What do we want to hold onto in the next phases of living with COVID19?

I have been thinking a lot about what to hold onto in the next few phases of COVID19.

With seeing the changes that have happened to the environment since we are not destroying Mother Earth as much as we were PC (Pre-Covid).  I would love us to listen to the messages She is sending us through the flora and fauna and their resilience.  It is almost as if god has sent us this horrific virus to help us to learn about our behaviors and our destruction of the stability

Second full moon of our nightly walks

Nightly Walks - one good habit is the nightly walks exploring all of the neighborhoods around us.  I think by now we have walked most if not all of the streets within 2 miles of our condo.  It started as a very necessary escape from our 978 square feet at a time of day when there were not that many people around.  We donned our masks, set up sometimes with a destination, sometimes not.  We walked by houses of our Unitarian Universalist Society's congregants, and explored entire neighborhoods like the Five Sisters, Old North End, South End, UVM and a bit of the Hill Section.

Hand washing - I have never washed my hand so much in my life and I do understand now why in medical offices practitioners wash their hands, or use sanitizer so much.  When I leave the condo building now, I immediately feel like I am not protected anymore AND it is pretty much a reflexive reaction to head to a sink and wash my hands.  I don't always get to the end of Happy Birthday or the ABC song.  I suspect that this practice/habit will continue for the rest of my life.  Not sure, but I think it will.

6 foot distancing - this one I am not sure will be maintained.  When I watch a TV show now and see normal TV personalities going about their show, I sometimes yell at them "6 Feet distancing, you are not physically distancing, what are you thinking of?"  Even at home when Murg and I pass in our smallish condo, I try to maintain 6 feet, from the only person that I can actually break that 6 foot barrier.  I am a very huggy person as anyone who knows me well knows.  It is really hard to pass someone I know on Church Street or the bike path, and not be able to hug them hello.  This includes family members.  I have not hugged my son and daughter in law or my brothers and their partners, in almost 2 months.  I walk at 6 feet with friends but there is not the hug hello AND goodbye.  This will be a difficult one for me, if hugs are going to be very much less frequent.  Writing this has me in tears.

Poster for Roxy our local independent theater

Local shopping - I wrote a blog post in 2011 about trying to buy everything from the US.  I bought a lot less things that year because I did not allow myself to break this self-imposed rule.  INSERT BLOG POST HERE

From our car when we lived in Colorado WZ is for Routt County

Local Road Trips - Well, before March 2019 I was not a big fan of Road Trips.  We had a wonderful 5 day trip from Burlington to Tucson AND at the end of that, since we had not killed each other and had both really enjoyed the adventure I became a convert.  We are thinking of a reunion in Colorado in 2021 and we might go across Canada and then down to Colorado through the Rocky Mountain States.  Even day road trips, or afternoon road trips have become a weekly occurrence.  We have discovered towns in Vermont we never knew existed and are on a quest to visit the 100 Covered Bridges in Vermont.  Photo Album to follow of usies in front of them. I have also been thinking about our travels in the last 5 years and how much we have been on airplanes for those.  At the very least I will continue to pay the carbon offsets, AND I am thinking about train travel instead of airline travel, assuming that Amtrak makes it through this.

Outside the Converse House

Essential Workers - The hopeful part of me, hopes that we continue to recognize who the Essential Workers are.  They are not necessarly the CEOs and marketing professionals or the politicians.  They are the front line hospital workers, and the grocery store clerks, and the lowest paid aides in nursing homes, who are holding the hands of dying COVID patients because their families cannot be there during this quarantine time.    

Regular Family Connections - My dear beloved set up a nightly Zoom call for my siblings, their children, our children and other family members some of whom have become regulars.  This does not work for all of our families.  It does work for half of us.  We have been doing this nightly for 6ish weeks now.  We invite guests sometimes, and we play trivia, and Codenames.  We laugh we cry and on Daddy's birthday when he would have been 93, we sang Happy Birthday to him.  Until this week, we were regular attendees to these.  We have decided to go to 3 times a week AND I hope we continue these forever.  We have connected by Zoom with a leg of our family, the deGanahl/Ganahl/Walker side.  We are located in Austria, Wyoming, Texas, Nebraska, Colorado, Georgia, Vermont, and who did I forget?  As a result we have the next two reunions planned, in Colorado and then in Feldkirk Austria.  This sounds so trite, but the older I get the more important family becomes and the less important material things are.

Letter to the Skate Boarders

Gentle with others - this is not an absolute for sure.  When I came across this note to skateboarders taped to the side of the sidewalk on a stone ledge, I smiled.  The writer would have reported them to the Police (which they might have).  Instead, this note seems so civil and positioned where the skate boarders will see it, on a ledge they were using for their maneuvers.  I have to say that I was irritated by the skate boarders AND would not have thought of this approach, but I took note and will think about my reaction next time I am irked by someone.

