Bouton Christmas '06 Shots Part 2

Bouton Christmas '06 Shots Part 1

Morgan's Stocking

This is a fuzzy shot of Morgan begging for her stocking this morning. We didn't get around to opening presents until 10AM or so, which was way too long for her to wait.

Morgan's Holiday Confusion

Quechee Gorge

Here are some shots of another place we did some Christmas shopping, Quechee Gorge Shopping Center. They have a kids train that runs around the multi-acre property to give the children something to do while the parents shop. They also have an awesome Cabot cheese display where you can sample 20 different varieties among other treats.

Oh, and they have a diner, too. It's a really nice one.

I'm getting sleepy so insert your own funny comments about cheese after reading this. :)

Know your cheese!

Did you know that the Cabot cheese on your grocer's shelf is from Vermont? Have you tried any? It's gosh-darned good so go out and get some.

The interesting thing about Cabot cheese is that it isn't really a company per se, but a co-op of growers all over the state that turn their milk into various products---cheese, yogurt, ice cream (Ben & Jerry's)---sold under one label. Kinda cool, huh? Now you know more about cheese than you wanted to.

Another cool fact is that there are more cows than people in Vermont. I made that up, but it feels true when you smell the air driving through the countryside.

"Ah, that's the smell of Ben and Jerry's cows!"

Vermont in a Nutshell

Imagine a drive in Vermont and you have kids in the backseat that need entertainment. Just have them count all the anti-Bush bumper stickers and they'll fall asleep from exhaustion. Seriously.

Vermont Country Store

I imagine many people spent today rushing in and out of malls and big box stores, jostled by the large crowds and desperately wishing that their holiday shopping would end. Well, we decided to avoid all that and headed off the beaten path to the Vermont Country Store to cross items off our lists.

I doubt many malls offer wagon rides to customers, but that was one of the options for people who made it out to this great country store.

The Vermont Country Store is basically what Cracker Barrel would like its gift shop to be and is about 10 times larger. You need some red longjohns? A rubber martian toy thats eyes pop out when you squeeze it? A brand of cola that went out of business in the 40's? They've got it.

Hmm...maybe our family shouldn't read this because that stuff up above is what you are getting.

Christmas Shopping--New England Style

Today, Erin and I headed over to Vermont to finish up some Christmas shopping. The NH/VT state border is about 40 minutes from Dublin School and an easy and relaxing drive. Soon after crossing the border, we started looking for a place to have lunch.

Now the great thing about New England is that diners have never really gone out of style and you can find them in just about any town or village. We found the diner in the picture above in Bellows Falls (not to be confused with Bedford Falls in "It's a Wonderful Life") and grabbed a booth.

We soon found out that the place is owned and operated by a married couple that are two Wall Street retirees (refugees), and that they were from Sarasota at one time. The wife waits tables and the husband works in the kitchen.

"This is harder than Wall Street", the wife told us as she tended to the five or six booths and the ample counter seats. Apparently her husband "surprised" her with the purchase of the diner and they've been throwing money into it since that time since it's a box car diner that was constructed in the early '20s.

The best thing in the "Miss Bellows Falls Diner" has to be the signed cast picture from "Mels Diner" that hangs between the two bathroom doors.

Priceless.

Winter Break has begun!

The dormitories are empty, the quad is quiet and the
dining hall is closed!

Dublin School is on Winter Break!

Last night we attended our Head's Christmas party, and
I made a vegetable curry pizza. It was quite good, but
the best part was the 2-3 trays of sushi on the table
along with some dim sum from Boston.

We're putting together our plans for Christmas and
we're hoping to attend a Christmas Eve service at
the Dublin town church to sing carols and hear what
is largely a non-denominational sermon.

Anyone who knows me well will be quite surprised that
Erin is going to get me inside a church, but it's a New England
tradition and the church is beautiful.

I didn't know this, but apparently Christmas has a
religious origin and it's not just about giving and
receiving gifts. Who knew? We're learning
all kinds of crazy things in New England.

Maybe I'll bust out a dreidel and some
matzoh ball soup in the pew.

