Rain, Rain

It started raining sometime Saturday night and is still raining.  The weather forecast calls for clearing tonight and a nice day tomorrow.  We’ll see how that turns out.  I’ve tried not to talk about our temperatures here too much out of respect for those of you suffering in the excessive heat, but I just have to say this.  The temperatures have been in the 50s and low 60s and we’ve had the fireplace on most of the day.

The first rainy day is usually a blessing.  We’re usually out and about on good weather days and a rainy day gives us a chance to catch our breath and relax a little.  The second rainy day can be a bit of a challenge.  There’s not a backlog of blogs to read, no mundane household chores to do, no photos to label.  Internet surfing has lost its appeal; so has reading and knitting.  We did all that the first rainy day.  We want to be walking around outside.

This afternoon, we just had to get out of the house and go somewhere.  Shopping was my suggestion.  Since arriving in New Hampshire, I have had in mind to get a small moose accessory for the house.  There are moose in New Hampshire, but I think of Maine as the home of moose.  I have put off my moose purchase all this time thinking I would get it when we got to Maine.  Now that we’re not going to Maine, moose shopping took first priority.

There are a couple gift shops in Gorham that looked interesting, but our first stop was the local hardware store.   I love hardware stores; I’m not sure why.  This one has an old wooden ironing board in the window.  I’ve been intrigued by that ironing board and stare at it every time we pass by (usually a couple times a day).  I was a little disappointed, however.  The hardware part of the store was mostly painting supplies.  There were a few iron skillets and some canning equipment, but nothing else of much interest.  There was a very large camping and sporting goods section.  That was fun looking at camp stoves, snow shoes, and wilderness maps.

The first gift shop, Moose Antlers, we stopped in was the best.  The shop was in an old home so it was fun just roaming from room to room fingering the merchandise.  This shop had some very nice things and most were not expensive.  I ended up getting a small oval woven rug with four moose marching across the center and a tiny moose in a stocking Christmas ornament.

The next shop we went in had mostly cheap souvenirs--wall plaques, tee-shirts, shot glasses--but it was still fun to look around.  Gene found a couple packages of flavored hot chocolate mixes that sound good.  We’ll try them on the trail tomorrow.

After we came out of there, it was raining pretty hard, so we quickly walked back to the car.  Our next stop was Wal-Mart for a few groceries and then home.

I still want a small stuffed moose to sit along side my pink flamingo.  There were lots of stuffed moose in these shops, but the small one I really like is at the Visitor Center at Pinkham Notch.  We’ll be back that way in a day or two.

Gene has made a new list of hikes for us to try.  We’ll pick one of those for tomorrow, if the sun comes out.

That’s all for today.  Stay cool, or dry, or warm--whatever is best for you.