From the earth

This day profoundly reminded us from where we get our food -- the earth.

Mid-morning, we went back over to Hans's to help him harvest the last of his vegetable garden and to receive some lovely bounty in return. From the garden there were baby yellow squash that you would pay $5.99/lb for at Whole Foods plus swiss chard, beets, and the most amazing stalks of brussel sprouts that required a saw to hack off. In the greenhouse, there were still some heirloom tomatoes and in the garage, potatoes and carrots. We won't have to shop for any veggies this week! A vegetable garden is such an amazing thing.

After a brief lunch, we headed over to Colebrook via Caanan Hill Rd which was regraded this year. Lots of traffic on the road today as we passed through the yellow haze of fall leaves (not much red this year or right now). More houses up here than ever -- more houses in the north country than ever -- makes you wonder about the economy, financing, all of the above.

Arrived at the Two Sparrows Orchard which is just east of Colebrook off Rte 26. We came here two years ago about two weeks earlier in the season and got the most amazing Paula Reds, which are the best applesauce apple ever. This year, we got Macs and Cortlands. A bag for Priscilla, a bag for Hans, and a bag for us. Yum, they are delicious. Gorgeous day, lots of sunshine and high clouds. Lake is lapping, however....

Nice long walk down Jackson Rd this afternoon, saw a few trucks but no real traffic. Got back to the house and the sunset looked promising, so we jumped in the car and headed up Brousseau Mt Rd. Up on sunset hill, we had company -- Suzy and Peter Chapman and their two dogs!

Back at the house, Alan took the lead on a curry-infused beer chicken, while I made mashed potatoes and roasted carrots and onions. A great day that reminds us all of where we get our sustenance from.

Side note -- Pulled Edna Ferber's So Big from the shelves when I got here and am captivated once again by this Pulitzer-prize winning novel. What a picture of the times set against the vagaries of parents-ambition for children...or vice versa. A great and readable book.

First Day at Camp

Wonderful first day at camp on our last trip of the year. This one feels extra-special because it's a 10-dayer, so it promises the possibility of rejuvenation as only camp can offer. We arrived amidst the remnants of what was clearly the drenching of the summer. Coming from Montreal, we passed through North Hatley where the picnic benches and gazebo sat fully 6' into the lake. The Coaticook River was roaring its way north, having clearly reached the top of its banks the day before.

Today dawned cool and sunny, a brilliant if cool fall day. Tons of sun, remnants of foliage. Gary, a friend and classmate of Alan's from Dartmouth, came up for the day with his two youngest and we had a great day visiting, eating, walking, and fishing. Youngest son Gordon sported a Fenwick 5 1/2" fiberglass rod with a mid-70s vintage Penn reel. For such a young caster, a sweet little rod that he put to good use. He tried his tricks and talents on the dam and at Big Rock. No fish, but the promise of future fishing adventures clearly loomed for Gordon. Daughter Cora quietly surveyed the scene and took it all in. A true girl of the north country, we talked of the Indian Stream Republic, as well as the history of logging on the Averill Lakes. Laura, Gary's wife, is lucky to have had such precocious students in her home schooling efforts.

Visiting with Gary was a joy from memories of the Providence GD show to adventures 4-wheeling in the Berkshires, lots of great stories and a good friend. We had a wonderful walk down to Big Rock amidst the just past peak autumn foliage and then back to camp for some Coaticook maple ice cream. All agreed it was the best ever. Gary, like Alan, never could have maple walnut ice cream, but Coaticook's maple is the real deal.

As Gary returned to Johnson, I got the great idea to go for an early evening fall canoe cruise. The water was a bit cold getting in but nothing bad and the canoe ride was lovely. Views of Mt Averill revealed a stately lady with her colors just past. The Snares camp is shut up and the boats away. Lake very quiet and lovely evening colors.

Eveningwise, we headed up the hill to Hans's for a drink in his sun room. He proudly privisioned us with homemade cassis and pinot grigio -- yum. And we enjoyed a nice sunset and turkeys on the lawn, along with good conversation with a good friend.

