Almost springtime in VT....

March, 11th 2013

It's been a while since we had the opportunity to head north.  What a beautiful weekend it was!  There was a good foot of snow on the ground, the sun was shining and there was no wind at all.  The temperature hit 50!  Talk about the best of two seasons....we had it and we loved every minute of it.

Saturday was our putzin' around day.  Doing whatever entered our minds at the time.  It felt good to get stuff done without any sort of agenda to follow.  I did quite a bit of snow shoveling.  The tin roof snow removal was more than my body was accustomed to and the proof of that was my sore muscles the next day.  We did a bit of riding on the ATV.  I took a good walk with friends to catch up and get some exercise in.  Just an overall "good to the last drop" weekend.

And, let's not forget about the food.  I love food.  I believe I've mentioned that a time or two before.  We dined on home made tomato orzo soup with croutons, a scrumptious salad with tender greens, mandarin slices, slivered almonds, cranberries and crumbled cheese with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing.  My mouth is watering just writing this down!  Oh, and salted caramel brownie bites.  Can you say YUM?

With spring right around the corner, we will soon be planting, mowing, fixing and doing all those things we think about while the snow melts.  Can't you just smell it?

Until next time...

Sisters....

Friday, March 1st, 2013


This weekend was super special for me.  I had the opportunity to spend some quality time visiting with my two sisters.  One who lives ten minutes from me, and one who lives more than half way across the country.  We only had a very short period of time, but we made the very best of it.

I started out by picking up Carolyn first so we could both arrive to greet Stephanie at the train station.  Her train was to arrive at 5pm.  I got a call from Steph around that time telling me she was safely off the train so we picked her up and after a few minutes of hugs and kisses, we headed out to dinner.  Ah...dinner.  I love to eat and because we are on the seacoast, I thought what better place to dine than The Dog Watch Cafe in Stonington CT.  It was a great choice.  While waiting for our culinary delights to arrive, we never stopped talking about memories, moments and moms.  When our smorgasbord of greatness from the sea arrived at our table, we were so delighted!  We had clams casino, calamari, scallops in bacon, coconut shrimp and oysters on the half shell.  It was the perfect dinner choice for a party of three sisters.

After our bellies were full, we headed over the border toward home in RI.  Dropping Carolyn off first, we said our good nights and wishes of a great nights sleep because the following day was also going to be time well spent.

Saturday, March 2nd, 2013

A bittersweet day ahead of us.  Stephanie's flight home is this evening.  Since her airline doesn't fly into RI, we had a road trip to New York to do.  This was perfect...more quality visiting time.  After all, we hadn't seen Stephanie since her wedding 10 years ago!  And away we went.

A while into the trip, I started feeling hungry but didn't say anything.  I wasn't "starving".  About ten minutes after I felt my stomach growl, Stephanie said, "I'm starving!". (yippee!!)  Stephanie is the "techie" of the three of us.  She had all the go go gadgets in her bag.  So, she pulled out her smart phone and told Siri she was hungry.  Siri told us of a diner called Chip's to try.  So we did.  The place was packed!  Good sign.  The line into the restaurant moved surprisingly swift.  The staff definitely has it together there!  We were seated and had coffee in hand in about ten minutes.  The food was delicious and the people were so friendly.  If you find yourself in Orange, CT with a hunger for good food fast....try Chip's.  The link is here on the right side bar.  So with bellies once again full and more stories under our belts, we were hitting the highway.

Stephanie was my co-pilot on our journey to the airport with directions in hand.  Carolyn was our Miss Daisy.  We made our way into the short term lot and headed into the terminal.  You know that feeling you get when you have an appointment with the dentist or doctor?  The one where you know you have to do this and yet, you don't want to.  That was the feeling I got as we walked toward the building.  I love my family and it brings tears to my eyes to send them off.  Although we made many "reunion" promises and knew we would be seeing each other again soon, it still tugged at my heart strings. 

Until next time...

The thing about snow days...

Although it has been many years since I've had a "snow day" from school, it felt just like that during this recent snow storm.  It holds many delights.  In the darkness, it snows so silently and displays such a beauty that most photos just can't capture.  A bonus to this silent beauty is when the electricity goes out.  More silence.  Not even the hum of the computer.  It's a peaceful calm that you don't particularly want, but when it suddenly shows up, it's nice.  Time to reflect or time to nap.  To light some candles. To play in the snow and feel it's winters chill.  To come inside and warm yourself by the fire...clothes dripping with melting snow.  A feeling of coziness indoors.  A home cooked stew shared with neighbors.  Time to be together.  We should be so lucky to have many more snow days.



February, 18th, 2013

February is living up to it's reputation this year!  Another major snow fell on us last weekend.  It was a heavy snow, and we did lose power, but thanks to our neighbors hospitality and generator, we were able to enjoy another delicious meal with friends!  Thank you John and Leah.

 

In The Spirit Of Christmas...

