Kangaroos and Kidnapping

On Saturday, I was ruthlessly kidnapped by the Fitchburg Historical Society. I went to O'Fitchburg Days and decided to take the 'Trolley Tour of Historic Fitchburg'. Since most of Fitchburg is approximately 27 minutes old, I wanted to see what the fuss was about. I asked how long the tour would be and was told that we'd be back in about a half an hour. So I boarded the 'Trolley SS Minnow' and off we went. The tour guides were an elderly couple; the lady was from the Historical Society (who, let's just say, didn't make a great first impression) and her husband, who looked exactly like an octogenarian Ed Begley Jr.. Fitchburg started about 1857 or something and I think they've been around from the very first day. They threw around names and pointed out lots of spots where historic buildings (mostly in the flavor of either old barns, general stores, or one-room schools) used to be. I looked at lots of ditches, overgrown fields and tree groves that supposedly hid mystical treasures of ancient Fitchburg. I learned where all of Ed's cousins, uncles, grandparents, car mechanics and chain saw sharpeners lived. I listened to lists of practically every item the general store used to carry. But the best part of the trip was them constantly grabbing the overhead PA mike from each other in an effort to correct, one up , and squabble with each other; including arguing about exactly where 'the-thing-that-used-to-be-but-now-isn't' was located!

Our poor beleaguered bus driver, hadn't driven the route yet, and was constantly being smacked on the shoulder or the back of the head by one guide or the other and screamed at to 'TURN LEFT TURN LEFT TURN LEFT!!!!' after we were almost past the road in question. Trollies don't have a really great response time or turning radius, which turned a gentile tour into somewhat of a thrill ride as two wheels nearly left the road on some turns.

Two hours and 10 minutes later we returned to the fairgrounds. Oh.My. God. I disembarked humming the Gilligan's Island theme song ("A three hour tour...a three hour tour....") to the delight of the couple seated ahead of me who smirked and snickered through the whole ordeal too. But the good news is, I packed a lot of knowledge into those two hours, so if you want to see a lot of boring places where not-really-that-interesting stuff used to be (for instance, the overgrown railroad tracks where Harry S. Truman once watched the Circus train go by) I'm your girl! And I'm fairly certain that, with a little practice, I may be able to give you the Reader's Digest version in 7 minutes tops!

At any rate, I did get to see animals and you know, in my book, that always makes for a good day.

I saw some wallabies but the Wallaby Lady, despite the fact I TOLD her that I got to snog them in Florida, wouldn't let me touch them. In fact they may have moved them back a little to ensure that they safely out of my reach.

I also saw these Irish Wolf Hounds.

(Isn't the rose garland adorable!?)

They were just BIG schmoopies and the lady that owned them let me snog them all I wanted. Take that Wallaby Lady!

I also found this great Boston Rocker at a garage sale in my neighborhood. I fell in love with it just because it was a comfy chair and paid $30 for it. Upon further investigation, when I got home I found that it was likely manufactured in the late 1700 to early 1800's! Not a bad little find even if I did have to walk home with it over my head for 4 blocks. At least I had a place to sit when I got tired!

All of that, as well as getting to hold new Baby William ( 1 week old yesterday-YAY!), gardening at friend D's, a night on the town with friends Sat night, taking in a PeeWee soccer match, and lots of baking and spinning made for a hoppin' weekend for ol' Molly Bee! Gosh! Next weekend is three days long! I wonder what kind of trouble I can get into with a whole extra day!