2nd Annual Hike with Shawnee!

Just a little while ago, we were reminiscing with @ShawneeShep about the great hike we took together last September. She and her mom drove all the way up from New Jersey to hike in southern Vermont with us, and it was such a great day! We decided to do it again this year.

For this year's adventure, Shawnee and her mom found a great hike in Pisgah State Park in New Hampshire. The days leading up to our trip it was pouring rain, but luckily the skies cleared in time, and we had a perfect day for hiking!

We drove down from Burlington and they drove up from New Jersey and we met at the park. Once the dogs had gotten a chance to greet each other and were properly outfitted in their don't-hunt-me orange, we were on our way!

Since there had been so much rain, I was ready for the trails to be a muddy mess, but overall it was pretty dry! We had to make our way across several streams that I'm guessing usually would have been quite small, and there were some great big puddles for the dogs to play in. (Roger made it his mission to get soaking wet in each one of them.)

Shawnee led the way for the whole 10 miles, keeping us moving at a good pace. The hike was pretty challenging for Roger and me, and as soon as we reached the summit of Pisgah Mt, Roger wasted no time hunkering down for a nap!

Once we started the hike back down, I kind of wish I had followed Roger's example...never underestimate the restorative power of a nap.

Shawnee brought her boy along this year! At first Roger wasn't quite sure about him, but by the end they were good buddies.

The views were fantastic, and it was so peaceful at the top. We only passed a few other groups of hikers all day. We had hoped to catch the foliage at a good time, but it was still mostly green leaves everywhere with only random bursts of color. It could have been more dramatic, but of course it was very pretty anyway--and that means the trails were less crowded.

Daniela got so many great pictures (like this one below and the first one in the post), and you can see more of them in Shawnee's blog post about our pawsome day together!





Thank you, Shawnee, Daniela, and the Boy, for making the trip to New Hampshire to hike with us! We can hardly wait until our 3rd annual hike next year--we should be just about rested enough by then to do it all over again!

For these boys, I would swim across the ocean

Last weekend, Roger and I went to my parents' house in NH for a few days. It was a jam-packed weekend full of my favorite people! We celebrated my mom's birthday, I sold at the craft fair at Alumni Hall, and I got to see all my babes!

We arrived Thursday night, and Dad had a surprise for Roger & me - a snazzy new dog bed! It's to keep at their house, for when we're visiting so I don't have to haul his grungy blue bed back and forth. The top is fleecy, and Roger loved it immediately! Plus, it's zebra-striped, and Roger is really digging animal prints this season.

Friday morning we visited my best friend Jessica and my godson, Roger's cousin, Haiden. Is he not the cutest little guy you've ever SEEN?!? He's two and a half now, I can't believe how fast the time has gone! I absolutely love watching him grow up into his own little person. Seeing a shy smile of recognition creep across his face when I arrive is the coolest thing ever. He is so great with Roger, and Roger is very careful and protective of him. I just know Haiden is going to be an amazing big brother when Jess & Shane's new bundle of joy arrives next spring.

Friday evening after Dad got home from work, he and Roger and I headed down to the Bedell Bridge State Park. There are several big open corn fields, broken up by some wetland marshy areas. This is The Big Fun for Roger, just wide open spaces where he can run around and explore all the new smells. Poor little city dog doesn't get to do that in Burlington!

Since it is currently a hunting season (residential water fowl maybe?) we were all decked out in our don't-hunt-me orange, and Roger was no exception - safety first! Dad got this for him last Fall, and although he wiggles around while I try to adjust the velcro straps, he wears it very nicely once it's on. Every pup and their people should have some orange garb for outings around this time of year.

Later that night we celebrated Mom's 63rd birthday with my seasonally-appropriate specialty, apple crisp a la mode! I also presented her with an Ithaca Farmer's Market tote bag, and a stack of stickers from the closing sale at Scribbles.

Saturday morning Mom & I headed to Alumni Hall for the day to sell at the crafts fair. I've been working on my inventory of birds, knobs, garden tags, switch plates, and puzzle piece brooches for the past several weeks, and came up with some great display methods. Meg even sent a supply of her bird and tree ornaments, which I just love! Unfortunately, it rained all day so the crowd was pretty thin but I managed to make several sales including a custom order of knobs!

Luckily, I had several fun visitors! Jessica stopped by after her morning class, and we took a lap around the craft fair together. Erin and Ryan, my favorite newly-engaged couple, brought baby Mason to visit and do a little shopping. Mason, who is now 8 months old, happily bounced around on my hip for a while, and tried to nom my necklace - darling! His grandpa bought one of my birds for him, which Mason promptly tasted, then dropped into his stroller for later. Yum!



