Fresh Blueberry Pancakes with Vermont Maple Syrup at 10AM at the cabin. Must be the perfect breakfast.

It’s hard to believe that our two weeks here at the cabin are almost over. The weather has been very cooperative, giving us a rainy day when we needed to be lazy and sunshine when we needed to be productive. Actually, Gary (as usual) has been the most productive, but I try to be the support team. Today (Friday) he is trying to finish up all his outside work while I work on the inside. Tomorrow we hit the dump with all of our trash, set fire to the burn pit, and then just enjoy the rest of the day. ‘Cause on Sunday we head back to Doylestown and our dear Lizzie.

We’ve had company the last couple of days – my dear friend Lynne C. came for a mid-week weekend. Since hubby Roger was down with a bad back and couldn’t come, Gary sent Lynne & I off for a Girls Day Out on Wednesday. I must confess, we had a great time! It was back roads and hiking trails, factory tours and family history instead of spas and manicures, but oh what fun we had. We hiked up Owls Head Overlook (spectacular and well worth the short steep climb), took the Cabot Cheese Factory Tour (where we got to sample all of the varieties of their wonderful cheddar cheese (and call it lunch)), took the cross country (i.e. dirt) road to East Calais where my family has a homestead that was built by my great-great uncle and is now owned by an association of Dwinell descendants, visited the cemetery where my great-great parents, great grandparents, and miscellaneous other relatives rest in peach, stopped to see some friends of Lynne’s brother, and then scoped out another hike (Kettle Pond) that we decided to take the next day with Gary. Back to the cabin and then out to dinner (after all, we were too tired to cook after our mini-road trip!). It was a memorable day all around.

Thursday we did indeed head back to Kettle Pond for the 3 mile loop hike. It was a great hike – not too strenuous, but with great beauty all around. We took pictures of everything from the view of Owls Head to mushrooms along the path. It was a beautiful walk, until Gary got a very painful sting/bite by an unknown insect/spider. Fearing an adverse reaction to the bite (and knowing we weren’t going to be able to carry him!) we made a quick exit for the last mile of the loop. Although the sting was very painful, no other symptoms developed so we headed back to the cabin so Gary could prop up his injured foot. Lynne left for home and the rest of the day was quiet and uneventful.

Oh, the Cabin Berries? Yesterday I went blackberry picking. Yummmmmmmmm…..

How very blessed we are to have this quiet place to come and refresh ourselves.

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Have I told you about the Cabin? It’s a small one room cabin built my grandfather in the 1930’s. He was the town doctor up here in Bradford Vermont and needed a little get away that wasn’t too far from town. The Cabin, built on the foundation of an old farming settlement about 8 miles outside of town, is on about 100 acres on Wright’s Mountain (elevation 1800 ft+/-). Growing up I remember the cows that wandered through the fields on the way to their upper pasture (and watching out for the cow plops that dotted the grass), the two gas lights that were the only illumination other that candles, and the chemical toilet bucket that my father would ever so carefully carry through the cabin to be disposed of in some unknown (to me) location. The water was hand pumped from the well and the kids were the beasts of burden to get it to the Cabin. There’s a small pond where we would swim, catch salamanders and frogs and fish. Trust me, there’s nothing like a fresh caught trout for breakfast! Electricity came in the 1960’s along with the Destroilet ( a gas toilet – but that’s an entire other story!). A loft was added to accomodate the next generation (as in my kids and my siblings’ kids), and now we even have running water – well, it’s to the shed anyway! The Destroilet died several years ago, and we moved to the good old fashioned outhouse. It’s a two holer with all the ammenities ~ a magazine rack, pretty curtains and scented candles.
The Cabin is where I go to re-fuel emotionally and spiritually. The scenery has changed only in the addition of a few houses on the hillside and the growth of new trees. Maybe these pictures will help explain the special qualities of this family gem –

Here is my favorite view – with the cabin reflected in the pond (I know, I know, Lara – I take it every year…but there are little changes every year, honest!)

This is the view from back porch –

And this is the view from the back porch when we eat dinner…

We took a drive to one of the hills in the above “view from the back porch” to see if we could see the cabin. Well folks, if you look really hard you can see a tiny dot in the middle of this picture – and that my friends is the cabin. And that is also why we feel free to leave the outhouse door open to enjoy the view when we are doing our -ahem- business!

Here is a closer view of the cabin….

OK, so this isn’t the cabin – but it was a pretty neat picture of an old cemetary and church that we came upon in our travels that I thought I’d include it!

And here we are with our friends Joe & Janet who joined us for Labor Day weekend at the Cabin. (Honest, the triple chins are from the way I’m sitting, not from all that ice cream research!)

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