2010 Winter Classic Adventure begins!

As most of you know, Alan's birthday is December 31st and as many of you know, this year we are celebrating with a hockey road trip. Two Thrashers road games v. the Bruins and the Islanders sandwich attendance at the New Year's Day NHL Winter Classic in Boston, featuring the Bruins v. the Flyers.



The fun started yesterday, leaving sunny Atlanta mid-afternoon. Hartsfield felt very at home since we'd just been there Sunday (I actually identified with George Clooney's character in Up in the Air....) and the flight up to Boston was pleasant and quick. Our bags arrived (yay) and we were ready to navigate Boston's rapid transit system, the T. Google said all the surface streets were "red," so it seemed the optimal and cost-effective strategy to employ. Two transit passes later, he hopped on the airport shuttle to the blue line and were on our way. Very impressive and navigable system, although the cars on the green line appear fairly aged. Made our way to the Marriot Copley and checked into a nice room overlooking the Charles River.



Since we got to the hotel about 6:30 and the game was at 7pm, there wasn't anything else to do but don jerseys and head back to the green line. Quick trip to the North Station where all we had to do was follow the streaming Bruins fans. Our seats were great -- same corner as Atlanta but in row 4 (their zamboni entrance is in the opposite corner) so we got to see the Bruins attacking first period. Unfortunately, we got to see them a lot as they quickly scored.


It was a rather sad game to watch as a Thrashers' fan. We were close enough to the ice to see facial expressions and it was clear no one was having any fun out there. Ilya looked despondent as did Antropov. The veterans tried to keep it together but only Evander Kane had any real energy. Pavelec clearly couldn't see the puck and was pulled after three goals. Moose did his usual show of flash and style to keep it 4-0 but that's all he could do. I have two words for the Thrashers: fore-check.



The stadium was older but you could tell the franchise had more money -- the jumbotron was enormous and HD. And the advertising much greater. Two thumbs down for the bathrooms which were not sized for a sell-out crowd. Food was 50-50. We split a great roast beef sandwich from the Carvery which was excellent, but the sausages were only so-so. More variety of food, though. Very different crowd, obviously. A sellout and much more colorful commentary and advice to the refs. The mood reminded me a lot of high school...and not in a good way. Makes me realize how much I've changed, living for twenty years in Atlanta.



There was one noticeable difference from Phillips Arena -- the guys cleaning the ice wore all their clothes!

We got back to the hotel room and watched An Education, which we both thought was excellent.

Alan's birthday has dawned (at least for me -- he's still asleep) gray but no rain. We will meet up with cousin Bill today and then tonight we are venturing to the North End for dinner at an Italian-Peruvian restaurant called Taranta.

Forecast looks like tomorrow's game will go! I think our seats are kind of behind home plate up at the top on the third base side.

End of 2009's summer garden

We had our first 30 degree days in the last two weeks, so it's time to retire the summer garden and prepare for the winter one. Took a trip to Pike's for flats of pansies and picked up some 2 for 1 perennials, too. Seems like I can never get out of there for under $50...

Came home and retired all the tomato plants. Some were still producing but the flavor wasn't great and the skins tough. And, frankly, after the summer's bounty, I've had enough tomatoes for awhile!

For the record, this year's crop was two patio, one early girl, one husky cherry red, one bush goliath, one yellow pear, and an heirloom, kellogg's breakfast. The heirloom was far and away the best tasting but many fruit developed blossom rot and it didn't fruit that well. The early girl produced prolifically but the taste and texture weren't attractive. The yellow pear produced hundreds of small, sweet fruit -- Barb's favorite! The bush goliath and husky cherry were nothing special. The patio's were fine and well suited for the pots, although not suitable for upside down treatment.

Hampton Island Preserve

We're here with good friends for a weekend of fun, great food, and wonderful wine here at Hampton Island Preserve. This is a special place -- you can tell that the minute you drive onto the property. Just off of I-95, you nonetheless feel like you're entering a different time and place. Deer darting into the woods, sea grasses glistening in the evening light, rocking chairs on the porch overlooking wetlands -- you get the idea.

As if the place isn't enough, we have the kind of friends here that you treasure always. Due to awesomely responsible jobs that they all hold, names will remain nameless, but let's just say they we expect Lots Of Fun from this weekend. :-)

Tonight started with a champagne-accompanied trip down to the treehouse, yes, treehouse, where we ladies will apparently have massages on Saturday. Let me tell you, this is the way to get a massage, looking out over the marsh lands, the sky soft and rich in the distance.