Sun Valley 2010

Joined Jim and Suz another time in Sun Valley at 33 Cliffside. We were greeted by an uncharacteristically cloudy day but still managed to enjoy lunch at Shorty's home of the famous Orange freeze. This time Jim's younger sister, Lisa, joined us. Naps in the afternoon and the our luggage showed up about 5pm, which was great because it was pants weather. I did not bring warm enough clothes -- with it as hot in Atlanta as its been, it just is impossible to pack warm clothes. Hot tubbing before dinner and then some wonderful lamb chops from the grill, along with some corn Alan had bought on Sunday in Maine. Finished up with raspberry pie and butter pecan ice cream.

Thursday was cloudy, too, but that didn't keep us from taking the new gondola up Mt Baldy for lunch at the roundhouse. The gondolas are a definite improvement over the open chair lift, at least in my opinion. And they are quiet! Speaking of quiet, the car Suzy rented is a hybrid electric and it is so silent you can't even tell you've started it. In fact, on a couple of occasions, it has been left running for long periods of time.... Lunch at the Roundhouse was good -- burgers and chicken sandwiches along with -- DORITOS. We ate seven bags in all. Well, the burgers did take awhile to get there. We fixed dinner of wonderful cedar planked Idaho trout -- highly recommended. However, a lot must be attributed to the quality and freshness of the trout.

Friday finally brought sun -- yay! We celebrated by driving up for lunch at Galena Pass. Alan and Jim had their special beer, made by a guy in Hailey who only distributes kegs to restaurants. Apparently, it lived up to its reputation as they scarfed them down. After lunch, a quick peek at the Sawtooth and then headed back to Ketchum for a nap and then to hike the Chocolate Gulch Trail which offered its usual lovely views of the river. Such a hike must be rewarded and we did so with cocktails in the pool and hot tub. Dinner was out at the Ketchum Grill.

Saturday Lisa departed for Santa Barbara, so the four of us decided on a morning hike up the Liftline Trail followed by lunch at the Gold Club, followed by errands in town and then a visit to the Arts and Crafts Festival. All in all, a gorgeous Sun Valley day.

Returning home

After 12 hours of travel by automobile, taxi, and plane (and then automobile), we are back at 1245. Left Averill around 10am, only stopping by Priscilla's to settle up, before heading over to Rte 3 to head down to Manchester. We left ourselves plenty of time, luckily since we got behind a series of slow vehicles heading south. Stopped off at the Tidal Basin at Franconia Notch State Park to enjoy a picnic lunch of lobster salad sandwiches and peaches next to the Pemi. Another reason we left early was to avoid the late afternoon traffic leaving the NH lakes heading back to Boston, which we were successful at doing -- at least in this leg.

As we were pulling up to the airport at about 3pm, I pulled up our flight to find that it was delayed an hour, almost certainly meaning we would miss our connection in Detroit. Crap. iPhones in hand, we researched different options but found nothing good. Confident we would be spending the night in Detroit (ours was the last flight to Atlanta), we headed to the counter to check in. Surprise! Delta rebooked us on a direct Boston to Atlanta flight and paid for a taxi to Logan ($130). Through aforementioned traffic returning to Boston. But we made it -- got there at 5pm, enough time to get a little dinner at Legal before cramming ourselves into 25A and 25B on the 757. Kids in front of us reclined, we couldn't because the exit row was behind us, so a real treat of a flight, featuring some real characters behind us speculating on the fortune they were going to make selling burglar alarm systems on Nantucket. They started the flight by asking the septuagenarian next to them where the good strip clubs were in Atlanta and it went on from there. Good luck in Nantucket, boys.

Home is hot, humid, and home.

Flower at Camp

Friday was a quiet day, starting out sunny and then clouding over. We headed over to Colebrook for supplies and to buy some hanging baskets. As we arrived we lucked into an outside market across from Le Rendevouz. Picked up two dozen ears of corn, one for the house and one to take back to Atlanta where there is no decent corn to be had.

We also got three hanging baskets and some annuals to fill the barrel. Very late in the year for annuals up here so it looks like no porch planters this year.

