Monday 5/8

Monday 5/8
I drove to Jaffrey, NH on Friday afternoon. Beautiful, beautiful little town. Every year the women in the church I attend have a retreat here. I bunked with my good buddies Pattie, TStep and Janet. It usually takes us a couple of hours to get all comfortable with the idea of spending the better part of 3 days together, but then it's pretty much lots of laughing, and talking about the stuff we keep buried deep inside. I like it because the little things we do for one another add a depth to our friendships. Friendships develop a history. I've moved around a lot in my life and lost track with many people I thought I would know for the rest of my life. Time and place had other plans.
Saturday afternoon my three buddies climbed Mount Monadnock, no small fete. While they were climbing, I was exploring and discovered shopper's mecca on Main Street, in Keene NH. It's a real honest to God downtown with the old canvas awnings over the doors, people milling about, restaurants, and even a smoke shop. (You know if there's a store dedicated to pipe smokers that you're not in a mall.) It was raining lightly - but those awnings were doing a damn good job doing their job, damn good. I had only vague outlines of NH raindrops on my shirt. Fleeting souveniers. So I got earrings and my friends got tired, very, very tired. I admired them and they admired me. Friends are like that.