Wishful Thinking

I had the pleasure of IM'ing a very dear friend of mine today. She was stressed out about work and whatnot and mentioned that she wishes she could take a two month vacation. A real one. Not one of those quick vacations where you run about trying to sightsee all there is to see and not blow all your money and know that you have to come home to your messy house and a pile of laundry and that you are tired in every bone and need a vacation to get over your vacation. (How was that for a run on sentence?)

No she meant a REAL vacation. The kind people like us don't get to take for a variety of reasons. Between us, we came up with the ideal, relaxing vacation for us. Which we would take together.

Would you like to know what it involves? Of course you would!

For starters, it has to be far away from where we live. She lives on the West Coast, I live in Utah. Far away would be the East Coast. We think Maine. And of course, it needs to be ON the coast.

So, a beach house in Maine. Oh, lovely. This beach house would be older, charming, hardwood floors, BUT it would have one very, very important upgrade. A gourmet kitchen. Now, the friend is not sure she would want to cook, but I assure you I would. For a couple of reasons. One, I would have at my fingertips the freshest seafood obtainable. Oh, the joy! I have had East Coast fresh seafood before, during a delightful sojourn in Charleston, SC. (Possibly one of my most fave trips EVER!) I know whereof I speak. That is some tasty eating. I guarantee I would be inspired to cook. If I had a gourmet kitchen, I would be doubly inspired, since I currently the not too proud owner of a small, non-gourmet galley kitchen.

In addition to the gourmet kitchen, the beach house would come equipped with a sleeping porch, fully equipped with hammocks and cots. Have you ever known the joys of a sleeping porch? Me either, but imagination tells me it is a good thing.

Also, a sittin' porch. With rockers. And hammocks. On both porches, because, you know, some of us might like to rock supine, whilst others prefer to remain upright.

It would be fairly sparsely decorated, I think. Bedrooms painted cool blue with bright white bedding and a few cosy rugs. A front room with an internet connection, but NO TV. A couple of lambswool rugs and a fat couch with a canvas slipcover. Some lazy chairs and a lot of good pillows.

The bathrooms are important. Clawfoot tubs are a requirement, you know. I do know the joys of bathing in an enormous clawfoot tub. I own one. It occupies the vast majority of my tiny bathroom, but I would not trade it. No way.
Clawfoot tubs, with a separate shower.

Oh, I forgot, right off the porch would be a shower tiled in natural rock. For the rinsing off of beach sand, of course. We don't want to track too much of it into the house, it is uncomfortable on bare feet with wood floors.
And in that mode of cleanliness, there would, without a doubt, be a housekeeper. No question there. We are not vacationing to clean house or do laundry or dishes. Heaven forbid!

And last, but hardly least, it would have a well stocked library. This is of the utmost importance. We plan to be very lazy most of the time. Of course, we will work off the abundant extra calories by taking a morning swim in the surf. But the time not spent cooking, eating, swimming or sleeping will be spent reading. All of the books we have been wanting to read but haven't had the time.

It is sort of wrong, you know, to not have the time to read. No, not sort of wrong. Very wrong. I would of course, bring along my knitting. And possibly teach my friend how to knit. She has learned crochet, time to branch out.

What do you think? Does it sound relaxing? I think I will start planning now, I need to save up!