The day lilies in the yard have been very beautiful and it seems like there's a greater variety of them than there had been in years past. Or maybe it's just that I haven't been here when they were blooming. Here are some shots of the yard.

Sad goodbyes, glad kayakings

Alas, the day dawned and it was time to take Hardy to the Burlington airport. Boo! Of course, he and Alan first had to head over to Quimby's to show Ray and Kevin pictures of his fish -- they were appropriately impressed. And who wouldn't be....seriously.

As everyone knows, fish tales take a long time so it wasn't until 9:30am that the boys were back to camp to pick me up for the ride to Burlington. It's a 2.5 hour drive so....should be fine. We did not, however, get any luck from traffic, behind one truck after another. Still, we made it at a little after noon for a 1pm flight and he made it. In our flustered attempt to get him in the airport, however, we lost our parking ticket which meant that we had to pay $10 for about 10 minutes of parking time. Oh well.

Lunch at the Vermont Sandwich Co down the road was mixed -- I didn't like my hummus and veggie wrap but Alan loved his turkey. And then we headed home, this time via St. Johnsbury where we stopped to do a little shopping. Great bookstore named Boxcar and a Caboose. They have an on demand book printing machine -- first I've seen, very cool. They call it the Espresso Book Machine. Neat!

We debated an early dinner at the Burke Cafe, which we love but haven't been to in years, but then decided to head home to Averill for a boat ride. Got in about 6pm, fussed with the boat motor for 40 minutes unproductively, and then decided to do a kayak ride instead. Great call. The lake got progressively calmer as we paddled south, eventually reaching the southern point (which we called Merganzer Pt since we always see them here). We crossed the lake to paddle lakeshore on the eastern edge heading into the sun as it lowered in the sky. Sun setting in the north, moon rising in the south, absolutely calm lake, a scattering of hexes on the water. Magic.

What Lies Beneath

Morning dawned early for Alan and Hardy as they were up at 6:30am so as to meet Bill at Solomon's at 7:30am for a full day's float. Misty driving en route with early morning coffee fueling the journey. Met Bill at the canoe put in next to Solomon's, air was 54 degrees, water even colder. Let's go.

The start of the day was slow, maybe it was the coffee, maybe it was the lack of breakfast, maybe it was getting off the river last night at 9pm and eating dinner at 11:30pm. Who knows. Regardless, fishing was a bit slow despite some gorgeous water that presented itself early in the float. Alan started the day off with a nice rainbow on a Caddis and got a few more fish that way. Hardy switched to a Woolybugger with a nymph dropper and immediately hooked into 3-4 native browns by the recycling plant.

All in all, it was a good morning's fishing, followed by a lovely Bill lunch of steak, grilled veggies, pasta salad, cheese, crackers, olives -- the most excellent lunch you would expect when out with Bill. Refueled and ready for an afternoon's adventure, little did we know what lay beneath. We hit a number of very productive pools, catching numerous 12" healthy, fat rainbows and browns, along with the occasional brook.

Alan continued to plug away with Bill's hexagraph while Hardy plumbed the depths with Bill's Helios. Around about 2pm, Hardy sent a cast into a pool underneath a tree, fouling line around his feet as he did so. Gathering up the extra line allowed the sinking line to sink even more. There was a thud and a flash and all of sudden, it wasn't about managing errant line. Hardy yelled, "I think it's a big one." Bill looked knowingly at Alan and measured something out close to 12" with his hands. In light of said skepticism, Hardy began stripping in line quietly. It was only when it stopped coming in that others became convinced.

Keeping pressure on the line and adjusting the drag correctly, Hardy hunkered down to play the fish. It was about at this time that Bill looked back at Alan and said, "It's a monster." Staying calm and focused, Hardy kept this trout on the line for more than 20 minutes. After that, it surrendered to Bill's waiting net.

First, we put him on the cooler to see how big he was. Bill's cooler is 24" and he frequently uses it to bring a measured perspective to "fish talk." Hardy's Monster almost filled the length and Bill's estimate was 20" in girth. At 22"L x 20"G x 20"G, that brings us to 11lbs. Woot!

After many photos, we released this beautiful trout back into the Connecticut River where we hope it will live for many more years.