Massachusetts Part 2

On Wednesday we ventured into quaint, historic Lenox.

This is where T grew up and it was so fun for her to show us around.

The cemetery was one of our stops.

I think Angie and I both have our eyes closed in the picture above and in the one below, you can see T's hat.  She was behind the wall throwing leaves in the air

I thought this old wall was just really beautiful!

T's mom joined up with us while she was out on her morning constitution around town.

We also stopped in a sweet little French Patisserie!

It was so hard to choose from all the delectables!

I finally settled on a raspberry almond something or other and an elderberry macaron.

We went to a bunch of other fun little shops including a darling toy store...of which this bee picture was taken outside.

After some successful shopping we had to reward ourselves with some ice cream...

Can I just say "pumpkin chocolate chip with caramel and toasted coconut"?

Yowzers it was yummy!

Then we went over to T's parents' home and explored the cool backyard and beautiful indoors.

Dad had a hankering to go into Pittsfield and visit a grocery store called Aldi's.

He had read some things online that made it sound wonderful.  So we made the 10 or so minute drive and found it sadly lacking.  However, I will say we found some wonderful European chocolate there but the rest of the experience was not at all what Dad had anticipated.  Poor guy!

Having not found everything we wanted there, we drove back down to Lenox and visited the Birrell's favorite grocery store called Guido's.

Oh wow!

Guido's, or The Guid's as I ended up dubbing it, will forever hold a place in my heart!

It was seriously the most amazing grocery store I have ever been in.

Reflecting on it the other day, I asked myself what had made it so crazy cool?

Number one, they had a beautiful floral studio/gift area!

The florists were working on an arrangement while we were there and it had the beautiful pink hydrangeas in it.  Walking around Lenox, I had asked both T and her mom what they were called and they responded that they didn't know what it was called exactly but that it grows whitish in the summer and then turns the burnt pink color in the fall.  Seeing it here I took the opportunity to ask the florists.  They said it is called Limelight Hydrangea.  I was so happy to have a name!

When I looked it up later I found that it should grow very easily in Utah and is one of the more drought tolerant species!  You can bet I'll be ordering some come spring!!!

So, continuing on with The Guids, the second thing that I really liked was the amazing hummus!  I called it "Yummus Hummus".  It had this deep smoked flavor and was so smooth!  Not only was this hummus made on sight but they had so many wonderful dishes prepared there and packaged for sale.  That was one of the reasons T said her mom loves this place so much because she's not much of a cook and can get so many wonderful entrees and sides made fresh there.

Number three, they had such a fantastic hot bar/food bar/snack bar, whatever you want to call it...but nothing like I had seen before.  The food looked crazy good, unique and healthy.

I only ended up buying one thing from the large selection...the lentil soup...it was delicious!

The last thing that really made this grocery store stand out to me was the unique foods on the shelves...like I wish our grocery store here at home stocked pumpkin spice yogurt, hibiscus cloudberry polar seltzer water, and smoked bbq love corn!

Anyway, suffice it to say, I fell in love with Guido's

Of the six days we were in town, we visited the Guid's four of them.

Our last stop of the day before dinner was the Norman Rockwell Museum.

Now, I am not a museum girl, but I grew up with Norman Rockwell art and have always enjoyed his work so this was different to me and I really did enjoy myself.

more limelight hydrangeas :)

Outside of Mr Rockwell's studio that they moved from the nearby town of Stockbridge to be placed next to the museum...

I took so many pictures of my favorites but I will just share a few that really resonate with me for one reason or another...

First Sign of Spring...this is how I feel every time I see the first crocus poking through the snow in my garden!

I have a puzzle of the upper left picture.  It just makes me laugh.  He was so good at depicting real life and true emotions :)

The upper right picture was hanging in my doctor's office as a really young girl so it always reminds me of the smells, sounds and emotions surrounding a visit to Dr Payne.

A room downstairs was full of all of his Saturday Evening Post covers...soooo many!

Ha!  These two pictures ALMOST looks panoramic when put right next to each other!

Sitting in the entryway after our visit...

On the right, Mom wanted us to try and copy "The Gossips" painting

This sculpture was done by his son Peter...

T then took us on a loop drive of her favorite running route when she was in high school.  The road was called Under Mountain and along it was the beautiful bed and breakfast called Stone Over where she always wanted to have her wedding reception 

(that was before she found out how expensive it was :)

Then we made it back to her parents' home where we had a lobster dinner.

It was all for Dad...he was so excited!

Jen taught us how to crack into them.

I did try a few tiny pieces but left the major consumption to Dad, James and Jen.  Mom even ate quite a bit.  I was proud of her!  T, Jo, Mark, Angie and I weren't as into it.  We enjoyed some veggie sushi...purchased from the Guid's of course!

Ang spent some time hanging out with their old dog Micah.

She was a sweet, mild animal who loved attention.

Mom and Dad drove back to our cute farmhouse shortly after dinner and family bonding, ancient bottle giving and dessert while the rest of us hung out a while more and played games.

...blurry, but these two are so cute together...and neither of them like having their picture taken :)

It was such a fun night but the drive home was a problem for me.

The roads are so windy and for some reason lately, I've been feeling car sick even in Utah when I'm a passenger at night so I got super sickish...so much so that when we got back I just had to go lay down on my lovely little bed while more games and visiting were done :( a sad ending to a lovely day.