Confessions of a Grandma

This was the view out of the bedroom window on Sunday morning: That clear, blue sky certainly invited me to get out for a walk. And the road ahead invited me to keep going. The sunshine was abundant, but its warmth did not penetrate the shade. I am sure some will puzzle over why I leave for Florida. So beautiful... And then I started remembering the last autumn tour of northern Vermont that Mike and I took.  I do have so many wonderful times to remember even as I miss him and hurt and rage over the loss of our future memories that will not be made. It is a process...

The first week we were home from Florida, I really felt at loose ends.  I had things to do around the house after more than three months away, but I didn’t feel energetic and I didn’t feel like I got much of anything worthwhile accomplished. After palm trees and sunshine, these scene from my front window does not inspire me.  My sister told me that the entire winter was this grey. This second week has been a bit better—at least for me.  Mike has been down with a stomach bug that he cannot seem to shake off for much of the time. I got back to the town library on Monday and Wednesday to do some of my volunteer tasks.  Also, the annual poetry workshop started there on Monday evening and our regular writers’ group met there on Tuesday evening.  So quite a bit of time spent at the library. I went to lunch with my friend Ginnie on Tuesday.  We went to the Cobblestone Café in Burlington.  The draw was that they serve handmade pierogis.  We eac...

*There is a drop off at the village store for supplies to be sent to Long Island for Sandy victims.  I think a town resident must have family there and will taking the donations down this weekend.  I don’t know why this requested item surprised me—heavy duty garbage bags.  Of course!  East coast dwellers are facing massive clean-up chores.  All kinds of cleaning supplies must be needed before they can get around to putting homes back in furnished order.  I am going to put together a bucket of cleaning supplies and drop it off today.  You can check out our country village store here. here. *I have to say that I am very disappointed in secession petitions.  This doesn’t seem to bode well for the idea of coming together to solve problems—and, let’s face it, this country is facing a few.  We all take turns living with election results we may not have liked.  We whine and cry for a while; then we put on our big girl pants and deal with it...

Mt. Mansfield is Vermont’s highest mountain.  It’s elevation is 4395 feet above sea level.  I guess that is small compared to some mountains of the world. For the past few days it has been looking kind of wintery. This view is less than a quarter mile north of my house.  I pass it just about every day. It is stunning at the peak of autumn color, but that was weeks ago.

The Vermont fall color on our road is definitely past peak, but I still like the metallic hues that linger the longest. For me, this is about as decorated for fall as a yard ought to be.  My yard is not even this seasonal this year. Although…I have given a nod to the season inside my house. That’s it.  The whole show. This picture represents only about one fifth of the Halloween décor in this particular yard.  I don’t know the home owners so I can’s say anything.  However, it was my house, I would be spending time putting siding over the tyvek wrapping instead of putting on all the holiday displays.  (All right, so I did say something.) I pass this barn often and I always notice the yellow cat painted in the window.  This time I snapped a picture of it. Later in my walk, three deer went racing across the road about fifty yards in front of me.  So fast!  There was no chance of getting a picture of them, but I realized why it is no...

Not to sound obnoxious to my snowbound friends and family, but I took a walk to the Farmer's Market and bought some fresh strawberries.  This is their season here.  I used them for a dessert that consisted of a puff pastry shell filled with vanilla pudding and topped with the sliced berries splashed with a touch of orange liqueur.  I used instant pudding mix but used lite coconut milk instead of dairy.  Yummy. The first time we came to Florida in the winter, I was mildly surprised to see fresh strawberries even though I'd expected to see fresh tomatoes and citrus fruits.  But, I was most surprised to see winter squashes and pumpkins freshly harvested in March.  I guess in my experience acorn squash and pumpkin season was even further away than strawberry season (June, in Vermont). There will be stacks of fresh corn at all the produce markets pretty soon.  That is one thing we never buy in Florida.  It just does not compare to the corn we bu...

Our friend stopped as part of his summer road trip with his two daughters. We went to the Lake Champlain Chocolates tour--lots of free samples provided. We also went to the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory and took that tour, then on to Dakin Farms so the girls could get some maple sugar candy and we could all graze on their free samples of cheeses, summer sausages, jams, honey, condiments. Cheap dates, all. The LCC tour reminded me of the an article in Sunday's Burlington Free Press . It was about the mother of a bride creating a complete "localvore" wedding for her daughter and new son-in-law. The flowers were all provided from her own and friends' gardens. She found a local grain grower and used their flour to make her own lasagna noodles then stuffed that with locally grown mushrooms, frozen kale from her own garden, and locally produced cheeses. She made apple and blueberry pies and a lemon tart. The lemons were harvested from a Meyer lemon tree she has as a ho...