Maybe Just Maybe

Winter isn't really (not officially) here yet and already I yearn for my garden. More than anything I miss the fresh herbs. I am making Asian meatballs and I need a cup of chopped "fresh" cilantro. I love cilantro!

Maybe, just maybe, the bunch that sprouted late in the summer and I hadn't the heart to till under....

Woo Hoo!

The kitchen is screaming with an earthy green pungent aroma (incredible). Now add to that cup of (picked moments ago) chopped cilantro; Gaylord ground beef, Kenyon eggs, Red Hen bread crumbs, vonTrapp milk and a few assorted ingredients from across the globe Mehuron's and you'll have a tray full of good little soldiers, just like these.

Toss in the oven and in 15 minutes we're off to share them 'round a table filled with dear old friends and their culinary treasures. It's a spur of the moment Sunday evening potluck, a common, yet often extraordinary gastronomical affair in the Mad River Valley. 

What would you bring?

Ready or Not

It's late November, tomorrow is Thanksgiving day... do you know where your snow shovel is?

Pumpkin Good

It's been on the front steps long enough.

The kitchen smells pretty darn good today. I'd share that with you if I could.

Time to Hit The Road

It is deer rifle season in Vermont for the next two weeks. I grumble and fuss about giving up my woods to the hunter and gun, but I do. I walk instead on the Valley's scenic back roads for the time being.
This morning was too pretty to find excuses not to get outside. I'm used to being alone on my walks, aside from the occasional squirrel, chipmunk, bird and sometimes company of my best friend, but the beautiful country byways here are quite popular. On my walk today I pass a young woman and her little dog, a couple of bikers, an elderly gentleman with his mature dog out strolling, another young woman and her really big dog, and a very, very happy couple (walking on air).  Everyone smiles and offers good morning greetings. And most everyone in cars that pass give a wave and a smile, including a truck full of camo clad hunters heading off to my the woods. I smile and wave back.

Beware of the wild beast on the way home.

So my grumbly, fussy walk turned into a, feeling pretty good about this friendly place I live, outing. I hope you get outside today and that you feel good, too.

Heigh Ho the Dairy - O

Be wery wery quiet... my best friend is out hunting the wild beast of the forest.

Source

I'm hoping he returns home with a freezer worth of goodies.

Three Blind Mice ~ See How They Run

First there was one ~
Two nights ago we were watching TV in the living room when a little grey mouse slips out from a crack in the stairway runs back and forth across a stair before returning whence he came. So fast and quiet we questioned whether we saw what we saw.

Then there were two ~
Last evening we were enjoying a movie, again in the living room, and two little grey mice slip out from underneath the closed stairway door, scamper across the living room floor, around the entertainment cabinet and back again. No question we saw the brazen little fur balls.

No, they weren't blind and I did not cut off their tails with a carving knife...save that for the farmer's wife. However, my best friend did set the traps immediately and emptied them this morning.

And then one more ~
We replaced the battery in our station wagon today. A joint effort, as are most projects we tackle around here. And there underneath the hood of my car is a little grey mouse curled up in the hoses for a long, long (and then some) winter's nap. Sweet dreams little mousey.

Did you ever see such a sight in your life?

Topo Gigio, the only little rodent I tolerate.

The field mice are raising a ruckus in my house and vehicles. Well guys, the party's over!

Never Far From Home

It's uncanny when away from the Mad River Valley we often cross the paths of friends and neighbors from home. While having dinner out with my family last evening, at Owen's Fish Camp in the historic Burn's Court district of downtown Sarasota (Florida), a pretty women walks in and I think to myself, gosh she looks familiar. Not knowing her I assume she just reminds me of someone I know. It isn't 5 minutes later she approaches us (my sister in-law and me) and asks, "Are you girls (how thoughtful) from Vermont?" Karla Bove introduces herself, her daughter and her friend Dana (whom I immediately recognize). I had not met Karla before and find out she is an artist with a studio on Bridge St just minutes from my doorstep back home in the valley.

Not Just Black Boards is a treasure trove of colorful hand painted decorative blackboards Karla creates for home and business.  True to the name, she paints not just blackboards.

I like this one.

And really like this one.

Our valley villages all total approximately 6000 faces. Not all well known to each other, but most certainly familiar. Next time you're out in the world and you think you recognize a face, go ahead ask them, "Are you from Vermont?" 

Chances are...

familiar in Sarasota