Summer vacation, part 2: family and fabric

Rachel, Granddad, Alyssa, Julie 

Our 2,982-mile trip took us through nine states. We left July 17 and returned August 1.  The weather was sunny and hot most days.   We saw a lot, learned a lot, saw long-time friends and met new people, ate well, and returned home with great memories.

We stayed in Henniker, New Hampshire, for three nights.  Stevens' daughter Julie and her daughters Rachel and Alyssa live there. So do former daughter-in-law Edie and grandsons Erik and Daniel.  Julie and Edie are good friends and the grands look out for one another.  (The girls are 23 and 21; the boys are 17 and 15.)


We joked that Julie got her dimples and Rachel got her curly hair from me. (We are not biologically related.) 

Daniel and Granddad (Erik was absent) 

Stevens and his young family moved to Henniker in 1966 when he was hired as the New England College Librarian. Julie and her daughters have grown up there.  (S and his next family moved to Pittsburg, Kansas, in 1976.  I met him there in 1980.) 










We stayed at the Henniker Bed & Breakfast.











Henniker, which celebrates 250 years in 2018, spans the Contoocook River. I took these photos on an early-morning walk.










On Friday Julie and the girls took Granddad to Lake Sunapee.  I drove 25 miles east to Concord and had a delightful morning at the Golden Gese Quilt Shop.  I met blogging pal Victoria Carroll-Parkhill and her quilting friends. What fun to meet Vic in person after years of cyber-friendship!

Golden Gese is well-stocked and of course I bought some fabric.  (It's spelled that way because it's derived from the owner's name.  Auto-correct wants to change it to "geese.")







But there was more fabric fun ahead.  No, not Keepsake Quilting in Center Harbor. (Yes, I've been there. Yes, it is wonderful. No time on this trip.)








In Henniker, right across the road from from our bed-and-breakfast:  Quilted Threads.  It is a STUPENDOUS shop with an accent on modern, but there are repros and shelves of batiks, too. WOW!  Need you ask? I bought fabric.