As we get closer to December 25th, I am reminded each day how lucky I am to have my family and friends.  I am grateful and thankful for them.  I think about them throughout the year, but at Christmas time, they are closer in my mind.  I am happy for the ones who have found successes in their lives.  I feel for and pray for the ones less fortunate who may be struggling with things.  There is always a mix of both.  The ups and the downs in all of our lives.  But I believe, with true friendships and loving families, we all get through the downs together.  And we embrace and enjoy the ups together as well.  If not in person, definitely by our computers! :) 

I'd like to wish everyone in my life a Merry Christmas.  Enjoy your families.  Treasure the simple moments in time.  Feel the spirit.  God Bless!



Back on the road again...

My sister and I enjoyed a weekend road trip to go visit our mother to celebrate her birthday.  On our way there, we needed to stop and grab a bite to eat.  One of the things we love to do when we make these trips is to find a restaurant that we've never been to before.  This trip we found two.  The first one was the Bridge Side Grille in Sunderland, MA.  Delicious food and reasonable prices.  If you're ever in that area, be sure to give them a try.

Once at mom's house, we enjoyed each others company, shared stories, played Scrabble (I won!), opened gifts and sang mom the birthday song so she could make a wish and blow out the candles.  I made her a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and it was yummy if I do say so myself!

After our visit it was time for our long ride back home.  Again, we needed to stop and "re-fuel".  This time, we found Shepard's Pie Restaurant in beautiful Quechee VT.  Click on the photo link on the right side bar to visit their website.  It is the VT mountains with a hot air balloon image.  We were very much impressed with this find.  We shared chicken quesadillas and nachos.  Absolute food heaven!  The quesadillas had caramelized onions, thick slab bacon bits, cheese, fresh spinach and cooked to perfection chicken.  They were drizzled with this scrumptious mayo based sauce infused with lime.  Mmmmmm.  After my hazelnut coffee, we said our thank you's and good bye's and we'll see you soon's and headed back on the road again.

I love road trips, don't you?

Darkness before dawn...

November 17th, 2012

In the wee small hours of the morning, life seems so simple and perfect.  A sort of calm and quiet that you can't find anywhere else when the sun is up above the horizon.  I awoke this day in those wee small hours.  Not by accident, but by appointment.  If you are a star gazer like me, you'll understand what I mean.  The Leonid meteor shower.  According to Astronomy Magazine, as well as many other star gazing information hubs, this astrological event was due to peak at pre dawn hours this very morning.  Tempted by the prediction of 12-30 meteors per hour, I was ready and quite willing to forgoe sleep on a Saturday.  And so it was.  In flannel jammies, slippers and my bathrobe wrapping me up, I ventured out into the darkness.  This isn't easy in the suburbs.  With street lights and building spot lights, it is hard to find a good dark viewing spot.  I should have prepared this spot yesterday.  By positioning myself in the shadow of the garage and the giant pine tree, I knew I had my front row seat.  Once standing in my spot, I looked up into what was one of the most beautiful skies I think I've ever seen.  My eyes immediately found Orion, who I thought was ironically facing the wrong direction if he were to shoot any of the meteors like an asteroid game out of the 80's.  As Leo was behind him, the meteors had the total element of surprise.  I kept my eyes focusing mainly on Leo as the meteors were due to radiate mostly from this constellation.  The Leonid meteor shower was named after the constellation Leo the Lion.  I saw only one.  I was not disappointed.  I did decide to stay out a bit longer in hopes of seeing a few more until this noise not too far off in the distance gave me reason to head back inside to the safety of the house.  I wasn't the only one out in the darkness of dawn.  Have you ever heard coyotes bay?  An eerie sound when you're all alone in the darkness.

 

December 5th, 2012

I took this picture about three years ago and just felt like adding it to this post.

Learning as I go.....

Blogging.....ahh, my greatest outlet for personal expression since Facebook! (Can I say that?)  I just did.   But, I gotta tell ya, I love blogging!!  Don't get me wrong, FB is good in its own right.  To me though, blogging is like writing in a diary that you aren't going to hide under a mattress.  It is one that you want the world to see.  And I am finding out along the way, there are people out there blogging too, about what they love and want to share with the world.  It is about meeting people who have projects and ideas similar to my own or entirely different.  In meeting these people, not only do I get a feel for who they are, I also get great inspiration from their projects.  For that, I'd like to say a big "THANK YOU" to my fellow bloggers.

October 12th, 2012

I've just opened up an online store for vintage items and handmade (by me) barefoot sandals and anything else I can find in my treasure troves.  This is a really big adventure for me and I hope it does well.  I love to compute, and I thought..."you know, I'm not getting any younger and I have lots of stuff accumulated over the years."  I need to clean the clutter and free myself of these treasures that are tucked away in all the nooks and crannies in my home.  I need someone else to enjoy these items as I once did.

So why not open a virtual shop?  Why not exactly!  Please give it a look and let me know what you think.   Here's the link....  www.etsy.com/shop/Junkadoo 

Until my next adventure...

December 4th, 2012

I'm in a Snoopy Woodstock Christmas sort of mind....

Even though I am so not ready for the upcoming holiday, aka Christmas....(always known as = aka)....I feel a bit of nip in the air and it makes me think of toasting marshmallows on an open fire.  One of lifes simple pleasures.  That, and the fact that I saw a recipe on Pinterest for homemade s'mores cookies....oh my!!!!!