Outside Burlington City Hall

Stop and smell the flowers - Again this sounds very trite but there have been so many daffodils, and tulips and other spring flowers that are proving that we live in a resilient ecosystem.  Spring will come each year with regularity and consistency and is a beacon of hope.   Our Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington preached on this a few weeks ago. Rev Tricia's sermon

Good food and exploration - From the beginning of this containment I have been exploring new recipes, good healthy ones and decadent cream based ones.  The Peanut Quinoa soup was delicious, Potato Leek soup is being made again today, Split Pea soup also being made today, enchiladas, Rod's favorite la tourtière and the cream de la resistance, chocolate silk pie.  I hope to continue to cook healthy food, and eat out less once the containment loosens.

Different worship experiences - in case you have not heard our daughter is the minister of UU Church of Tucson.  From the beginning of CORVID we have made Youtube attending her services a part of our regular Sunday routine.  PC I listened to the MP3 file of her services as soon as I saw them posted on their FB page or website.  The Audiovisual service her colleagues and she are putting together every Sunday feed my soul in a way I cannot describe.  Some of the first Sundays, I explored other congregations as well and saw a good friend preach at Central Unitarian Church in Paramas and another friend preach at First Parish Brookline and I watched the minister at All Souls Washington DC who I have always wanted to hear.  Here is Rev Bethany's Youtube channel if you want to explore any of the Baja4's services.  Youtube Channel for UU Church of Tucson

Breakthrough thinking - This is a big one and is pretty amorphous and will continue whether we plan to or not.  We have had to change a lot of our activities in the last 8 weeks.  Shopping looks different, worship looks different, daily contact looks different, exercise looks different, education looks different, meetings look different, medical care looks different, offices looks different, connections looks different, hugs looks different, cleaning looks different, travel looks different, vacation plans look different, state borders looks different, etc etc etc.  Many of these changes are perceived as a loss AND many of these are a huge win.  The balance of win and loss is going to be interesting as we move toward more "normal" times.  BTW we will never go back to that normal.  I teach management training and learned a new model in 1995 that has been invaluable to me.  William Bridges's model says that is is so important to let go of what you had, and all of the emotions around what you are leaving.  We used this at Polaroid when we had a new President, and the HR department spent a whole day sharing emotions about letting go of the prior President and what that regime gave them.  They did this in order to be ready to positively embrace the new President.  They were also able to help their business partners with the same process of letting go, having done it themselves already.   Change model from William Bridges

Emphasis on Volunteering - personally I volunteer a fair amount but where I will volunteer going forward has shifted when it is safe again.  I am really struck as others are about who the essential workers are.  I am also struck by my privilege during this time.  I have a roof over my head, plenty of money to buy food, a supportive group of friends and family and the ability to shelter-in-place indefinitely.  During some of our nightly walks as we walked down Church Street we walked by others who were struggling with addiction, or mental health issues, or food insecurity and the other issues which cause someone to be outside when there is a shelter in place order.  The State did locate many homeless at our North Beach campground in RVs for approximately 6-8 weeks.  I heard that this is ending soon.  Where will they go now?  My heart has broken when I hear about every person who has died and especially the two rehabilitations facilitates around us here in Burlington.  I cannot imagine dying without a family member holding your hand and instead a hospital worker with a mask on is the one who might be there when you die.  I have made over 100+ masks for friends and family and started with family who might be exposed to CORVID.  Once I had delivered 60ish to that first group I started making them through Lyric Stage for the UVM Medical Center.  It seems that there is an almost infinite number of masks needed.  I cannot obsess with this production of masks and I have had to take a few sabbaticals from making them.  I also have to intersperse sewing masks with making my art quilts.  When is is safe, I think I will restart my hospice volunteering, volunteer at the Food Pantry and continue the work in my denomination around racism and classism.  I recently joined the board of Age Well since I agree whole heartedly with their mission and have been looking for a board on which to serve.

I have many more thoughts and might never post this if I keep going so this is good enough for now.  I would love to have a conversation about any of this, so give me a call.

Nice furnishings for sale - want anything?

As we plan our move to Vermont, we have some things for sale and before we go to Craigslist, we figured we would ask our friends first if they want anything.  If you would like anything pictured below email Sally_russell@yahoo.com or call me on my mobile or FB message me to indicate your interest.  We can discuss prices then.

Moving date is October 19th so everything needs to be picked up by the 18th.

Happy Shopping!

2 red leather IKEA couches, probably about 10 years old.  We are going to be buying a sleeper couch otherwise we would be moving these with us











Coffee table we bought at a service auction at First Parish Lexington previously owned by Chris Hess and Jennifer Aliper

















Antique trunk bought at Mayfair (First Parish Lexington's annual yard sale) previously owned by Jonathan Rawle












3 San Carlos bookshelves bought 20 years ago and now acting as room dividers in our Somerville condo.  Below the picture is the link to their website so you can see the original value



http://www.sancarlosimports.com/sanmirubo.html





1 San Carlos Armoire also bought 20 years ago and has given us years of great storage.  Second picture is Rod's storage of his art supplies

1 Brand new last year San Carlos TV cabinet bought last year to match our bookshelves.  Too big for our smaller condo in Burlington


















2 drawer wooden file cabinet, was part of our computer desk and used for 20 years to store our precious documents












Happy Shopping!!!!

