Lazy River with Jo March

Yesterday I visited Louisa May Alcott's home, Orchard House, in Concord, MA. A lovely colleague of mine invited me to lunch and a stroll around this chic New England town, home of the "shot heard round the world" to quote Emerson. That is the first shots of the American Revolution. The weather was perfect...so sunny and bright but not hot, nice and cool. And Concord really is beautiful with grand homes and it just oozes with American history. I can't help myself. And throw in talk of Little Women? It was all I could do not to buy a needlepoint kit...I'm not kidding. Instead, I purchased a framed print of the March girls and mozied around Orchard House humming the song from Winona Ryder's retelling of an American masterpiece. I'm sure the tour guides love that. But really, how could I resist?

And then there's this scene for the weepy:

One of my charming college roommates Topher and I watched this movie constantly. We still quote it all the time. "Marmee's home!" or "Your potatoes!" are our favorites. My seven children from Heckedy Peg (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...) will call me Marmee, a name coined by Anna, the oldest Alcott girl represented by Meg in Little Women, who had trouble pronouncing mother as a baby. See? I paid attention on my tour.

This was not my first visit...not even my second. Here's a shot from a Christmas at Orchard House with the good sport Dave:

Also, in an amazing twist of fate, guess who will be drifting down a lazy river in about 24 hours?

It ain't Jo March.

My aunt (you can call her Aunt March even though my aunt is much more pleasant...just for fun) invited me to join her and my cousins on a visit to an indoor waterpark. Where do I sign? An indoor water park isn't something I'd think to do but DEFINITELY something I'll agree to. I told my brother and we both said "lazy river" at the same time. I also plan on wave pooling it just a bit and going on some raft slides. But if you're looking for me, you should start at the lazy river. I'll just be doing loops there.