While I was selling my crazy crafts for the day, the poor Little Sir was left behind, all alone! Psh, hardly all alone - he spent the day with his Grandpa! Of course he whined and cried when I left, and then somehow managed to gnaw on a marrow bone and cry at the same time - I mean, it's bordering on neglect, the way that dog is treated! Later he got to take a ride in Grandpa's big gray truck for a field trip to Patten's Sporting Goods, where he got a don't-hunt-me orange bandanna, which he looks adorable in.

Shortly after the crafts fair wrapped up at 4pm, we packed up the car and headed back to Burlington in time for the Hot Buttered Rum show, by far my favorite band. This is the 3rd time I've seen them at Higher Ground, and it was definitely lots of fun. However, they've added a drummer, and some of their new stuff has more of a rock sound. Which is great...but not what you want from your favorite bluegrass band! I did buy the new album, Limbs Akimbo, and I love it.

I am currently searching for another small craft fair or two to sell at this fall, so please pass along any you know of in my area. Unfortunately, the big ones here in Burlington are hundreds of dollars for a table, which is way out of proportion to the cost of what I sell. If I can't find a fair to sell at, I'll post everything to my etsy account. Also, if any of you would like custom orders, let me know!

Baby Mason's Birds

You may recall my bird project from this post back in October. Well, I finished it! I met Erin's darling Mason when I was in NH (for Haiden's 2nd birthday) and presented the proud mama with the fruits of my labor.


These pictures don't show it well, but the birds are hanging down from the crosspiece, which swings and tips quite nicely, along with each bird turning a bit. (Pardon the poor quality, the pictures are from my cell phone). Upon presentation, we held it up for Mason and he seemed appropriately enthralled :-)

The project was inspired by the picture at left, as executed by Spool Sewing. Originally the plan called for each bird to be perched on branches which would hang from each other, and swing separately. Lovely.


Alas, I completely overestimated the balancing abilities of the birds on the light balsa dowels I had chosen. I didn't realize until I was in the thick of it that there was nothing I could do to keep the branches with the birds perched upright!! It seemed no matter what I added as counter-weight on the bottom, the bird still flipped the stick over and wrapped the lines around.


Now, I couldn't simply hang the birds - they were clearly sitting, not flying! If I had more time, I would have gone back and sewn wings on each one of them. But alas, I was to present the gift the following morning - just a few short hours away - all seemed lost!


After a good night's sleep, I came around to see reason: the 2-month old and his parents wouldn't care whether the birds were flying or sitting or what. This is simply meant to be a pretty thing for their nest. So I attached individual perches to each bird, and strung them each separately. Voila!


Perhaps I will try again to achieve the originally-intended product, but clearly more weighty branches are called for in the future. Or more cooperative birds.

They say it's your birthday...

So, as it happens every few years, my 25th birthday fell on Thanksgiving. That meant I was in the warm, loving home of my parents eating way too much food, visiting lifelong friends, and trying to keep both Mom and Dad from sneaking Roger too many treats.

However, the side effect of ThanksBirthGiving Day is that the day didn't really feel like my birthday since it was already another holiday. Pumpkin pie is good, but it's no birthday cake. A group of us had planned to go out for drinks Saturday night in Burly, but for various reasons it fell through. Not exactly the hoopla I had hoped for on my quarter-century.

I did get presents, though! My parents scored a huge cache of Lu-Ray dishes from an antique store looking to stop carrying it. Dad found me an old wooden ladder to use as fun shelves, and a vicious little pocket knife.

And the star of the day: I am pleased to introduce you to the "Climbing Vine" found online at Designer Stencils. It's for my bedroom. I plan to paint the walls a pale green and stencil the vines over it in white. (Unfortunately, that's probably a long way out, considering my room still looks like my closet exploded all over it!)

OH BABY!!

Haiden Fiore, in all his six-week-old glory!! OMG he is just TOO CUTE!!! Hmm...I think I'd buy baby food or clothes or tires or bubble bath from that face, wouldn't you? I see a career in baby modeling in his future.


He's five days old here, can't believe the difference!! I won't even recognize him when I see him in two weeks!!

Jess says his sleeping is getting more regular all the time, and he survived an entire errands trip with a good mood. OF COURSE Jess would have the perfect baby!! No one is surprised!!! <3