On the Move again

It is September and clearly this is the time of year when we re-examine our life and make BIG decisions. When we bought Coniston 8+ years ago we thought about moving to VT permanently and at the time we were both working, so job hunting did not make sense.  We also realized in these 8 years that Coniston is wonderful and we will always own it but we want to live in a more urban environment.

With the move a year ago to Somerville we accomplished the urban thing, and we lost what we had in Lexington which was to be able to walk to church. Since our Unitarian Universalist faith is such a part of our lives this is important.  We talked a lot about which UU church to attend and settled on one and we are starting to plug in there......

AND then

We talked about where we will end up ultimately and we both decided it is Burlington VT.  They have a vibrant church so why don't we look for a small condo in down town Burlington and still have Coniston 30 minutes away?  Additionally we have a granddaughter and her family near and 4 of my brothers and their spouses/partners.  Recently those relationships have become very important to both of us.  It was actually Rod's idea to look in Burlington since he views my family as his family at this point.

It seems perfect timing, since we have done the downsizing thing and we can rent Somerville and actually make some money until we decided to sell it.

We have a purchase and sale signed with a September 30th closing date, a small condo with a sunset view over Lake Champlain.  As I write this I count my blessings that my family and siblings (4 out of 6) will be closer and that we will wake up every morning in the state that I call home having lived here from age 11-22.  We are so lucky to have options, and to have this magnet pulling us north. Oh, and September 30th is Zuzu's third birthday and the anniversary of Rod's retirement so big things happen that day!

Come visit, and since it is a one bedroom, you can stay at Coniston or the Hilton Garden Inn next door!

We have also committed to returning to Boston once a month for me to attend my book group, continue visiting someone at MCI Framingham, and catching up with friends.  We are leaving close friends AND we hope they will make the trek north to visit as many of them already have in their annual pilgrimages to Coniston!

Here is a link to the condo:

https://www.coldwellbankerhomes.com/new-england/161-st-paul-street/pid_14114410/
Sally and Rodney

Patience and Acceptance - quilt update

Anyone who knows me well, knows that patience is not a strong suit of mine, but rather impatience is my strength.  When I embarked on this challenge in January 2015 I knew that I would be pushed to a level of quilting that I had never dared travel.  Each month I would receive in the mail, the latest packet of fabric for the next block of this quilt.

As background, I am not a detailed quilter.  I choose patterns, that are easy and elegant and I buy beautiful fabric that covers up the mistakes I make because of my lack of attention to detail. Until this project that is...............

Over the years I have learned techniques to ameliorate my lack of attention to detail.  In the third block of this quilt I learned about a scant 1/4 inch seam and used it for the rest of the quilt.  I also have used a technique to line up seams for about 10 years that definitely helps in my accuracy.  But truth be told, I cannot be bothered to get more detailed than these two methods.  I LOVE the quilts that I have created with all of their beauty and blemishes.

Some changes happened during the last few days with "Breakthrough" (name of my quilt).  I became more patient with myself and did not judge my skills.  I accepted that I will never be one of those detailed quilters who win awards for their sewing.  I actually stopped sewing when I felt frustration coming on and got up the next morning to find the solution right before my eyes.  I asked for visual and artistic help from my artist husband, accepted the input, and then told him when his job of advising me was done.  I also do not have to quickly move to finish this quilt.  I won't abandon it as I did in the last 8 months.  The next major part is to put the borders on, which requires a certain amount of accuracy and learning from my mistake with the last big quilt I made, I need to pay attention.

I left the quilt out on the floor, and walked by it 30 times during the day and realized that I am pretty happy with the result, with my patience with myself and with the quilt.

I also did some seam ripping on this quilt that I would have glossed over in the past.  There were two areas that obviously had to be fixed or I would not be happy.  The solution in both cases made it so my eye did not go straight there.  These represent my interpersonal work.  I am not perfect, never will be in fact.  Just as everybody else, I am doing the best I can with the hand I was dealt and the tools I have.

I am on a roll with "Breakthrough" and will be pausing any work on it for the next week.

Nancy, my first and longest friend flies in today from Nebraska and we are traveling to our family reunion in Vermont.  When we get together we revert to 5 years olds again, and we also act as the wise 62 year olds that we have grown into, if only for a brief fleeting moment.  In Vermont we will be joined by many other family members, those close to us, those we last saw as teenagers, and those we have never met.  It is great to have done this work on patience and acceptance as we travel north to be a part of this larger family gathering.

