So, Vermont.

I could have easily done multiple posts about our time in Vermont, but my life is promising to get pretty busy again starting Friday, so I’m putting together a Reader’s Digest Version.

The Preface
We had a quick afternoon at the cabin before we drove to Lancaster, PA to meet our new grandson, Weston.  My nephew and his family were just settling in at the cabin for the week, and we were delighted to be able to join them (along with my sister and hubby) for a quick lunch after church.

Not seen in the picture is Mike’s wife (she’s behind the camera) who is expecting twins any time now. I think they did their first vacation at the Cabin (since the kids) just in time!

Chapter One – The Projects
No Cabin visit for us would be complete with Gary tackling a variety of projects. Let’s face it, I’m content to sit in front of the fire with my coffee until 10AM, do up the breakfast dishes, make a sandwich for lunch, read a couple of chapters of my book, take a nap, put together a salad for dinner, pull out the book again and then call it a night. On a sunny day, you might find me wandering down by the pond or suggesting a ride into town for ice cream. Gary, on the other hand, starts every day with a list. This year he was concentrating on doing some ground work for the shed rebuild next summer.

Since he was replacing some supports, he decided to do some improvement to our outdoor shower.

First of all, let me say that I LOVE this outdoor shower. I marvel at the miracle of a hot shower at the cabin every time I use it! And now, we can use it without getting our feet muddy coming and going!

He did a little additional shed organization/cleaning -

and worked on replacing some rotting supports on the cabin and porch.


So, it’s safe to say that Gary was having a great time at the cabin. And he even got to pull out a giant rock or two!
(lucky for you, I can’t find that video!).

Chapter Two – The Friends!
We delighted that friends joined us for the last part of our Cabin time.

Gord and Mar had driven all the way from Western Michigan, so we had a great time showing off the beauty of both Vermont and New Hampshire. From the Trappe Family Lodge (think “Sound of Music”)

to the Dwinell Homestead in East Calais

to covered bridges

to scenic waterfalls

to the top of Mount Washington -

to evenings enjoyed by the fire playing cards, it was a GREAT way to wrap up our time at the cabin!

Chapter Three – The Beauty of it All!

Conclusion – A Wonderful Time Was Had by All!

It was a pretty perfect couple of weeks at the Cabin.  I’ve skipped over the chapter about  my quilting day with my buddy Lynne, and the mini family reunion with my brother and his family, my sister & hubby, and my niece and her kids, or the lovely afternoon shared with the ladies’ fellowship from my sister’s church.  All 30+ of them!
Needless to say, there are lot more pictures that pertain to our time at the Cabin and our drives through the countryside. If you’d like, please check them out for the “rest of the story”.

Cabin Projects
Fun with Gord and Mar
Vermont Sky
Mount Washington
ALL the Cabin – Sept. 2011 pictures!

Thanks for hanging in for this (not so very) condensed version of our time at the Cabin! I know it’s been fun for me just to review what a special time those two weeks were!

Tonight is a fire-in-the-fireplace night. Yesterday was hot and sticky and we slept with the doors and windows open and the ceiling fan spinning. It was not a typical September day in Vermont. Today dawned cloudy and cool – the rains arrived in full force by early afternoon, and tonight we’re nice and cozy in front of the fire.

I love this fireplace. To me it is really the essence of our Cabin. I’ve been told that when the cabin was built (1937 give or take a year) the fireplace cost as much as the building did. Today those round river rocks hold the same beauty that they did back then, but it’s not just the beauty of the stones that hold my affection, but the whole fireplace area.

There’s the ship’s clock that has kept time here at the cabin for as long as I can remember. It’s one of the first things I do when I get to the Cabin – a “good winding” will be good for about a weeks’ worth of tick-tocking me to sleep! See the picture next to the clock? That’s a picture of some of  the original buildings that were on this property. The cabin and the woodshed are actually built on the foundations (huge slabs of granite) of this little settlement. I’ve been told that some of the houses were moved to other sites – quite a feat I should say for the 1930′s!

Here’s the key to the clock (really, it’s quite a miracle that we’ve kept track of that key for all these years, don’t you think?) and a couple of sand dollars. Now I’m not quite sure just what sand dollars have to do with the cabin, but my Mom put them there, and I can promise you they will stay until they fall apart! And that’s just the way it is!

Ah, the cast iron collection! I love this stuff, and I’ve been trying to cook with those pans each day.

I think they just make everything taste better!
The harness race horse/Dwinell sign came from my folk’s mailbox. My dad was quite into the harness racing scene and my sister was also a horse lover. I bet you can see some other horse/barn related items without too much trouble. And the tin plate looking thing at the peak? It covers a hole in the chimney, but I don’t actually have a clue what the hole was for. Maybe it was “just in case” they decided to put a wood stove in? I guess it’s fireplace mystery.

