Chickens, Cows and The Little Guy

It looks like May is ready to come to an end now! How did that happen? In a quick flash of light the days have gotten so much longer, the sun is hotter, and tonight the frogs are so noisy it sounds like a choir competition. We are getting thunderstorms and drenching rains instead of snowstorms, and all of the windows are opened to let in the cooler night air. Which is good, because we don't have air conditioning in our house! Normally is isn't much of a problem unless we get a string of 90 degree days, which doesn't happen often. Otherwise we get a nice breeze thru the house at night and it is pretty comfortable for sleeping. Tourists are wandering Church Street, and it makes for great conversation in the store. Memorial Day was two days ago, and it looks like summer is well on its way. 

We have had 4 new arrivals at the house this month:

Meet the Peanuts Gang-Lucy, Sally, Peppermint Patty and Woodstock! They were about 3 days old in this picture, but they have grown tremendously in the past few weeks! 4 little hens who are living in the basement until they can tolerate the nights outside in their chicken coop, probably in mid-July, and who will start laying eggs for us in October. They are a lot of fun to greet each morning and watch as they run around. They seem to be doing well and we are excited to have them around.

Shortly after the chicks arrived, we also had these gals come to the meadow:

These are two of the three baby calves that came with 4 momma cows. I think we have one more mom and baby set that should be coming to spend the summer grazing in our grass. It is always nice to see them out there when they come back. They should be here until mid-September, when the grass growing slows down and they go back to the barn to live off of hay for the winter.

And then the best arrival this month was my daughter and grandson who spent last week here! He is the cutest thing, and we had a grand time doing all kinds of things that occupy a 2 and a half year old! We played tractors, cars, barns, ball, took walks in the woods and to the neighbors. We went to the playground and Wildlife Refuge and book store and my sister's house. Ate lunch out and breakfast out and went to Church Street and even got to eat outside while fire trucks whizzed by. We made bread and English Muffins and cheesecake. And we read books about Kittens and Mittens, and sheep and trucks, and took baths every night. It was a great week, and he is such a good little boy. 

    

And here's my absolute favorite, taken shortly before we left for the airport:

It was a wonderful week!

And before we know it, June will be coming to an end, and the year will be half over. We always laugh that in about a month the days will already start getting shorter! But for now, I am enjoying all that the warmer months have to offer. We have a neighbor's wedding to attend this Saturday, and next Friday will be a 40th Anniversary Party in Middlebury for Danforth Pewter. It should be fun. And how time flies...

April is coming to an end...

It's hard to believe May will be here the end of this week! The meadow is really getting green, the trees are ready to burst their buds open, and sometime next month the cows will come back to hang out in our meadow. We had a chilly, wet week, and even more snow, but mostly just a few flurries. Unless you live further east of us, like my sister. They had a covering of white on Friday! We see the turkeys roaming around more often, lots of ducks and geese, and the birds are so busy building their nests everywhere. Last Sunday we even started our Summer ritual of getting a creamee in the afternoon. Who needs lunch when you can fill up on one of 98 flavors of soft serve ice cream? I started with one of my favorites: Reeses Pieces! But these past 3 days they had the Maple Festival in town, and I'm sure the visitor count had to be down. Not too many people would have wanted to walk around the food booths and ride the carnival rides when it was only 39° out! 

Next Saturday will be Bucket Washing Day. We will all head over to the barn about 10am and start the task of washing all of the sap buckets, lids, taps and equipment from Sugar Season. It was a fairly good year, we collected and made 83 gallons of pure Vermont Maple Syrup. Some of it is being sold this year, which is rather sad, but it will help to regenerate some of the costs needed for jugs and supplies. We hope it doesn't mean that we won't have a stable amount of syrup! I use it so often in cooking now that it would be sad to have to go back to regular sugar. Or worse yet...to have to buy it from someone else!

Business is starting to pick up at the store, which helps the days pass quicker! We are seeing more tourists and people visiting for things like weddings and sports activities. The colleges only have 2 weeks left, then graduations will be the middle of the month. It feels so different in Burlington once all the students are gone. This past Monday I had 2 women come into the store from over in New York. They were fun to chat with and, as often happens, they asked for a recommendation for someplace for dinner. My first choice is always Leunig's Bistro, right next door to us, so that's where I suggested. The funny thing: Bill and I went there to eat after I was done working that afternoon. Just as we were finishing eating, the same 2 women came up to our table and thanked me for sending them to Leunig's! They said they had the best meal ever, and were so happy I told them to go there! It was great! And, we also had a fabulous meal, as always. 

