MASSACHUSETTS TRIP, Day 8, July 20, 2012

This is the last day of my New England sojourn, and I am writing this day's journal tale at the airport, Gate 36, waiting for my American flight to board. It has been a good day, though I woke up in the midst of a harrowing dram and felt out of sorts for about an hour, after which I simply pulled myself up at my proverbial bootstraps and told myself to ignore the cloud of foolishness I was under. Marthe fixed wonderful blueberry pancakes for us, and Josh came over and partook as well. After he had gone, I loaded my luggage in the car, gathered up sheets and towels, cleaned dishes, and in general helped Marthe get back to her normal order. We took off on our mission to see a few more WPA murals in different nearby towns. First we went to the Ipswich post office and saw a mural, above the postage personnel booths, of men of the Revokutionary War period in a heated discussion. No one could give us any info as to who had drawn the mural and what it was all about. Then we were off to Gloucester to see the Beauport house, the Sleeper-McCann house I had last seen in 1987. It was built on the water by a man who was a collector and spent most of his life adding rooms and possessions to the house, with the assistance of his mother and his best friend. Eventually, he died in his 50s, and the McCann family bought the house, making only a few changes. At one point, if you look at the roof line from the inside, 19 different roof lines come together. There are five dining rooms in the house! Though the very accumulation of items was impressive, and things which would have been destroyed had been left intact and preserved, the amount of possessions and the cutup nature of the house made it difficult to love it. In 1987, I remember I thought it was one of the most unusual houses I had ever seen. Now I was simply annoyed by its fragmented nature. Finally, we went to Topsfield to see one last set of murals in the library, painted by a Mr. Kellogg. Again, not much is known about him. I took a few pictures, but compared to the Gloucester City Hall murals, the two we saw today were simply anemic in comparison. In Topsfield, Marthe and I had lunch at a sandwich place--I had a Thai wrap and a sparkling blueberry soda. Then we went back to the house shortly, and Marthe fortified herself with a cup of tea. Subsequently, we left for the airport, and here I am after a long security line. Reality once again! However, this was an excellent trip, and I have almost 375 photos to prove it. Two days in Dallas before I leave once again for northern California, the last trip of the summer. Looking forward to seeing Alexandra and Maureen again. Toodles! Sylvia, the Peripatetic