Vermont Summer 2010

For this summer's week in Vermont, we once again had Hardy with us. We met up in the Detroit airport for the flight to Manchester, NH where we picked up a rental car and headed north. For this trip, all the travel gods were in accord, flights on time, car ready and waiting, no traffic to speak of. By 8:20pm, we were pulling up to Papelousu for dinner with Henri, Lisa, Strite and the kids. After dinner as we rocked on the porch, Hardy entertained us with some of the original music he wrote in the last year.

After a swim Sunday morning, Henri and clan departed, followed by Strite. Alan and Hardy journeyed over to the Connecticut River. They promised to return "early" in time for dinner. Luckily for me, I've been around long enough to realize that would never happen on an evening as beautiful as this one, so I enjoyed a solo meal on leftovers from Henri's stay and watched the end of Love is a Many Splendored Thing. My, movies have changed. About 10pm, the Explorer came racing down the driveway and out hopped a happy Hardy and Alan. Hardy then proceeded to whip up a delicious impromptu Mexican meal. Dinner at 11pm -- awesome. Both fishermen had success, catching 20+ fish, mostly native bows, browns, and brooks. As the evening came to an end, the sun was descending in the sky with Mt Monadnock looming in the distance and a huge blue heron coasted down the calm river. Gorgeous!

Yesterday was Canadian shopping day, starting off at the farm stand where we got corn, tomatoes, peaches, blueberries and raspberries plus a maple cream pie -- yum! Exiting the farm stand, we just had to go to the Laitrie to sample what Priscilla had advertised as maple-toffee ice cream. It wasn't on the menu but the girls behind the counter knew what they were talking about and Alan and Hardy were soon licking enormous cones. I settled for a bite of Alan's -- delicious but sweet, sweet, sweet. While we stood there licking, a local gentleman came up and started talking to us. He was from Quebec but shopped both sides of the border for the best deals and was familiar with northern Vermont. In fact, he was going to Quimby's for dinner that night to celebrate a friend's birthday who worked at QC 50 years ago! Small world, small world.

From there, on the to IGA for some of that wonderful Quebecois pork, a carton of maple ice cream, and some cheese. We decided to wander the countryside a bit, going over to cross the border at Beecher Falls so we could stop at the farm stand. The country around here is dotted with small, perfectly maintained farms; it truly looks like an idyllic lifestyle. At the Beecher Falls border crossing, we got a very serious trainee who asked us everything and looked at everything. We even overheard him asking his trainer, "The corn is on the cob -- should I inspect it?" Giggle. But they let us back in the country, even though we had tomatoes.

Lettuce, spinach, and shallots at the farm stand and then home for Hardy to make his wonderful pork ribs (recipe on the blog from July 2007) which were outstanding. Following a great dinner of ribs, corn, salad, and tomato slices, we headed over to Quimby's for the annual shareholder's meeting. It was an interesting affair that revealed the complexity of managing a jointly owned property with many different generations of owners and differences of opinion. We're trying to make changes to QC to keep it operational but, as always, change is hard. Finished up the evening hanging with Warren and Boone in Hare's Ear.

Tuesday we waited for the plumber to get here (he was late); he showed up just in time to witness us finishing a spinach-potato frittata courtesy of Hardy (truly, I could get used to this). Then we headed down to the ponds to try out some rods -- me on Pinky, Alan on his dad's Leonard, and Hardy on his grandfather's Phillipson Pacemaker. We all got little native brookies out of the upper pond -- beautiful little fish.

Tuesday afternoon we headed to Lopstick to hook up with Bill for a wade on the Connecticut. After a brief consult, we were off to the trophy section below first dam where water flows were a mellow 150cfs. As soon as we hit the water, the skies opened for a brief but convincing downpour -- we were drenched to the bone. I started off the day with a beautiful rainbow and then continued on to get two more rainbows plus a small salmon. Alan and Hardy ended up with several rainbows each and Hardy hooked a beautiful 12" brookie. All on Caddis with a nymph dropper, fish taking both flies.