Here's a final photo to close out the evening. We get some beautiful sunsets from our bedroom upstairs, especially this time of the year.

A Sweet Dripping-Part II-Spring for a Day

Today was a perfect day to be off. The sun was out, the sky mostly blue and we reached a high of about 68°. I sat out on the steps for awhile and watched the birds at the feeders, the Canada Geese returning home, the horses in the meadow, and I could almost hear the snow melting. There are a few piles of it around, especially those created from plowing or shoveling off the flat roof. And if you have a dog who loves the cold, winter weather, here is where you'll find her as the first few signs of spring emerge:

She is so funny. She sat there watching the squirrels and chipmunks running all around. It's not like she chases them, she's getting too old for that. But she'll wander around checking out where they disappear to when they run between the rocks. After awhile, she changed her spot. I guess she thought she had a better view from here:

She loves being out, and finally came in to rest after about 2 hours. 

I made some Hot Cross Buns from a King Arthur mix this morning, and some maple sugar cookies to bring over to the sugar house. The sap was running, so we went out to gather about 4 o'clock. It was so nice out. Lots of mud, and still icy spots where the snow had packed down, but a light jacket kind of day. And the sap was running fairly well. We all hung out in the sugar house afterwards for some mac and cheese and lots of desserts. It was still pretty mild out as I walked home across the meadow. Later tonight it will drop to about 32°, the snow will start about midnight, and tomorrow we will wake up to a covering of white mush. Crazy, but that is the way the weather tumbles around here. Sure makes you appreciate the days that are as beautiful as today was!

P.S. Saturday April 4th, 8am:

Need I say more? Remember, this is a Sugar Snow!

A Sweet Dripping-Part I

Normally, sometime around this time of the year, I write about Sugar Season up here in Vermont. These wonderful few weeks where the snow is melting, the days are getting longer, and the sun starts the sap running through the veins of the maple trees. This year we have had a very late start. We didn't even tap the trees until March 14th, which is pretty late by the book's standards. And gathering has been more off than on since then. Last Sunday I was able to go out to gather with everyone. It was a beautiful, sunny, mild day and it was great catching up with everyone I haven't had a chance to talk with all winter long. Plus, the nice weather made for a great hike thru the woods running from bucket to bucket in search of any sap slowly dripping out of the taps.

There wasn't much. Saturday night had been cold, into the teens, and it just didn't warm up soon enough for the sap to have run yet. By the time we got back to the sugar house they had decided it wasn't even enough to bother boiling that night. So we stood around talking and munching and eating sugar-on-snow. We boil down the maple syrup until it is about soft ball stage, then pour it over packed snow, then roll it up on sticks and eat it like maple taffy. Talk about a sugar high! But it is soooo good. And, remember, maple syrup is said to have all those antioxidants for good health.

They are boiling over at the sugar house tonight. On days when I work, I get back too late to help gather, but it is always special to come over the hill on our road and see steam pouring out of the roof of the sugar house. Today was perfect weather for it. The low last night was around 30°. By noon the sun was out bright and clear, and it was 57° as I got home. Normally that is too warm for the sap to run well, but the ground is still so frozen out in the woods, I imagine the buckets were filled to the brim. Hopefully they gathered a bunch so we can get a good supply of syrup for the year. We often make about 80 gallons a year. Last year wasn't so good, only about 47. They've probably done about half of that so far. But sugar season is tricky. If we don't get down below freezing tonight not much will run tomorrow, then the weekend doesn't look ideal. Saturday we are expecting 3-5" of snow. It's what we call a "Sugar Snow." It is always welcome during sugar season because it puts needed moisture back at the base of the trees to give the roots something to absorb during the nights. Really, I think it's just Vermont's way of coming up with a cute name for another spring snowstorm other than the really nasty word everyone wants to call it!

They Come and They Go...