(And who knows? There might be cookies and cider.)

You can check out a webcam of the town square,and
the church on this site:

http://www.almanac.com/webcam/index.php

Snow?

Right now it is looking like a brown or gray Christmas unless
the weather changes pretty quick. The 10-day forecast on the
Weather Channel shows the possibility of snow this Tuesday or
Christmas Eve. Just about every local we meet tells us that
they are thankful we've brought Florida's weather up with us,
but you can tell there is a note of worry in their tone.
It's odd for this part of the country to have such mild weather
(highs in the 50s)and it's going to really hurt the local ski
resorts.

Last night we slept with the windows open and with our feet
outside of the covers. The down comforter we bought isn't
looking like a smart purchase at this point, but we're still
holding on to hope.

Strange Text

You might notice there are some posts with some strange formatting (odd indentations, one-word lines, etc.) and I can't figure out why this site does this. When I take a look at it in edit and preview, the post is perfect, and then I post it and it looks like a word jumble. I'm hoping it doesn't make it less enjoyable to read. Sorry.

Snow Dog

While I was out running in the snow, Erin took Morgan out for her
first walk in the snow. We had about 2-3 inches and that was more than
enough for Morgan to play around in. She quickly tasted the snow
and figured out it was similar to ice cubes we've tried to feed her
before. Erin told me Morgan loved running around in the drifts
and sinking in her paws.

I can't wait to take her on the trails when we get some real snow. 

16 Degrees (Feels like 2)

After a trip to EMS (Eastern Mountain Sports for you Southerners) to
get some cold weather gear, I headed out for my second practice with
the cross-country ski team. We did 3 laps in the snow up and down our
upper and lower field and that was after 30 minutes of warm-up exercises.
I didn't feel that cold outside; however, I came in and checked the computer
to find out it was 16 frickin' degrees out there!

What was I thinking?

I guess it is all mental, though, and I won't check the thermometer
again before heading out.

By the way, the team I'm training with is getting ready for a
Canadian cross-country ski marathon next year that involves
50 miles a day of skiing over 3 or 4 days. It's an incredible test
of endurance and one of my colleagues has been doing it
for about 30 years. Unbelievable.

Cross-Country Skiing

Erin and I have purchased cross-country skis and poles in
anticipation of some big snow this season. Since I don't know
anything about cross-country skiing, or any type of skiing,
I've joined Dublin's ski team to pick up some tips.

Today was my first day at practice and they ran four miles,
I gave in at two since I'm just starting, with the poles up and
down the different hills on our school's trails. It's quite
a workout, and I'm going to be painfully sore in the morning.

Hopefully, Erin and I will be on the trails, with pics for you, this
winter.

Christmas Tree '06

So we showed you our search for the new tree and how much fun
we had cutting it down, but you are probably wondering what the final
product looks like. Here it is...




 

Snow!

I'm sorry I had many of you excited about the possibility of our first snow
 in my previous post, but now it's really snowing and there could be 
2 inches on the ground when we wake up! And talk about your Floridian
firsts, I just helped Andy, our maintenance guru, hook up a snow plow
to one of the trucks.

It's really odd for us to have now real snow this late in
the year, and many of the locals are noting that it's been
one of the warmest years they can remember.

Here are a couple shots of the snow coming down in the dark.

 

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This just in...

There is a 60% chance of snow falling this evening, and it's so exciting I can't stand it. Finally, we will have the winter weather we've been promised all year! Erin is down in Florida for a wedding and that leaves me and the pup to see the first flakes of the year really come down. I'm not sure if anyone is actively reading this, but I'll post the first pics of the pup in the snow as it happens.

We might have our first snowman, sorry, snowperson by tomorrow afternoon!!

Christmas Tree Farm

Today we headed over to the Hancock Christmas Tree Farm to pick up our Christmas tree. It was very exciting for two Floridians used to picking up their tree at the local Lowe's or roadside stand. Who knew that trees actually grew out of the ground or that you could cut down your own? What a country!