Leaf Raking over the years

While I was outside today at 7:30 am raking leaves into bags I reminisced about my leaf and fall memories.  I don't remember raking any leaves in Colorado.  When we moved to Vermont and lived on Park street we loved the fall and leaves.  We raked them into piles and jumped in the piles.  We made entire houses and forts similar to snow forts out of them with very wide walls between the rooms.  Eventually we raked them to the curb and I think the town picked them up or maybe we burned them.  I cannot remember which.  Those leaves provided hours and hours of entertainment for the 6 and then 7 of us.  The smell in the fall brings me right back to 69 Park Street and playing in the front yard with the leaves.

My next big leaf memory is when we moved into our current house when Christopher was 12 years old and Bethany was 3 years old.  Our Arlington house had some leaves but not like this house.  We raked the leaves into a big pile and jumped in them and played in them and eventually bagged them.  I was probably recreating my childhood on Park Street but my kids played outside in the leaves, at least at that age.  Our first Christmas card in that house was them in a leaf pile.

Over the years, we became busy, and leaves became a chore.  There were lots of them, we were working full time, raising two wonderful children and even some graduate school thrown in there.  One year we dragged the leaves onto the boundary line between us and our neighbors.  That was the only complaint we heard from Dot and Neil, who otherwise were the best neighbors in the world.  Their granddaughter used that hill in the winter for sledding and he was upset that it would ruin her sled hill.  One year we dragged the leaves onto tarps, loaded both of our station wagons with the tarps and drove them to the DPW recycling pile.  This was my favorite method but it was a chunk of time we no longer have/had.

At a certain point we started hiring someone to clean up our leaves.  We threw money at it and a noisy machine arrived twice a year and blew our leaves away.  I am sorry to offend anyone including my husband, but I hate those blowy leaf machines.  They ruin the sounds and smell of fall and leaf raking.  Gasoline and noise are not what I think about for leaf raking.  This spring we decided to mow our own lawn and clear up our own leaves.   Rodney has done all of the mowing this year and we were able to keep ahead of it.  Fast forward to the fall and the leaves that are accumulating.

Rodney decided to sail to the Bahamas.  OK, he is sailing from Marathon, Florida to the Bahamas with my sister and brother-in-law helping them move their boat/home south.  Right now they are waiting for a weather window to make that sail and then he is headed home to do his part raking the leaves.  Hopefully the snow we are expecting will arrive after he is finished with his part of the raking.

SO in the meantime, I set a goal for myself of bagging two bag a day of leaves.  I enjoy it but it is a solo activity and I am not a solo person.  20 minutes is my tops for a solo activity.  That is why gardening is out, unless someone is there talking to me.

I thought of inviting someone to rake with me, and then I would rake with them at their house.  Any takers?

I admit it, I am stubborn and am not going to hire a landscaping company to spread noise and gasoline smell once again in our neighborhood.  Picking away at it by two bags a day will get the job done, and Rodney will return from the Bahamas to finish the task.

Liam, snakes and gardening

WOW, I really thought that I had already blogged about this.  One of our first years at Coniston, Christopher walked up the boardwalk to the house and jumped back when a snake slithered out of the woodpile.  My sister stayed here for a few weeks and named the snake Liam.

Rod said when Christopher jumped back "He is a lot more afraid of you than you are of him."

Christopher said "Then he must be shitting his pants."

We have retold this story many times since that day.

Today while out gardening, weeding actually, a snake slithered out of the weeds and I jumped back and screamed loudly.

Rod said "What, a snake or a spider?"

Sally said "A snake, I don't scream for spiders, and only call you for wolf spiders."

So, Christopher comes by this fear of snakes honestly and I have yet another reason not to garden or weed.

We found the best Maple Cremee in VT!

This summer I am on the quest for the best Maple Cremee. When I mention this to many non-Vermonters, I get that "What the heck are you talking about now?" quizzical look. I am not even sure this is a broad Vermonter thing, but in the circles I move in, in the Green Mountain State, it is.

Two weekend ago, I drove north to our South Hero home, Coniston, with two girl friends. As we approached the middle of the afternoon, we were in the center of Vermont, and I asked aloud, "I wonder where we could get a Maple Cremee?". First two quizzical looks! Then the question, "What is a Maple Cremee?" simultaneously they asked. Just wait, and you will see.

Phone calls to two close Vermont relatives later, produced our first one, at Morse Farm in Montpelier, with brother Ken. This one was mapley and creamy, and a little too much of both. My two girlfriends ordered a mixture of chocolate and maple, and the chocolate seemed to cut the taste of the maple, in a good way. C+ score from me, and the small portion was not SMALL!

Fast forward to Sunday of this week. SIL Judy swears that Burlington Bay Market has the best in the same way that I swear Allenholm Farm 2.5 miles from Coniston has the best. They are the best, and the closest for both of us, which helps with our individual claims. We have both sampled the most from these two institutions and have a fondness for them. I tried the Burlington Bay one since I was staying the night with Judy and it was good, creamy and a B+.

On Monday as Judy and I headed to Long Point to spend two days with a distant cousin, Linda, we pulled the car over at the Love Shack in North Ferrisburgh. Their claim to fame are chocolate chip cookies (warm fresh ones and frozen dough to take home), AND they sell Maple Creamees!  We were approaching a near perfect one, we both agreed with chunks of actual maple candy in the creemee. The only deductions were for the size of the cone. Too big! BTW, this was our lunch on Monday!