Birthday + 3 days. This year was an uneventful birthday. I worked. The manager from another store was there doing displays. It was okay-not too much to change after she left. I got flowers delivered from my daughter and her family:

They're really pretty, and it was nice to get the recognition during the day. Lauren went to Champlain Chocolates and brought me a little box of chocolates. That was sweet. I left just a bit early, and drove home. Then we left to meet my sister and brother-in-law for dinner at Jeff's Restaurant in town. It's a seafood restaurant and normally really good. It was good. I had seafood stuffed salmon, salad, shared a few appetizers, and each couple shared dessert. It was freezing outside and windy, and it was cold in the restaurant. We were there about 2 hours (lots of time between courses.) Then they came back to our house for a few minutes for me to open their gift-a basked filled with chocolate (a true theme this year!) lids, vanilla and a sweatshirt. I also got a movie from my daughter, one I'm really anxious to watch, a goodie box from my daughter filled with wine, cookies, crackers and bruschetta, and a gift card to get some badly needed new shoes. I have been wearing the same pair for at least 10 years, probably more. I don't wear them all that much, but they're my everyday, winter shoes outside of work. So, maybe twice a week for a few hours if I go anywhere, until I switch to sandals. But still...10 years? I got my new ones today, and promptly threw out my old ones. These are really comfortable. 

I've not written for a long time. Fall came and went:

Early in December we had the most beautiful snow since we have been here. 18" of clingy whiteness that made it a gorgeous Winter Wonderland. It came over 4 days, and the snow highlighted every branch and twig around and I oohed and ahhed my whole way into work. It was just so beautiful:

Then Christmas came and went too:

But Christmas was pretty great because my daughter, son-in-law and this cutest of all boys were here for 2 whole weeks:

He is just the most fun! I loved having him around. We had some bad colds going around during the holidays, but we managed to still have a good time. Christmas dinner included my sister and brother-in-law, and their daughter and her family. They came from Singapore and had only gotten to Vermont 2 days before Christmas, so pretty much they slept thru Christmas because of jet lag. I'm sure, in the years to come, we'll hardly be able to remember they were here at all.
Now, we are about to turn the calendar on another month. It has been a brutal, frigid, cold winter. The last time we had a high of 32° was on January 29th. Right now it's 2°. Earlier today it was 12° and with the sun shining it actually felt mild. But, so many days were  below 0 with way below 0 wind chills. We aren't even thinking of tapping the trees. Suzee and Al are on their way back from California, and should be back home on Sunday. We have been watering their plants and using their truck with the plow while they were gone. Perhaps they'll tap next weekend if we really do get above freezing in the week to come. 

All in all, I am quite close to the next decade of my life. My health is good, my memory is ok, I get around fine, I still work and drive. But sometimes it does get scary when I stop and think about how quickly the year comes and goes...

The Kuma Bush

The Kuma Bush

Last Friday we went over to our nearby garden center and looked around for a special plant, and the plant above, by the lamppost  is what we bought. It is called a "Little Lamb Hydrangea," and it is very special to us. On Tuesday we brought home Kuma's ashes in a very nice, carved, wooden box. But we already knew what we were planning on doing with it. When our first Samoyed dog, Cody, died we bought 4 azalea bushes, and placed his ashes below the plants, which then bloomed white every spring. When we moved up to Vermont, we dug up one of the plants to bring with us, and we could still see the ashes in the ground that came with the plant. It is planted at our house here:

 The Cody Bush

It is by the rock steps that lead up to the porch door. It blooms white every spring, and we call it the Cody Bush.
Now, we also have a Kuma bush. After we got home, we decided on the spot by the lamppost because we would see it from the house, and also coming down the driveway. It will bloom with white flowers all summer, until early fall, when the blooms turn a light pink color as they begin to fall off. The blooms had already turned pink at the garden center because they will do that faster in a container. There was one white stem left, the lower one on the left side. We dug a deep hole, and placed his ashes in the bottom of it, then placed the plant on the top. It was sad, but it will be a great reminder of Kuma every summer as it blooms and greets us each time we come home, just like he did. There are still times I feel like he is around, still things I do that remind me of him, and I still miss him. We always said he had the best, goofiest personality. 

Cleveland

 A garden is a community where difference is neither exploited or excluded but celebrated as a divine gift necessary for wholeness.