We put Morgan in the car and headed over to hunt for our tree. The pics below detail our journey:

Here is Morgan in the back of the Forrester. As you can tell by the shot, she thought we abandoned her. One of the wonderful things about New England is that you can leave your pup in the car and not worry about the heat.

Morgan started us off by hunting around the Charlie Brown-sized trees and all appeared lost until we discovered much taller specimens in the back. It's a lot of fun to hunt for your own tree in what is basically a miniature forest.
We picked this tree after looking at 4 others. It's really funny to discuss what the "front" of the tree will be without being able to spin it around. Also, since the tree was on a slope, we had to do some creative measuring.

This is a great shot of the tree actually falling over after I cut it down with a hacksaw. It was pretty easy to do, but you still have to carry it back to the measuring station a couple hundred yards away.

The attendant measures your tree with a height chart similar to the ones kids use when getting on roller coasters. Ours was a 7-footer and we paid $35.

Brian cleaning up the base so it will fit in the stand.

Here we are taking our wonderful Christmas tree home!

Cutting our own tree down was a wonderful experience, and we hope to do it every year. We also had a classic New England drive home with Christmas music on the radio. Perfect.

The Wedding Cake: One Year Later

Some of you who attended our wedding might be interested in the above pic. As you can see, the chocolate puppy paws are still visible after a year of sitting in the freezer. Thanks to Susan, Erin's Mom, we were able to preserve the cake and she had it shipped up here in dry ice. What an awesome mother-in-law!

The cake, filled with chocolate mousse, tasted as incredible as the day we cut it at the Bayboro House* on Nov. 19th.

Seriously, if you need a cake for any reason---run, don't walk, to Cakes on the Dot!

* The Bayboro House, sadly, was bought by a religious group and is no longer open to the public.

Reason #943 Why dogs are better than kids.

Now that it's time to decorate for Christmas, Erin and I brought the decorations up from the basement. Inside the boxes were Morgan's toys that we put away each year for the next holiday season. You should have seen the excitement on her face when she was reunited with her old friends. Balls were quickly put under the bed, Santa had his fluff pulled out and a stuffed candy cane was gnawed on once more.

Try to pull that trick on your human children and see what happens! I'll tell you what will happen...tears, recriminations, and years of therapy.

"You are going to HATE the weather up there!"

The phrase above is what we heard every time we told our family, friends, or co-workers that we were moving up to the Great White North. Well, as you can tell from the included picture---we're not exactly up to our navels in the white powder.

Trust me, that Al Gore is on to something.

Looking for a healthy cranberry sauce recipe?

New Hampshire is famous for exporting two things---maple syrup and something else I can't remember. Since maple syrup is so plentiful, we decided to make our own cranberry recipe, which we took from CBS Sunday Morning, that includes the following ingredients:

cranberries (shocking!)

orange juice (a touch of Florida)

2 cups of maple syrup

mango

The resulting concoction is delicious and has more sugar than is healthy to think about. The best way to describe it is by imagining a trip to IHOP where the waitress brings the pancakes; and you just suck down the syrup jar and top if off with a jar of jam.

Turducken Day '06: The Guests

Most people invite family or friends over to celebrate Turducken Day (I'm hoping this name catches on!) ; however, we had dogs instead. Dogs don't complain that the turkey is dry, they don't get drunk on tryptophan and pass out on the couch and they certainly don't tell embarassing family stories that should remain private. Our special guests this year were Logan Knapp, a Golden Retriever, and Sophie Christianson, a border collie mix. Morgan was a great host and allowed both pups to steal her thunder, and her toys, on this special day.

You are likely looking at the included pictures and thinking, "They need to have some kids," and you are probably right. :)

Turducken Day '06: The Turducken

Since we are both spending our first Thanksgiving in New Hampshire, we decided to spice up our lives with some local flavor and an entree that was a bit more exciting than a turkey--a turducken! What is a turducken, you ask? Well, it is a turkey stuffed with a chicken and then stuffed again with a duck inside! It's triple your poultry value for a paltry sum of 16 dollars.