Bed & Breakfast
Carl and I celebrated our first anniversary recently by leaving town for a few days and staying at a lovely Bed & Breakfast. We didn't have to travel far and, since we're still pinching pennies, it wasn't expensive at all.
The area we live in is dotted with Bed and Breakfasts. The landscape is rolling hills and farmland, with groves of trees here and there, and lots of green grass and fresh air. It's only a couple of hours from where we live in the city, so Carl and I left early from work on a Friday afternoon and were at our B&B by dinner time.
The B&B we selected was absolutely perfect. There were only five guest rooms at this two story, colonial home. It was nestled in a small forest, with a creek running through it. The owners had built a raised, wooden walkway through the trees to a working orchard almost a quarter of a mile from the house. We didn't even get to see that until Saturday. We took so many pictures of just that spot in the forest alone. Me standing on the bridge and Carl crossing the creek in one step, looking like a giant! I even stripped down to my birthday suit to pose for one photo; me picking a piece of fruit from a gorgeous leafy tree in the orchard as though I were Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Back to our Anniversary, we arrived to the friendly smile of Millie and Arthur, the proprietors of the B&B and orchard who are both in their late eighties. Millie was wearing a gigantic, flowerpot hat and Arthur couldn't stop talking about war stories. They were very nice, but very quirky, too. We had to take a photo of our hosts.
The four other couples staying at the B&B arrived about the same time as we did and we were all hungry. Right after we settled into our beautifully decorated, cozy room with a fireplace we joined everyone else in the dining room for dinner. The main course was an Italian Risotto dish, loaded with garden vegetables, succulent bits of meat and very pungent cheese for garnish.
After the meal, we chose to have fresh fruit from the orchard and several different varieties of wine. Another couple, Bob and Sarah, were celebrating their ten-year anniversary so we made sure their glasses were always full. They have known Arthur and Millie for years, so Bob was always baiting Arthur into telling stories about working in a Speakeasy in the Roaring Twenties. He had managed to evade the stock market crash in 1929 by marrying a wealthy, older woman. Bob knew the stories so well that he'd mouth along with Arthur and later in the evening, after we'd all gotten a bit tipsy, Bob would outright finish Arthur's stories. We all were in stitches as we enjoyed the conversation as the harpist played quietly in the backround.
We stayed up so late that Carl and I decided to sit on the porch to watch the first rays of the autumn sunrise. What a romantic way to start our anniversary day.
The room was cozy but spacious. The bed had a thick, fluffy comforter and lots of pillows. There was a plush rug in front of the fire. Arthur stocked the logs for the fire each day. The air smelled like fresh potpourri. There was a large window in front of a velvety soft sofa for two to cuddle on. We were so tired from staying up so late that we fell asleep together on it.
We spent the entire next day at the orchard. Arthur took us on a tour of the grounds. We must have bought a hundred dollars of homemade preserves, spreads and honey at the little store over there. I also found Millie's personal recipe book that Millie claimed was handed to her directly from the Princess of Monaco! I photographed that, too. Arthur told us that guests of the B&B could pick a bushel of anything they are growing at the time and take it with them for free. We would do that on Sunday, just before heading home. Millie said that once a guest and his wife found loganberries, which she didn't even know were growing. That very evening their guest, a talented baker, made loganberry tarts for them! Since then and thanks to their guests' discovery, Arthur and Millie have cultivated crops of loganberries.
On Sunday morning, Carl and I slept in. But for us, that's 10:00 a.m, we got dressed and put our bags into the trunk of the car. Then we came back inside for a very filling breakfast. Millie had made Belgian waffles with brandied apples and fresh cream, eggs cooked to our individual taste and muffins with six kinds of fruit preserves. We even had homemade maple syrup! We had juice, coffee and champagne also. Arthur confided in us that Millie was the cook at his favorite restaurant. He said he left his first wife for Millie's cooking and never went back. Millie rolled her eyes and offered us the Sunday paper to read. We just wanted to go back to the orchard and pick squash.
We were pretty dirty by the time we got our bushel. Arthur let us take a pumpkin home with us, too. Halloween was approaching. We had so much fun, my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much. My fingers from snapping so many pictures. Although we were not alone most of the weekend, we grew closer to each other. I have the feeling that Carl would like to live in the country some day. Maybe we'll end up being like Millie and Arthur, just not as interesting.