I found this quote on a railing in the Cleveland Botanical Gardens. This was the first place I headed on Wednesday morning on my little walking tour of the area we are staying at. It was a great place to wander on a warm, sunny morning. Throughout the gardens they had incorporated Lego statues, like this giant one of a hummingbird and flower made completely out of regular sized Legos:

It was fun, and I really enjoyed a nice, leisurely walk. I kept thinking that my grandson would have loved walking thru it too, with lots of places to see, places to play, even a Waterfall Garden I think he would have liked to visit.

Yesterday, I headed to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and spent most of the day there because they had a show at the planetarium I thought I would go to, and that wasn't until 2:30 in the afternoon. The morning one was Big Bird's Space Journey, but I opted out of that one. Walking thru all of the exhibits, I pretty much realized that I have, during my lifetime, seen just about all of it in one museum or another-dinosaurs, minerals, rocks, stars, how the earth formed, etc.

But, every museum has something to draw people to it, and I went there to see "Lucy!"

  

Of course I had heard about her, so it was exciting to actually see it in person. They also had a moon rock there, but I know I have seen moon rocks at other museums, probably the National History Museum in DC.

Today will be my last day in Cleveland. The sun is just starting to come out, so I think I will head over to the Art Museum and journey thru there for a few hours. Nothing special is drawing me there, but the building is fabulous, so it should make for a nice morning.

First Stop...Niagara Falls, Canada

We left Monday for a business trip to Cleveland. It's not my business trip, so I am having a fun, relaxing time visiting sites around the area. Cleveland is a long, 12 hour drive from Vermont, so to break it up a bit, we decided to detour over to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, since we have never been there. The "big city" is pretty overwhelming when you haven't been accustomed to it in a long while. The traffic crossing the border was heavy, and the commercialism of Niagara Falls is ridiculous. But the site of the falls is beautiful, and the weather both the afternoon we got there, and the following morning was perfect. We stayed in a Hilton Hotel so we could have a really nice view of the falls from our room, plus Champlain College would be paying part of the bill, so it was worth the splurge. Here are a few photos:

 Here I am looking over the American Falls.

 This is the Canadian Falls, which is just up from the American Falls.

 Closer view of the American Falls from our room.

 The sun rising over the American Falls. View from our room.

 It was a great stop, and I'm really glad I was able to visit it, but it's probably not something I would go back and do again. But I guess, for just about any major tourist attraction, you have to put up with the crowds and traps that generate the money needed to keep the area functioning. 

A Little Lonely...A Little Lost

Kuma and Mishka

10 February 2011

So, although Kuma is gone, we still have our little Mishka. Mishka is 2 years older than Kuma was, and she will be 10 in December. She often limps on her back right leg, but other than that, she seems pretty healthy. She has always been a sweet, lovable dog who yearns for all the attention you could possibly give her. She is calm and fairly quiet. She and Kuma had some great playing times when they were younger. They would do tug-of-war with pull toys, dragging each other back and forth until one finally tired out and gave up. They would roll around out on our porch when it was all screened in, stretching the screens to the max. One day they were both out there, and after awhile it seemed rather quiet. I let Mishka in, then looked around the corner for Kuma. No Kuma. But a large tear was visible in the screen at the far end of the porch. Had Mishka followed her brother out the hole? No, she was a good doggie. Had she barked to let me know he was running wild? Nope, not a peep. In fact, I suspect she was rather glad to see him go, and was happy with the peace and calm for awhile. They shared toys and treats and often finished each others food when no one was looking. They sometimes slept close to each other, but other times went their own way too. But if we went for a ride in the car, they were always together in the back seat.

Now, there's only Mishka, and she still seems rather confused. She won't lay in her normal spot in the living room. She takes awhile to eat in the morning. like she's waiting for us to put Kuma's food down too. At night, when I take her out before bedtime, she lags back because Kuma always took forever to get up. But the hardest is when we have to leave the house. She comes downstairs and goes to the door of the garage like she doesn't want to be left alone in the house. She sits there looking at me as if to say, "Please don't leave me by myself. It's too lonely, I don't know what to do." We have a trip coming up, and we have debated what to do with her. We had planned to take both of them to the kennel where we always leave them and where we also take them to be groomed. We do have a neighbor who would come over to check on Mishka if we wanted to leave her at the house, but we think it will be best to take her to the kennel. She will be with other dogs and people nearly all the time because it's also a doggie daycare, and we are thinking that may be best. We don't want her to feel completely abandoned in the house. It will be hard on her and on us, and I know we will be so glad to see her when we get back.

