Autumn Roadtrip?

So if you recall, last post I predicted I would not want to leave my newly improved country cottage after a weekend spent sprucing and bonding.  

I just adore the excitement and anticipation of a road trip, especially at this time of year.  Since my little country bolthole is nowhere near a grocery store, and these quickie weekend trips make time a precious commodity, I always pack a full picnic basket of food, both for the weekend, as well as for the drive there.  Not big on stopping and losing time on the road, nor is my travel companion fond of truck stop cuisine.  My big plan was to bake an apple tart on Saturday after whitewashing the rest of the house, and painting the doors, and planting the new trees!  How did I ever think I would have the time?  Usually I put a lot of thought into what I pack, but last week I was just too busy, and I really just threw in some odds and ends from the kitchen.

 The contents of Fridays hamper: one baguette, one bottle of pellegrino, one dusty glass bottle of coca-cola, a couple of lemons, six brown cage free eggs, one bag of Starbucks Italian roast coffee, one aubergine, one bulb garlic, one box of spaghetti, and one can of tomatoes...and one plastic wrapped slice of homemade plum tart...and chocolate.....and oatmeal, and maple syrup.  Oh, and one bag of apples.

 No partridge.  No pear tree.

But it wasn't meant to be.  

My usual route takes me from Brooklyn all the way across lower Manhattan, and out the Holland tunnel.  We left at 7:30ish on Friday night.  Rush hour traffic should have been waning.  After an hour and 15 minutes spent on Canal Street, chatting, and breathing deep the intoxicating aroma of food, and exhaust, and city pollution, we finally arrived at the tunnel, only to learn it was closed because of a fire!  Ok...  Well, then the GPS said go up the Westside Highway.  Gas was needed, and then out the Lincoln Tunnel we went, two and a half hours later!  Then I got lost in the dark.  Three times.  It wasn't my usual route, and I was soon very tired...

Finally on the third try, I got on 78 west, and breathed a huge sigh of relief!  It had been four hours of mishaps at this point, but no matter!  I was so excited to be heading to the fresh air, and was happily chatting, and getting into the mental groove, after all the frustration and trauma, when....BOOM!  I hit a pothole.  Y. E. P.   We tried to fix the tire ourselves, then triple AAA arrived to help when we realized there was a missing part to the jack...

So I sat on the guardrail in my black leather boots and floppy long skirt and black turtleneck and leather jacket, staring at Chase who was looking out the car window at me...

Finally fixed and just sitting in the car on the side of the road, out there in the wilds of New Jersey, we just kind of shook our heads in disbelief.  "Shall we call it a day?" I said...

So with a trunk weighted full of wallpaper and paintbrushes, and four gallons of Farrow & Ball paint, we headed back home to Brooklyn after midnight, limping slowly on our lame little spare lifesaver, and will try again this Friday.

So instead of lovingly fixing up my sweet little rural house, I truly caught up on a weeks worth of sleep over the weekend, bought a new tire, and then I channeled my energies into sprucing things around here for fall.  I hope everyone has a golden acorn sculpture, because nothing says Autumn like acorns....and maybe a gorgeous yellow mum...

Fall for me is maple syrup.  I am not a cinnamon pumpkin spice gal.  If there is any of this liquid gold left on Friday, I will repack the bottle.  

Even Chase is feeling fall in the air, and can't wait for the next road trip...