TIME FLIES

Where do the days go? I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving. Winslow certainly did, this is his favorite holiday as it is the only time of the year he is allowed to do this. Saturday DH and I braved the crowds and headed to L.L. Bean in Freeport Maine. Surprisingly it was rather quiet, I remained faithful to my list and was out the door in no time.
Monday my husband took a vacation day and we began one of our holiday traditions. DH and I enjoy attending historical holiday open home tours. We traveled to Concord Mass. to "Orchard House," the home of Louisa May Alcott, the American writer best known for her novel "Little Women."
Miss Alcott actually wrote the book in her bedroom, which is located on the second floor, front on the right hand side. And another interesting fact was that the book as she originally wrote it ended before any of the girls were married. Her many fans wrote to her asking what happened to the girls, so Miss Alcott wrote a second book, which together with the first is what we now know as "Little Women".
We were also told that that 80% of the furnishings are original to the time the Alcotts lived there, and that the home has been a museum now for nearly 100 years! (The Alcotts resided at Orchard House for twenty years.) We have visited Orchard House once before, but never during the holiday season. Little Women is one of my all time favorite books and the movie I watch at least twice a year (You can understand why I enjoy my time here). It is a lovely old home with a warm and inviting atmosphere. The home was actually two houses. A smaller home sat in back of the main house and Mr. Alcott had it moved down the hill (during the winter) and connected to the main home. This is the Concord School Of Philosophy which was run by Amos Bronson Alcott, Louisa's father. Mr. Alcott was a Transcendentalist, philosopher, and social reformer. His circle of friends included Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne. It is amazing to me to enter a home which these people frequented, you can imagine a spirited conversation and the laughter that went on amongst them. More tomorrow and a view of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.