Mishka

10 August 2014

"Bear" in Japanese

Kuma

There are some moments in life that will forever remain in our thoughts. 

This is a picture of Kuma. A big, beautiful Samoyed; goofy, funny, strong, kind, clumsy, messy, full of mischief, a chewer of all things, lovable, determined, playful, gentle. He joined our family in January of 2007, while his brother went to my daughter's house in Maryland. As a puppy, I would take him to work with me at the small gift store I worked at not far from here. He would sleep in a little pop-up kennel, and I would take him out for short walks in the nearby park. People would hear him squeaking his little toys and be surprised to see him put his paws on the counter to greet them. Sometimes we would sit on the bench in front of the store and watch the people go by. But then I changed jobs, and no longer took him to work with me. Probably a good thing because he was way too big by then. 

Kuma was trouble. He pulled terribly while he walked you. He chewed up toys, and bones and chair legs and corners of walls. He barked loud. He never laid still to be brushed. He ate driveway stone and grass. He had to be on a leash always, and took forever to come home if he ever did get away. You could walk him up and down the driveway trying to get him to go pee, and somehow I swear he held it just to be stubborn and get an extra 5 minutes outside. 

But Kuma was fun. He loved to come up and put his big head in your lap and wait for you to rub his nose. He would roll over so you could scratch behind his ears and on his back. He played catch with his ball and loved playing fetch. He was overjoyed with every first snow. He would dive head first into the fresh snowbanks and eat as much of it as he possibly could. It took forever to walk him because he had to sample each new snow pile. He never bit or nipped, or got tired of a child being around him. He tenderly took treats from their tiny hands and never once got a finger by mistake. He loved his Sunday pancakes, and rides in the car. He was a good dog, and he is terribly missed.

Last Thursday we took him to the vet and they found 7 tumors had invaded his body. He hadn't really been eating at all for nearly 2 weeks. Only the oatmeal and chicken I would cook for him in the morning. Not enough to keep him going. There was nothing much they could do for him, and he wouldn't get better. He was so sick. And maybe in pain, but we wouldn't know. But he was weak, and getting weaker by the day. We sat by his side, and said goodbye and rubbed his ears and nose. He is everywhere I turn right now, and it will take some time to get used to his not being around. But he will always be loved. Run free Kuma.

It's the Birthday Fairy Again!

It is the eve of yet another of those birthday things! Funny how they come and go each year. Many thoughts are going thru my mind. I am working tomorrow, like a normal, regular Monday. I could have taken off if I really wanted to, but we didn't have anything special we were going to do, so it didn't make a lot of sense to take off to sit around the house for the day. Besides, I really wanted to be off on Friday so I could do what I need to get done before my daughter and her boyfriend come up here from Texas. And really, do I need to take a vacation day on my birthday? I think not. So I will work. But we will go to dinner in Burlington after I finish, and that will be nice. I would have loved for my sister and her husband to join us, but their schedules don't work out for a good dinner time. So instead they will come over here tonight to have dinner with us. We picked up some salmon this morning that is already marinated, and we will roast some asparagus, so it will be a very easy dinner. I did make some rolls:

I made these awhile ago, and they turned out yummy good, so I thought they would go well tonight. And for dessert, I ordered this cake from a very well known bakery in Burlington:

