brattleboro, vermont [photo post]

We're moving, y'all. May 11th! It all happened very fast and, as fate of course would have it, on the weekend that Hanna and I were supposed to be enjoying a communications-free getaway in Brattleboro, Vermont -- our first couples' trip since the honeymoon.

Then Hanna's sprained ankle developed plantar fascitis (which, let us both tell you, is agonizing as pain goes), our realtor called with a potential rental, which we went to see and apply for practically on our way out of town, subsequently had to negotiate the lease long-distance for, and in the midst of it all I developed a three-day migraine! So ... ya know. Our weekend was slightly different than previously planned.

But still lovely in parts! (The not feeling like a railroad spike was being driven through my right eyeball parts or the we-have-to-be-grown-up-and-negotiate parts.)

This, for example, was a nice part. Monday afternoon in Brattleboro was just warm enough to sit out in the sun and read.

We were staying for two nights at the Forty Putney Road Bed & Breakfast, in the former carriage house. We'd booked the Hummingbird Room, but got the classier Maple Room at the same price instead because the housekeeper cleaned the wrong space in a rush to get to her family's Easter dinner!

We didn't complain (and left her a tip).

The property was built in 1929 as the home of the superintendent of the nearby Brattleboro Retreat, a (still!) highly regarded residential mental health facility nearby. The superintendent must have been a decent fellow because we didn't encounter any vengeful ghosts during our stay!

Spring is finally (finally!) bursting into bloom, in both Boston and Brattleboro. I caught this crocus in the lawn of the B&B.

We mostly dined on food purchased from our beloved Brattleboro Co-op, in their newly-built location adjacent to their old (and nostalgically missed!) home on the Whetstone Brook.

They provided us with delicious gluten-free cheesecake!

And an amazing Greek potato salad.

If there's a sensible explanation behind this thank you note on the co-op wall, we don't want to hear it!

We also attempted to eat at the new Whetstone Station on Sunday night, though my migraine got the better of me and we had to stage an emergency evacuation. Their sweet potato tots with choose-your-own dipping sauces are heavenly.

The innkeeper, Rhonda, provided us with a delicious breakfast every morning in the main house, as well as fresh-brewed coffee from Hanna's favorite Mocha Joe's and tea from a local supplier.

On Monday, I even had the time to write a few notes! ...

... and read the first half of Megan Marshall's Pulitzer-prize-winning biography of local feminist (and fellow migraine sufferer) Margaret Fuller.

We hope to make our Patroit's Day weekend stay in Brattleboro an annual tradition, and look forward to returning to Forty Putney Road in 2015! Perhaps our dear friends whose Christmas money helped fund our stay will join us at some future date.

And at the end of the weekend, we ended up successfully negotiating a twelve-month lease with our new landlord and driving back into Boston to sign for our future apartment in Hyde Square, Jamaica Plain. We take possession of the space on May 1st and next week's post will have photos of both the apartment-to-be and, I suspect, the apartment-that-was, full of packing boxes and questing cats.