Our "drop off" dinner featured some amazing pork tenderloin, grilled asparagus, and excellent sweet potatoes, along with a salad picked from fresh greens on the property. Yum! Alan picked a great in to go with and a fine evening was held by all.

Frozen fingers and toes

The day dawned cold....really cold. Like 39 degrees. Absolutely superb fishing weather (yea, right). I dropped Alan off at 9am to spend the day with guide Bill, who turned out to be a wonderful source of information about the area and was a great guide, to boot.

Our ultimate mountain guide, Jim, said "what a perfect day to go on top of Baldy and see hundreds of miles!" Suzy and I said, "sure, sounds good, we could go for a Baldy burger." So, we set out, and not being stupid, we grabbed our sweatshirts in case of chill. Then hiked up the LiftLine trail, stopping at Vulture Pt, and it was a very nice day to hike -- about 60 degrees, not too crowded, and the ascent steady but not a killer, about an hour in all.

The plan was to get on the lift at mid-point and head up for our Baldy burgers. However, a pimple-faced employee insisted that we have tickets. Now, we can tell you that we have employed this strategy of hiking to the midpoint many times and never been turned down. Curses on said employee.



Valiant Suzy volunteered to return down the chairlift to the bottom to purchase tickets, since they were not available for purchase at the midpoint. Little did she know, that she was heading into an arctic headwind. Blue and chattering, tears streaming down her face, she stumbled off the lift to the ticket office. "Do I have my cell phone," she thought? "Because those dummies can come right on down here and we'll have our burgers in civilization." Alas, no, it was not to be, so plucky Suzy headed back up into cold, eastern wind.

Tickets in hand, we boarded the lift for the top. And, dear readers, it was cold, very cold. The sun disappeared and the wind was steady. Our fleeces and sweatshirts were not, alas, adequate to the task and our frozen fingers were seeking warmth wherever they could discover...

It really wasn't heartening to see the folks in parkas going down the mountain.


Once on top, the sun re-appeared and we eagerly sought out the shelter of a building to suss out the scene. For once, all the outdoor picnic tables were open -- imagine. And we were happy to see the burger man flipping his wares outside the restaurant. Nevertheless, once we procured our various sandwiches and our potato chips, we had to resort to inside seating. The chip bags were something else -- the altitude differential made them puff up to max capacity. This made them quite interesting to open -- it wasn't too bad once you borrowed the jack hammer, though.

As we prepared to head down, a few small snow flakes blowing horizontally in the winds passed us by. Oh, yes, Idaho in August.

On the trip down, Suzy and I used my little kangaroo pouch and held hands the whole time, which helped. And, finally, we were at the bottom. Ah, the warmth of 60 degrees.


Fishing Report

There are days when as a fisherman, you are the vanquisher and there are days that you are vanquished. Today was one of the latter.

Weather forecast for Sun Valley tonight is 33 degrees with snow showers.

Heading back to Hotlanta and back to school tomorrow.

Second Sun Valley Day

The day dawned cloudy and the weather reports weren't encouraging on this Friday morning. We thought it might be a day for watching golf, but headed out to try to pick some raspberries at the Sawtooth Botanical Garden while the rain held off. The garden was very interesting, especially the Garden of Infinite Compassion, which honors the Dalai Lama's visit to the Wood River Valley. The garden itself is very peaceful with a wandering stream whose splashing masks the traffic of Highway 75. In 2005, the Dalai Lama consecrated and blessed one of two Tibetan Prayer Wheels in North America.

The raspberries proved a bust, unfortunately, but it was worth seeing the garden. Suzy and I walked back on the Wood River Trail, which was about a mile and a half. The paved trail stretches from Hailey to Ketchum and was converted from a rail system--it's flat and in the sun an absolute anvil. This morning, we enjoyed the cloud cover and even felt a few rain drops.

Lunch at home featured more of Alan's wonderful cedar planked salmon from the night before. Then I did some writing by the pool, finally finishing the Quadrangle article. Late afternoon, Alan, Suz, Jim, and I did the lower part of the Chocolate Gulch trail, which we all agreed was more beautiful this year because of all the rain. The wildflowers were awesome.

Back at the house, time for a pre-dinner swim and hottub and then we headed to the Ketchum Grill for another yummy dinner.