It is a Creme Brûlée cake! It is a yellow cake filled with rich vanilla custard and topped with a crunchy melted sugar topping. Doesn't it look wonderful? I can hardly wait to eat it! It'll be fun. Today has been a busy day; breakfast this morning with my sister and her husband, like normal. Came home and did 4 loads of laundry and cleaned the bathrooms and made the rolls and tended the fire in the fireplace. I almost didn't do a fire because it really is mild out. So mild that there is a hint of spring in the air. And a hint of sugar season in the air. It got up to about 43° which feels wonderful. But the heater was still coming on in the house, and it is nice to have a fire going if you are having guests over for dinner. And speaking of sugar season-we haven't tapped the trees yet, or we would surely be out collecting sap today. I'm sure it would have run. But it has just been such a frigid, cold winter, it didn't make sense to tap yet. They will do that next weekend. I only hope that it warms up a bit when my daughter comes because she is coming for sugar season and it will be a shame if nothing is flowing. But that is the way the sap drips! It is forecasted to be -2° when they get here Saturday night! They will be quite chilly considering it is 70° in Dallas today.
This morning 2 of my daughters ran a half marathon in Disneyworld. It was to commemorate one of their 30th birthday which was 2 weeks ago. I am so glad they had a lot of fun and ran it together. It sounds like they had a great time. It would have been really nice to be there, but I try to not think too much about it. I know it wouldn't have worked out for many, many reasons, but still... In the end, I'm just really glad it worked out for them.
My sister, who lived with us for several months bought a house ten days ago. I am so happy for them. It is a beautiful home and I know the,y will do a fantastic job with it. I can hardly wait to see the seasons evolve there, the setting is so pretty. I did go over for about 5 hours on my day off last Friday and helped unpack maybe 6 boxes. I feel like I should have helped so much more. I'm sure they have been overwhelmed, but it sounds like they have made some progress. I did have them eat over here on Wednesday night and then again tonight. I know its a long process, but I hope they will be really happy there. They are 8.5 miles from our house, and it takes about 15 minutes to get there. We won't see each other every day, but I know we'll see each other often. It is so nice having them close.
That's it. I think that catches up on the basics of life here in Northern Vermont. Winter is winding down, and even if the Polar Vortex does roar his angry head this way again, we know it won't be for a terribly long time. The new season brings lots to look forward to. Life is keen and cozy.

A New Year...Again! Welcome 2014

Once again it has been a long time since I have found the time to sit down and write a bit in this blog. Time has passed quickly since the week of Thanksgiving. It seems like I was doing a lot between then and now, getting ready for the holidays, baking cookies (of which we still have some left!) buying and wrapping gifts, and getting ready for the houseful of family we had that week. We had all but 1 child here, and all the grandchildren:

I need to upload the photos from my camera, but this one will do for now. It was a great Christmas, busy and active and a bit crazy, but oh, so much fun! We had an ice storm right in the middle of it all, and had to have 2 80 foot pine trees taken out on Christmas Eve so they didn't fall on the house. Here are some trees by the house after the ice storm:

 And the day after Christmas we got about 5 inches of snow which prevented everyone from venturing down to Burlington to walk around. But all in all it was a pretty special holiday. We went to the neighbor's for New Year's Eve, even though we didn't stay until midnight. And I've worked and turned the store around after the holidays, and have now settled into the post busy period into the calm and quiet and rather challenging dead time of year. 

On the home front,  I do see my sister at least once a week or so. They have begun looking at houses and hope to find the perfect one for them in the next few weeks. It is exciting for them, and I am anxious to see where it takes them. This morning they picked me up for breakfast (my dear husband is sick with a terrible cold) and after we ate we went to look at two of the houses they looked at yesterday. We just looked from the road. Both look nice, but I think I see them in one over the other. Both are close, about a 10 minute drive. I really hope we will continue to see each other often. 

Like I said, I have a sickie in the house. I have been fighting a lousy cough for about 2 weeks, and it finally seems to be winding down. I don't have coughing spells during the day anymore, and just a few coughs at night. Just the same, I have been sleeping in the basement for the last few nights for a few reasons: 1. I need to cough when I need to cough, and I found sleeping in my bed, I would wake up and try not to cough so I didn't wake up the man next to me, and I would end up having a horrible coughing spell. So I would leave the room and go downstairs so I could cough my head off, and sometimes that was at 1am and sometimes it was at 3:30am. Either way, it was hard to get back to sleep afterwards, so I found if I just slept downstairs I could cough all I needed and roll over and go back to sleep without any worry. 2. He is pretty sick and when I need to go to work I get up about 6:15am, and of course, this wakes him up. I am tiptoeing around trying to be quiet, while I know he is trying to sleep. So, by being downstairs I can cough when I want, get up when I need to, shower and dress in the light, and be on my way just as he is crawling out of bed. Besides, he is pretty sick, and I don't really want what he has-I'm still trying to get over what I have! I think another night or two, and I'll be back upstairs.