Tuesday, also for lunch, we tried the Maple Frozen Yoghurt at Dakin Farms in Ferrisburgh. The counter person, when we mentioned that portions were too big, said she could split a small between two cones. A+ for customer service, and A for maple, but not a Cremee, rather a frozen yogurt. Again, this was our lunch.

Today, as we left Long Point after our heavenly two days, we returned to the Love Shack. We ate our lunch first this time.  Only Maple Cremees for three days in a row for lunch would be too much! We stepped up to the counter, and saw that they have a Baby size of a coffee/maple mixture, which we both ordered. Both of us agree that this was the A+, best Maple Cremee.

The purist among you will argue that with the coffee mixed in, this is not a Maple Cremee. We are ignoring any nit picking for this contest, and making up our own rules.

Best Maple Cremee- LoveShack, baby size, coffee/maple mixture!

You can kinda go home again

Last night some of my siblings gathered at Long Point on Lake Champlain with some distant cousins for a reunion. It was wonderful to reconnect and a walk down memory lane and a chance to meet their families.

From 1964-1976, our family spent summers on a 4 acre island off North Ferrisburg VT, Gardiners Island. The first summer we travelled from CO for the summer and the next summer we moved to VT permanently.

On Long Point there were three siblings, the distant cousins, who all had a "camp" on Long Point. These were the Ross, Patterson and Brooks families. Last night we gathered as many as could come, at one of the camps. I had not seen some of them for 35-40 years.

At first, we guessed who was who and which sibling was close in age to one of ours. I was called by my sister's name and thought one cousin was much younger than he was. We got oriented though, plunged into the lake for a pre-dinner swim, grilled our food, shared our dessert and jointly cleaned up the small kitchen. It was great.

As the sun set, we looked out at The Island and the view could have been 40 years ago. The same boat fishing, the same boat anchored, the same plunge into the wonderful lake water and shrieks of kids as they hit the water and the gorgeous Adirondack sunset.

Little has changed and lots has changed. As I climbed the curvy stairs of dark wood, it was 1964 again, in that the camp has not changed much. We have all had 40 years of Life to catch up on, of joys and sorrows. Parents and siblings have died and lots of children and spouses have been added.

If we still owned The Island, we would have stayed caught up. We all vowed at the end of the evening to get together more, and one cousin, who thirsts for family called me Sis at the end of the evening.

I am confident we will see them more. George, my brother, and Linda, one of the cousins have both moved to VT recently to be closer to family. Their desire and energy will reconnect us all, and even though we don't own The Island any more, we still are brought together by memories made years ago on Long Point.

I did go home again last night.


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Lake Champlain flooding - and our afternoon checking it out

Murg and I just drove around the Champlain Islands looking at the impact of the worst flooding of Lake Champlain ever. Last night at 9:30 pm, when we drove across the route 2 causeway, it was one lane and we drove through up to 8 inches of water at some points. In the middle I said "I wish you were driving" to which he said "me too" and I got mad at him, but not really.

We rode our bikes down there today in the day light and took some pictures which will be posted in the future. Later we decided to go out again to buy a dessert wine at Snow Farm (yummy) and to visit the Green Frog for the first time this season. We were both in a wandering kind of mood, which drives Bee crazy, but suits the two of us fine. We then drove to the Grand Isle Ferry to see what damage had been done there, continued to Hero's Welcome in North Hero, which had just closed for the day. We continued to Alburgh, and bought ourselves a treat and caffeine to keep us awake. On to Rouse's Point, and then south to where the main street in Plattsburgh is closed because of flooding. We stopped at Gus's for a Michigan Red Hot, and then home via the Plattsburgh to Grand Isle Ferry. Mind you, our initial trip was for wine, and gift shop shopping.

This is why we are happily married. We both love to go with the flow, a tiny bit of planning and open to different suggestions along the way.

We laughed earlier in the day about our different learning styles and how different we are in general. This always precedes the conversation where we marvel once again that we found each other 26 years ago this week!

The flooding is horrific. Some summer camps are totally flooded, and some primary residences are totally flooded. Coniston looks out on more lake water and there is more water in the lawn out front, but we are lucky. At one point today I flashed back to winter blizzards where I long to be snowed in. I would not mind being flooded in here for a short period of time. I love to be nestled in with no place to go.

It is the calm before the storm you might say, as we look forward to Brooklyn and Bee's college graduation, England to see family, friends and meet two great nieces, 35th college reunion at Middlebury and then Alliance Nebraska for memorial service for Uncle Chuck. This is all in the next month. Why is May/June always so crazy?
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I understand better how Software Engineers organize their work now

I returned Sunday from 4 days of immersion into quilting at VQF (google it) and a mind full of ideas for my next quilts.  Some many ideas, so little free time and a fabric stash that will long outlive me.  BTW, if you want me to leave my fabric/yarn stash to you when I die, drop me a line.

