The Green Mountains of Vermont

Being my first typical American camping experience, I was initially disappointed that our campsite was so small and so close to other noisy campers...the only thing I had to compare it to was the wilderness of Canada, where we had to hike and canoe to our campsites each night and where there were no camping neighbors and no running water of any kind. Where you could clap your hands together and kill five mosquitos at once and where you had to collect your own fire wood, boil your own water and eat trailmix and opposed to brats and corn on the cob...
But my spirits were soon restored on our first hike, which joined up with the Appalachian Trail. The woods of Vermont are like nothing else I've seen. Everything was so green...new plants, new flowers, new trees...

The dogs had so much fun, racing ahead on the trail they faithfully followed, sniffing new things and chasing ground squirrels.
As we got higher and higher, the vegetation kept changing and some of the terrain seemed picture perfect and planned.

Snow on the mountains in May!

When we got to the top, we realized we were on a point we had seen from the highway far below, before we ever reached our campgrounds.




Due to Scott's expertise with fires and grilling, our meals included sausage, scrambled eggs, coffee, brats, corn on the cob and of course toasted marshmallows.

We chose a very scenic route home and spotted this amazing waterfall along the way....It was full of jutting rocks, beautiful farms, rolling green hills and sprawling green mountains!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

To make up for my absence, for which there is no reason other than a creative dry spell and I'm-out-of-school-and-don't-have-to-do-anything bug, I thought I'd let you all know what we are up to the next three days...(I do have some other blogs I'd still like to post from May)

Surprisingly, Scott and I are going camping together for the first time ever, in Vermont this weekend (if you don't count the fishing trip with Gram and Gramps in Canada a couple of years ago). We recently got a tent and a sleeping bag for me. Scott is still using his orange mummy from when he was thirteen. We decided that if we went inland instead of to the Cape or north towards Maine, it would be a little warmer. So I chose a campsite on my day off yesterday. Gifford Woods State Park. We are so excited. The Appalachian Trail runs through this state park and we'll be doing a lot of hiking with the dogs during the day. Happy Trails everyone!

Phoebe Nies

Announcing the arrival of our neighbors little girl on May 12! She is so sweet and they are adorable first time parents. It is so wonderful to have a baby around me again!

Cape Cod

Scott and I decided to go for a drive out to Cape Cod on Mother's Day. Cape Cod is the 'strong arm' shape at the east end of Massachusetts. It is not one specific town, but a region that is over a hundred miles long, with quaint little beach towns all the way up to the tip.

On the way, we stopped in Chatham to find a lighthouse and met a sweet lady who offered to take our picture for us. When I told her Happy Mother's Day, she shared with us that one year ago on Mother's Day, she lost her husband to Huntington's. She said they loved to come to the Cape, so she thought she would come this year on Mother's Day in his memory to do something special with the day. It was so hard to drive away. I wanted to ask her name and if she wanted to come to dinner with us. But she did seem at peace with it all and wished us a very happy life together...

It was a whirlwind trip because we got such a late start...but he wanted to go all the way to Province. The owners of his landscape company were planning to take the team to the Cape the next day to work on their own private property for a couple of days, so Scott wanted us to see it together first--so thoughtful!
We decided to complete the excursion with dinner at a little place called Jimmy's Hideaway, recommended by some locals. I got fish and chips, being inspired by the sea, and Scott got some chicken and fingerling potatoes in wine and rubarb reduction. Oh my.

All in all, we pretty much agreed that the Cape is not 'all that,' but neither one of us are drawn to heavy tourist attractions. I would like to give it another shot when it is more in season, since it was a bit of a ghost town in May.

Oh, and I called my mom, of course. The family took her out to eat at Olive Garden which was quite a treat for her...it kills me to be the only one not with her, but I know she knows I'm there in my heart. Love you, Mom.

Garden 2008

Scott and I were excited to start our gardening for the season...I chose lavender phlox and lavender and white pansies...those are my wild roses growing around the posts...don't know what kind they are yet, since I found them in the weeds last July.



Our garden has tomatoes, sugar peas, carrots, red pepper, thyme, oregano, basil, and chives. YUM!!

Boston Commons

Last weekend, Scott and I took a bike ride down along the Charles River in order to see all of the trees in full bloom. They were a sight to see. When we got to Boston Common, we walked around and enjoyed the various trees and flowers. By the end, after the sun went down, it got quite chilly and just before we left, I met a very forward squirrel, who, as Scott puts it, makes a healthy living in that park. He didn't hesitate to climb up onto my parked bike after he realized I had a handful of nuts from Starbucks. He even started to rummage through my backpack a bit, before I had to shoo him away. He was adorable and I haven't felt little squirrel hands since my pet squirrel, Kiwi, from college.

Our Mockingbirds

One of my favorite things about living in Allston is going outside at any given time of the day (but mostly mornings and evenings) and hearing the songs of the silly, but inspiring Mockingbirds. I was able to grab my camera and catch this one's joyful song in our backyard, but unfortunately, there was some pounding of construction near by. I love how he flutters in his spot so that we can see where he is in the tree. They always stop me in my tracks and make me smile; often I laugh right out loud. I love them so much.

Turning Thirty Continued

Scott made me a double decker chocolate cake with thirty candles on it! He also got me a basin for the antique bird bath pedastal one of his clients gave him from her childhood property. We are going to plant ivy around it. I also got a beautiful window basket complete with coconut lining and pink and purple flowers and some tiki torches for our grill area. Thanks, Sweetheart!

Turning Thirty

It's just another day
is how I choose to look at this
I'll cherish another year
as I choose to embrace this
Time is what you make it
I've been blessed with so much more
So age is not relative
to how I feel and what's in store
I've got a long while yet
before I'll say I'm old
Hopefully my looks and activities
keep that from being told
Looking forward now
to my next 30 years
and when they're over I won't
accept that year with tears
According to the Word
I'm half way there and then some
so I'm headed out to live life
with a smile in the sun.

~Unknown