A Day Out

Yesterday I spent the day with my friend Carla exploring a town nearby that has some lovely little shops. Carla knew that I had been wanting to pay a visit to this town ever since we moved home 2 1/2 years ago. She finally decided she would just have to make it happen.

So, with Grandma here to occupy the children, I set off for Carla's house. Our first stop was the little village where Stitches and Scones is located, which is where my sister Christina works. I had never been to the shop, but had always wanted to go.

The shop was much bigger than I expected. There was yarn everywhere, so many different kinds, and so many beautiful colors! No wonder the employees have a hard time not spending all their money in the shop!
I got to meet several of Christina's co-workers (who all raved about Christina's wonderful patterns) and saw several of the patterns on display throughout the shop:

After our visit to the yarn shop, we stopped just down the street at a marvelous restaurant called "Keltie's":
The interior was elegant and relaxing,
and the food was FABULOUS! Here is my foccacia sandwich with goat cheese and sundried tomatoes with sauteed onions and peppers and provolone cheese, with accompanying fruit:

Carla had Keltie's famous hot chicken salad in a puff pastry parcel. This has been written up in numerous places around the city and we both agreed it deserved all the praise it has received:

We did not have dessert, but insisted on seeing the desserts anyway. Apparently, their bread pudding is famous. There was no doubt that we would be returning in the future.

Then we drove over to the beautiful, historic town center that I had been wanting to visit. We walked through a few antique and gift stores, admiring all the beautiful things:
I took this picture to show the children what Auntie Helen used to wash her clothes!

I came upon this teacup in one antique store and decided to buy it. My mom has one just like it, with Japan stamped on the bottom. For 6.50, I thought it was worth bringing home as a lovely reminder of the day:

The town had flower pots everywhere:
This picture gives an idea of the architecture around the town square:
And here is the beautiful building in the center of the town square:

After our shopping, we stopped at a very nice coffee and tea shop for some afternoon refreshment:
There was a whole room just for teas:
We decided on our drinks and sat outside to enjoy the perfect weather. Carla had a chocolate chai which tasted really, really good. I settled for a decaf latte. We sat and talked about all kinds of things, including the blogs we read -- we read many of the same ones (Brenda, Lovella, the Thrifty blogs, etc.)
After tea, we headed back to Carla's where we went out back for some mulberry picking. Carla has a wonderful tree, and has already put up quite a few jars of mulberry jam this year. And then it was time to say goodbye and head back to reality.

A quick stop at Carla's Goodwill, on the way home, revealed a few more treasures: some fabric swatches, 3 mugs to match my kitchen, 2 needed creamers for Michael's tea, and a silver platter for serving cheese and crackers or other goodies. I was pleased to pay less for all of this than I had paid for the teacup!

And now I am gearing up for 5 days of company. We are expecting dear friends from Scotland whom we haven't seen since we left. We hope to introduce them to a really spectacular 4th of July! So, it's off to the supermarket for me!