Last night, after work and golf, I have great intentions to sit down at my machine and finish one of the projects from one of the 3 classes I took at VQF.  I looked at the 5 unfinished projects and was paralyzed.  Which one could I put 15 minutes into and move along?  Was the right thread in the machine for any of them? Are there any deliverables that I have for any of them?

A concept that we have talked a lot about at work is how much time software engineers spend actually coding.  Their ideal span of time for coding is 4 hour blocks, and our management schedule is 1 hour meetings.  So, if they get in to work at 9am, and see a 10am meeting, they are reluctant to get started because it might not be the right block of time. 

That is how I felt last night.  I needed at least an hour to get to work on something, and being the lark that I am 10pm at night is not the right hour to sit down with a sharp rotary cutter and scissors and a sharp machine needle.  Accidents happen when you are tired around sharp instruments.  SO, I did nothing on the projects and tried to organize my fabric stash so that when I am ready, I can grab the right fabric. 

Maybe tonight I can find a 1 hour block of time.  I entertained getting up at 5am to put an hour in this morning, and actually almost did get up and do that.  My excitement for finishing those projects and starting up some new ones might actually get me up at 5am one of these mornings.  For now, I am admiring my unfinished projects, and planning my new ones and strategizing to find 1 hour blocks to sew.

I Love Vermont - AGAIN

On my Jet Blue flight from NYC just now, I sat next to another person who grew up in Vermont and is coming back this weekend for a family reunion.

As we started to see the Green Mountains, we both were stretching our necks to absorb as much as possible of the scenery outside the window of the plane.

It happens slower when I am in a car as I cross over into Vermont in White River Junction, but looking down from the plane on the state that I spent half of my growing up years, warmed by heart and calmed my soul.

A lot of it is the history of family here, and the presence of current family that we visit when we come up for the weekend.  And some of it is the life style and the scenery.  I read an article in Vermont magazine about a man who commutes, but never dreads his commute because he is driving through beautiful part of Vermont.

I love Vermont, again, and again, and again.

Go Sun Chips!

WOW, last night as we stopped at Maplefields in Milton for our "milk, soda stop" before we traveled across the causeway to the Islands, I wandered over to the snack aisle to see what spoke to me. I LOVE Sun Chips and now I LOVE them even more. The first thing I noticed was that the bag was noisy. OK, they changed their packaging, that is great and now everyone in the store knows that I am snacking on chips. Next, as I tried to get it off the shelf, I literally had to pry it out of the shelf and that brought more noise. I LOVE them so much, I eventually pried them loose.

Murg's first comment was something like, "Wow, that is a noisy bag!"

When we got out of the store (after I bought the most delicious cookie, which will probably be a regular routine now, when we stop for "milk and soda" at Maplefields) I looked at the writing on the bag. 100% compostable and a picture is worth a thousand words, so I am including two for this post.

So not only do I love LOVE sun chips because they are the best tasting, I love them for being 100% compostable, and I love them because they announce to the world that I am buying great, "green" chips.

Shout Out to Sun Chips!

Don't like the weather - wait a minute

As I sit here on a Sunday morning, looking out Channel 1, it is fogged in. I can barely see the road and when I first saw it, I thought it was a blizzard. It should be a blizzard at this time of year but in keeping with this strange weather year, it is fog.

Yesterday, Murg and I walked out on the causeway which is an old train bed that used to connect South Hero to Colchester. There is a small "cut" in the causeway for the boats to get out of the Colchester bay/harbor. As we looked east to Mount Mansfield, they were enclosed in a cloud of either rain or snow. As we looked west to White Face, it was also enclosed in either. Looking south, we saw Burlington in a dark cloud, but further south it was sunny. This 360 degree panorama is wonderful. We also knew that at any time, the weather could change, and we could get wet.

When we got back to Coniston for 3.5 minutes we had a snow squall. I really thought at that point that we would get more precipitation, but that was it.

There is an expression "If you don't like the weather in Vermont, wait a minute." This was totally applicable yesterday.

As an aside, a truck drove over the ice while we were talking from the Colchester side to South Hero and an ice fisherman with 4 dogs was fishing out on the ice. He did not drive his truck out but only because 200 feet away there is open water, or maybe because his license plate was NH and he does not know that it is still safe to drive on the ice, apparently. The sign of spring in Vermont is when the first truck falls through the ice. This year spring will come sooner than most, given how little ice there is.

Nordic Skating - who knew I could fly across the ice

Yesterday at Coniston we went to North Hero to repeat our 2 mile trek out to Knight Island. Last year there were a few inches on snow on the ice, so we walked out. We also had Qammi with us and she thought we were crazy to be out on the ice. In fact she did not want to leave Knight Island to come back to the shore, since she could not see the shore from the island.