We have wonderful, functional fireplace pokers and such. Do you know what that gadget with the little legs is ? It’s a fireplace toaster! And believe me, it does a great job! Just make sure to get all the spider webs out before you put in the bread…..

I can’t say this pot has ever heated (or even held) water in my memory, but it’s always been there on the left side of the hearth. Maybe my grandmother brought it up (she was quite a collector of interesting things), or maybe once upon a time it actually served a practical purpose. But for now it anchors that side of the hearth, and that’s good enough for me!
Well, that just about wraps up the fireplace tour. Oh, you’re wondering what’s with the baggie next to the sand dollars?

It seems that every year some little part of nature gets tacked up on the mantel for the rest of the family to enjoy. Some years we’ve had beautiful luna moths or other giant moth bodies that are found in the yard. This year we’re enjoying a snake skin. I’m not sure who tacked this up – but I’ve got a good idea! Next to the “exhibit” is a small child’s toy that my other grandfather carved out of solid piece of wood. I love that!

Thanks for coming along for my little fireplace tour.  I couldn’t mention everything, but as you can see the entire area is filled with special family items.  Some things practical (like the pokers and candles) and some things just pretty (like the “welcome” slate my sister painted).  But all together they make up the “comfort zone” of the cabin.

Can you hear it? ……I think the clock is ticking me to sleep………

I’d like to offer my apologies for saying that Irene was largly a non-event to all of the Vermonters for whom Irene was anything BUT! Many, many cities and towns to the south and east of us were hit hard. Very hard. My friend Lynne shared this video of the streets of Ludlow (not that she took this video, since her road was completely washed out and she wasn’t goin’ anywhere!)

In our nearby town of Bradford (about halfway up the state, right along the CT river) the signs of flooding were evident in flattened vegetation along the still rushing Waits River and flooded fields next to the Connecticut. The Waits River snakes along byRte 25 as we drive outside of town to our cabin. You can usually see the beautiful river stones on its bottom, and it flows at a nice Sunday-afternoon-let’s-go-tubing speed as it heads to the dam in town and then into the Connecticut River.  Here are the “Bradford Falls” on a typical summer day -

Here is the dam when we passed it after church on Sunday -

Yikes!
When we ventured into town on Monday we learned that Rte 25 had been closed for most of the night due to flooding. We could see the flattened vegetation and up-rooted trees as we drove into town, so we weren’t surprised to learn of the closure.

And the river continued to blast over the falls -

even as the blue sky gave promise to better days!

Yesterday and today have been spectacular Vermont days – I suppose that makes it easier to assess the damage and get busy with the clean-up! But it will be a long (and expensive) road for many. Our thoughts and prayers are with all who have been affected by this monster storm.  Hardly a non-event.

OK, so maybe you didn’t really miss me, but I missed you! Well, a little anyway. Several times during the week I thought about posting a little blurb about the wonderful week I was having with my sisters. Maybe share about our long mornings in front of the fire enjoying our coffee and then how we just moved to the front lawn and sat in the sunshine and tried to identify birds. And then suddenly it was 1 PM! Ah, the excitement of Girls’ Week. I did a terrible job of “documenting” our week – no official Sisters Picture, no picture of our time with Aunt Berta and cousins Dorothy and Catherine, no pictures of the family gathering we had on Saturday. Really, a terrible job. But, since I couldn’t let the entire week go entirely undocumented, here are a couple of random shots that I did manage to take. There were the birds….

(an Eastern Phoebe, I believe)

(and that’s a Yellow-bellied sapsucker, doncha know)
And then the flora -

The beautiful Blue Flags that are starting to ring the pond

and along the edge there are the sundews – an honest to goodness carnivorous plant living right in our little corner of the world. Who knew? (They are pretty small, actually, but pretty darn interesting!) Some of them are even enjoying a meal!
And then there were the sunsets…..


Oh, yeah, the sunsets.
And then there was the precious sister time. As expected, we did lots of laughing. Some down-right-tears-running-down-our cheeks-laughing. We did some serious talking too – sharing how the Lord has been working in our lives this past year. The ups and the downs. The praises and the petitions. We took care of some cabin business (always some of that to do), and were very thankful for Gary who came and mowed the grass when he dropped me off and then mowed again (best he could in the rain) when he came to pick me up. We stayed up late (well, for us anyway), slept in as much as possible with those birds waking up with the sunrise, and took our fair share of naps. We played games in the evenings, sang through our favorite hymns a couple of nights, and ended each night with thankful hearts. We are so blessed to have this treasure we call The Cabin, but more importantly we are blessed to have this treasure called Family.

Oh, and did I mention we ate a fair bit of chocolate, too?
After all, it was Girls’ Week!