law R have been trying to get my husband and I to move to Pennsylvania since the sky was blue. They have a good case for it too. M has two children, our godson who's 3 and her latest daughter who's 6 months, she only works part-time, which means more time for walks and talks with our children together, and she lives an hour away from my mother-in-law, whom I might add babysits every other weekend for her-can you say jealous! I did find a cottage like home that sat on the corner of a street. It looked like the kind of home where children ran and played, apple pie cooled on the window sill, mom stays home and cleans the home and makes it crafty, and my favorite of all, the screened in side porch that sat under a full green tree and stretched out into the garden, a place where mom and dad sit and sip on a warm cup of coffee, all cozy in their warm sweaters, and read the Sunday paper or their latest book. The biggest bonus of all-the house was in walking distance to their children's school and playground. Talk about your June Cleaver scenario. This would be home. This could be home, and for only $200,000 we could actually buy this home. M let me chew on this, along with a 5 page hand out of other houses that were for sale, like a 1800 farmhouse with a lake, original hardwood floors, original stone fireplaces in every room, including the kitchen, a wrap around porch, 13 acres and 6 bedrooms for $375,000. $375,000!!! That wouldn't even get me a tiny home crammed in the West End! But even though all these amenities sounded grand, and the warm apple pie that I envisioned cooling on the window sill aroused my senses, Long Beach is still were I want to make my home.
I might live in a one bedroom apartment, that my husband, dog and I share with my son, but I have the ocean, I have the beach, I have the city and I have me. My life has began to grow here. I have great friends, wonderful neighbors and a swim class that I have to find an appropriate bathing suit for this weekend.
But back to my weekend in Pennsylvania, I can't say enough nice things. I always love visiting my family and spending the afternoons with my nieces and nephews. We went to a beautiful farm and went apple picking, something that I have to say is a weakness of mine, for those that know me know that I can not pass a farm stand and just drive by. I have to stop, smell the mums, squeeze the tomatoes and linger over the pumpkins, all while buying delicious pieces of homemade fudge and cups of warm apple cider. Yum!
M & R also took us to "The Shady Maple" for breakfast. This was my first "smorgasbord" experience. I swear it looked like more of an amusement park than a place to eat. As soon as you walked in there's ticket booths where you pay for your meal and then get escorted to your table, since there are about 5,000 of them-no joke! We went on a Friday morning and the place was packed. I can only imagine what it would be like on the weekend. There's rows about rows of food choices. There's a french toast and pancake section, waffles section, make your own omelet section, basically any kind of breakfast food you can imagine is in this place. My only regret is that we left in a hurry and were unable to make it to the gift shop downstairs, which is supposedly enormous. If you ever pass a Shady Maple you have to experience it just for the experience alone.
The premise of the weekend voyage was for a golf tournament my husband and his brothers were in, their golf addicts to put it mildly, and it was successful. The womenfolk had fun with the kids, and even got to see a movie "The House Bunny" which left me feeling insecure about my body and wondering how many sit ups I'd have to do before my body looked like Anna Farris, and the menfolk got their play out and even got to watch the Giants game together in that afternoon. All in all it was one well worth it trip.
Now, getting started actually settling down from my summer vacations and establishing some time of "helpful" schedule is another story.
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