Yesterday was an entirely different experience. There is almost no snow at all, and Hero's Welcome which is a country store in North Hero rents nordic skates. Google them to see what they are like. For me, after I got up my courage, it was like flying across the ice. The movement is very similar to cross country skiing and you have poles for balance. Even with the poles I managed to fall twice, but that did not matter. You can get gliding pretty fast on these nordic skates.

The ice was beautiful and for the most part smooth. The sun came from behind the clouds, and away we went. G and J and the Svenson Jas family. Some of our party had regular skates on, but Murg and I rented these skates. Regular skates are not as good on parts of the ice. The nordic skates are much better when there are bumps on the ice or paths where snow mobiles, or trucks (yes trucks) have gone across the ice.

Looking down at the ice was a bit eerie. You could see at least 8-10 inches in most places so it felt pretty safe. What was disconcerting were the cracks and settling of ice that you could hear. This sounds like gun shots in the distance, but we realized it was ice melting and settling and cracks occurring in the ice. The Svenson Jas family who were with us, had a crack form in a few directions, right in front of them.

Once or twice, I got going pretty fast and wished that I were a bit more adventurous. That being said, I did feel like I was flying over the ice, and I think these will be a purchase for next winter or maybe later this winter if the ice holds out.

10 miles south of where we were, in Burlington in the open part of Lake Champlain there is no ice on the lake, but in Colchester Bay, and in the bay in front of North Hero, the ice is thick and safe and very exciting.

Who knew I could fly across the ice?

H-Mart What a Trip to the Grocery Store!

Last weekend, Murg and I went shopping to H-Mart which opened recently near us. It is an Asian market and with our recently acquired Thai cooking skills, we adventured there to find some key ingredients. We were moderately successful in finding the Thai ingredients. Some of the reason we did not find the right things is that we do not read Thai, or Chinese, or Korean, or Japanese. Upon reflection, we probably can identified Thai characters but not the content, compared to the other languages listed.

I went one other time, and I was by far in the minority as a Caucasian. There is obviously a need for this grocery store, given the number of Asians who were there shopping, and they seem to go straight for the item they are looking for. We on the other hand do not have a clue unless there is an English translation which occurs only part of the time at H-Mart. The meat and fish aisles alone are worth the trip. The two attached pictures humored me a lot. Vermont Curry? Does anyone in India know where Vermont is? It is Vermont Curry because it is maple flavored. So that is what Vermont is known for.

Smiling Fish just made me smile. Murg bought the Vermont Curry, I think. We did not buy the Smiling Fish.

So, I will go back, but having done some more research. I still need to find sticky rice to make Mango Sticky rice, which apparently you steam in a bamboo steamer rather than how we cook rice.

Such adventures, such fun!

Earth Day 2009 - my third major resolution

Today at work we have an Earth Day fair. In fact, I am sitting staffing a table right now on how to make non-toxic household cleaners. I shamelessly borrowed this from FPLEX where M and C have been driving this initiative during social hours and other church events.

My future Daughter in law, M was reading this book over the winter. I got it from the library and took it on our recent trip. TANGENT ALERT, the best time for me to read a book cover to cover is on a long plane ride or a weekend at Coniston.

TANGENT OVER: I did not totally understand why M wanted to plant asparagus but now I do. Up until now, I have pretty much avoided gardening. It is a solo activity and for an MBTI ENFP, there is not much solo in my life. Thanks to M for turning me onto this book. It is a really thought provoking book. Live off the land only with locally grown food for a year. Here come the chickens soon.

So I figure I will start by planting asparagus at Coniston now, and gradually grow a garden up there. The prior owner already had an herb garden, I just need to figure out what is what.

This is my third major GREEN resolution, that I have personally done. The other two are NO PLASTIC BAGS and bring my own coffee mug into coffee shops or to fill with water so NO PLASTIC WATER BOTTLES. Oh, I forgot, we stopped the Boston Globe daily paper, since more often than not it went directly to the recycle bin. I hope I am not personally responsible for the demise of the Boston Globe.

So, in a few years, I will be harvesting asparagus at Coniston, and this year we will have zucchini and tomatoes.

Happy Earth Day everyone!!!!

Too long away from Coniston

While driving to dinner last night both Murg and I agreed that it has been too long away from Coniston. We missed a weekend the week that Autumn died, and last month was a 5 week Sunday month. I don't feel as centered, I feel like there is something missing in my life. We have gotten into the habit of being there every other weekend, and we got out of that habit by missing one weekend. If I had planned it better we could be up there this weekend.

What this all says to me is that a year ago, going on a lot of intutive decision making, we made a really good decision. We might not have been so eager to own a second home this year with the financial crisis.

Also at dinner last night we counted our blessings. Good solid jobs, fun vacations planned for the year with family and friends, wonderful kids who are not kids any more but more like grown-up friends, wonderful spiritual communities.

Yes, we are very lucky AND I believe that we all create our own destiny, so it is some luck and some intention. For once in my life I feel like I deserve to be this happy and fortunate. Now, I just need to get back up to Coniston to see that sun rise from behind the Green Mountains, and to take a deep sigh and realize that I have come home to Vermont.