It's been an interesting start to the new year. The winter has been so unusual. Lots of ice, freezing temperatures of -13° with -30° wind chill, and lots of ice. Our driveway was such a solid sheet of ice I barely made it up in the morning, then I slid all over the place. We finally hired someone to put down a layer of salt and sand, and that helped tremendously. We haven't had too much snow, and yesterday it was 50° with rain. Who knows what the next few months will bring! But it is new, and that is good...

A Place of our Own

I have not posted in FOREVER! But I am sitting here tonight and finally felt like writing for a bit. August was a long time ago. A really long time ago, it seems. August is when my sister came to live with us. This morning she and her husband moved out. Not too far away, just down to the end of the street. They will be house sitting at our neighbors' for the next 3 and a half months while they are in California. And while they try to find a house to buy. I have had a really great time while they were here. It was nice to come home from work on days when she was off to find dinner nearly ready, and dessert baked and waiting on the counter. It was fun to sit around at the table after dinner chatting about our customers, how busy we had/had not been at work. It was wonderful to share doing the dishes after we ate, and to shop together for groceries once in awhile. We still can't believe that my brother-in-law moved in nearly 6 months ago, and my sister almost 4 months ago. The time went quickly, but then our work schedules were such that we rarely had the same days off. In fact, we think that yesterday may have been one of the only days that all four of us were all off. We went to breakfast at our old favorite, My T Fine, because our favorite waitress was back working for the day. We came home to do some laundry and they packed up their things in anticipation of the move. Then my sister and I made homemade pasta with her pasta machine, meatballs, and bread. We had a roaring fire going because it was brutally cold and windy outside. We wrapped gifts and knitted and chatted. We all ate dinner together by the fire with a nice bottle of wine to mark the end of this chapter, and to celebrate the fact that we were all still talking at the end of it all. I miss my sister 😢. But guess what? They are going to come here for Thanksgiving Dinner!!! And next Tuesday she has invited me to dinner over at their new house! I think, maybe, we will still manage to see each other pretty often. And now, maybe I will have more time to do things alone, like writing posts and reading books.

Dog Days of Summer

Yes, this is a Dog Day kind of afternoon! Normally we think of the Dog Days of Summer as those hot, sticky, muggy August afternoons when it feels like summer will never end, and you are trying to enjoy every last second of the lazy mood before the new season kicks in. Most vacations have come and gone, visitors have packed their baggage and returned home, and the new school season in on your mind, but only the TV commercials seem to accept the fact that its just around the corner. I can remember shopping for new school clothes in August with my mom when I was young. Of course we started out the new year in our summer clothes, so we were looking for fall and winter items that she would put on layaway until the weather turned colder. There must not have been air conditioning in the stores way back then, because I know I would try on winter coats and just agree to the first one so I didn't have to roast trying on any more. 

Today, though, it is a fabulous day. Sunny, mild 70's, and a light breeze. Going to breakfast this morning we saw patches of leaves beginning to change into their fall colors. The mornings are cool and the days mild, but we know what is on its way. I am sitting out on the patio enjoying the gorgeous view out the windows, watching the yellow finches at the bird feeder. It is so nice out here. This is my favorite place in the house at this time of the year.

And here is a picture of the cows being moved across the driveway this morning to graze in the other meadow. They love moving to a new field. 

There are only 11 cows out there, but it looks like lots more. One is a bull who is doing his best to make sure that the heifers out there produce new babies in the spring. We know we have a glorious autumn coming, and then the long, cold winter, but all is good up here in the north!

Summer Changes

Last week was Summer. From Sunday thru early Saturday it was hot, humid and miserable. We had 6 days of temperatures in the 90's, lots and lots of storms, and blazing sun when it wasn't raining. We often get hot spells like that, and they sometimes last for several days in a row, so I wouldn't consider it strikingly unusual. Tourists, however, were pretty surprised, especially those who thought they were heading north for cooler weather. They should have travelled south to Dallas. Sunday and Monday their highs were only in the 70's. Friday it was 98° when I drove thru Burlington and got on the highway. As I travelled home the temperature dropped to 70 by the time I pulled onto our road. The rains came about an hour later. Sunday was really nice. Cooler, drier and less humidity.

