Missed it by That Much

We spent 5 days in Vermont for Christmas. One of the best parts about visiting the Northeast Kingdom for Christmas is we get to play in the snow! My sister, Wendy, has this great sledding hill behind her house! At the top of the hill is an amazing vista. I love to go sledding. It's about my speed. Here's Jon and Trevor about halfway down the sledding hill. And Higgins, the dog, getting in the way, or trying to get in on the fun. The only problem is that there's a compost bin at the bottom of the hill and a brother-in-law who likes to push the envelope. He's a great guy and I love him but that's his only fault. (Wendy may say differently.)

So, here's the compost bin in question. It's a nice looking compost bin. Jon asked me at the top of the hill if I wanted a push. I said, "No." But he pushed anyway. I'm not saying he pushed me in the direction of the compost bin. Not saying that. But I was sledding down the hill at a good speed and heading straight for the compost bin. And the closer I got to the compost bin, the more I was saying, "No. No. No." I was doing my best to steer the sled to the left to miss the compost bin but it wasn't moving. Had I been on my Flexible Flyer I'm sure I would have had better luck.

So, I'm heading straight for the compost bin and desperately trying to steer away from it and all the while thinking to myself if I crash that's going to hurt so at the last possible second I leaned my whole body to the left and stopped the sled from crashing into the compost bin by about 1". It was very dramatic and James Bond-like. Then I got up, shook off the snow and went in the house and grabbed my camera. That was the end of sledding for me that day. I went in the house, told everyone I was making hot cocoa but I really was having a shot of Jon's whiskey.

Monkeys to the Left

This sign is at the top of the exit ramp at exit 21 off I-91 in Hatfield. It's been there for quite some time, like since the fall. But recently, I noticed that it had been modified a bit. There's a deer checking station (whatever that is) in Hatfield to the right and there's monkeys (?!) doing something in Hatfield or Northampton to the left. 

Writing in Code will Make you Blind

I've been working on a webpage this week for one of my classes and I just finished adding the final touches on it and made it go live!!!! WooHoo! Now the whole world wide web can see it!

No Leftover Pie

This year we spent Thanksgiving in different states. It worked out just fine because I had a huge paper to write for LIS 404, a.k.a. "Principles of Management", due on the 5th of December. Trevor was working on the Friday after the holiday at the Grand Summit Hotel at Mount Snow, VT. I volunteer/intern at 2 libraries on Tuesdays from 10 am to 7:30 pm. With our schedules and my deadline it made more sense for me to stay home for the holiday. Thanks to my cousin Phoebe who finagled me an invitation for Thanksgiving dinner in nearby Storrs, CT at my aunt and uncle's house.   I say "nearby" because at 1.5 hours it was far closer than my other options, which were East Burke, VT (3 hours), and Vienna, ME (5 hours).

I had a lovely, relaxing holiday with my cousins, their spouses, my aunt and uncle and their family friends. We had cocktails before dinner, jumbo shrimp (and I mean JUMBO), veggies and dip, and a delicious Thanksgiving dinner! YUM! I think Uncle Rossie makes the best gravy on the planet! Aunt Gretchen set a gorgeous table and my cousin Becca folded the crisp white napkins into some sort of bird. Everything was lovely. Dessert was fantastic too! There were 3 pies: apple, pumpkin and pecan. And homemade whipped cream to go on top. I was stuffed!

I really  enjoyed hanging out with cousin Becca in the evening chatting while we each worked on our knitting/crochet projects. 

I spent the night and had a delicious toasted bagel and a hot cuppa strong English tea in the morning before heading home.

Now here's the problem. When you spend Thanksgiving somewhere else, like I often do, you don't have any leftover pie at home. Unless you make a pie or someone sends you home with a slice or two. One thing I enjoy about Thanksgiving is leftover pie. Especially pecan pie. More specifically, my leftover pecan pie. So I came home and whined about it for a day. Then I went to the co-op in search of a slice of pie and came home with a slice of cake and a quart of ice cream. The cake was delicious but it wasn't pecan pie. And the ice cream was sweet and creamy and cold like ice cream is but it still wasn't pie. So I solved my problem on Saturday morning by making a pecan pie. My pecan pie is sweetened with honey and maple syrup. The crust is made with unsalted butter and whole wheat pastry flour. I make the pastry by hand, adding one tablespoon of ice water at a time until it's just the right consistency. The crust is tender and flaky. I chop the pecans so that when you slice the pie the slices are neat and not messy like they often are when you use whole pecans. That afternoon I had a slice of "leftover" pie with a cuppa Earl Gray. It was sooo good!

Why are All These People Calling me?

I've been wanting a desktop computer, an iMac of course, and there was an ad for one in our coop's newsletter for $200 plus a printer so I called about it. When the woman answered the phone she sounded like she was genuinely surprised to get, yet another, phone call about this computer that she was advertising for sale.

This is what she said, "Oh yeah... I've been getting a lot of calls about that. I'm not sure I want to sell it. Give me your number and if I decided to sell it I'll call."

Well geez lady, if you weren't sure you wanted to sell it then why the heck did you place an ad for it?