About 5:30, we returned to Lopstick to purchase dry shirts and to get cash to buy much-needed sandwiches from Young's. Suitably restored, we entered the arctic waters below Murphy Dam where the temperature stays a cool 53 degrees. Incredibly beautiful evening on the river produced only two fish -- Alan got a fat 12" rainbow on a streamer and Hardy got a small brookie on a dropper off the Caddis. I got nothing but enjoyed the gorgeous evening. As the sun's last rays were disappearing, the adjacent fields were clouded with mist and there was insectlife galore, especially Caddis. This bounty appears to have been ignored by the resident trout below Murphy Dam who must dine on more sophisticated delicacies because there was not a rise in sight.

Finished the evening by a little after nine, arrived back at camp at 10:05pm, catching glimpse of three moose by Priscilla's on the way. Hardy rallied to whip up a delicious pork schnitzel, along with salad, corn, and new potatoes. Finishing dinner as we speak at 11:25pm. Surely this qualifies us for Russian-level sophistication. The laugh is on Alan and Hardy because in fewer than eight hours they will be on the river again for an all-day float with Bill starting at 7:30am. Ha ha ha!

Garden Update

All the tomatoes but one in as of this weekend. Brussel sprouts moved to the compost pile after not performing and starting to get eaten by what I suspect are the same green wormies that ate the collards last year.

I planted the cuke that Thomas grew from seed and also one zucchini. We'll see if Alan can stand them fresh from the garden.

I am excited about some new varieties of tomato planted this year, including something called a Park's Whopper that promises big, meaty 4" fruit. That one's out front with some Greek columnar oregano. The celebrity is the last one to plant. I may pull the swiss chard and do it in there. The chard never really grew and neither did the spinach, despite both wintering over.

Also repotted three hibiscus that were on sale at Pike's. They're really beautiful, two red and one a beautiful peach color.

I also planted the coneflower I'd gotten two weeks ago at Habersham. We'll see if it lives -- nothing else has in that location.

First tomatoes are in

Got the first tomatoes in tonight. Four that I purchased from the Emory Farmer's Market a couple of weeks ago.

In order, they are:

Burpee Supersteak in Pike's container soil (10-8-4)
Beefmaster in Fafard Organic Potting Mix (10-5-4)
Juliette in Fafard complete container mix (18-6-12)
Grapette in Fafard complete container mix

Probably too much nitrogen in the Fafard container -- didn't look at that prior to planting.

One more Celebrity to plant and then I'm sure there will be other tasty items making their way here. I can't see that peppers are worth it as they rarely produce much. I have some brussel sprouts in but I doubt they produce anything as it's starting to get warm. Some of the lettuce is going like gangbusters -- under Alan's office -- if it gets going, we should at least get one crop.

Walk in the rain

One of our favorite things to do in Zug is to walk. In the old town, down the Bahnhofstrasse to the station past the shops, and, of course, along the lake. My personal favorite is to hike up the hill behind Nan's until you reach a pedestrian path that parallels the lake. It's a beautiful walk with great vistas of the lake and through green gardens and a few last farms.



Today dawned gray and rainy and we decided to hunker down for dinner to have a prototypical Swiss meal, fondue! Ferdi and Suzi had a fondue pot so we were in luck. Hot cheese, crusty bread, a big green salad -- we're in! If we were truly Swiss, we would add boiled potatoes to the meal but thankfully we are not, as I've had more potatoes in the last week than I usually do in a month. We did cheat a bit and got the prepackaged cheese mix from the refrigerator section (versus compiling the cheese blend ourselves) but it's going to bubble over a flame and the label is in German, so that's got to be authentic, right?

Along about 5:45 the light was dwindling and my legs were itching for a walk, so despite the rain, I headed out on my favorite walk. Up the hill, over the fields, and down to Oberwil, then back home. There were brussel sprouts growing in the fields and sheep still on a plot of land that I understand will eventually become housing.... I hope they save some of the open, historic space.



