Farmer's Market

Fabulous finds of the day: baklava made with maple syrup and pickled fiddleheads.

I thought there was no baklava in Vermont but I was wrong! A cute Turkish lady who married a Vermonter (must be a good story there) not only makes delicious baklava, she's put her own unique Vermont spin on it with the maple instead of honey. Yum! I'm definitely getting her to make me some for our Christmas party this year.

Fiddleheads are ostrich fern fronds that have not unfurled yet. Vermonters forage for them along riverbanks in the spring and they are a popular (if weird looking) local delicacy. I was a little freaked out by the idea but tasted them and they are AMAZING. Next spring I'm canning my own fiddlehead pickles!

Flash Floods

We went to bed last night to thunderstorms and hail, then woke up this morning to a blown-out road.

I don't know what happened to the pipe that used to carry the water under the road (Austin: "it's probably in a tree somewhere") but not even my new Subaru is going to make it over that. The neighbors say the road has gone out up above us too, so we've got an enforced day off because there's no way to drive out.

Another view of the (former) road. Luckily, the water mostly missed the old hay barn. The initial flood blew some debris under there but the structure seems to be ok.



The stream has cut a new channel alongside the barns then around through the field in the back, where it is emptying into the enlarging lake in the field.


Must have been quite a flood. It moved some huge rocks up on to our (former) lawn and buried the foundation of the ice house barn.



Fortunately, there doesn't seem to be any permanent damage done. The footbridge was already gone. The town will take care of the road and rechannelling the stream. We just need to get someone with a tractor to do a couple of hours of work, then plant a lot of grass seed.



So now I'm just going to go enjoy my unexpected day off.

You know you've become a Vermonter. . .

. . . when you can't imagine surviving another winter without a Subaru.

I guess that means we've arrived!

Sister's Day 2011

Today we celebrated Sister's Day with cake and presents for the best sister in our family.

We gave Lucy a little handbag and a perfume & spa kit. We decided to make the Chocolate Mud Masque. It looked and smelled (and tasted) a lot like brownie batter. What could be better?

Lucy and I slathered the stuff all over our faces.

Eating chocolate Sister's Day cake in a chocolate mud masque!

Now our faces feel smooth and beautiful.

(But that could be because it took a LOT of scrubbing to get the chocolate off. The stuff hardened to the consistency of glue. I had to use a Q-tip to get it out of Lucy's ears and nostrils. A couple of my washcloths will never be white again. Still, it was worth it, because Lucy declared me the coolest mother ever. What other mother ever let her daughter cover them both in chocolate?)

Boston Temple

Our friend George, one of our favorite Norwich students, got married in the Boston Temple on Friday. We decided the kids deserved a day off school to come along. Gavin wore his new blue blazer. He's been asking for a "church suit" for the longest time.

George married Ashley, a cute girl from Middlebury, and together they are moving to the south so George can take up his commission in the Army Corps of Engineers. We are going to miss him so much. Especially Gavin. George always made Gavin feel like they were best buddies.

We are going to miss Lisa too. She graduated and commissioned in the Air Force and moves south as well. We are so grateful that they both came to Norwich! They have been a great influence on our kids and a lot of fun to spend time with.

Araucanas

Yesterday we went to Guy's Farm and Yard and Gavin walked right up to the counter to request our "anacondas."

Fortunately, Guy's is a farm store not a reptile store so we went home with the three sweet little brown fluff-ball Aracauna chicks we ordered.

As you can see, they are already receiving about as much love and adoration as they can stand.

When these little ladies get bigger they will lay us green and blue eggs. But they are such fun chicks I'm in no particularly hurry for them to grow up.

Exam Answers

According to a student exam I graded this morning, the French Revolution happened "when the smurfs rose up against their masters"

Yup, the smurfs. They must have hated feudalism as much as the serfs did.

I had a couple more doozies on the French Revolution:

"Revolutionary France was a headless beast, slashing and striking at whatever its blind senses could feel." (I think this was the least hyperbolic sentence in the paper.)

"Killing all those people with the guillotine was a total waste of time."

The exams from World Civilizations were pretty interesting too.

"The Europeans had a very diverse set of religions and of them different subgroups for different beliefs. This consisted of Christians, the Jewish, Catholics, Protestants, Calvinists, Lutherans, and people of the Jesuit order."

"The Chinese rejected Christianity. They were mostly Confusionists."

"China viewed all other religions besides their own as foreign."

Clearly, we need to spend a little more time on religion. And perhaps geography?

"Cortez conquered the Aztecs and then Pisarro conquered the Inuits."


Man, it must have been cold up there -- not like Peru where the Incas lived. I wonder if the Inuits taught the Conquistadors to build igloos?

Paddle Time!

We couldn't stand it any longer, so we went down to the river yesterday and launched the new kayaks.

The yellow kayak is perfectly kids-size, not too wide so Lucy's short arms can paddle.

Austin drove the Dad-size kayak.


The water is still relatively high and fast (and cold!) but Lucy did awesome paddling upstream.



Tonight we inaugurated the fire pit.



Roasted potatoes and apples, yum! Guess it's time to stock up on marshmallows and Jiffy Pop!

Royal Lego Wedding

In honor of William and Kate . . .

. . . Lucy and Gavin held a royal wedding in Lego Hogwarts Castle. The princess-bride wore a green gown -- sure to be a trend from now on -- and the fashion accessory of choice seemed to be capes rather than hats. The reception dinner apparently took place *during* the wedding, surely another trend-to-be.



Check out the stretch-limo carriage! Eat your heart out, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!