Early morning we took off for western Massachusetts to see the couple-to-be and their new house in Easthampton. The town is the poor, vinyl-siding-clad, cousin of Northampton, the town of students, frou-frou shops, and over-priced houses. Sita and Jim did well to land in Easthampton in their (yes, vinyl-sided) house with its large piece of land and more rooms than a starter home is supposed to have.
The house is kludged together like our first house was in West Newbury; nothing that sweat and the right tools (and yes, some money) cannot fix over the next 10 years. The rooms already have their signature Sita paint coats: bright pink in the dining room, aqua in the kitchen, a yellowish green where the stairs are, lavender in the bathroom.
The cats Mooshi and Cortez have the run of the furniture – it’s all theirs to chew and scratch; as a result all the chairs that should be comfortable are too sorry to sit on, with their stuffing hanging out and a thick layer of cat hair covering the seat and what’s left of the armrests.
We recognized various items formerly from our house, furniture, lamps (no problem) and vinyl records (we are paying attention).
After we made a tour of the estate we had brunch in Northampton and then disappeared into a delicious bookstore of the kind we miss in Kabul (and Manchester for that matter). We all came out with piles of books that would make a Kindle jealous.
We discussed the wedding and then got lost in the much more exciting honeymoon plans, pouring over maps of Spain, the selected destination. Sita downloaded Spanish language flashcards that would help them ask for directions (if spoken slow enough).
And then it was time to drive back home and start dealing again with all the things that need to be done before we leave again. We had been able to hold these at bay until then. So it was a very good day.
Sylvia's Journal 
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