The evening was beautiful in spite of, or, because of, the rain: the air was moist and soft, with low gravid clouds hanging over the lake, and the soft lights of Rotkreuz in the distance. The fog was creeping down the flanks of the Zugerberg (it will enclose the house by early am).

No camera taken because of the rain, so we'll have to make due with shots from last time.

Day in Luzern

Thursday promised to be the only day with any hint of sun, so Alan and I headed over to Luzern. Especially if you get an express train, it's a very quick ride -- only 20-25 minutes through beautiful Swiss countryside. In this part of Switzerland, at least, farmland is still active and you can get a glimpse of how lives have been lived for centuries.

Our destination in Luzern was the New Modern Art Museum or Neues Kuntstmuseum, which is located next to the train station. Frommer's noted that it housed special exhibits plus a permanent collection of works ranging from the 15th to the 20th centuries, in addition to special modern exhibitions. Suffice it to say, that the current special exhibitions were less than impressive -- one consisted of photo montages of subjects who had been asked to perform "magic" in front of the camera. "Magic" seemed mostly to confirm the human ego, as people posed and preened for the camera. There were a few powerful compositions but mostly not. Then, there was a video and audio installation that was just impenetrable. The best exhibit, which possibly was a gesture to the permanent collection, was some cases containing small, similar rocks in rows (one spiral). When we left the exhibits area, I inquired about the permanent collection, only to be told, this was it! Okay....All in all, not worth the admission price.

We did have a very nice lunch in the museum cafe of Indonesian rice and then an apricot tart. With the sun out, we wandered through the old town, seeing the remnants of Monday's carnival celebrations. Walking over the Spreuerbrücke (Mills Bridge), we observed some major construction occurring on the lock controlling the flow of the Reuss River. It does seem like all of Switzerland is under construction.

With blue skies overhead and clear views of the Rigi and the Pilatus peeking through the clouds, we searched for an option to go for a boat tour but, alas, there were none to be found. Most of the tours were closed for the winter.

So, after picking up a plum tart for desert at Confiserie H&M Kurmann, we took the 4:10 home to Zug. Wandered down to our favorite place on the lakeshore of the Zugersee, we settled in to watch a lovely sunset. Unlike previous evenings where we were the only couple, there were many folks enjoying the sun and the relatively warm air. Earlier in the week, the ice was treacherous down here but with the 40 degree weather, it all had melted. It's been a cold and snowy winter in Zug and everyone is ready for spring.

Home for dinner, we enjoyed Aklin pork and vegetables, while watching the Olympic ladies combined.

Flickr photos.

Flower shop at 15 Arthurstrasse

We were here to help celebrate Nan's birthday so it was only appropriate that her apartment was turned into a flower shop with contributions from her sister and brother-in-law, the Cattier boys, and her godson. Oh, and I got some very sweet long stem roses from my Valentine. :-)

We had champagne with Ferdi and Suzi to celebrate and then birthday dinner was at the Bauernhof, overlooking the city lights. Alan had lamb curry, Nan pork, and I had a delicious cheese spaetzle with salad.

Flowers on flickr.

Safely in Zug where some things are the same, and some not.

We arrived safely in Zug, courtesy of Delta and the SBB. We were an hour late, thanks to an overflowing toilet in Atlanta but at last were safely on our way. Uneventful flight -- at times the plane was moving at more than 700 mph courtesy to some amazing tailwinds. Unusually, we pursued those tailwinds on a southerly route, over Bermuda, rather than the usual northern route.

Nanny met us at the train station and we headed home in a cab. The Zugersee looked the same, as did town and Nanny's house. Until we looked in the backyard, that is. Where once were peaceful kitchen gardens and a parking lot is now a large construction site, right outside Nan's back door. Cranes swing materials back and forth, while dump trucks haul off dirt and concrete pourers are active everywhere. The site is to become a retirement community, one of four in the canton. The Swiss take very nice care of their older population, as you might imagine, and the cost of their care is born by the canton.

In other news, Alan got DSL working at Nan's! Very exciting. No longer do we have to go to the Postplatz for wireless. It's slow and has broken once, but better than nothing.

Photos available on flickr due to upload difficulties.