Stunned

We arrived in Utah yesterday to devastating news. Christina's fiance Chad died in a car wreck early Thursday morning. There will be no wedding on Saturday. We are still planning to leave this morning to go to Montana and support Christina through what was supposed to be the happiest day of her life. It's hard to find a silver liner to this horrible tragedy, but I am glad we are together as a family.

http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2008/08/29/news/10fatal.txt

Soldiers in the River

Sunday morning we walked down to the river to witness a great Norwich tradition: the Dog River Run, the culmination of "Rook" week for the new freshman cadets. I have to admit I was a little bemused at first by the whole spectacle at our usually-quiet little river. Gavin wanted to know"Mom, why are there soldiers in our river?" and I wasn't quite sure what explanation would make sense to him. They sloshed their way by us, a few carrying banners and flags, many carrying huge boulders. I was told that if they can make it the whole way with their rocks, they keep them in their dorm rooms all four years of college and beyond.

It looked tough. They had run more than a mile before reaching the river, and crawled through mud pits too. Those rocks were huge. Several in each company were clearly having a hard time. It was inspiring to see them help each other. In the first company we saw, there was a guy clinging to his rock with both hands while his buddies basically carried him down the river. The next group that came by had one cadet carrying two rocks, his own and his friend's. The group after that was moving slowly because one of their cadets was struggling but his company refused to let him fall behind, circling around him and encouraging him.

There is a lot I still don't get about this place, but I think on Sunday I caught a glimpse of why a romp through the river could be such a profound experience for these kids.

An article and pictures from the Burlington Free Press are at http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080826/NEWS01/80825024&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

Montshire Museum

Austin and I took the day off today so we could take the kids to the Montshire Museum of Science. We had our first cool science experience right after pulling out of the driveway: a Great Blue Heron was standing in the road. It moved down to the river as we passed. I got this picture from the car.

The Montshire is a very kid-oriented place dedicated mostly to physics. Gavin loved it because there were lots of balls involved in the exhibits. Lucy loved it because there was an outdoor water park. Both of the kids loved the huge bubbles that they could catch in their hands.

After five fun-filled hours spent at the Montshire, we went home by way of the King Arthur Bakery for Chocolate Chip Cookies. A totally perfect family day.

Fun with Papa

The only thing Howard really wanted to do on his visit was go to the top of Mount Mansfield, the highest point in Vermont. We took advantage of a beautiful Saturday just before he left to do it. Fortunately, Stowe runs a gondola almost all the way to the top!

When we got down off the mountain there was just one more major farm-improvement project to do: burn all the skunk-wood piled up in the lower field. Howard and Austin built the bonfire of champions. I must say, they're a credit to their Eagle Scout awards.

We had a great time with "Papa" visiting. The month went by so fast, and I can't believe how beautiful the farm looks now! I think we may have to borrow Farmer Gray again next summer.

Hard at work . . . and play

We've been taking advantage of Howard Gray's farming nostalgia the past few weeks, putting him (and ourselves!) to work on the new homestead. It's amazing how much there is to do. Old Vermonters tell us there are two seasons here: winter, and preparing for winter. We ordered five cords of firewood to see us through the upcoming freeze, and all of it has to be neatly stacked into piles to dry. This is much harder than it looks. A few of our beautiful stacks collapsed more than once.

Howard and Austin have attacked the trees, pruning everything and cutting down mean-looking weed-trees with big thorns. We had to get a chipper to deal with all the branches they took down. The place looks beautiful. Howard borrowed the Young's roto-tiller and turned the burn pile into a garden plot for spring, and he's been edging our flower beds too.

We have been picking berries like crazy. We've been averaging two batches of raspberry jam every other day. Now that the blackberries have come on I've totally given up on the raspberries and started recruiting friends to come pick them and take them away. I have to say, I was a little skeptical of the blackberries, they definitely don't taste as good right off the bush, but they make the *best* jam.

After all the hard work berry-picking and tree-cutting and wood-stacking and roofing and roto-tilling, it's nice to be able to just run down to the river and jump in. The swimming hole is averaging around seven feet deep, and there's a nice shallow "island" the kids can wade around on and pick up smooth river rocks.

Lucy Food

Our friend Lauren Simmons sent us this picture for Lucy, my pasta-tarian daughter who turns her nose up at anything made of fruit, vegetables, meat, or bread. It's nice to know that some other mother somewhere else in the world has to deal with their child's irrational love for dry ramen noodles at every meal. My Lucy would ditch the flavor packet if this were her drawing, but she would still give the figure three fingers.