Sun Valley Sun!

Yesterday, amazingly, we went Back to Hartsfield where we had been only one short week ago. 5am wakeup call, 5:30am ride to airport, 7am flight to Salt Lake City, arrived in Hailey at 11am. Yowza. Flights were fine but when the Embrair 200 feels more comfortable than the 757-200, you know mainstream flying sucks.

Sleep-deprived hazy day yesterday, visiting with Suzy, Jim, and Kitty. Lounging by the pool, lamb dinner, early bedtime. Woke up after 10 hours of sleep much refreshed. Suz and Jim took a hike this morning, while Alan and I worked, and then we headed up to Galena Lodge for lunch. Luck was in for Jim and Alan because their favorite "Around the River Bend" beer was on tap! A couple of elk burgers later, we headed back to Ketchum.

Shopping at Atkinson's was crazy busy as usual, so Suz and I made short shrift of it. Well, as short as it can be when you have to get fish at the fish counter.... I went to the kitchen store and got the last cedar planks in town -- cedar-planked silver salmon tonight!

Back at the ranch, we enjoyed some sun and swimming, chatting about memorable golf cheating moments at Piping. Then, Jim headed for a nap and Alan, Suzy, and I took a 50 minute hike on the Greenhorn trail -- very pretty and the cloud cover was welcome, as was the breeze. We've got a cold front headed in tomorrow and expect 32 degrees Saturday am. Alan has booked a fishing trip for that day but says he'll call it if the winds are 30 mph.



The light on the hills is very beautiful as I write this poolside blog post. This truly is a wonderful spot.

Summer Vermont adventuring

We are back in Atlanta, our summer Vermont adventures at an end. Boo! But it is great to snuggle with the cats and we returned to a bountiful crop of tomatoes. Fresh tomato sauce and spaghetti was on the menu tonight!

In our remaining days at camp, we had some good sun days. Saturday started with breakfast pancakes (with blueberries or raspberries) courtesy of Dawn and then we basically had a sunny, lake averill day. Alan and I circumnavigated the lake in the canoe, then we had beach time. Then we had a new type of adventure: "Chicks on the East Branch Road."

When we finished up with Bill on Thursday, we had turned a corner back in the timber company land and happened upon two chickens -- obviously domesticated, obviously beautiful, obviously out of place. Mentioned this to Dawn when she and John came up on Friday and she was determined to catch them and take them home to her flock (they will survive for no time in the north woods due to predators or the cold). So, after our beach time on Saturday, Dawn and I headed up with the large fishing net and two cardboard boxes, determined to catch the chickens.

First challenge was to find them. Fortunately, they were right where we saw them on Thursday. Next up, the strategy -- Dawn charged through the woods to drive them onto the road where I waited with the large fishing net -- all in bathing suits, sandles, and t-shirts. No, there are no videos. And we caught the dark one, which we named "Sable." But "Averill," the sassy red hair was a total *itch. "She" even flew.

A gentleman in a Ford pickup stopped by, mightily entertained at this spectacle, which I must admit, must have looked amusing. We sent him on his way.

I ran back home to get the boys for help, but even with four people we couldn't land Averill. "She" ran us ragged and even dumped Alan in the dirt. Time to call it a day. Humans 1, chickens 1.

The laugh of the story was that when Dawn got home and introduced Sable to her flock, it turned out "she" was a "he." Suddenly, the dumping of roosters made more sense..... I'm gone but Dawn promises to return with a have-a-heart trap and some scratch next weekend. They're beautiful chickens --gorgeous plumage and they really should be saved. I have complete faith in Dawn.

My Mom arrived Sunday, Alan's Monday. Sunday was dark and rainy, and we had friends Hans and Inge over for drinks, meaning we had to have a roaring fire. Turns out my Mom and Hans both went to the same graduate program in urban planning at Harvard back in the 1950s -- and Hans knew Mom's roommate. Small world.

Tuesday, we headed to North Hatley for lunch, which was very nice. Our regular restaurant appears to have changed hands but the patio was still the same lovely place and the mussels were excellent. For the last afternoon at camp, Alan and I went down to the beach, where we found the loon family -- they were very close in, feeding, and generally enjoying the day. I got Jen's lens and tried to hold it steady -- not a trivial feat.

Dinner was at Quimby's -- cookout at the rock, which was just lovely.



Back at home, a tomato bonanza!