Today, it felt like Autumn. It was pretty sunny and nice in town, but still only 70° when I left work. It was cloudy, breezy and 57° when I got home. The house felt chilly and all the windows were closed up. I put pants on and now I have a long sleeve top on! I know it will still warm up,  but most of the daytime highs in the week ahead are only in the 70's, with an 80 here and there. Just like that, we forget that week of super hot weather, and we start to think about the colors changing on the trees and apples and pumpkins! It can change so quickly here, but that's what makes it fun too.

Other changes will be happening soon too, along with the change in the season. On Sunday my sister will join her husband in our family room to begin their lives in Vermont. We will all be trying to live together as one happy family until they sell their house in New Hampshire and find another to buy here in Vermont. They will both be living here because they have taken transfers with their jobs, and need to begin working here. My brother-in-law has been here since the first of June, and my sister will start her job on Monday. I know this won't always be easy, I know there will be days we will all be in each other's way, but I'm also excited to be able to have them closer and to share what we love about Vermont with them. A move is one of life's most stressful occasions, and I hope I can help them get thru it as easily as possible. It will be tough on them, and probably us too, but we will make it work, and in no time at all, they will be settled in their wonderful new home, and we will be able to share so much more of our everyday life with them. This is going to work out wonderfully! I will keep you posted!

A Warm, Rainy and Muggy Summer

It's July! Summer is well under way here in Vermont. This one has been very damp and humid, and the forecast shows mostly more of the same for 10 days out. We talk about the weather here. A Lot! Probably because it changes so much. You can never count on days and days of sunshine and consistent temperatures like you can in some parts of the country. I am finding the topic of weather is often brought up at work, especially now that there are so many tourists coming into the store. Many visitors aren't that bothered by the storms we have been having, and like to compare it to what they have at home. Most of the complaints are coming from the Vermonters who know that summer is extra short way up here in the north, and having so many days of unsettled weather means an even shorter time of nice days before the season changes again. Visitors are here for a week or two, and let's face it, no one comes to Vermont, even in July, for beach weather! I would have to say the absolute worst thing about this kind of summer is that the bugs are out in full force, especially the blood-thirsty mosquitoes. They are so horrible this year, everywhere. It's awful just taking the dogs down the driveway for their afternoon walk. One step in the grass and the mosquitoes swarm around the dogs and me. By the time we turn around to come back we run to try to outpace them. Sometimes it works, and other times it doesn't. ...but, it sure is GREEN here!

I did escape to Cape Cod for a few days the end of last month:

This is the beach a block from the house. 12 of us were all together in a big old house my niece and her husband rented. It was so much fun, and a great vacation. All of my and my sister's grandchildren, sister, brother-in-law, 2 daughters, niece and husband. Beach time, play time, book time, super-super meals prepared by a world renowned chef, We had great weather the whole time. A morning or two of fog that burned off by 10, but mostly sunny, warm days perfect for the beach and ice cream. It was exhausting, but a wonderful 5 days filled with lifetime memories for all. 

Magic

I live in a Magical Place!

On my way to work the other day, I snapped this picture of Sadie under the big maple tree. It was overcast, probably had been raining since that seems to be all its doing lately, and she had been laying down until I stopped the car. But something about the way it looks bright behind her, and the contrast of the dark branches and dark calf, and the green, green grass just looks like a fantasy-type place. I have a little elf door at the bottom of a tree across from the house, and I plant flowers around the rock walk way going up to the door. Tiny, little wild strawberries grow all around it. I have never seen an elf near it, but I can imagine them dancing thru the trees. 

The Elf Door

The forest is saturated with moisture this morning, everything dripping with the falling rain, and the leaves hang heavy with the weight of water. And if fog comes rolling in, then it truly seems like magic is happening out there. This is looking into the woods, just past the driveway:

The woods are thick and dense now. You can hardly see thru the trees. And they are probably packed with mosquitoes too. But it looks so mysterious out there, and there are times I can hear something moving around in the trees, but can't see what it is. Often it's just a squirrel or chipmunk, or maybe a turkey. But if you pretend real hard, it could be just about anything...