St Patrick's Day - different traditions - what was yours?

Growing up in Colorado and Vermont, on St Pats day if you did not wear green you got pinched. Kids can be pretty mean to each other. I just assumed that this was a universal tradition. However, sharing at work just now, 2 folks who grew up in Boston did not have that tradition, but a mid-westerner did. One of the Boston folks, who is Italian said they used to wear orange on St Pats day. What is that all about?

So in the spirit of the name of my post I am wondering what traditions others had on St Pat's day? Pinching or orange? or something else . . . ?

Please share!

Too many deaths make me numb

Ok, contrary to my previous post I stayed for my full yoga class today and spent a full five minutes in meditation. I lost 2 dear friends this week. The first was Gail Reed who was our next door neighbor for all of my teenage years in VT. The second was Toby Wood who is a Old Shoaler from Star Island. He kayaked out to Star last Friday, and was never found after his return trip to the mainland. His yellow Kayak was found north of his predicted route.

Gail was my friend BUT she was one of my Mom's best friends. Mom lost 2 other very good friends within the last 12 months. Growing up, all three of these friends' of my parents were incredibly involved and influential on me and my siblings.

Gail painted a picture of my horse Pandora, for the birthday that I got Pandora and it still hangs in our study. She was very creative. In their family room were collages of pictures of their family. That was part of the inspiration for the collage we gave Mummy and Daddy in the early 90s. I wanted them to have a collage of members of all of our extended family.

Frank was my Dad's pal and my Mom's friend. He gave a eulogy at Dad's funeral that I still cry when I remember it today. Frank used to love to lob the tennis ball and always caught me going the wrong way with his lobs. Mom gave a wonderful eulogy at Frank's funeral. I do not know how she does it. She gave one at Dad's service, talking about what Dad would have said about all 7 of us, and she was spot on,

Ernie was a musician and was most comfortable with his fingers on the ivories. Many hours were spent singing while Ernie played.

Toby . . . I cannot talk about Toby yet . . .

While lying there in my 5 minutes of meditation, I realized that I have not cried about Toby yet. I am very sad, but I have not cried yet. I heard about him and Gail within 48 hours and I have not cried about her yet either. I got closer as I lay there and I think that I have gotten a bit numb this year with the deaths that have happened to me. I got really sad and quiet which is how my day is going so far.

So, if I had jumped up and not done the meditation, I would not have had the time to reflect about death and friends. All of these 4 were friends of mine at different levels. I thought a lot about Mom who has lost 3 of her really good friends in less than 12 months. I thought about my grand mother who lived to be 90 and often talked about how hard is was to get old and have your friends die off.

Reading Rabbi Kushner's book is really helpful as I process the grief of losing these 2 friends; "Overcoming Life's Disappointments"

Seriously - we know what we are doing

The excitement in the middle of February in the Hero Islands is to walk on water. Frozen water that is. When we get up to Vt we always score a Seven Days which is the social calendar for the Burlington area. While browsing through it yesterday morning Murg noticed Great Ice

Yes, this is what we do for excitement in the great white north. We did not attend the christmas tree bonfire but I sense a yearly tradition coming. Bonfires are like a pilgrimage in my family, but I digress as usual . . .

We discussed footwear before we left the house and I chose my trainers/aka sneakers since my merrills don't have the arch support and snow shoes are clunky and there was not quite enough snow for them. I borrowed x-country skiis last time we were up here and will buy some soon but don't have them yet. Perfect choice BTW.

Qammi, charged onto the ice and easily ran 2 to 3 times longer than we walked. The walk was 2 miles out to Knight Island State Park. When we got 1/2 there, and I guess she could not see either bit of land, she started to run diagonally toward the closest piece of land. Unless we had called her back I am pretty sure she would have kept going. We arrived on Knight Island and we think she thought we were done with the walk. Due to running so much, both her back legs were shaking. Enough for her. The funniest though was when we started back. She looked at us with the same look when we start a fire in the wood stove. "YOU HUMANS ARE STARTING A FIRE INSIDE"!!! My instincts say this is a BAD thing" The first time she would not come into the house and to this day whenever we start a fire she keeps an evil eye on us and will not come very close.

She kept running back toward Knight Island, since she was sure that was the destination, and she was tired. Eventually we put on the leash and coaxed her along with the words "Really, Qamm, we know what we are doing, this time!" At the halfway mark, we took off the leash, but it was not until she could see the shore that she started running toward the North Hero side.

Granted, it was pretty confusing. People on skis, skates, sleds, walking and snowmobiles, were going in both directions.

Our dog has great instincts, she barks sometimes at strangers, knows that fire should not be inside the house, and knows when she is tired she should look for the shortest distance home. I would not count on her as a guard dog or guide in the wilderness.

It was a really fun event, and I can see a big party next year at Coniston to walk on water and go on a pilgrimage to a bonfire. We come by it honestly. Daddy loved fires and probably walked on water in his day.